Chapter 111 – The Monarch (５)

Liberta’s body began to burn.

It was because of the ten embers that had bloomed above the monarch’s head moments ago.

The instant those ten embers finished forming, they merged into one and coiled around the monarch’s entire body.

‘That was close.’

Gijun thought, a triumphant smile on his lips.

‘A second later and I’d have missed my chance.’

For Gijun, too, it was a moment that made him heave a sigh of relief.

That was how fast the monarch’s movements had become in its final phase.

Even when he was stacking that last, tenth ember, Gijun had only managed to land a single Fireball.

But what mattered was that he’d done it.

Gijun had finally built up all ten stacks, and in that instant, a message appeared before his eyes.

[The effect of Boiling Flames has been activated.]

[The target, consumed by ten embers, falls into a Stun state for 3 seconds.]

[The attack power of the follow-up strike is increased by 1000%.]

The moment the message Gijun had been waiting for finally appeared—

“Now.”

Gijun said.

In this instant, he intended to borrow Libre’s power.

[Ready.]

Libre replied.

At that moment, a power like a storm surged from Gijun’s heart.

An overwhelming torrent of might.

At the same time, a message flashed up.

[The power of a transcendent being has been transferred to you.]

[All Stats have explosively increased.]

WOOM—WOOM—WOOM—

A violent wave of force began to rage around Gijun.

His hair and the hem of his robe whipped through the air.

A crimson Aura rippled around his body.

‘…No way.’

This power was incomparably stronger than even the force he’d felt from Libre before.

‘I’m ending this. No matter what.’

Thanks to that, Gijun was certain.

That this attack would definitely finish Liberta.

‘Let’s go.’

With Libre’s power in hand, Gijun began casting his spell again.

Fireball.

The ten Fireballs merged into one, forming a massive sphere.

And then, he reshaped that Fireball.

A Spear.

A gigantic Spear.

Its size hadn’t changed much.

Just like the ones before—a Spear roughly ten meters long.

But that didn’t mean it was exactly the same.

Blazing light poured from the Spear.

A golden radiance.

A wave of brilliant light, like the sun itself, flooded the entire area.

“…!!”

Liberta’s body trembled.

In that frozen moment — unable to move, unable even to cry out — the brilliant wave of Gijun’s magic hammered relentlessly against Liberta’s very existence.

A guttural growl scraped from her throat. “Krrr… krrrrr…”

Only bewilderment poured from Liberta’s lips in strained, ragged groans.

And then — now.

Chak!

Gijun’s hand closed around the spear’s shaft.

He threw.

Toward Liberta — without a single trace of hesitation.

Flash!

A golden line lashed across the air, streaking straight for Liberta.

The spear punched through the dead center of her chest.

Crunch!

“Kuh… kuh-uhhh…”

Liberta’s eyes flew wide.

Her mouth fell open.

And only then — the Stun shattered.

Yet Liberta couldn’t take a single step.

Her hands and legs trembled violently.

Instinctively, both of her hands reached for the spear buried in her chest.

Thwack!

She seized the shaft.

In that instant —

Whoosh!

“…!”

Flame erupted over Liberta’s hands.

And then — her arms simply vanished.

“Kuh… Kyaaah… KYAAAAAAAAH!”

Liberta — now armless — let out a howl of agony.

And then —

Flash!

An explosion massive enough to engulf Liberta’s entire body detonated.

*

[????]

[What the hell]

[Holy shit, he’s insane!]

The final blow everyone had been waiting for.

The moment it erupted, the viewers went berserk.

Because they had just witnessed a Skill more dazzling than anything before.

[What kind of Skill is that?!]

[No fucking way]

[Looks like a nuke just went off!]

The entire area had been utterly devastated — as if a nuclear bomb had detonated.

Even the Players far away struggled to survive the shockwave unscathed.

If not for the defensive Skills Hera and Klaim had thrown up at the last second…

[The Tower’s collapsing!]

[What the fuck IS that!]

The explosion was so massive that even the Tower began to crumble.

That Tower — so immense its end was invisible — collapsed in a single, staggering instant.

Crash! CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!

Like the legendary Tower of Babel falling to ruin.

The Monarch’s Tower toppled, helpless, and roared its death-throe thunder.

[So what about the Monarch?]

[What happened to the Monarch!]

The Monarch was still nowhere to be seen.

Because an intense light still blanketed the whole area.

[Get rid of the flash-blind already!]

[When the hell is that Solar Flare gonna fade!]

Everyone waited.

Waited for the white light covering the screen to vanish.

And then — a moment later.

The light faded, and slowly, the landscape began to reclaim its shape.

[…Holy shit…]

In that moment, everyone was stunned.

[He’s not dead.]

[Still alive?]

[The hell—how tough is this bastard?]

The Lord still hadn’t fallen.

A hole punched through its chest, the iron armor sloughing off its body, its form mangled beyond recognition—

—yet it stood firm, glaring at Gijun.

*

“What the…”

“Remarkable.”

Hera and Klaim stared at Gijun and the Lord, disbelief written across their faces.

“That was a devastating blow.”

“We barely avoided being caught in the blast ourselves.”

The instant Gijun’s final attack detonated, the two of them had scrambled to cast their defensive Skills.

The strongest shields in their arsenal.

They’d managed to mitigate the damage, but as the casters, they could feel—vividly—just how monstrous that Skill’s power had been.

