Every few ters held another hidden chanism: blades, arrows, crushing walls, explosive floor panels...
The entire hall was basically a death corridor designed specifically to weed out weak players.
And the worst part was that most of the traps activated almost instantly. Even with Leon’s reflexes, dodging every single one consistently would have been difficult.
Luckily, undead summons were perfect for situations like this.
Whenever enough skeletons died, Leon simply had to wait a minute before summoning a replacent and sending them forward once more.
Slowly but steadily, the traps across the hall activated one after another until eventually the path beca safe.
And after nearly an entire hour of advancing carefully through the corridor, Leon finally reached the end of the hall.
Another giant gate stood before him, "...Of course there’s another one."
This gate looked even larger than the first.
Leon imdiately ordered several skeletons to push against it first in case another trap activated.
But unfortunately, no matter how hard the undead pushed, the gate refused to move even slightly. Not even an inch.
Leon stared at the unmoving doors for a few seconds before sighing deeply, "Alright then."
He stepped forward himself and placed both hands against the gate.
The mont he touched it, strange symbols across the marble surface suddenly lit up once again.
Then slowly...
RUMBLE!
The massive doors began opening. This ti there were no hidden traps waiting behind them.
Instead, the gate opened into another gigantic chamber, though unlike the hallway before, this room was circular and much wider.
And standing directly at the center of it... was a statue.
A massive four-ard statue made entirely of dark stone stood silently in the middle of the room, its glowing eyes locked directly onto Leon the mont he entered.
The atmosphere instantly beca heavier.
Leon instinctively lifted his staff imdiately, ready to launch a spell from afar, but he stopped halfway through.
"...Right."
He had almost forgotten. Magic was completely unusable here.
Leon clicked his tongue before storing the staff back inside his [Storage Space].
Then instead, he pulled out the [Forsaken Knight Sword 4 (Epic)]. The blade glead sharply under the temple’s dim lighting.
[Forsaken Knight Sword 4 (Epic): 20,000 Attack Power, 10,000 Strength, 7,000 Agility.]
It wasn’t as overwhelming as the [Dark Minotaur Axe], but Leon preferred speed here over raw power.
Using the giant axe would be impossible in one hand as he required to be able to lift it.
And besides... Leon’s current strength was already monstrous enough. He slowly rolled his shoulders while staring at the giant statue.
It reminded him slightly of the golem guardian from the Orc Trial of Strength back in the [Forsaken City], except this one felt incomparably more dangerous.
The glowing eyes of the statue followed Leon silently. Watching.
Unlike the previous monsters Leon faced in the [Exiled Lands], this thing radiated overwhelming physical power.
Leon’s grip tightened around both swords.
’Perfect.’ A grin slowly spread across his face.
"Alright then," he muttered while lowering his stance slightly, "let’s see how strong you are."
Dark Crescent Slash!
Leon instantly activated the skill through both swords simultaneously, dark energy coating the blades before two massive crescent slashes burst forward together toward the statue.
The mont he used the skill with both weapons at once, Leon’s eyes widened slightly.
’I can stack sword skills together like this?’
A new idea imdiately ford in his mind. If he could combine skills through dual wielding... Then perhaps every skill he had could beco far stronger than before.
The two dark crescents tore across the chamber at incredible speed while the giant four-ard construct remained completely motionless.
SLASH! SLASH!
They crossed through the giant statue instantly, tearing through its stone body without eting even the slightest resistance as one attack sliced through its torso while the other severed its head completely, causing the enormous figure to split apart before collapsing heavily onto the marble floor of the chamber.
Fragnts of stone scattered everywhere. The entire room shook slightly from the impact.
"...What?"
Leon frowned imdiately as he stared at the destroyed statue lying motionless before him.
Sothing felt wrong. Very wrong. The attack had been far too easy.
He had fully expected the boss to move the mont he attacked, especially after sensing the oppressive aura coming from it earlier, yet the statue had not reacted at all.
Not only that, but Leon had received absolutely no notification. Which ant one thing, "That wasn’t the boss."
Leon slowly stepped forward while keeping his guard up, his eyes narrowing carefully as he examined the destroyed remains of the statue.
For a brief mont, the chamber beca eerily silent once more.
