Chapter 54: Final attack

"Anything for you, my King!" she shouted back.

With a brutal twist of her hips, she violently yanked her bladed tail out of Balor’s arm, the switchblade bone-shards tearing away chunks of volcanic rock. She snapped her wings, driving her body downward through the smoke to land lightly right next to Dante on the monster’s chest plates.

The low-cut band of dark scales at her hips shifted gracefully with her movement, her long, flawless legs glowing under the fire of her own greatsword.

Warlord Balor let out a terrifying, maddened shriek as his free right hand immediately swung back around, his house-sized stone torso turning as he tried to crush both exiles under his immense weight.

"I’ll squeeze the lifelines out of both of you!" Balor roared, his three remaining rows of teeth dripping with boiling lava.

Dante didn’t flinch. He planted himself firmly onto the hot rock, gripping the invisible handle of the Seven-Sins Asura Blade with both hands as he focused his multiplied physical density into a single stance. Beside him, Esabella raised her massive crystallized-blood dragon-sword, her long black claws locking onto the hilt as the hellfire along the edge reached a blinding intensity.

"Strike on my mark," Dante said flatly, his eyes fixed on the tiny red dot pulsing at the center of the gold knot. "Three. Two. One... Now."

Void Step—

They drove their weapons downward at the exact same second.

BOOM!

Dante’s sword hit the gold knot first, triggering ’Weakness Extraction’ with absolute physical power. The SSS-rank strike violently shattered the outer structural defense layer of the core node, creating a tiny, clear fracture line that short-circuited Balor’s stone armor channels.

A microsecond later, Esabella’s burning dragon-sword pierced right through the open fracture, driving straight into the center of the gold knot. The pure bloodline energy of the Vaelorix family surged out of her blade, completing the ancient seal instantly.

A quiet ping rang through the vault.

For a fraction of a second, the entire cavern froze. Then, a wave of pure gold and purple light detonated from the chest node, expanding outward in a clean circle that violently washed over the entire room. The columns of boiling lava rising from the floor vents instantly froze into solid, harmless stone, and the crumbling ceiling stopped dropping boulders.

Warlord Balor didn’t even have the breath left to shriek. His body violently fractured from the inside out, the hardened stone plates dissolving completely into a harmless pile of dust that cascaded down the sides of the platform.

The floor core gave a final, deep thump before floating gently through the air, sinking smoothly into the center of Esabella’s chest scales. The glowing red runes around the room vanished entirely, the spatial matrix of the northern sector perfectly bonding to her soul signature.

The vault fell into a absolute silence. Dante landed lightly on the stone floor as the dust settled, His face returned to its usual expressionless look, though he could feel his reconnected system interface running smoothly in the background, his baseline muscles perfectly light and stable.

Esabella folded her massive wings halfway behind her back, her high heels clicking softly as she turned around. The ruthless battle expression on her beautiful face was completely gone, replaced by a flush on her face and a wild, obsessive look of pure love in her gold slitted eyes. Her tail thrashed against the ground in pure ecstasy as she stepped straight into his personal space, her large chest rising and falling heavily against her scales.

"We did it, Dante..." Esabella whispered fiercely, her voice a seductive rumble as she stared into his eyes. "The blood debt is settled, and the core belongs to us now. My bloodline is fully yours. Tell me, my King... what do you want to conquer next?"

Dante looked at her crazy, adoring face for a long moment before looking toward the exit doors where Gideon was standing. "The floor is cleared. Now it’s time to find the path out of this graveyard and head back "

Dante stood near the center of the platform. Now that the adrenaline from the battle had faded, a massive wave of fatigue suddenly hit his baseline body. The reconnected system screen in his vision was completely clear, but the Mend protocol he had used earlier to fix his broken ribs was now demanding its full payment. His leg muscles felt completely heavy, and a hollow, gnawing sensation opened up in his gut.

’Grumbleeee—!’

A rumble vibrated from Dante’s stomach, sounding clearly off the quiet walls of the vault.

Dante froze, his face remaining completely still, though his eyebrows twitched slightly.

Esabella, who was standing just two steps away with her gold eyes glowing, stopped her swaying tail instantly. She blinked in surprise, her full red lips parting before a soft, genuinely amused smile stretched across her face. Her iron-molten spikes flattened back completely as she let out a gentle giggle.

"Oh..." Esabella whispered, her gold eyes sparkling with absolute adoration. "My King is hungry after doing all that brutal work. That is so incredibly cute."

"Forget it," Dante said,"The floor is secured. We are moving toward the canyon exit immediately , i need to back now"

’GRUMBLEEE!’

His stomach spoke again, even louder this time, completely ruining his cold atmosphere.

Dante stared at the wall panel, internally regretting his body’s lack of cooperation.

’Shit,this again!’

"You are not going anywhere on an empty stomach, Dante," Esabella said, her tone suddenly shifting into absolute royal authority as she turned toward the entrance. The sweet look on her face vanished as she glared at the remaining southern soldiers. "All of you! Stop standing there like useless statues! Command the cooks to prepare the absolute finest royal beasts, the highest-grade volcanic wines, and every luxury in the palace storage! If the food isn’t ready by the time we reach the courtyard, I will personally throw your soul cores into the furnace!"

"Y-Yes, Great Queen!" the old captain screamed in panic, grabbing the young vanguard soldier by the collar and sprinting out of the ruined vault as fast as his legs could carry him.

Dante let out a tired sigh, keeping his eyes on the floor core floating inside her chest armor. "You didn’t need to make a scene. But fine. We will eat before we head to the next floor."