CHAPTER 34: SLAUGHTERING THE RAVEN BOSS!

The swirling debris made everything around him a grey haze. The beast could be right behind him—or in front of him—and he wouldn’t even know.

His entire being tensed.

Every sense. Every nerve. Every fiber of his existence was on high alert.

He was ready to strike at any moment... to move at even the slightest disturbance.

In this kind of condition, the raven had a huge advantage.

It could send elemental attacks even if its body was broken... and with its natural vision, it would have no issue seeing clearly through the dust.

Leon, on the other hand, was practically blind.

He’d already activated his defensive Mana shield, but he knew it wasn’t going to last long. The beast he was fighting now possessed the raw might of an LVL 9 creature, even though it was just LVL 6—and it was all thanks to that Berserk skill of its.

Earlier, just two LVL 5 beasts had been able to break his shield after repeated attacks.

And their combined strength was nothing compared to what he was up against now.

Suddenly—he felt it.

A wave of killing intent directed at him from somewhere nearby. His head snapped toward the source, but the beast didn’t attack.

Then—

SCREEEECH!!!

A loud, shrill screech echoed across the field. The kind of sound that could rip through nerves and drill into the skull.

Soon after, the dust began to settle—just a little bit.

And Leon saw it.

Three meters away from him, inside a crater, stood the raven.

The crater was circular and nearly four meters wide, with the beast right in the middle like a black god of destruction. Chunks of soil and broken rock were scattered everywhere. Rubble lay near the beast’s talons—evidence of the sheer force with which it had crashed.

Leon’s eyes widened in surprise—and then in horror.

He gasped.

A semi-transparent blue screen popped up, showing him the stats.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

MUTATED BLACK RAVEN

(Boss Raven)

─────⋅☾ Boss’s Details ☽⋅─────•

LVL 6 [Stats equal to an LVL 10 beast/QI absorption realm cultivator]

[HP: 134 / 5640]

─────⋅☾ Stats ☽⋅─────•

[Strength: 156]

[Stamina: 146]

[Agility: 160]

[Defense: 134]

[Intelligence: 7]

•─────⋅☾ Skills ☽⋅─────•

BERSERKER’S COMMAND (RANK E) – ACTIVE

[Can enter or exit Berserk state at will. Gains additional skills while in this state.]

FLOCK OF THE FALLEN (RANK C)

[Absorbs 1% of the life force from each dead subordinate. Prolongs berserk state and boosts power.]

WIND SLASH (RANK E) – COMPLETE

[A refined elemental skill learned from the Chicken Boss. Slashes wind blades at high speed.]

SPEARBEAK LUNGE

[Launches a precise, spear-like stab aimed at the victim’s gut. Increases Speed by 1%.]

REND TALON

[Extends claws by 3 inches. Increases speed and agility by 1% each. Dives to tear open weak spots.]

RAVEN KING’S MANDATE (RANK B)

[All Raven-type beasts with lower Strength immediately submit and become minions]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Seeing the stats, Leon couldn’t help but gulp.

He whispered under his breath, "...so I was wrong all along..."

’Did I seriously anger it so much that it reduced its intelligence to 7 just to boost its raw strength to that of an LVL 10 beast?’

This was the first time Leon had seen a beast go beyond the standard 3-level boost from Berserk.

It was terrifying.

But... it wasn’t for nothing.

’So they can increase their strength at the cost of their intelligence... If their intelligence doesn’t drop to 0, can they just keep going up?’

He was both disturbed and intrigued.

Then another thought hit him.

’According to the skill "Easy Berserk," it’s supposed to gain an additional skill... so where is it?’

He scratched the back of his head. ’Wait... is it Wind Slash? No. That was from the chicken clan. It didn’t gain it through Berserk... it completed it instead.’

Suddenly, everything clicked.

His eyes widened with realization.

’Hold on... did the Chicken Boss give the Raven Boss a skill? While I was in that illusion training ground? That means the chicken clans actually went to meet the ravens!’

"So that’s why they responded when the chickens screamed..."

It was ridiculous. But it made too much sense.

Somewhere inside, the Crystal stirred, a little stunned that Leon had pieced everything together.

The Crystal didn’t say anything though—just let him continue his inner rant.

’So all of this was a trap. They planned to kill me together. But why didn’t the system mention that?’

He shook his head. He understood now.

This world wasn’t just about leveling up. There were alliances. Factions. Politics. Betrayals. And monsters were not just beasts... they were beings with instincts, motives, and plans.

Leon looked back at the beast again.

Its HP was almost gone. Only 134 remained out of a monstrous 5640.

He sighed in relief.

Glancing up at the floating dungeon time:

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

0:56:09

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

That gave him a little breathing room.

Without wasting time, Leon powered his fist with thick glowing Mana.

Blue flames of energy coiled around his forearm like a living serpent.

He stepped forward.

With a calm, deliberate motion...

BAM!

His punch landed squarely into the already-crippled beast’s skull.

Its eyes widened.

And then it froze.

A second passed.

Two.

Three...

The Raven Boss collapsed.

And with that—a silence fell.

A powerful, suffocating silence.

Then—

A soft blue shimmer enveloped its corpse.

And the beast disintegrated into dust.

Leon remained standing there, his bloody clothes fluttering in the wind, his body battered and bruised... but alive.

His expression shifted from triumph...

To confusion.

To shock.

Almost immediately after killing the beast, his face revealed a stunned expression.

Something wasn’t right.

Not at all.

He was smiling at that time, but almost immediately after killing the beast, his face twisted into a stunned expression.

He had always wondered what the raven’s trump card might be, but what the beast told him before it died—that was what truly shook him.

He received three notifications after slaying the raven boss. The first was a message. The second, a level-up notice. And the third—he’d actually gotten that one earlier, right after dodging the wind slash by flying away—was about the new skill he had created.

But none of those was as jarring as the first message from the beast itself:

[RAVEN 14: You killed me but HE will kill you. Our deaths are not in vain... HE WILL KILL YOU!!! You are still engaged in the death match, check and see.]