Half an hour later, Almond and Lily erged into the central chamber just as the labyrinth locked into its new pattern. Four other players had also reached this point.
But none of them mattered compared to what stood in the center.
[Labyrinth Guardian: Crimson Colossus] [Special Condition: Only the team that deals the final blow receives full rewards]
The Colossus was four hundred feet of living crystal and crimson energy, six arms each wielding a different weapon. Its core pulsed with concentrated power that made even Almond’s Tier-5 Grimblades vibrate in resonance.
’A peak Tier-6 boss.’ Lily looked at Almond, excited.
Almond grinned. ’Ti to get stronger.’
From Tier-6 boss’s parts, they would be able to make Tier-6 Grimblades and Dreadlings!
’Is the Boss Tier-6 because we have Tier-3 players this ti?’
’Probably. The ga must be pooling us with higher Tier players after we dominated the last A-rank ga filled with Tier-2 players.’
Last ga, they only saw monsters upto Tier-5.
But the ceiling of Layer 2 was up to Tier-10!
Almon and others were at Tier-2, but they were stronger and could progress faster as well. Their combat power was high despite having lower stats than higher-tier people.
...
While Almond and Lily remained patient, two players attacked the boss imdiately, foolishly seeking an early advantage. One player with a crystal body unleashed glistering spears. The other, who was a lion-humanoid, transford into a berserker state with whips of energy around his limbs.
However, the Colossus swatted them into the walls with bone-breaking force. Not dead, but out of the fight.
Clearly, their decks and cards were not powerful enough against this Tier-6 boss.
The other two players hung back, watching for openings.
Almond’s eyes narrowed, analyzing patterns in the Guardian’s energy flow.
This boss was the toughest being they had encountered so far. It had insane defense and hp, so they had to prepare and upgrade their arsenals.
Sixty seconds—that’s what he needed.
"Lily," he said quietly. "I need sixty seconds. Can you give that?"
She glanced at him, reading the focused intensity. "I’ll give you ninety."
[Dreadspire’s Call—Transmission: 40 Pulse]
Lily’s form blurred as she incorporated the essence of Stormheart Chronolock Hunter into herself. Purple-black energy wreathed her body like armor. Ti around her stuttered and skipped—she moved between seconds.
She charged the Colossus, but not alone.
Three of her Tier-5 peak Dreadlings manifested:
Pyrren Dreadrix Watcher erged with a roar that shook reality, its obsidian scales already adapting to the Guardian’s energy signature. One of its effects could absorb energies and redirect them with devastating precision in the form of exotic flas.
Voidweave Phantom appeared as a barely-visible shimr, existing in multiple phases of reality simultaneously. It specialized in assassination and the exploitation of weaknesses.
Ironmaw Dreadknight materialized with a thunderous crash, its adaptive armor already analyzing the Colossus’s attack patterns.
At the sa ti, Lily released a dozen egg-born Dreadlings that imdiately began combining—three rged into one, then those rged again, creating progressively larger and more specialized forms.
The Colossus turned its six-ard attention to the assault.
Lily, enhanced by Chronolock’s temporal abilities, moved through frozen monts. She activated Dreadling Gear on one of the rged egg-born Dreadlings.
[Dreadling Gear — 40 Pulse]
The creature transford into a gauntlet on her left hand as she swiftly mutated it with Chronolock’s energies.
Basic Attack: Temporal Strike (hits arrive before they’re thrown)
Skill 1: Reality Fracture (creates spatial cracks)
Skill 2: Crimson Adaptation (absorbs labyrinth energy)
Ultimate: Cascading Collapse (chain reaction destruction)
She struck the Guardian’s knee joint with Reality Fracture. Space cracked like glass. The Colossus stumbled.
Pyrren Dreadrix Watcher opened its maw and caught one of the Guardian’s energy blasts, storing it in its obsidian scales. The absorbed power would fuel a devastating counter-attack.
Voidweave Phantom phased through the Colossus’s body, leaving ethereal threads that would trigger later, severing connections between its core and limbs.