Then, a faint aura erupted above him. Leon’s instincts scread. He imdiately looked upward.
"Oh shit!"
BOOOOM!
A gigantic figure crashed down from the ceiling directly toward Leon and his undead army at terrifying speed, the sheer impact alone shaking the entire chamber violently.
SLASH!
The instant the creature landed, its four arms swung outward with overwhelming force, releasing a gigantic shockwave of crimson aura that exploded across the room.
The result was absolute destruction. Every single undead skeleton around Leon was obliterated instantly, their bodies shattering apart into fragnts of bone before they could even react.
Even Leon himself was blown backward violently.
"Ghk—!"
He slamd both swords into the marble floor to stop himself from flying into one of the distant walls, sparks erupting beneath the blades as he dragged himself to a halt several dozen ters away.
The sheer force behind that single attack was absurd.
Leon slowly raised his head while taking a deep breath, forcing himself to focus entirely on the enemy standing in the middle of the chamber.
Then—
Click!
He heard a sound the very mont it activated. And before he could even react properly—
FWOOOSH!
A gigantic spiked tal ball dropped from the ceiling directly above him at terrifying speed.
"You have to be kidding ."
BOOM!
Leon imdiately leaped forward with explosive force, barely avoiding the giant spiked ball as it slamd into the floor behind him violently enough to crack the marble beneath it.
But the danger did not end there. The mont the ball struck the ground, hundreds of sharp spikes burst outward in every direction like a deadly storm.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Leon spun both swords rapidly while deflecting the incoming spikes one after another, his expression growing colder with every second.
The chamber itself was trapped. Just like the hallway before. And judging from the scale of the chanisms already activating around him, the entire room was likely filled with hidden traps designed specifically to kill anyone distracted during battle.
"This place is insane," Leon muttered while finally regaining his footing.
Then his eyes locked fully onto the creature standing at the center of the chamber.
And this ti, he finally saw it properly.
---
[Magicless Guardian (Boss)]
[Level: 90]
[Talent: Supre Strength Enhancent (S-Level), Supre Agility Enhancent (S-Level)]
[Combat Power: 5,000,000]
[Details: Guardian of this temple and responsible for draining the "Spirit" in this area of the "Exiled Lands".]
---
Leon’s expression tightened slightly. The [Magicless Guardian] stood over two ters tall, its body resembling a humanoid warrior with pale skin and four massive crimson arms, each one holding a curved blade emitting dark aura.
Its armor flowed strangely around its body almost like liquid silk rather than solid tal.
And at the center of its chest... was a large transparent orb.
The mont Leon looked at it, he imdiately felt the mana in the air being sucked inward continuously.
’That’s the [Magicless Core],’ Leon realized instantly.
The orb embedded inside the guardian’s chest was the very thing suppressing magic throughout the surrounding region.
If he managed to destroy it, then the entire battlefield would change imdiately.
The guardian also wore a giant lion-shaped mask over its face, though behind the eye holes Leon could still see crimson aura burning like flas.
Leon slowly lowered his stance and prepared himself for battle. But strangely enough, the boss did not attack him imdiately.
Instead, the [Magicless Guardian] suddenly turned away from Leon entirely and walked calmly toward the pile of shattered bones where his skeleton army had been destroyed.
"Hm?" Leon frowned slightly.
Then the guardian bent downward and grabbed sothing from the remains. The mont Leon realized what it was, his blood ran cold.
One of the skeletons had been holding Celeste’s phoenix fla. And now, the guardian held it directly in one of its hands.
For a brief mont, the boss simply stared at the tiny fla curiously, almost as if analyzing it.
Leon imdiately rushed forward to get it back, but a few traps activated, forcing him to dodge them.
And while he was busy, the boss moved the phoenix fla directly toward the transparent [Magicless Core] embedded inside its chest.
Leon’s eyes widened instantly, "WAIT!"
But it was already too late.
FWOOOSH!
The mont the fla touched the orb, the transparent core opened slightly before absorbing Celeste’s phoenix fla directly inside it.
And then, Leon saw it. Tiny particles of Celeste’s fla slowly beginning to disintegrate inside the orb itself.
The [Magicless Guardian] was using her phoenix fla as fuel. It was draining her existence directly into the [Magicless Core].
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