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Chapter 168

At this depth, being buried alive would be worse than dying.

Even as he thought, Ian skidded to a halt and threw himself to the side. Crumbling rocks tumbled down where he had just been standing. It wasn\'t just the ceiling collapsing; the floor was cracking and the entire audience chamber was sinking.

Despite the ongoing earthquakes, Ian dashed toward the faintly visible door in the distance. His mind grew clearer with each urgent step, showcasing the true value of his high Mental Fortitude.

His Concentration and Intuition were both pushed to their limits, giving him a sense of awareness that made even unseen areas feel visible.

Rumble.

Ian narrowly dodged the falling rubble, changing direction as he sprinted. Although his heightened perception made the moment feel prolonged, in reality, barely ten seconds had passed. Yet even in this brief time, the collapse was accelerating rapidly.

He had no certainty that he could escape the audience chamber and reach the stairs safely. The ceiling wasn\'t the only thing collapsing. Above them lay the Labyrinth Mansion, which would soon follow suit and crumble.

More importantly, his Intuition was urging him to get out immediately. Ian trusted his instincts; after all, it was an ability imbued with a special trait.

Anyway... Why hasn\'t the quest completion window popped up?

This incongruous question struck Ian. His subconscious quickly deduced the answer: the quest wasn\'t completed.

Is there a second phase? This is too much. Really.

Even as he rolled across the floor, Ian couldn\'t help but smirk bitterly to himself. This meant that everything happening right now was merely an event cut scene triggered when transitioning to the next phase.

Who would have thought my life would be endangered by something as trivial as a cut scene?

Rumble—

But soon enough, there was no more room to dodge or escape. Large and small rocks were pouring down like a landslide.

The mansion had already begun to collapse in the center of the audience chamber he had passed through. Right after that, holy energy flared up around Ian\'s entire body like flames.

Boom!

Ian smashed through the rocks blocking his path with a powerful punch and charged forward. If he couldn\'t avoid them, he would break through and destroy them. He braced himself against the smaller rocks with his arms shielding his head, enduring the impacts with his body.

Did all these events really occur in the game?

No matter how experienced someone might be, it seemed unlikely they could have managed all this at this stage. But it wasn\'t a crucial question that needed an immediate answer. What mattered right now was something else entirely.

Boom—

A landslide blocked the passage ahead. The once wide-open door had disappeared, buried under rubble.

Ian charged with his arms shielding his head. He ran through the falling debris, gritting his teeth and leaping.

Crash—

He burst through the rubble, tumbling onto the floor. Finally, he was in the passageway.

"...!"

Ian, who was about to get up and run again, suddenly halted. The long corridor ahead showed that the stairs had already collapsed. Strangely, however, he no longer felt any warnings from his Intuition.

"Huff... huff..."

Panting heavily, Ian scanned the surroundings of the corridor. The lights of the magic stones had all gone out, and the earthquakes continued relentlessly. Yet, the corridor itself remained intact. Only the stairs leading upward and the audience chamber had collapsed. Then again, those alone accounted for more than half of the underground palace\'s space.

So the boss fight isn\'t over yet.

Contrary to his expectations, the extreme sense of urgency and focus had somewhat subsided. Headaches and dizziness followed swiftly as if they had been waiting. His limbs trembled, a warning signal that his limit was near. But it was not yet time to rest.

"Sigh..."

Clenching his blood and dirt-covered fist tightly, Ian looked back once more. The audience chamber was an indistinguishable mess of falling debris and dust. The vibrations and loud noises were relentless. The ceiling had already collapsed completely, and now the debris of the Labyrinth Mansion was pouring down.

Fsssh...

Eventually, an eerie silence settled in. Amid Ian\'s heavy breathing, the reddish moonlight filtered through the settling dust. The chamber, covered in all sorts of debris, came into view. A hill of wreckage formed a gentle slope from the entrance. Moonlight streamed through the gaping hole in the ceiling, and flower petals, like delicate snowflakes, drifted down.

Should I call this aesthetic?

That idle thought quickly vanished as Ian furrowed his brow. Contaminated magic was rapidly pooling in the chamber. Amidst this, a faint psychic wave spread and then surged, filling his mind like a rising volume.

Anger and sorrow. Longing and despair. Resignation and hatred. All these conflicting emotions tangled and raged. His vision swam with a red haze. For it to penetrate Ian\'s resistance meant that an ordinary person would have instantly gone mad.

Had this psychic wave reached his group? He hoped not. Mev and Thesaya might withstand it, but Philip and Charlotte would likely lose their minds and go berserk.

Regardless, it wasn\'t enough to paralyze Ian\'s reason. His nerves were taut, and his sense of urgency returned. The noise in his mind seemed to clear his headache, dizziness, and trembling.

The chill of chaos power flowing through his veins sharpened, while his skin burned as if on fire. The holy energy, spreading along his tattoos, blazed fiercely, indifferent to how much remained.

Woosh—

The moonlight began to ripple red right after that.

Simultaneously, crimson blood began to seep and gather among the wreckage of the hill. Ian watched as the giant blood droplets ignored the laws of physics, coalescing into a massive orb. It seemed to be about three meters in diameter, hovering slightly above the ground and gently undulating. Within it, an enormous concentration of magic could be felt.

The entire mass was pure true blood. As soon as Ian saw a faint silhouette forming within the orb, he started running toward it.

So, she was completely dissolved within the true blood.

