The roaring of spatial mana died down as the blinding white light of the transit gate snapped out of existence. Instantly, the crisp, manicured air of the academy was replaced by a suffocating, sulfurous heat that burned the back of Kai’s throat. A heavy wind, thick with black ash and the sll of ozone, howled through the vertical ravines of the Obsidian Jagged Crags.
Kai landed perfectly on a narrow, precipitous ledge of volcanic stone. Below him, the terrain dropped thousands of feet into jagged, razor-sharp canyons of pure black glass. Above, the sky was a bruised, dark violet, choked by churning ash clouds that bled faint arcs of static red lightning.
This was a Tier-1 Restricted Zone. For an unawakened first-year student, rely standing on this ledge without a dedicated vanguard tank to block the wind was an environntal hazard. The sharp gravel blowing through the air could shred a standard linen uniform in minutes.
But Kai stood entirely unmoved. His Endurance stat of twenty, amplified by the sleek armor plating of his *Tempest Stride* boots, easily neutralized the abrasive wind.
[System Notice]
Host has entered a Restricted Zone: Obsidian Jagged Crags.
Environntal Suppression detected: Local gravity increased by 15%.
SSS-Rank Talent 'Eye of the Primordial Sovereign' has calibrated Host's internal balance. Gravity effect neutralized.
Kai smiled coldly. Marcus Vance had chosen this dungeon precisely because of that hidden fifteen percent gravity debuff. To a normal novice, a fifteen percent increase in body weight ant their Agility scores would plumt, making it impossible to dodge the high-speed aerial ambushes of the native monsters. Marcus had truly stacked the deck to ensure an "accidental" demise.
SKREEEE!
A piercing, tallic shriek tore through the howling wind from the rock face directly above Kai.
He didn't lift his head. His SSS-Rank talent had already mapped out the kinetic trajectory of the descending threat. A massive shape, completely camouflaged against the dark volcanic stone, detached itself from the cliffside and dropped like a falling anvil, its stone wings tucked tightly against its skeletal, gray-skinned torso.
[Entity: Gargoyle Stalker]
Rank: E-Rank (Level 6)
HP: 340/340
MP: 20/20
Strength: 22
Agility: 20
Endurance: 25
Weakness: Wing joints.
Twenty-five points of Endurance. The creature’s skin was literal volcanic rock, hardened by centuries of prival mana exposure. A standard academy shortsword would chip or shatter upon impact against that chest plating.
The Gargoyle expanded its stone wings at the last possible second, its obsidian talons extending to rip Kai's head completely off his shoulders.
Kai didn't draw his weapon yet. He waited until the creature was exactly four feet from his face, its sulfurous breath hot against his skin. Then, his Tempest Stride boots flashed with a microscopic spark of azure lightning.
Aero-Glide.
Kai executed a high-speed mid-air dash, his body sliding laterally through the empty space beside the ledge as if gravity were nothing more than a suggestion. He bypassed the Gargoyle’s descent completely, leaving the monster to slam its heavy talons into the solid volcanic stone where he had been standing a millisecond prior.
BOOM!
The impact shattered the edge of the stone ledge, sending a cascade of black glass shards raining down into the abyss. The Gargoyle shrieked in frustration, its heavy stone wings flailing as it tried to turn its massive montum around on the narrow platform.
"Too slow," Kai's voice whispered from its imdiate blind spot.
He materialized directly behind the beast. With a fluid, heavy motion, he drew the Desolation Blade from its scabbard. The obsidian alloy didn't make a single sound as it sliced through the air, completely bypassing the wind resistance.
Kai channeled his effective Strength of thirty-three into a short, compressed horizontal strike, precisely targeting the thin, flexible mbrane where the gargoyle’s left stone wing connected to its spinal column.
CRACK!
The cursed blade cut through the volcanic rock joint like a hot wire through wax. The left wing was severed entirely, bouncing off the ledge before plunging into the canyon below.
The Gargoyle roared in agony, its balance completely destroyed as it tilted violently to the side, leaking thick, black liquid that hissed against the hot stone.
[Target Status]
HP: 180/340 (Crippled: Left Wing Severed)
The creature desperately spun its torso, its right claw sweeping backward in a frantic, wide arc to crush Kai's ribs. The twenty-two points of Strength behind the swing caused the air to pop with a violent kinetic shockwave.
