CHAPTER 36: VICTORY

Lucien immediately summoned the two swords. He gripped the Forsaken sword in his right hand—his dominant one—and clutched the Kage Fang in his left. His eyes locked onto the Godzilla with razor focus.

The monster clawed its way up the slope against overwhelming resistance. As more trees thundered down, triggering a massive erosion of soil that cascaded below, the Godzilla held fast, weathering whatever devastation the crumbling terrain hurled at it.

Its eyes blazed at Lucien from afar with crimson light that promised nothing but pure malevolence. The Black Godzilla hungered for nothing more than his death. That desperate bloodlust showed in how it stubbornly hauled itself through the collapsing forest.

The entire landscape had been overturned and now resembled the side of a mountain tearing itself apart, crashing into whatever existed at the grey abyss below them.

Lucien tightened his grip on both swords. If the battle with the Godzilla and the elite Palebranch Wights had taught him anything, it was how pathetically weak he remained.

He needed to grow stronger—not just in the game. He needed to grow stronger outside the game too, so it would enhance his virtual prowess and make him better.

Lucien clutched the weapons hard, staring down at the approaching Godzilla and trembling slightly as the monster savagely climbed upward.

Every time the Godzilla took a step—whether with hands or legs—Lucien felt his heart plummet.

He froze at the sight of the monster advancing toward him.

[You have been paralyzed by fear]

[You have been affected by Intense Intimidation]

’I can’t... I can’t...!’

He clenched his teeth and forced his hand forward.

Lucien locked eyes with the monster.

’I can’t let it reach me here.’

He gripped both weapons properly and steadied his gaze. Lucien stared down intently, calculating with desperate precision how much speed and distance he needed—not to overshoot his target, not to plummet with the crumbling debris, but to land squarely on the Godzilla’s head and drive his blades straight into its eyes.

Because the entire forest cascaded downward constantly, debris tumbled and rolled intermittently. Most chunks soared overhead whenever they reached the section where the Palebranch Kage’s corpse lay.

So Lucien had to avoid slamming into falling timber—or worse, missing his target entirely.

He crouched low for a heartbeat, his eyes still locked in unwavering focus. Then he launched himself from the ledge. With minimal jumping power, he dove toward the Godzilla. At that exact moment, a massive tree plummeted from above and smashed against the ledge where Lucien had stood seconds before, exploding into splinters that scattered in every direction. The shockwave from the impact propelled Lucien forward while simultaneously causing the Godzilla to nearly lose its grip, slowing its ascent.

As Lucien hurtled straight toward the monster’s head, his eyes widened. A grim smile flickered across his face at how rapidly everything unfolded. That opportunity had presented itself regardless.

With his arms extended as he fell, Lucien finally struck the monster. He landed with an outstretched hand that drove the Forsaken sword straight into the creature’s right eye.

He landed with a wet squelch, driving the sword deeper and triggering a violent reaction from the monster.

The Godzilla roared with savage fury and gaped its maws wide. But Lucien didn’t wait—he was already moving before the roar even finished. He raised the smaller blade.

With practiced efficiency, he drove the Kage Fang into the monster’s other eye, stabbing viciously across it in rapid, brutal strikes.

Light blazed through the Godzilla’s mouth, but the glow slowly dimmed as Lucien savagely punctured its remaining eye. The Godzilla lost its grip and began to plummet.

The fall happened faster than Lucien could react. He tumbled from the creature’s head as the black lizard itself plummeted and rolled downward, debris cascading with them.

Another massive tree crashed against an outcrop, exploding with thunderous force. The impact sent both combatants hurtling further down. One splintered log rocketed toward the Godzilla, piercing straight through its arm and accelerating its descent.

Lucien caught a glimpse of this as the Godzilla tumbled through the air. Something caught his attention.

The chest of the Godzilla had split open. Something crimson pulsed within it, glowing.

He finally crashed into the lower depths, entangled in a canopy of massive, grey leaves.

The Godzilla’s body tore through them and plunged deeper, but Lucien was too light to resist their clinging embrace. He gritted his teeth, nearly cursing again.

But he summoned his daggers and slashed frantically around him. As he carved through the leaves, crimson, human-like blood sprayed everywhere. Eventually the leaves released him, and he dropped to solid ground. But Lucien was suddenly struck by an ominous dread about the leaves—about this entire place that resembled the Hollow forest terrain like Evelaine’s Hollow.

He rushed toward the monster’s corpse. It still breathed, though barely. A pool of black blood had already formed around its body, trickling from its ruined eyes.

But its chest gaped wide, the light pulsing undisturbed.

Lucien tried to locate the source of the glow, but no matter how he peered into the cavity, he couldn’t see it clearly. That area seemed shrouded in darkness, revealing only the glowing light itself.

He walked to the head and extracted the Forsaken sword and Kage Fang, then slowly returned to the Godzilla’s chest.

Lucien climbed onto the monster’s torso and planted one foot at the opening’s edge. Standing like a conqueror, he raised the Forsaken sword. With a grimace and steely determination, he plunged the blade into the cavity, stabbing directly into the glow.

Lucien felt a satisfying squelch as his sword tore into something fleshy.

Then silence fell.

For nearly a dozen seconds, nothing—just absolute silence.

Just as Lucien frowned at the eerie quiet, the system’s chimes rang out, accompanied by its gentle voice echoing in his ears.

[Congratulations, you have slain a Named Deviant, Guardian rank monster, Black Godzilla.]

[You have received 403,600 fusion points]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]