Chapter 597: The Unholy Last Blood

The Dreadmaw Sovereign let out a loud roar and slammed its claws into the ground, the dark blood flowing from its wounds spread through the cracks in the stone.

But instead of continuing along its natural path, it began to move in specific directions.

Six red lines spread out from the monster’s body, each reaching a different point in the area, where signs made of dark mana began to form.

[ Inverted Blood Altar ]

Lian felt the change in the mana from a distance.

He narrowed his eyes, six connection points and a central structure, along with streams of energy that were trying to pull the surrounding energy toward the Sovereign’s body.

So it wanted to strengthen itself while weakening its enemies.

The Inverted Blood Altar was not just a defensive field, if it was completed, it could use the energy in the area to strengthen the monster’s injured body.

And the longer the battle continued, the more valuable this advantage could become.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign was also counting on exactly this, it no longer intended to win with a single attack.

If it could keep its opponents inside the field, perhaps it could slowly find a chance to change the situation, but just as the altar’s six connection points lit up, Lian raised his right hand.

Five extremely thin strands of corrupted light containing Eclipse energy formed between his fingers.

Daylight shone through the broken clouds onto the snow-covered rocks.

He used those same paths of light to guide the strands, and five black lines moved along the reflections of the light.

They reached five of the altar’s connection points almost at the same time.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign had not even realized what was happening when the mana structures around the connection points began to break down.

It let out a short roar.

"What?!"

The five strands had not attacked its body, but the Eclipse energy was destroying the altar’s structure.

Five points collapsed one after another.

The final point was still intact, and the monster tried to transfer all its remaining energy into it.

But Seris had already raised her sword, a silver crescent separated from the blade and split the rock holding the final connection point.

CRAAACK!

The central structure of the altar lost its balance.

The streams of red and black blood energy flowed backward for a moment and then spread across the broken stones.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign looked around in disbelief.

It had used various skills and attacks, but none of them had even managed to put these two humans in real trouble.

At that moment, Seris appeared in front of it.

Her sword came down, but this time, the edge of the blade did not strike the monster’s neck directly, it created a deep cut along its shoulder and upper chest.

The Sovereign lost its balance.

When it tried to attack the girl with its claws, a heavy pressure fell upon its body.

[ Sovereign Judgment ]

Its knees bent.

Not because Seris had used up all her mana.

But because the difference in their power had now become so great that even part of the skill’s pressure was enough to hold it down.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign struck the ground with one knee, and the stone beneath it cracked.

She held her sword a short distance from its neck, the girl’s cold eyes fixed on the monster’s face.

"It’s over."

The monster raised its head with broken breaths, its gaze remained on the silver sword for a moment.

Then it looked at Lian.

The young man was still standing a short distance away, without needing to release his true power.

The Sovereign could no longer understand the situation.

How was this possible?

The two humans who once could not even breathe properly under the pressure of its presence had now brought it to its knees.

In the past, it had nearly killed both of them with a single movement of its finger, but now, even all its skills were not enough.

Lian took a few steps closer and looked at Seris.

"That’s enough."

The girl looked at him for a moment, then reduced the pressure of her skill and moved her sword back slightly.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign tried to get up from the ground, but its deep wounds and the blow it had received from Lian would not allow it.

Dark blood flowed from its mouth, its breathing had become irregular, and for a moment, it lowered its head.

Was it really going to die at the hands of these two humans?

At that very moment, something moved deep inside the Dreadmaw Sovereign’s body.

At first, it was very weak, like a heartbeat coming from somewhere farther away than the main heart in its body.

Then... THUMP!

The second beat was much heavier.

The Sovereign remained still for a moment, deep within its existence, a stream of dark energy began to move.

It was something that even the monster itself had never fully activated until that moment.

Lian felt the change in pressure and narrowed his eyes.

[ Warning: Rank Trait Awakened. ]

[ Unholy Last Blood ]

The moment death approaches, the blood of an Unholy begins to react.

