CHAPTER 62: DUNGEON END

Dravis’s veins bulged as he roared, his right leg glowing with pure blue mana. He stepped forward—one, two, three heavy strides—and drove a crushing kick at the monster’s arm, aiming straight for the mace.

CLANG!

The mutated humanoid didn’t even flinch. Its ashen hand, reinforced with sinister energy, blocked the strike cleanly. Sparks flew, the ground cracked, and for a heartbeat both forces locked head-on.

Then, with inhuman speed, the monster’s mace blurred. It swung down in a vicious arc that carried the weight of destruction itself.

Before it could land—

Renji’s figure flickered in, eyes glowing blood-red. His cursed blade intercepted the strike, both arms trembling under the force. The impact echoed like thunder, sending fractures crawling across the stone floor.

"Not today!" Renji spat, blood trailing from his lip.

The beast’s head twisted—but that was when a shadow detached from the cavern wall.

SHHHK!

Xavier emerged, his blade cloaked in darkness, slicing with surgical precision. The cut was flawless—it severed the monster’s arm clean off. Black ichor sprayed, sizzling where it landed.

The mutated humanoid howled, its voice warping into a bone-rattling soundwave that blasted the cavern apart. The sheer force hurled Dravis, Renji, and Xavier off their feet, crashing them into the walls like broken dolls.

Ezra moved.

His crimson eyes sharpened. Mana surged as four silhouettes burst from his body—clones flickering into existence, each wielding a copy of his blade.

"One." A strike crashed against the monster’s head.

"Two." Another pierced its chest.

"Three." A blade slashed deep into its leg.

"Four." Ezra himself appeared last, his sword wrapped in silver light, cleaving across the neck.

BOOM!

The continuous barrage forced the monster backward, its body flung into the stone wall with an earth-shattering crash. For a moment, silence hung.

Then—

The creature stirred.

Its severed arm writhed. Muscles re-knitted. Flesh pulsed and sealed. In seconds, the beast was whole again. The crimson veins across its body glowed brighter, more frenzied.

"Shit..." Renji hissed, wiping blood from his cheek.

The monster’s single burning eye snapped toward Dravis. In a blink, it appeared before him, mace descending like judgment itself.

Dravis had no time to dodge. His gauntlets flared as he braced—

CRASH!

The impact hammered him into the ground, leaving a crater beneath his body. Only the high-quality gauntlets kept his arms from shattering completely.

Xavier retaliated, dissolving into shadow and reappearing behind the monster. His blade descended—

—but passed clean through empty air.

"Clone—?!"

The real monster appeared behind Renji. Its leg whipped forward, crashing toward his ribs. Renji snarled, sword raised, barely blocking in time. The collision sent sparks flying, his body trembling under the pressure.

He countered with furious slashes, but the monster’s mace twisted and parried every strike. Each exchange drove Renji back further.

Ezra darted in, blade flashing, yet even his strike was caught in the beast’s relentless defense.

The mutated humanoid leapt back, landing with a heavy crash that cracked the ground. Its aura exploded outward, filling the chamber with suffocating darkness. Mana twisted violently, condensing into a single catastrophic force.

Ezra’s expression darkened.

"Ultimate attack..."

The monster lifted its mace overhead. The crimson veins along its body blazed like molten rivers, pouring into the weapon.

BOOOOOM!

The mace descended. A tidal wave of corrupted mana swept across the chamber, a force so overwhelming it warped the air and bent the stone walls outward.

Dravis threw up his gauntlets, Renji raised his sword, Xavier cloaked himself in shadow—

—and all three were crushed beneath the impact. Blood sprayed, their bodies hurled like ragdolls into the walls, groaning and broken.

The monster’s hollow socket burned with cruel fire as it turned its gaze toward Ezra.

Ezra exhaled slowly, stepping forward.

"Enough."

His sword hummed. Not with ordinary mana—not with aura most could see. This was different.

A sharp, silver glow wrapped around the blade’s edge, faint yet undeniable. The air itself bent around it. The ground cracked simply from its presence.

Sword Aura.

Renji, Dravis, Xavier—all stared in disbelief, bloodied eyes wide.

