Chapter 80: The Corrupted S-Rank [Part 2]

Chapter 80. The Corrupted S-Rank [Part 2]

I twisted in midair.

Three Eclipse wisps became daggers.

The other three became thin rotating discs.

I sent the daggers toward its eyes.

The Dreadhorn raised one armored foreleg.

Exactly what I wanted.

The discs curved downward.

Two struck the joints beneath its front legs.

Blood sprayed.

Not enough.

Its Stone Carapace activated instantly, dark mineral armor crawling over the injured areas.

The monster adapted.

So did I.

I landed sideways rather than upright, rolled through the impact, and came up running.

The Dreadhorn lunged.

I ran directly toward it.

Claws swept low.

I jumped over the first.

Duck beneath the second.

Pivot around the third.

My shoulder passed close enough to its chest that I could feel heat radiating through the scales.

One Eclipse dagger formed in my hand.

I plunged it between two plates.

Blood spilled across my fingers.

Then I extended the blade.

The Dreadhorn roared.

The short dagger became a long silver-black sword inside its body.

But instead of recoiling, the bastard slammed its shoulder into me.

I flew.

My back struck a pillar.

Pain exploded through my spine.

Before I could recover, the monster Shadow Stepped.

Its jaws appeared in front of my face.

[Void Shift]

I reappeared behind it.

My breathing had quickened.

The extended Eclipse blade dissolved from inside the monster, leaving dark blood pouring down its flank.

The Dreadhorn turned slowly.

No mindless charge.

Its crimson eyes locked onto mine.

It lowered its body.

I wiped the blood from my mouth with my thumb.

Then my smile returned. Wide. Twisted.

Excited enough that anyone watching would probably reconsider which creature in this cavern was actually corrupted.

I should have been terrified.

This was an S-rank corrupted monster with multiple developed skills, frightening intelligence, and enough physical strength to turn my spine into an academic disagreement.

Instead, all I could think about was the mana core beating somewhere inside that armored chest.

I wanted it.

Intact.

My grin widened.

Six Eclipse blades floated around me as the Dreadhorn’s three tails rose behind it.

The cavern fell silent for half a heartbeat.

Then both of us moved.

The Dreadhorn vanished first.

My Domain caught the disturbance behind me, but instead of using Void Shift, I dropped my weight and spun low.

One bladed tail passed above my head.

The second carved through my shoulder.

Abyssal Reinforcement prevented it from taking the entire arm, but blood still sprayed across the stone as pain burned down to my fingertips.

The third tail came straight for my chest.

[Shadow Barrier]

Darkness erupted between us.

The tail slammed into the barrier hard enough to fracture its surface immediately, black cracks spreading across it like broken glass.

I pushed off the floor, slid beneath the Dreadhorn’s body, and came out beside its rear legs as the Shadow Barrier shattered behind me.

The monster twisted.

Its rear claw caught my ribs and threw me sideways.

I hit the ground, rolled twice, planted one hand against the stone, and forced myself upright before it could follow.

Blood ran beneath my shirt.

My shoulder hurt.

My ribs hurt.

The Dreadhorn lowered itself again.

It had learned that chasing me recklessly wouldn’t work.

I had learned something too.

Its Stone Carapace could block my Eclipse blades.

Its speed made aiming for one specific weakness unreliable.

Its Mana Sense warned it whenever I concentrated too much magic into a single attack.

So I stopped trying to make one good attack.

Why aim perfectly when I could simply make missing statistically unreasonable?

Eclipse Light gathered around me.

Not six wisps this time.

Twenty.

Thirty.

More.

I kept dividing them.

Each became smaller.

Thinner.

Until dozens of silver-black needles floated around my body.

The Dreadhorn’s eyes narrowed.

I smiled.

I didn’t need these to kill it.

I only needed them to land.

The Dreadhorn understood the threat anyway.

Stone Carapace spread over its chest and shoulders.

Then it was gone.

My Domain caught the displacement.

I threw myself sideways.

Claws tore through the floor where I’d been standing.

My hand swept forward.

The first wave of needles launched.

The Dreadhorn twisted.

Most bounced from its armor.

Several missed.

Three entered its flank.

I didn’t activate them.

Not yet.

The monster released Gale Rend.

I sprinted toward a pillar.

One wind blade followed.

I changed direction.

Another anticipated it.

Smart.

I kicked against the pillar instead, using the Reinforcement to launch myself sideways as the wind blade split the stone behind me.

The Dreadhorn charged through the falling rubble.

I sent another storm of needles.

This time I wasn’t aiming for its head.

I targeted everything.

Legs.

Flanks.

Abdomen.

Neck.

Joints.

The creature blocked what it could.

Stone armor spread.

Tails whipped through the air, knocking needles aside.

But there were too many.

One pierced beneath its front leg.

Two entered the abdomen.

Another disappeared between the scales around its neck.

Seven.

Nine.

Twelve.

Enough.

The Dreadhorn roared and dissapeared again.

I knew exactly where it would go.

Behind me.

Its favorite angle.

I turned before it fully emerged.

Our eyes met.

For the first time, the creature hesitated.

Maybe it finally understood.

Those needles weren’t failed attacks.

They were preparation.

I grinned.

Then closed my fist.

[Eclipse Light Manipulation]

Every needle embedded inside its body changed shape.

Not into longer blades.

Into gears.

Small at first.

Then expanding.

Rotating.

The Dreadhorn froze.

A horrible wet grinding sound came from inside its body.

The first gear tore through muscle.

Another caught against a rib and spun until the bone shattered.

The gears buried in its abdomen ripped through organs as their luminous teeth expanded, while the one near its shoulder chewed through tendons from inside.

Blood erupted from the wounds where the needles had entered.

The Dreadhorn screamed.

It tried to activate Stone Carapace.

Too late.

Its armor was outside.

My weapons were already inside.

I spread my fingers.

The gears grew larger.

The sound changed.

Wet.

Crunching.

Its body bulged unnaturally in several places as rotating Eclipse constructs shredded flesh beneath the scales.

Blood poured from its mouth.

One leg collapsed.

Then another.

The monster still tried to move.

Still tried to kill me.

I respected the bastard.

It dragged itself forward with its remaining legs, crimson eyes fixed on me while one bladed tail rose for a final strike.

I walked toward it.

The tail whipped forward.

I stepped aside.

Not far.

Just enough.

The blade passed my cheek close enough to cut several strands of hair.

I placed my blood-covered palm against its forehead.

The Dreadhorn growled.

I could feel the vibration beneath my fingers.

My smile softened into something considerably more disturbing.

One last Eclipse needle formed above my shoulder.

I sent it beneath the creature’s jaw.

It entered cleanly.

I waited until I felt it reach the skull.

Then changed it.

The needle became a gear.

It rotated.

The Dreadhorn’s entire body jerked.

Blood streamed from its nose, mouth, and eyes as the gear tore through everything inside its skull.

The crimson glow in its eyes flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Gone.

[Evolution Progress: 64%]

My eyebrows rose.

That monster had given me a ridiculous amount of Evolution Progress.

Was it because it was S-rank?

Because it was corrupted?

Or because it possessed genuine intelligence and multiple developed skills?

Possibly all three.

The Eclipse gears dissolved inside its body, leaving behind ruined organs without damaging the core I’d come here for.

The Dreadhorn swayed.

Then the enormous S-rank monster fell.

-THUD!

Blood slowly spread beneath its corpse.