CHAPTER 40: THE COLD DIVINE PUNISHMENT

The Flamebound Knight didn’t seem to like his question as it took a step forward and dashed at such fast speed that its movement became hard to follow for Leon.

So, he did the only thing he thought he could do.

Run!

Leon didn’t hesitate to use his Sprint Boost again and bolted towards the open battlefield where countless Skeletons were roaming free.

This was the only direction he could run into because in front of him was the Flamebound Knight, behind him were the people he was supposed to protect, and to his right was the boss of this dungeon.

It had already turned into a variant version of the original boss under the influence of corrupted miasma and had advanced to Tier 4.

It was more than 20 levels above him. He would be seeking his own death if he chose to enter the fortress since there were other types of monsters there too.

Leon could already hear tremors behind him, but he didn’t even turn around to look at the aftermath, as that would only waste time he could use to widen the distance between them.

’I have two advantages and I have to use them well,’ Leon thought as he dove right into the cluster of Burning Skeletons while trying to keep his left arm stable.

Although the pain had lessened after the healing potion, moving around so much wasn’t good for it.

He had even put the baseball bat back and focused only on running. He maneuvered through the horde of Burning Skeletons while chugging down an Essence Recovery Potion.

Denver had slid that into his battle suit.

Then, he ran and ran, even with his instincts screaming at him constantly. He didn’t need them to tell him because he could feel death approaching from behind through the tremors.

The Flamebound Knight was running like a maddened animal. Its focus was solely on Leon, so it even bulldozed its way through to get to him.

This was his advantage. He was smaller, so he could run through the gaps between the Burning Skeletons, but the knight was different.

It could only run through the Skeletons, which slowed down its speed by a lot.

"Catch me if you can, baby, catch me if you can~" Leon hummed as he picked up a broken sword from the rubble and hurled it at a Lava Imp who was in his path.

With a quick shift of his feet, he dodged the incoming Flame Spear and jumped over the Imp, who was starting to bulge after getting attacked at its core by the sword.

Leon had only passed through a short distance when he heard an explosion behind him, and his grimacing face finally showed some happiness.

’Shit! It’s still hurting!’ Leon cursed mentally. During the throw, he had jerked his other hand a little, which once again sent a pang of pain throughout his body.

But he didn’t stop.

All because he could still hear the earth trembling and the gut feeling of death swiftly approaching him.

He wasn’t surprised that the Flamebound Knight was still fine and was running towards him. The undead monster was likely at the higher end of Tier 2, so how could those explosions hurt it, especially since its element was fire itself?

’Now, my second advantage,’ Leon’s lips curled up as he asked mentally. ’System, will there be any pain or restrictions... anything during the cleansing of that Corrupted Mana and then transferring it to me?’

[Negative! The purified Essence would directly be sent to Host’s Soul Core, effectively leveling it if it meets the requirements.]

[Addition: Host might experience slight discomfort.]

’Good! I have accumulated a lot of Mana till now, so purify all of it and transfer it into my Soul Core!’

Just as he commanded the system, he felt a chill run down his spine and didn’t hesitate to jump to the side, even if it made him bump into a Burning Skeleton without Iron Skin.

Without the protection, his skin instantly felt the sheer heat of the fire, and he was forced to roll away before the flames did more damage.

’No time!’

He didn’t even bother seeing what had attacked him or care about his broken arm sending him even more pain. He honestly wished it would go numb by now, but it clearly didn’t listen to him.

He began panting as the exhaustion once again started catching up and the presence of death grew closer and closer.

’Am I... really going to die here? Without saving anyone? Well, I kind of did save Nat and the others. It’s enough. But Mom will be left all alone in this world.’

Thinking of that one point, he bit his tongue as some lucidity returned to him, and he picked up his pace again before the Flamebound Knight caught up to him.

"Like hell I’m dying here!!" he roared. "I swore to make a harem of all of my favourite waifus and I will achieve that."

[Purification Completed! The Essence is ready to be transferred! Would you like to proceed with the transfer?]

Just as Leon was about to say yes, the sky suddenly shifted colours from the crimson red of blood to the bluish white of ice.

Before Leon could make out anything of the situation, tiny dots in his vision began to grow bigger until they were half his size, and he was finally able to see the appearance of it.

Icicles!

Yes, before his eyes was a rain of sharp icicles which were easily half as big as him. Countless icicles dropped from the sky, extinguishing the ever-burning fire of the battlefield.

Every single icicle struck a monster and vanquished it. The rain of icicles was like a cold Divine judgment on this world for spreading Corrupted Miasma.

It only lasted a few seconds, but that was all it took for the whole dungeon to be cleared. Every single monster in the Flame Knight Dungeon was dead.

Leon stood rooted on the ground as his mind replayed the scene of Divine punishment. He had seen more epic things, but none of them were real.

None of them had happened right before his eyes, and none of them had almost taken his life.

Leon had really wondered if he would die to these icicles rather than those monsters, but it seemed like luck was on his side.

All around was nothing but destruction caused by the icicles, and these cold, deathly weapons had already begun to fade away.

The Burning Skeletons were dead and their fire was extinguished forever. The Lava Imps actually died in such a way that they couldn’t even explode after death. And lastly...

Leon hurriedly turned around and found the armour of the Flamebound Knight lying on the ground, and beside it was its greatsword. There were clear marks of being pierced by something sharp on the armour.

The Flamebound Knight, who was like a terror machine for him, died no different a death than those same weakling Burning Skeletons.

Before the cold icicles, both were the same.

Weak!

Leon even forgot all about the pain and just stared at the armour in a daze. Perhaps, if he was in the right mental and physical state, he might have already guessed the reason for this, but he was really tired.

"Yo! I didn’t come late, right?"