The divine premonition of the gods—that cold, creeping dread that had washed over the pantheon—was not lost on Ellie.
Through their spiritual link, they imdiately relayed the ominous warnings to Leon.
Deep within the 77th floor, Leon received the ssage with a flicker of surprise, but he quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind. For now, the black dragon's departure was a blessing in disguise.
If that Level 10 monstrosity had chosen to turn its malice toward the streets of Orario, the city he had called ho for over a decade since his transmigration would have been reduced to ash. Leon had no desire to see his ho destroyed.
With the Black Dragon having breached the surface and fled toward the horizon, the Dungeon's frantic desperation seed to wane. It finally ceased its endless spawning of the monster army. The suffocating wall of flesh and claws that had sought to pin Leon in place no longer received reinforcents from the walls.
However, the sheer volu of the existing force was still staggering. The monsters that had already manifested remained, organized in terrifying concentric circles—three ranks deep in the front and three in the rear—forming a perfect, claustrophobic cage around him.
Leon estimated there were nearly a thousand Level 7 monsters remaining. It was a daunting number for any other adventurer, but for him, it was rely an hour's worth of high-intensity training.
While Leon began his systematic extermination of the encirclent, the 80th floor remained a theater of primal madness.
The battle between Ais and the Corrupted Spirit had reached a point of no return.
Through the long, grueling exchange, the Corrupted Spirit had made a startling realization.
It sensed a familiar resonance within Ais—the scent of the Aria it had been obsessively seeking for centuries. But this discovery did not bring clarity. Instead, it drove it into a total insanity.
The realization that Ais no longer possessed the pure, untainted bloodline of the Great Spirit, but was instead sothing evolved and different, pushed it to the brink. Its attacks beca jagged, ferocious, and fueled by a suicidal rage.
Ais, however, was no longer the "fragile" girl who had entered the deep floors. The more the Corrupted Spirit's power surged, the faster Ais's potential was forced to the surface. Her strength began to skyrocket, her movents blurring into a lethal dance of wind and silver.
anwhile the battle on Finn's side was intense but manageable.
Of the three battlefields, Leon's was the first to fall silent. Without the constant influx of new troops, the thousand Level 7 monsters were nothing more than fodder for his blade.
In just over an hour, the 77th floor was littered with nothing but dissolving magic stones and dust.
"Phew... ti for an update." Leon murmured.
He used Veins of Light to scan the other two fronts. Seeing that Finn was holding firm and Ais was entering a state of transcendental growth, he realized he had a brief window of safety.
He draped himself in a veil of dark magic to mask his presence from any prying eyes and began the ritual of renewing his World's Grace.
As the grace reacted to his recent achievents—the slaying of a Level 9 Black Dragon and the annihilation of a thousands-strong army—the parchnt on his back began to rewrite itself.
Leon Morningstar
Lv. 8
Strength: I 0 → SSS 1999
Durability: I 0 → SSS 1999
Dexterity: I 0 → SSS 1999
Agility: I 0 → SSS 1999
Magic: I 0 → SSS 1999
[Upgrade]
Optional Developnt Ability: Tyranny
Developnt Abilities: Mage (S), Luck (C), Spirit Healing (E), Berserker (C), Divine Healing (E), Healing (G)
The results were exactly as he had calculated. The grueling siege had pushed his basic stats to their limits.
The new developnt ability, Tyranny, was a manifestation of the cold, overwhelming pressure he had exerted to crush the Dungeon's blockade.
Without hesitation, Leon chose to rank up. A faint blue glow erupted from his body and Leon had successfully ascended to Level 9.
The increase in power was not rely incrental, it was foundational. Leon could feel his physical vessel expanding to accommodate a strength that touched the ceiling of Level 10. He had taken that crucial, half-step onto the road of true godhood.
"Only one level left." Leon whispered, watching the paper in his hand burn into gray ash.
"But I am different from the others. Standard adventurers must spend decades at Level 10 to slowly transform their souls. I have already mastered divine power. The mont I reach Level 10, I can ignite the Divine Fire and beco the King of Gods of this world. No one, except perhaps the world itself, will be my match."
...
Dispelling his dark magic, Leon vanished from the 77th floor. He ignored the 75th floor, knowing Finn's group was safe, and flashed directly into the 80th floor.
The 80th floor was a wasteland. Originally prepared by the Dungeon as a cradle for the Black Dragon, the entire floor was now a jagged, scorched plain.
No monsters were born here, the ecosystem had been entirely obliterated by the aftershocks of the duel above. Elental magic saturated the air so heavily it was difficult to breathe, and the rhythmic explosions of the fight echoed.
Leon reached the battlefield but made no move to interfere. He floated silently against the far wall.
Before him, Ais and the Corrupted Spirit were locked in a tunnel-visioned struggle for survival. They had reached a point where the rest of the world had ceased to exist. There was only the swing of the sword and the roar of the spell.
Ais's expression was ice-cold, her golden eyes reflecting a fierce determination.
"Ais..." Leon murmured softly, his voice lost in the thunder of the battle. "What exactly are you thinking right now?"
—
The battlefield of the 80th floor was a testant to the sheer scale of Level 10 combat.
Ais did not seek her mother who had once been her world. Instead, her golden eyes were locked onto the Corrupted Spirit with a singular, frigid focus.
With the critical assistance of Haruhi's Uchide no Kozuchi, Ais had not only bridged the gap in raw power but had catalyzed a latent potential within her soul. Her strength was increasing at a rate that defied standard Falna logic, her blade humming with a wind that grew sharper and more violent with every passing second.
Leon watched the exchange from the sidelines, his mind processing the data.
He mused, 'At this rate, if Ais maintains this burst of power, the Corrupted Spirit's defeat is an absolute certainty.'
Yet, a question lingered in the air, heavy and unanswered: would Ais deliver the final, killing blow? Or did she have an entirely different purpose for the creature that had haunted her lineage?
Even Leon, with his vast knowledge and foresight, found himself curious about the conclusion of this girl's personal epic.
However, Leon was a pragmatist. He knew that Haruhi's level-boosting ability was bound by strict ti limits. Recognizing that the battle was entering its final, most taxing phase, he montarily ascended to the 75th floor and brought Haruhi down into the abyss.
Interestingly, the Dungeon seed to be in a state of shock. Whether due to the massive energy expenditure of manifesting a Level 10 King or the trauma of having its deepest floors breached, the labyrinth had made no effort to repair the vertical tunnels.
The path between the 75th and 80th floors remained a jagged, open wound, making travel between the levels surprisingly convenient.
Once they were positioned safely on the 80th floor, Leon instructed Haruhi to monitor Ais's aura with unwavering vigilance.
"The mont her strength flickers, apply the buff again. Don't let her montum stall."
Haruhi nodded, her expression determined.
Although the constant use of her magic was draining, Leon had provided her with high-grade restorative elixirs. Furthermore, having been "bathed" in the light of Leon's Gate of Heaven, her mana capacity and recovery rate had been permanently enhanced.
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