Ironmaw Dreadknight took a direct hit from two of the Guardian’s weapons simultaneously. Its armor cracked but adapted, hardening against that specific type of damage. The next hit would be less effective.
anwhile, more egg-born Dreadlings continued to combine and evolve, creating specialized counters. Three rged to create an energy-draining type. Four others beca a heavy assault variant. Two beca pure defense, intercepting attacks ant for the Tier-5 Dreadlings.
The paired players saw an opening and attacked from the flank.
Mistake.
Lily had left a Dreadgate positioned in the shadows. Six egg-born Dreadlings erupted from it, swarming the opportunistic players. These weren’t ant to kill—just to stall.
"Thirty seconds!" Lily called out, her voice layered with temporal echoes.
The Colossus retaliated with devastating force. One arm caught Ironmaw Dreadknight with a direct hit that should have been fatal. Instead, the Dreadling’s armor evolved again, incorporating the attack type. It stood, damaged but functional.
Pyrren Dreadrix Watcher unleashed its stored energy in a focused beam that carved through the Guardian’s left shoulder. Not enough to destroy, but enough to impair.
Sixty seconds.
Almond opened his eyes.
His inner domain, the Grimblade Essence Factory, burned with spectral fire. He’d spent that minute in focused creation, systematically destroying four hundred common Grimblades.
He created 40 Rare rank Grimblades, and most of them were Tier-2 and Tier-3—the weakest in his arsenal.
Those 40 Rare Rank were also sacrificed to turn four of his Rare-rank Tier-5 Grimblades into Breaker-rank Tier-5 Grimblades.
Each of those four Grimblades gained an additional effect that was utterly powerful, and the overall power of the Grimblades and existing effectswase also boosted.
He boosted those four Grimblades with Grim Severs and Grim Piercer.
Voidfang Severance → Sever: Energy Flow
Eclipsed Fate’s Edge → Pierce: Structural Integrity
Whisper of Ending → Sever: Consciousness Link (core to body)
Calamity’s Promise → Pierce: External defense.
Almond charged the blades with full power and sent them to obliterate the giant colossus.
Lily followed up with attacks from her remaining Tier-5 Dreadlings, who unleashed over ten effects each, furthering the destruction.
The other four players saw the jarring and chaotic sounds spreading with the devastating attacks unleashed by Lily and Almond.
When they looked at the Crimson Colossus, their eyes wideded and jaw dropped.
It had significant defense and hp, but it was crumbling like a water wave washing over a sand castle!
"S-Shit! Attack!"
"We need last hit!"
Alas, a blade silently streaked past each of them as their heads flew.
One player, a blue-haired demonic woman with dark blue wooden wings, managed to remain alive as she had a passive defense card that blocked the attack.
’Shit!’
Alas, Almond applied Grim Piercer: Defense Barrier, and she failed to keep herself alive in the next second as the blade punctured through the barrier and then her head.
On the other hand, thecolossus’ss hp reached 0 at the sa ti.
[ Congratulations. You have won the Crimson Labyrinth ga. 10,000 Anchor Points 5000 bonus Anchor Points. ]
Lily and Almond looked at the boss and quickly absorbed its energies and parts.
Lily absorbed the energies and core into Dreadgate, birthing eggs in the Dreadbirth Tree while Almond took its body parts and organs before transforming them into a total of six Common-rank Tier-6 Grimblades.
Shortly after they finished looting, they appeared back in the city.
Two A-rank gas, two wins = 60,000 Anchor Points total.
They had acquired enough to buy their new place, but everyone still went for the third A-rank ga.
A few hours later, Almond, Lily, Ainen, Saffa, Clovelle, Fraisea, and Gopu were sleeping in the natural beds made of cotton flowers in the garden of their new Celestial Garden Estate costing 150,000 Anchor Points per month.
Everyone won three A-rank gas and also acquired an invitation to an S-rank ga, which would finally allow them to collect resources.
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