“Plenty of Rankers wouldn’t have survived that.”

“Right. And we were at range—that’s the only reason we’re still standing.”

If they’d been any closer, even their defensive Skills wouldn’t have fully blocked that strike.

That’s how ferocious it was.

The truly astonishing part, though, was that the Lord still lived.

That fact alone made it abundantly clear what a terrifying Boss Monster the Lord was.

Which only made Gijun look all the more incredible.

He’d weathered that same devastating Skill head-on, driven a monster that could survive it to this brink—

—alone, without a Party.

Truly extraordinary.

Unbelievable.

If that man ever made it into the Ranker ranks, just how strong would he become?

He could upend the game’s entire landscape.

A Player with enough sheer force to shake the whole of Genesis.

Lucky.

That was what Hera felt: relief.

Relief that she’d managed to forge an amicable relationship with him.

If she hadn’t—if she’d made an enemy of him instead—

She might have created a foe far greater than Skull had ever been. There was no comparison.

…Good.

So Hera made a new resolve.

I’m going to make that man a Ranker.

She’d sworn it before.

But now, that oath was sealed with absolute certainty.

She would turn that mage, Jun, into a Ranker—no matter what.

And now, the battle between the Lord and Gijun resumed.

The Lord’s missing hands had already regrown.

Its shattered form had snapped back to its original state in an instant.

Yet the Lord no longer felt as threatening as before.

It had taken catastrophic Damage.

And in regenerating its completely ruined body, the Lord’s Magi had shrunk conspicuously.

Its movements had slowed, and there was no way Gijun would miss that opening.

Now, every one of Gijun’s Skills found its mark.

And then, Gijun’s body began to burn.

Flame Unity.

The Monarch had slowed, and Gijun had only grown faster.

The fight itself had become meaningless — Gijun was overwhelming, his combat power utterly dominant.

Kyaa! Kyaaaaaagh!

The Monarch’s agonized roar drummed against every ear in the room.

Gijun, a Wind Blade in each hand, carved the Monarch’s entire body to ribbons.

His summoned beast, too, poured out searing flames.

And so, finally—

Thud!

The Monarch’s knees hit the floor.

The Monarch stared at his own hands, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“It’s over.”

“Truly a battle for the ages.”

At the sight, Hera and Klaim let their awed impressions spill out.

And it wasn’t just them.

Everyone present was pouring out praise for Gijun.

*

[You have slain the Monarch of the Underworld!]

‘Got him.’

Gijun clenched his fist.

Finally — he’d brought down the Monarch.

That impossible enemy, defeated.

It felt unreal.

And still, the messages kept flooding in.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

.

.

.

An endless cascade of level-up messages.

[Maximum level gain for a single instance has been reached.]

[Remaining Experience has been converted into Stats.]

[All Stats have increased by 50.]

Level-up messages.

Slaying the Monarch alone had pushed him to the level cap.

And the surplus Experience had converted to a staggering 50 points in every Stat.

[Impossible Achievement unlocked!]

[Your achievement is now known to every being on the continent!]

An Achievement message followed.

[Achievement Reward obtained!]

[Monarch’s Soul Stone obtained!]

The Achievement’s reward was the Monarch’s Soul Stone.

The Monarch’s Soul Stone was an ore of jet-black light.

Around it, malevolent Magi shimmered and twisted.

[Monarch’s Soul Stone]

-Grade : ???

-???

An item with no listed grade and no description.

‘…I need to ask Tubaku about this.’

The moment he saw the Monarch’s Soul Stone, one person came to mind: Tubaku.

The smith of Tartaros.

If anyone could tell him how to use this ore, it would be that man.

[Iron Armor of the Dark Monarch obtained!]

[Iron Armor of the Dark Monarch]

>Grade : Transcendent

>Defense : 2130

>Magic Defense : 1630

>Damage Absorption 20%

-Converts 20% of absorbed damage into HP and MP

>Dark Attribute Attack +100%

>Attack Power +100%

>Magic Attack +100%

>All Stats +150

>HP Recovery Speed +100%

>Movement Speed +150%

‘…What the hell is this.’

Gijun narrowed his eyes.

The item dropping was good, but there was a problem.

‘I can’t equip it.’

When he tried to equip the item, this message appeared.

[Equipment restricted: cannot be worn by Mage-class professions.]

‘Can’t be helped.’

Gijun felt a flicker of disappointment, but he decided to put off equipping it for now.

‘If I sold this… I could get an insane amount of money.’

Not exaggerating.

It was the first Boss Monster Raid item to ever drop from Tartaros.

Its price was beyond even imagining.

He could earn enough in one shot to buy a house in Gangnam and still have money left over.

But Gijun had no desire to sell it.

What he wanted wasn’t money.

‘I should ask Tubaku after all.’

So Gijun thought of Tubaku again.

No doubt that guy could modify this equipment for him.

And then—

[The Blade Piercing the Self has activated!]

Another line of text appeared before his eyes.

The Blade Piercing the Self.

That was the effect attached to the staff.

And in that moment, something incredible happened.

[The Staff of Thought has absorbed one of the Underworld Monarch Liberta’s Skills!]

‘…What?’

Gijun’s eyes went wide at the message that it had absorbed a Monarch’s Skill.

Something he’d never even imagined had just happened.