"Impossible... Sword Aura... at Rank Four?"

The monster’s mace came down again.

Ezra moved.

His blade carved a single arc. Simple. Clean. Absolute.

SHHHHHK!

The silver aura ripped through the monster’s mace, shearing it in half. The same strike continued, cutting clean through the bone mask, through its skull, through its core.

A blinding flash filled the chamber.

When it faded, the mutated humanoid stood frozen—before collapsing into ash, the Evil Remnant dissipating into nothingness.

Ezra lowered his sword. The glow faded, leaving silence in its wake.

Behind him, the others struggled to their feet, eyes still fixed on him in shock.

Sword Aura. Something only peak Rank Sevens or Eights could wield. Yet Ezra had just manifested it, here and now.

None of them spoke.

The only sound was Ezra sheathing his blade with a quiet click.

Ezra staggered, his chest heaving. Blood slipped from the corner of his lips, metallic and bitter. His body trembled with each breath, the weight of endless battles pressing down on him.

From the very moment he had stepped into this dungeon, he had fought nothing but high-level opponents—relentless, one after another. Worse, the dungeon’s mechanism had forcibly suppressed his cultivation to Rank Two.

For any other awakener, that would have been certain death.

His vision blurred, his arm numb, but there was no time to rest.

The monster’s body began to convulse. Black mana erupted, swirling into the shape of a tornado that tore through the chamber like a storm of blades. Its veins glowed crimson once more, its form reshaping into something even more grotesque.

Phase three.

Dravis collapsed to one knee, gauntlets flickering weakly.

"Fuck... I can’t fight anymore," he spat, his voice raw.

Xavier stood silent, his body covered in wounds, barely able to remain upright.

Renji, still bleeding from his earlier injuries, didn’t even speak. His hand trembled around the hilt of his sword, his strength long since drained.

All three could only watch helplessly.

Ezra’s crimson eyes sharpened. He had been waiting for this moment.

In a blink, a black-glinting blade appeared in his hand—the Crimson Sword, its hilt adorned with a dark gem that pulsed with destructive force. A weapon not forged for glory, nor for duels. It was made for one purpose—killing abominations like this.

Mana surged violently around Ezra’s body. His exhaustion didn’t matter. His broken bones didn’t matter.

All that mattered was the kill.

He moved.

Faster than thought, faster than sound. His figure blurred into a streak of silver and crimson.

The monster’s hollow eye widened—but it was already too late.

Ezra drove the Crimson Sword forward, straight into its chest.

SHHHHHK!

The blade pierced through, the black gem erupting with power. The monster howled, its voice a twisted scream that shook the dungeon walls. Its claws raked wildly, but Ezra pressed forward, every ounce of strength poured into the strike.

"Fall."

With a guttural roar, Ezra shoved the blade deeper. Black light devoured flesh, veins, and core alike. The monster wailed, its form unraveling as if consumed by its own corruption.

It thrashed once. Twice. Then its life force collapsed entirely.

Both the Crimson Sword and the monster’s body disintegrated into fragments of black ash, scattering into the air like burned paper.

Ezra stumbled back, collapsing onto the stone floor. His chest rose and fell violently, blood pouring from his mouth as a fit of coughs wracked his body.

The final strike had landed true—but the monster’s last desperate blow had hammered into his chest. The pain radiated like fire, every breath agony. He was sure at least two, maybe three ribs had snapped clean.

Lying there, staring up at the cracked dungeon ceiling, Ezra could only grit his teeth and breathe through the blood.

The chamber was silent now. The monster was gone. But his own body felt like it was on the verge of breaking apart.

Still—he had won.

Before he could catch another breath, a strange light engulfed the chamber.

The entire broken floor began to glow, white radiance spreading through the cracks and shattered stones. The brilliance intensified, bathing them all in its warmth.

Ezra felt the pain in his chest ease, the broken bones mending themselves. Around him, Dravis’s wounds closed, Xavier’s bleeding stopped, and Renji’s battered body steadied. Their exhaustion remained like chains, but their injuries healed in moments.

Then came the sound—

Swiiisshh!