The life force buried deep within its existence is released, forcing its dying body to continue fighting even after suffering injuries that should have ended its life.

Crushed organs, broken bones, and damaged muscles are no longer enough to stop it.

Its wounds begin to close as its remaining life force burns away, while its physical strength rises far beyond its previous limits.

The closer it gets to death, the more violently its Unholy nature awakens.

For a short time, even an Unholy that is almost at the edge of death can release power beyond its normal limits, turning every remaining moment of its life into a dangerous and desperate fight.

In addition, all its stats receive a monstrous boost.

But this power comes at a terrible cost.

Every second it spends fighting consumes part of its remaining life force, and with each passing moment, more of its existence is lost.

When this force finally runs out, nothing will remain to sustain its body.

And unlike evolution, this transformation brings no permanent improvement.

It is simply the final resistance of an Unholy that refuses to accept its own death.

Lian looked at the information for a moment.

Then he gave a faint smile.

He had always known that Unholy monsters were far more powerful than Fallen and ordinary monsters, in fact, everyone knew that.

But part of this difference was not just related to their base stats or the number of cores they could form after evolution.

Even before evolution, an Unholy monster possessed a deep reserve of life force that was released when it came close to death.

For an ordinary creature, the Dreadmaw Sovereign’s current injuries could have marked the end of the battle.

But an Unholy monster? It still had another stage, and this ability could completely change the outcome when fighting much stronger enemies.

This could be considered a Rank Trait, and only Unholy monsters and those of higher ranks possessed it.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign raised its head, the black blood flowing from its wounds stopped for a moment.

Then strands of dark energy emerged from the cracks in its skin, and the muscles throughout its body contracted violently.

Its twisted horns cracked and parts of them broke off, but a darker and harder layer was revealed underneath.

Its huge mouth opened, and a sound rose from deep in its throat that no longer resembled an ordinary roar.

GRRRRAAAAAAH!

A wave of pressure spread throughout the area, broken stones were thrown in every direction, and part of the remaining bone pillars collapsed.

Seris took a few steps back to create a suitable distance.

Lian also looked at the monster without any hurry.

The creature slowly rose from the ground, its shoulder wound was still there, but the bleeding had stopped.

Some of its internal injuries had also apparently been suppressed by the consumption of its stored life force.

Its black eyes now glowed with red lines running through them.

The Sovereign took a heavy breath.

Then it looked at Lian, its permanent smile widened again.

"You thought..."

Its claws opened.

"You could kill me this easily?"

Lian gave a slight shrug.

"Don’t you think it’s a little too early for you to start hallucinating?"

Silence filled the area for a moment.

"I WILL KILL YOU, HUMAN!" The Dreadmaw Sovereign let out an angry roar, it no longer intended to hold back its power.

The life force stored within its Unholy nature was being consumed, and it could also feel that it did not have much time left.

But this short amount of time might be enough to kill those two humans, it gathered all its remaining strength into its legs.

And charged toward Lian.

This time, it was faster.

The force of its movement crushed the stones beneath its feet, and its right claw moved toward the young man’s neck at a sharp angle.

But the young Vorhelm did not even try to retreat and raised his right arm.

The Sovereign’s claw struck his forearm.

THUD!

A heavy impact rang out, and for a moment, the force of the blow traveled along Lian’s arm.

His skin was scratched by the monster’s sharp claws, but his bones and muscles held firm.

He only lowered his arm by a few centimeters.

That was all.

The Dreadmaw Sovereign stopped moving, its gaze fixed on the human’s forearm, the wound was very shallow.

Even with the increased power from Unholy Last Blood, an attack that could have torn the bodies of many Awakened apart had only left a scratch on this human’s skin.

The monster felt something inside its chest collapse.

What kind of body is this?

Lian looked at the scratch for a moment and then raised his head.

"Now it’s my turn."

Two enormous black wings spread open behind him.

[ Wings of God ]