Chapter 127: Grave-Bog Titan (2)

Absolute Zero Breath!

The catastrophic beam of ultimate frost erupted upward from the swamp, washing over the Grave-Bog Titan’s massive legs. The extreme temperature shift instantly froze the murky water, locking the Titan’s feet in an indestructible block of absolute-zero ice, perfectly anchoring the beast in place.

The Titan, missing an arm and frozen to the waist, let out a sound like grinding tectonic plates. The black hole in its chest flared violently, initiating a desperation protocol.

The ambient gravity in a hundred-yard radius inverted. The stagnant black water, the rotting trees, and massive chunks of mud were ripped from the earth, floating upward into the sky before violently converging toward Leon, attempting to crush him in a localized singularity of debris.

Leon remained suspended on his wings of superheated ash, entirely unbothered by the converging maelstrom.

"You rely too heavily on raw mass," Leon analyzed coldly.

He gripped the braided leather haft of Epitaph with both hands. He didn’t bother trying to dodge the debris field. He simply triggered Abyssal Stride.

The spatial fabric folded perfectly around him, and he instantly bypassed the crushing singularity, materializing directly in front of the Grave-Bog Titan’s chest, hovering mere inches away from the violently spinning black hole.

"Sovereign’s Eclipse," Leon whispered.

He didn’t cast the domain in a wide radius. He concentrated the Primordial-grade spell into a localized, hyper-dense sphere of absolute, profound nothingness, encasing the blade of his Legendary axe within the void.

Leon swung Epitaph horizontally, driving the void-wrapped blade directly into the center of the spinning gravitational core.

The collision of the Primordial void and the localized black hole created a catastrophic, silent implosion. The kinetic rupture from the axe detonated simultaneously, tearing the gravitational singularity apart from the inside out.

The Grave-Bog Titan froze. The inverted gravity failed instantly, sending thousands of tons of mud and water crashing back down into the swamp. The massive, towering monstrosity let out a final, grinding shudder before its internal structure completely collapsed. The beast imploded into a massive pile of inert dirt, shattered bone, and petrified wood.

Leon rode the shockwave backward on his ashen wings, landing smoothly on a frozen, absolute-zero ice patch generated by Auris. The superheated wings dissolved back into his spine, leaving the night air quiet once again.

Ding!

[You have killed "Grave-Bog Titan (Level 75, Elite Sovereign)"]

[Experience is obsolete. Essence Points (EP) must be gained from Steadfast regions.]

Leon ignored the notification. His icy blue and golden eyes were locked onto the massive pile of ruin, his SSS-Rank Talent Devourer already roaring to life, actively hunting the conceptual laws that had allowed the beast to manipulate gravity.

Dense, pulsing violet motes of system data began to rise from the mud, aggressively swirling toward Leon’s outstretched hand.

Ding!

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Gravitational Singularity" (Fragments Available: 55)]

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Necrotic Siphon" (Fragments Available: 40)]

The hunt had yielded a staggering harvest.

"System," Leon commanded, the cold night air rushing around him. "Extract all fifty-five fragments of ’Gravitational Singularity’. Synthesize into a new talent."

Ding!

[55 Fragments of "Gravitational Singularity" have been fused.]

[New Talent Acquired: Event Horizon — Grade: S]

[Description: The user can actively generate a localized, hyper-dense gravitational well at a targeted location. Enemies caught within the radius suffer a 90% reduction in movement speed, cannot utilize spatial teleportation, and continuously take crushing physical damage. The well can be manually detonated to pull all targets into a single point before violently exploding outward.]

Leon nodded in absolute satisfaction. It was the perfect crowd-control mechanic, completely stripping high-mobility targets of their primary evasion tools.

He turned his attention to the remaining dark, sickly green motes of data rising from the swamp.

"System, extract all forty fragments of ’Necrotic Siphon’. Fuse them directly into my existing ’Domain of the Dead’ talent."

The data surged into his chest, integrating seamlessly with his older, B-Rank necromancy domain.

Ding!

[40 Fragments of "Necrotic Siphon" have been assimilated.]

[Talent Upgrade Successful!]

[Domain of the Dead (Grade: B) has evolved into: Sovereign’s Harvest (Grade: A)]

[Description: When the user slays an enemy within a designated radius, the conceptual life-force of the fallen is instantly siphoned, restoring 20% of the user’s maximum mana and permanently adding a fraction of the fallen entity’s base stats to a temporary, stacking combat buff.]

"A perpetual motion engine," Leon murmured, clenching his hand into a fist as the new conceptual laws settled into his frame. "The more I kill, the stronger and faster I become during an engagement. A perfect tool for breaching Steadfast territories."

He turned to look at Auris. The Glacial Sovereign was already shaking the mud from his void-steel armor, looking utterly unfazed by the brief scuffle in the swamp.

The hunt is concluded, Auris, Leon projected, a rare, relaxed tone coloring his mental voice. Take us home.

Auris roared, offering his heavily armored neck to his master. Leon vaulted into the saddle, and the massive beast launched them back into the sky, leaving the stagnant, ruined marshlands far behind.

The flight back to the northern permafrost mountains was smooth and uneventful. As they crossed the crystalline forests, the pale moon began to sink below the horizon, giving way to the vibrant, crystalline dawn of Sector 12’s morning cycle.

Auris banked gracefully, descending toward the secluded clearing beside the glowing blue mana-waterfall. The estate stood quiet and pristine, bathed in the early morning light.

Leon dismounted, his dark boots hitting the damp grass. He dismissed his weapons to his spatial inventory, rolling his shoulders to alleviate a nonexistent stiffness, purely out of habit.

He didn’t need to open the front door.

The sliding bamboo panels whipped open with an energetic clatter. Snow Valestorm bounded out onto the porch, looking radiant and fully rested. She was already clad in her black leather shorts and crop top, her white hair pulled back into a tight, practical braid.

She wasn’t holding her massive Legendary buster sword. Instead, gripped tightly in her left hand, were sleek void-steel parrying dagger, its edge shimmering with raw, unbridled sharpness.

She hopped over the porch railing, landing lightly in the grass, a wild, highly competitive grin stretching across her face.

"Good morning, husband!" Snow called out, spinning the parrying dagger expertly through her fingers. "I hope you got whatever you were looking for out there, because it’s time for our first session of the day."