Kai didn't bother dodging this ti. He simply raised his left arm, the tallic plating of his Tempest Stride boots anchoring his legs firmly into the volcanic floor, while his right hand rotated the Desolation Blade into a reverse grip.
He caught the heavy stone claw with the flat of his obsidian blade.
BANG!
The collision generated a loud tallic ring that briefly drowned out the howling wind. A normal vanguard with standard stats would have had their arm bones shattered by the twenty-two Strength impact, but Kai’s thirty-three Strength was an unyielding wall. He didn't budge a single milliter. The Gargoyle’s stone claw cracked upon hitting the cursed alloy of his sword, pieces of gravel flaking off its fingers.
"My turn," Kai said.
With a brutal upward stroke, Kai deflected the shattered claw away, completely exposing the monster's neck line. He lunged forward, driving the tip of the Desolation Blade straight through the soft, pulsing core cavity located at the center of the Gargoyle's throat.
THUD.
The blade buried itself to the hilt. The passive skill *Life Drain* instantly activated, drawing a brilliant current of warm crimson energy out of the dying monster and pumping it into Kai's system, refreshing his muscles and soothing the minor tension in his shoulders.
The Gargoyle’s crimson eye sockets flickered, faded, and finally went entirely dark. Its massive stone body stiffened before turning into an empty, brittle shell of gray ash that crumbled into dust under the pressure of the wind.
[System Notice]
Gained 240 EXP.
Kai stood on the ruined ledge, his eyes fixed on the empty space where the monster had been. He held his left hand out, his palm pulsing with primordial violet light. "Extract."
A dense, glowing gray orb, swirling with faint traces of earthy brown mana, tore itself free from the pile of ash and sank into his hand.
[System Notice]
Extraction successful.
Acquired 6 Evolution Points (EP).
Acquired Material: 1x Fragnted Earth Core (E-Rank).
Total EP: 85
Kai checked his experience bar. The 240 EXP from a single Level 6 monster was incredibly generous compared to the ager gains of the goblin caves. At this rate, clearing a few dozen monsters in this restricted zone would easily push him to Level 6 and beyond.
"The Ashen Orcs should be clustered in the lower ravines where the mana density is highest," Kai analyzed, his SSS-Rank talent scanning the vertical topography of the crags.
He looked down into the deep, ash-choked canyon below. To any other student, jumping off this ledge would be literal suicide. But Kai rely adjusted the collar of his black cloak and stepped off the precipice, plunging directly into the dark abyss.
As he free-fell through the howling wind, the rocky walls of the ravine blurred past him at terrifying speeds. Thirty feet. Sixty feet. Eighty feet.
Just as the jagged black floor of the canyon rushed up to claim his life, the passive skill of his boots triggered automatically.
Aero-Glide.
A violent, circular cushion of pressurized azure wind exploded from beneath his feet, completely absorbing his downward kinetic montum a re two feet before he touched the ground. He landed as light as a feather, his boots making absolutely zero sound as they touched the polished black glass floor of the canyon.
[System Notice]
Fall damage completely negated by 'Aero-Glide' passive.
Kai raised his head. The canyon floor was wide, shaped like a natural highway of volcanic stone. And standing less than fifty yards away, gathered around a crackling fissure of molten lava, was an entire war band of Ashen Orcs.
They were massive, seven-foot-tall humanoids with slate-gray skin, protruding tusks, and bodies covered in thick, unrefined iron plates. They wielded massive, double-bladed stone axes that looked heavy enough to flatten an armored carriage. There were at least fifteen of them, led by a larger elite variant whose shoulders were draped in the heavy pelt of a cave bear.
The mont Kai’s shadow fell across the canyon floor, the elite orc raised its head, its milky-white eyes locking onto his lone figure. It let out a deep, guttural roar that shook loose soot from the canyon walls, and the fifteen orcs instantly raised their axes, their heavy boots thumping in unison as they charged toward him like a tidal wave of gray flesh and iron.
Kai’s violet eyes glowed with an intense, predatory light in the dim cavern heat. He didn't run, nor did he look for high ground to bottleneck them.
He gripped the hilt of the Desolation Blade with both hands, his body leaning into an explosive sprint as he ran straight toward the charging horde. The real harvest had finally begun.
User Comments
0 comments from readers