Chapter 716: One Attack, Three Victories

A huge mass of darkness was spinning in front of Lian, its center was so black that no light reflected from it, and rings of energy, ice, and stone were moving around it at a terrifying speed.

The scene looked like a huge black hole that had opened in the sky.

The Core of the Fallen Star was still active and was controlling the gravitational field around the vortex. Huge masses of stone were being pulled toward the center, and before reaching it, they were crushed under the pressure of powerful forces.

Thick layers of ice broke apart, and large sections of the plateau’s stone ground separated.

Farther away, the mountain slopes collapsed under the pressure wave, and the dark clouds in the sky were split apart.

But most of the attack’s power was still focused on the corruption network.

The black vortex struck the restrained center of the network.

Eclipse Energy destroyed the mana structures around the connections, and the threads of End cut every new connection that White Oblivion tried to create.

The first section of the network cracked, and then the second section also began to collapse.

White Oblivion remained motionless for a moment.

Roderick’s face twisted with anger and hatred, and his fingers closed tightly.

"This..."

He tried to use the power of his subordinates to stabilize the network again.

But Lian had noticed something else.

Why should I use all this power just to destroy one network?

His gaze moved toward the two Unholy.

The Forsaken Apostate was still trapped under the pressure of four Seals of the Crown on the western side of the plateau.

On the eastern side, Vesperis was also trying to break the other two Seals with his two swords.

Both were severely injured, but they were still alive.

And after consuming such a huge amount of mana, he had no intention of being forced to fight them again.

’I’d better finish this right now.’

He bent his index finger slightly, and at that moment, the direction of the gravitational fields around the two Unholy changed.

The Forsaken Apostate was the first to notice.

A huge force was pulling his four-meter-tall body toward the vortex.

The knight drove his sword into the stone ground with both hands, his twelve gray wings moved violently, but the four Seals of the Crown prevented him from using their full power.

The stone beneath his feet broke apart, and his huge body slowly rose from the ground.

"Human!"

Lian looked at him without changing his expression.

"Our battle is over."

At that moment, the gravitational pressure increased, and the knight was pulled toward the vortex.

[ Ashen Aegis ]

The twelve gray wings folded around the Apostate’s body and formed a shield with several layers.

But when the first part of the black vortex struck it, the outer feathers broke apart one after another.

The second layer broke, followed by the third.

The knight used all his mana to maintain his defense, but the power of the Wings of God’s black vortex, with 3333% offensive power, was far beyond what his damaged shield could withstand.

A huge cracking sound was heard.

The gray wings were torn apart, and the knight’s huge armor split under the pressure of the vortex, and a moment later, his entire body disappeared into the spinning darkness.

On the other side, Vesperis tried to use Preceding Echo to escape the gravitational field.

But the two Seals of the Crown were still limiting his movements.

He held both swords in front of his body, the first blade broke under the pressure of the vortex, and the other shattered a moment later.

The Inquisitor did not even get a chance to perform another attack, his armor split in several places, and his body was pulled into the vortex.

The two powerful Unholy presences disappeared one after another.

[ You have killed The Forsaken Apostate — Unholy, Level 35 ]

[ You have killed Vesperis — Unholy, Level 28 ]

He looked at the notifications for a moment.

But he was not finished yet.

White Oblivion raised both hands with clear anger.

"Stop!"

Huge flows of mana formed around Roderick’s body, but Lian no longer paid attention to him.

Too late.

The black vortex struck the final section of the network.

The two remaining Seals of the Crown held the structure in place, and with one final push, End Energy broke the remaining connections.

A terrifying sound echoed across the entire plateau.

The corruption network split apart from its center, and its different sections collapsed within the black vortex.

The paths that collected and transferred the corruption were destroyed.

And the connection that was supposed to corrupt Hollow Sun’s consciousness from within was completely destroyed.

Lian finally stopped the mana flow.

The black vortex continued spinning for several more seconds and then slowly disappeared, and among the remains of stone and ice, no trace of the two living Unholy remained.

For a few moments, silence covered the entire plateau.

The huge gravitational field began to weaken, and the floating masses of stone fell one after another.

Some fell into the cliffs, while others broke apart when they struck the frozen ground.

The plateau no longer had its previous shape, huge cliffs had been moved, and thick layers of ice covered a large part of the area.

At the center of all this destruction, Lian was still standing, and the two black wings behind his body slowly folded, gradually became transparent, and soon disappeared completely.

He felt severe pain in both hands, he felt pain in all his ribs, bones, and every inch of his body.

Deep cracks remained on the skin of his forearms and neck, and blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth.

His mana was almost completely exhausted.

Finally...

He glanced at the remains of the network.

It’s over.

At that moment, system notifications appeared before his eyes.

[ Level Up! ]

[ Level 38 → Level 39 ]

[ Level Up! ]

[ Level 39 → Level 40 ]

Along with the level increase, a warm flow moved through Lian’s body.

The cracks on his skin began to close, and his internal injuries healed one after another.

A few moments later, all his physical injuries had disappeared.

Naturally, his physical injuries were automatically healed after leveling up, but his mana reserves and the energy in his two cores remained almost empty.

[ Main Quest Completed! ]

[ Preserve the Final Judgment ]

[ The Hollow Sun has been preserved ]

[ Rewards Granted ]

[ +5 Levels ]

[ +5,000 Fragments ]

[ Ancient-Rank Treasure ]

[ Level Reward Pending: Second Evolution ]

He slowly breathed out.

The five levels from the quest reward would be given to him after completing his Second Evolution, and at that time, he could directly advance from Level 40 to Level 45.

But before he could examine the rewards, more warnings appeared.

[ Warning: Mana Below 1%! ]

[ Crown of Eight Paths Deactivated! ]

[ Fallen Star Core Deactivated! ]

The eight Seals of the Crown disappeared, and the Core of the Fallen Star also stopped working.

Young Vorhelm took a heavy breath.

’At least my body has completely healed.’

But he was still extremely exhausted, and despite the deaths of the two Unholy, White Oblivion was still alive.

At that moment, a new notification appeared.

[ Greater Glutton Activated ]

[ You have obtained an SSS-Rank Talent from killing The Forsaken Apostate ]

He looked at the last message for a moment.

SSS?

The corner of his mouth rose slightly.

He had not examined the details of the talent yet, but its rank alone was enough to catch his attention.

Even so, he did not intend to spend time examining it for now, he did not have time for that.

Farther away, One and Two were still struggling to remain standing, and Three and Four were also looking toward him despite their severe injuries.

The Bone Minstrel was still playing his guitar.

But White Oblivion, Lian could feel anger and rage coming from him, as if he might explode at any moment, that creature was staring at the remains of the network and the place where his two servants had been destroyed.

His smile had completely disappeared.

All the Withered he had prepared for sacrifice had been destroyed.

The corruption network had been destroyed.

And his two Unholy servants were also dead.

But most importantly, the human he had intended to use as his Anchor was standing right in front of him.

He had not been possessed or turned into a tool for spreading corruption, instead, he had destroyed his entire plan.

"Do you know....what you’ve done?" White Oblivion asked in a voice filled with anger.

Lian slowly dismissed the system window, then raised his head and looked directly at the Calamity’s face.

He gave a short smile.

"Exactly what I came here to do from the beginning....Now it’s your turn."