A massive teleportation circle formed beneath their feet, spinning with dazzling light. Its runes flared, filling the air with overwhelming power.

Before any of them could react, their bodies dissolved into pure radiance.

And with one final pulse of light—

They were gone.

The teleportation circle lingered for a heartbeat, suspended in the air, before vanishing into silence.

After some time, their figures reappeared near an old cave.

But something was wrong.

A strange aura radiated from its depths, thick and oppressive, as though the cave itself was alive. The ground trembled faintly, and the air carried a metallic tang of blood.

Ezra breathed in slowly. Fresh mana surged into his lungs, and with it, he felt the shackles of the dungeon’s restriction lift. His core pulsed violently, stabilizing—he was back to his original cultivation. No, more than that. A minor step forward... mid-stage Rank 4.

He turned to the others. Sure enough, they too had changed. Even in unconsciousness, their cores resonated with power.

Dravis sat cross-legged in meditation, a faint light enveloping him. The stubborn barrier he had fought against for so long finally broke apart. His aura surged into Rank 3.

Xavier’s body trembled, his breathing steady and deep. His foundation solidified at the peak of Rank 2, just a step away from his own breakthrough.

And then—Renji.

He wasn’t meditating. He was watching Ezra. His eyes carried guilt, unease, and something darker. Ezra’s brows knitted, but before he could ask, Renji whispered:

"Wait. Let them wake up first. We’ll talk then."

Minutes passed. The cave was silent except for the hum of mana. Finally, Dravis and Xavier stirred awake.

Ezra nodded. "Congratulations on breaking through."

Dravis let out a rare smile. "I’m really grateful I came with you. With that final fight... I was able to overcome my bottleneck this fast. Thanks, Ezra."

Ezra shook his head faintly. "Don’t mention it. Anyway..." His eyes slid to Renji. "Renji wanted to say something to us."

Dravis tilted his head. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hey, Renji—how the hell are you this strong? Even now, I feel threatened just sitting next to you."

Xavier’s tone was sharper, suspicion lacing every word. "Don’t tell me... you’ve been using some demonic sacrifice method."

Renji’s eyes narrowed. His voice carried irritation, but beneath it, exhaustion. "No. I’m not sacrificing anyone—except myself."

Ezra’s gaze sharpened. "What do you mean?"

Renji drew a deep breath. Then, with grim resolve, he spoke:

"I’ve been practicing a forbidden technique. The Blood Enhance Method. By overriding my core with mana again and again—by burning myself away—I can grow faster. Even with a D-rank core, I’ve reached beginner Rank 4. That’s why I could hide my cultivation. That’s why I’ve kept it secret... because of the source I got it from."

His words hung in the air. Silence followed.

Ezra studied his companions. None of them spoke. Their faces were heavy with disbelief.

Finally, Dravis broke the silence. His voice was low, furious. "Do you even understand? That kind of technique can destroy you from within. It’s how demons control humans, Renji. It turns people into slaves... monsters. You’re not only endangering yourself—you’re endangering us. Tell me... why should I spare you right now?"

Renji’s aura flared faintly, his jaw clenched. "I don’t care. I simply want strength. Enough strength to revive my brother. To bring him back."

Dravis’s eyes widened, then darkened with rage. "Revive the dead? You fool! Not even Rank 9s can do that! Not even the Sword Oni in his prime had such power! And you—" his blade hand twitched toward his weapon, "—you dare claim you’ll achieve the impossible? Then perhaps I should kill you here and now. Let you meet your brother in death!"

Renji’s expression hardened. His mana surged, crimson and unstable, rattling the cave walls.

The tension was suffocating.

Before the clash could erupt, Ezra’s voice cut through, sharp as a blade. "Enough."

Both froze as his aura spilled out—calm but suffocating.

Ezra stepped forward, his silver gaze unwavering. "This is not your decision, Dravis. If Renji wants to walk the path of death, then so be it. If he becomes a demon... I’ll be the one to eliminate him."

The cave fell silent again.

Dravis turned away with a scowl, unwilling to meet Ezra’s eyes. Xavier lowered his gaze, lips pressed into a thin line.

Renji stood there, fists trembling, his aura flickering violently.