The [Forsaken King] was not a ruler by choice. He was a prisoner.
Bound to this castle, forced to remain within its walls for what felt like an eternity, unable to leave no matter what he desired, all because of a command given to him by a being far beyond his control.
The [Heavenly One]. And the words that had been given to him still echoed in his mind.
"You may leave if you kill every player... with the last one being a human."
"A new player arrived yesterday," the ghoul quickly added, its voice shaking as it spoke, "A human male... he appears to be the catalyst behind all of this—"
BOOM!
Before it could finish, a violent explosion of aura erupted from the throne as the king suddenly stood up, his presence expanding throughout the chamber with overwhelming force.
"Then everything is finally in place," he said, a wide, almost manic smile forming on his face, his eyes glowing brighter than before, "After all this ti... after hundreds have died... it is finally ti."
The ghoul trembled, a chill running down its spine as it witnessed the king’s expression, sothing it had never seen before: excitent.
"Send the [Forsaken Minotaur]," the king commanded as he slowly sat back down, his tone calm but filled with authority, "They are not strong enough to defeat it, make sure it crushes them completely, this trial has dragged on for far too long."
"Yes, my lord!" the ghoul responded imdiately, bowing deeply before turning around and spreading its wings, flying out through one of the castle’s windows without hesitation.
Left alone once again, the [Forsaken King] leaned back on his throne, his smile lingering as he stared into the distance.
At this point, it was only a matter of ti.
Soon enough, he would receive the notification the players had died.
And when that happened... He would finally be free.
’And if, by so miracle, they survive...’ his expression darkened slightly, his eyes narrowing as a cold intent filled the room, ’Then I will deal with them myself... I still have my trump card after all.’
...
Leon didn’t waste any ti once he found an empty room inside the base, stepping inside and closing the door behind him before slowly exhaling.
He moved toward the center of the space, placing every single item he wanted to inspect or use onto the ground in front of him, forming a small pile that radiated faint auras of different colors and intensities.
For a brief mont, he considered the possibility that soone might be watching him.
Whether it was one of the others casually passing by or even Oasis using one of her countless inventions to observe everything happening inside the base, but the thought barely lingered before he dismissed it entirely.
At this point he simply didn’t care enough to hold back any longer, especially when he could clearly feel that whatever ca next would require him to be as strong as possible.
At the sa ti, his [Storage Space] was nearly full, with only a handful of slots remaining, which only reinforced his decision to use what he had instead of letting it sit unused.1
Without hesitation, Leon picked up the [Forsaken General Essence] and the [Spider Mother Essence].
He consud them without any delay, the familiar surge of energy imdiately spreading through his body like a wave.
Nom! Nom!
The mont the essences dissolved, Leon felt his entire body tighten as power flooded his veins.
And in the next instant, the system notification appeared before him.
[ 1,550 Agility, 1,000 Strength, 1,500 Constitution.]
A faint grin appeared on his face as he rolled his shoulders slightly, though he didn’t dwell on it for long before shifting his attention to the next set of items lying in front of him: the sub-talent scrolls.
There were many of them, and their ranks was higher than what most players would ever even dream of obtaining.
[Sub-Talent Scroll: Supre Constitution Enhancent (S-Level), Supre Agility Enhancent (S-Level), Supre Strength Enhancent (S-Level), Supre Spirit Enhancent (S-Level), Embodint of Darkness (A-Level), x2 King of Darkness (S-Level), Monarch of Darkness (SS-Level)]
Seeing all of them lined up like this made Leon’s grin widen slightly, because each one represented a massive increase in power.
But even then, he didn’t hesitate for long before deciding which ones he wanted to use imdiately.
Three stood out above the rest without any doubt.
[Supre Constitution Enhancent], [Supre Agility Enhancent], and [Monarch of Darkness].
The reasoning was simple.
His current enhancent sub-talents for constitution and agility were only at A-Level, which ant these new ones were direct upgrades without any drawback.
And as for his darkness sub-talent, evolving it even further into an SS-Level version was sothing he simply couldn’t ignore.
Without wasting another second, Leon poured his mana into the selected scrolls, watching as they dissolved into streams of light that flowed directly into his body.
Fwoosh! Ding!
[You have evolved "ga Constitution Enhancent (A-Level)" to "Supre Constitution Enhancent (S-Level)"]
[You have evolved "ga Agility Enhancent (A-Level)" to "Supre Agility Enhancent (S-Level)"]
And then, finally—
[You have evolved "King of Darkness (S-Level)" to "Monarch of Darkness (SS-Level)"]
[There isn’t only one presence who controls the darkness in this city anymore.]
Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly as he read that final line, a faint sense of unease forming in the back of his mind.
But before he could even begin to think about what it ant, a sudden and overwhelming pain exploded throughout his entire body.
It wasn’t just discomfort or a sharp sting, but sothing far worse, as if every part of his body was being torn apart and reshaped at the sa ti, forcing him to grit his teeth as his breathing beca uneven.
The dark streaks that had appeared on his body ever since he obtained the [Embodint of Darkness] sub-talent began to spread further, thickening and moving slightly as if they were alive, their presence becoming far more intense than before.
At the sa ti, one of his eyes, previously crimson, shifted into a much darker shade, almost completely black, and the world through that eye changed instantly, becoming dimr yet strangely clearer in a different way.
The pain lasted for several long minutes, each second stretching out as Leon endured it without making a sound, until eventually, it began to fade, leaving him standing there as he slowly exhaled and steadied himself.
"This... wasn’t pleasant," he muttered under his breath, raising a hand toward his face as he felt the faint energy radiating from his altered eye.
The things taking most of the space are the stones, since each one is considered as one slot.
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