Chapter 635: Holding One Strand

The Lever’s exposed seam pulsed through the rehearsal chamber as Hajin entered with his twin blades drawn and ready.

Across the vaulted ceiling, conduit lines branched outward toward the central discharge basin, illuminating the masonry with erratic flashes of emerald radiance.

He tracked the conduit toward the discharge basin while his split-colored eyes scanned the remaining chamber supports.

Behind him, Juna and Nari secured the entryway, keeping their weapons ready to repel any reinforcement attempts.

"The resonance in this room is completely unstable," the wolf girl noted, her ears flattening against her silver hair.

"The seam we opened with the Lever cracked the primary conduit," Hajin answered, pointing toward the floor.

A brilliant strand of raw spiritual energy writhed across the flags, leaking from a fractured seam in the stone.

The energy hissed like a nest of disturbed vipers, sending arcs of emerald static dancing across the masonry.

Ever since the second seal of the Lever unlocked, the subterranean channels beneath the viaduct carried immense pressure.

A deep subterranean hum reverberated through the foundation stones, rattling the loose pebbles along the chamber rim.

Suddenly, the floor trembled violently as a towering sentinel stepped forth from the shadowy alcove behind the cistern.

The construct was forged from scorched bronze and hardened alloy, its chest housing a pulsing core of stolen celestial power.

Four massive steam exhaust cowls projected from its curved shoulder cowls, venting plumes of hissing vapor into the rafters.

Instead of brandishing a conventional weapon, the sentinel plunged its barbed talons directly into the exposed energy strand.

The vibrant conduit flared blindingly, wrapping around the construct’s arms like glowing tendrils of pure lightning.

With a deafening mechanical shriek, the sentinel swung its tethered arms, creating an immense gravitational vortex.

The violent pull dragged Hajin forward across the smooth flags, pulling him straight toward the churning discharge pit.

Loose gravel and stone fragments skittered across the floor, tumbling into the bottomless pit in a steady cascade.

"Summoner, watch out!" Nari cried, springing forward with her daggers drawn to intercept the vortex.

"Stay back, both of you!" Hajin ordered, driving the heels of his footwear into a floor seam to halt his slide.

"This is not a physical grab... it is anchoring itself through the conduit strand!"

’The Lever opened the seam, but the Grasp is built to bind the raw current.’

He released his left blade, allowing the sword to vanish into his spiritual inventory as he extended his empty hand.

The dark gauntlet of the Grasp pulsed along his forearm, its runic engravings drinking in the ambient atmospheric heat.

The sentinel lunged forward, swinging its blazing energy tendril to fling the summoner into the bottomless abyss below.

Hajin did not dodge, stepping directly into the path of the lashing current with his gauntleted hand outstretched.

His fingers closed firmly around the writhing strand, gripping the blistering spiritual power with deliberate physical contact.

A jolt of agonizing shock surged through his meridians, making every muscle in his torso clench with searing intensity.

Emerald fire hissed along the metallic gauntlet, spiraling around his forearm like a coil of furious molten wire.

’One second... hold the resonance steady and force the flow inward!’

The gauntlet strained under the immense spiritual pressure, absorbing the violent frequencies of the exposed conduit strand.

Raw celestial lightning crackled across his knuckles, threatening to tear the flesh from his fingers with every passing instant.

’Two seconds... clamp the seam and break its external connection!’

[ System notification: Artifact reclamation in progress... ]

[ Sovereign Grasp synchronization advances: 12.00% -> 15.00%! ]

[ Capability unlocked: One exposed conduit strand held for three seconds upon direct physical contact! ]

’Three seconds... the lock is complete!’

With a resounding sonic boom, the gravitational vortex shattered into thousands of harmless dispersing sparks.

The sentinel froze in mid-stride, severed instantly from the power source that fueled its terrifying mechanical strength.

"My turn," Hajin said coldly, his voice echoing through the vaulted chamber with absolute finality.

He drew his second blade in a seamless motion, channeling his six physical Rings into a single devastating arc.

A crescent wave of brilliant silver fire tore through the air, slicing cleanly through the sentinel’s reinforced neck.

The colossal bronze head detached from the shoulders, crashing onto the flagging with a thunderous metallic thud.

The shattered remains of the construct collapsed against the flags, sending curls of acrid vapor rising into the quiet cavern air.

Footsteps echoed sharply through the access corridor as the escaping keeper sprinted toward the spiraling ascent of the inner sanctum.

[ Battle log: Rehearsal sentinel destroyed! ]

[ Host campaign pool reconciled: +7,000,000 Base EXP ]

[ Shared escort kill receipt closed: +3,000,000 EXP From Juna escort intercept ]

[ Total experience gained: +10,000,000 EXP! ]

[ Host cumulative EXP: 690,000,000 / 1,000,000,000 -> 700,000,000 / 1,000,000,000 (Ring 7 at 70.00%) ]

Hajin exhaled slowly, rotating his left wrist as the residual heat from the Grasp dissipated into the air.

"Seventy percent toward the Seventh Ring," he observed, feeling the profound density of his circulating mana.

Across the chamber, an iron bulkhead slammed open as the rehearsal chamber keeper sprinted for the inner stairs.

The fleeing keeper clutched a reinforced leather portfolio containing the Incarnation’s deployment maps and route calculations.

"He is running for the auxiliary spatial exit!" Juna warned, raising her glaive to pursue the fleeing figure.

"No, do not chase him blindly into a choke point," Nari interrupted, stepping ahead with feline agility.

"I studied the layout of these stairwells while Rumi secured the exterior perimeter yesterday."

"Every spatial shortcut in that tower feeds into a single physical landing before the upper ramparts."

She turned toward the summoner, her bright eyes gleaming with sharp and determined predatory focus.

"Let me take the interior chase, summoner," she requested, twirling her twin curved blades with effortless grace.

"I will lock down his spatial routes and bring back those deployment charts intact."

"The interior route is yours, Nari," Hajin agreed, nodding with complete confidence in her assessment.

"Capture him alive if you can... we need those route coordinates verified before we march on the viaduct."

"Consider it done!" she replied with a playful wink, darting through the doorway like a silver streak of lightning.

Juna nodded solemnly, stepping back to guard the threshold so no additional sentinels could flank their position.

The wolf warrior planted the butt of her polearm into the stone, keeping her sharp senses tuned to the gorge.

Hajin walked over to the severed sentinel torso, examining the intricate bronze gears that once drove its mechanical limbs.

The workmanship was distinctly Imperial, bearing the precise runic stamps of the capital’s royal ordnance foundries.

"They poured immense engineering skill into these defense constructs, but mechanical conduits could never replace living soul resonance," he remarked.

High above the subterranean chamber, the celestial broadcast interface erupted with an ecstatic flurry of superchats.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "SEVENTY PERCENT TO RING SEVEN! The progress rate is utterly mind-blowing!" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "Holding a raw energy strand for three full seconds with bare hands, Hajin’s aura is unmatched!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "The Grasp reached fifteen percent. Hajin, please do not test its new limit on your bare skin!" ]

[ HearthKeeper: "And the pending kill receipt from Juna’s escort fight finally reconciled cleanly into the record!" ]

[ ShadowMage44: "Go get him, Nari! Show that cowardly keeper what happens when you run from a divine lynx!" ]

Hajin wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead, sheathing his twin swords with a crisp, satisfying click.

"Seal the ordnance stamp before anyone cleans it," Hajin told the engineers. "The capital will have to answer for whose machines reached this chamber."

The threshold was secured, his progress toward the seventh ring reached seventy percent, and the final puzzle pieces fell into place.