Chapter 44: The Reaper Unleashed!

At one point, he deliberately triggered a pressure-plate trap that required two people to activate simultaneously.

He lured an elite monster, the [Mad Scribe], directly onto the mechanism.

The moment the trap activated and immobilized it, Aiden closed the distance.

A burst combo followed. The elite monster never even had a chance to recover. Everything flowed seamlessly. Every movement was precise. Every attack had a purpose. It was smooth as flowing water and precise as a master butcher’s knife.

This was no longer a battle. It was a carefully choreographed killing performance.

And Aiden Cross was its sole performer. After cutting through the final corridor, he finally arrived at the heart of City Hall.

The circular Council Hall. The enormous doors stood before him. Beyond them was the final boss.

A fat monster wearing a tattered mayor’s suit sat upon the throne that had once belonged to the city’s highest official.

Its skin was an ominous purplish-blue, stretched grotesquely over its bloated body. In one hand, it toyed with a twisted City Hall seal, its surface warped beyond recognition. A thick, nauseating aura of bureaucratic corruption radiated from its body, filling the Council Hall with a suffocating sense of decay.

At its feet crawled several equally mutated [Councilor] followers, their bodies twisted into grotesque caricatures of the officials they had once been.

[Corrupt Mayor Grasso (Team Dungeon Boss)]

[Level: 8]

[Traits: Corruption Aura (AOE Damage over Time), Document Bombardment (AOE Spell), Summon Guards, Power Struggle (Random Single-Target High Damage)]

A Level 8 team boss!

Its difficulty was on an entirely different level from every monster Aiden had encountered before.

Aiden Cross took a deep breath. His expression turned serious. But there was no fear in his eyes.

The battle instantly erupted into white-hot intensity!

The [Corruption Aura] enveloped the entire Council Hall, causing Aiden’s health to steadily drain. Fortunately, [Regenerative Construction] continuously repaired his injuries, consuming mana and his body’s normal metabolic energy to keep him alive.

Then came [Document Bombardment].

Sheets of corrupted documents rained down from above, each one carrying a corrosive energy capable of tearing through flesh. Aiden was forced to keep moving, weaving between the pillars and shattered furniture as the entire battlefield became a storm of flying paper.

Then [Power Struggle] activated. The boss’s gaze locked onto Aiden. A surge of terrifying energy erupted toward him.

Had Aiden not reacted with lightning-fast precision, predicted the attack through [Thermal Perception], and used [Root Entanglement] to momentarily hinder the boss’s movements, he would have been killed instantly.

But the most troublesome ability was [Summon Guards].

Periodically, the Corrupt Mayor summoned two Level 6 [Elite Guards] into the battlefield, forcing Aiden to fight multiple opponents while simultaneously dealing with the boss’s relentless attacks.

This was a true test of individual ability. DPS. Survival. Positioning. Mechanics. Every aspect was indispensable.

Aiden pushed himself to the absolute limit.

He used the circular structure of the Council Hall to kite the boss around its pillars, using the massive columns as temporary cover. He overturned chairs and tables to obstruct the Elite Guards, while [Root Entanglement] evolved from a simple crowd-control ability into a versatile battlefield tool.

Sometimes, it blocked the guards’ pursuit. Sometimes, it restrained the boss for a split second.

And sometimes, it created the exact opening Aiden needed to attack.

Every [Charged Strike] and Pressure Shot was timed for the critical moment of the boss’s skill incantation, forcibly interrupting its attacks before they could be completed.

But even Aiden was being pushed to his limits. His health dropped into the danger zone multiple times.

His [Minor Health Potions] had long since been exhausted.

He was relying entirely on the weak regeneration of the [Glimmering Bracelet] and his own precise dodging to stay alive.

His mana was depleted again and again, forcing him to temporarily abandon his skills and rely on basic attacks while waiting for enough mana to recover.

This was an incredibly brutal war of attrition.

Yet this was precisely where [Sovereign of Souls] revealed its terrifying potential.

Every time Aiden killed one of the summoned [Elite Guards], he gained another attribute point. Strength. Agility. Constitution. Spirit.

The improvements were small. Almost insignificant individually. But in a battle this extreme, every single point mattered.

They accumulated. They stacked. And eventually, they became the final weight that tipped the scales.

Aiden didn’t understand why the beasts that had emerged alongside the game’s invasion failed to provide Soul Traits, with the Thorned Flower Demon being the only exception he had encountered so far.

But he didn’t care. As long as [Sovereign of Souls] continued allowing him to absorb attributes and grow stronger, that was enough.

His attacks became heavier. His movements became faster. His defense strengthened. His health increased.

And with every subtle improvement, the balance of the battle began to shift.

The Corrupt Mayor’s health bar steadily dropped.

Seventy percent!

Fifty percent!!

Thirty percent!!!

"Roar!" The boss let out a furious howl. "Power! My power!"

Its massive body trembled with unwillingness as it unleashed its final madness.

[Document Bombardment] suddenly intensified.

Hundreds of corrupted documents filled the air, almost completely covering the Council Hall. The storm of razor-sharp paper and corrosive energy transformed the entire arena into a death zone.

A fierce glint flashed across Aiden’s eyes.

He stopped dodging. Instead, he charged straight into the storm.

The corrupted documents tore across his body, leaving bloody wounds behind, but Aiden didn’t slow down.

Like an arrow released from a bowstring, he shot toward the boss.

[Root Entanglement!]

Thick roots erupted from the floor and wrapped around the Corrupt Mayor’s legs, pinning it in place.

[Charged Strike!]

Brilliant energy surged through Aiden’s arm. Every ounce of strength remaining in his body condensed into his fist.

The momentum accumulated throughout the battle. The strength he had absorbed. The attributes he had gained. The countless attacks he had endured. Titan Strength and Kinetic smash. Everything converged into a single, decisive blow.

"Break... for me!"

BOOM!!!!!

Aiden’s gauntlets erupted with dazzling blue light as the power of his [Kinetic Smash] Soul Trait surged through them.

His fist slammed violently into the Corrupt Mayor’s bloated abdomen.