As he ascended the hill, Ian fixed his gaze on the silhouette within the orb. A brain and nervous system, blood vessels, and bones were rapidly taking shape. Muscle fibers grew strand by strand, covering them.

The psychic waves that had been echoing chaotically all around were now emanating from within the orb. The waves remained extremely unstable, with irregular ripples spreading across the surface of the true blood sphere.

Perhaps the Empress had dissolved into the bathtub because it was the only way to control the true blood stably. The more true blood vampires held, the stronger they became, but it also made them more irrational and impulsive, just like Thesaya, the Empress of True Blood in the game.

The Empress\'s true body being created within that sphere would be no exception. With such an enormous amount of true blood, she would be extremely powerful and equally unstable. That\'s why Ian started running. He was certain that if the Empress fully awakened, she would undoubtedly kill him.

So conversely, she must be defenseless right now.

This was a pattern often seen in games. Bosses that became impossible to defeat once they broke free from their seals, regained their true forms or successfully completed their summoning rituals.

The best course of action was to kill them before that happened. At the very least, they needed to be left in a critically weakened state or prevented from completing their transformation.

Woosh—

The essence bead in Ian\'s left hand whirled fiercely, glowing with light.

As the spell was completed, another surge of magic drained away, leaving him momentarily dizzy. Gritting his teeth, Ian reached out toward the top of the hill.

Boom!

A blinding pillar of fire erupted around the mass of true blood, shooting up through the hole in the ceiling and pushing away the moonlight. It was a maximum-amplified Pinpoint Explosion.

The essence bead shattered and scattered like dust. The debris caught in the explosion crumbled and fell. Ian leaped over the falling fragments, keeping his eyes on the true blood mass at the center of the fire pillar.

The effect was clear. The true blood sizzled and smoked, mixing with the flames. The sphere\'s size gradually diminished. But Ian did not slow down; he continued to charge forward. Though the smoke from the fire pillar seemed to sear his body, he could not stop.

The true blood mass was still enormous. The silhouette curled up inside like a fetus was still faintly visible, and it was continuing to form even at this moment.

The flames mixed with the wind swirling around Ian\'s body, flickering and dancing. He leaped off the protruding remnants of the roof at the base of the hill.

Thud-thud-thud—

The crushed debris collapsed beneath him.

Ian, soaring several meters into the air, raised the greatsword he gripped with both hands high above his head. The blade, imbued with a blue glow, left a trail of white light in its wake. At the same time, the flames flickering around him surged up along the blade.

Crunch—

The greatsword, infused with all kinds of magic, struck the surface of the burning true blood mass.

Contrary to his expectation of splitting it in one blow, the blade merely created a large ripple as it embedded into the sphere\'s surface, feeling like striking an extremely tough water balloon.

However, the blade didn\'t bounce back. Ian gritted his teeth as if they would shatter and pressed down with both arms. The Blessing of Battle flared, infusing new strength into his exhausted limbs.

Sssss—

The greatsword\'s blade, like a heated branding iron, melted and penetrated the true blood mass.

Inside the significantly smaller sphere, the curled-up form of the Empress\'s true body became gradually clearer. Ian did not blink, fixing his gaze on the sight.

The Empress\'s true body was even larger than her clone. She had long, wing-like appendages sprouting from her back. However, she had not yet fully formed. Her skin was just beginning to cover her, far from a complete body.

Crack—

Finally, the blade reached one of her wing joints. Despite the tremendous resistance, Ian did not relent.

Crunch.

At last, the greatsword completely crushed one of her wings, reaching the back beneath it. As her exposed ribcage began to cave in,

Swoosh—

The true blood was absorbed into the Empress\'s body as if being sucked in instantly. In the next moment, the magic condensed within her body exploded.

Boom—

The greatsword was flung away, and Ian, still holding onto it, was thrown through the air like he had been hit by a truck.

As he flew through the air, Ian saw flower petals being blown away by the shockwave.

Woosh.

A rain of blood poured down, and thick blood mist rose from the debris below. The greatsword that Ian had let go of fell and embedded itself in the middle of the debris hill.

"Kiaaaah!" From the center of the hill, the Empress roared, her red eyes gleaming fiercely.

Crack.

Ian shielded his face with his arms as he was slammed into the wall of the audience chamber. Spider-web-like cracks spread across the wall.

He felt his left arm and ribs fracture. There was no pain, which wasn\'t a good sign, but Ian didn\'t care. What he had to do from now on wouldn\'t change anyway.

Despite everything, Ian didn\'t take his eyes off the Empress.

"Aahhhh—"

Her appearance crouched on all fours and howling like a beast, was anything but beautiful. Her skin was thin and glossy, almost translucent with visible veins. Her unfinished face lacked a nose, lips, and even hair. Only blood-red eyes, gaping nostrils, and exposed sharp teeth were visible. Blood poured from the crushed wing joint and the gap between her ribs.

"Huuu...." Finally ending her roar, the Empress took a deep breath and crouched her body. The blood pouring down swiftly gathered around her.

Some of the blood seeped into her body, while some remained around her, forming various shapes. A crown of blood emerged above her head.

Blood flowed along the wing joints, forming wings, and she rose into the air without even flapping them. It looked as though she was being dragged upward by the wings.

Thud—

Ian landed on the ground just after that.

He spat out a piece of his shattered molar along with blood and stood up. His body was in shambles, but his gaze, fixed on the Empress, remained dark and unwavering. The Empress, dangling from her wings, slowly turned her head toward him with a creak.

Her red pupils, which had been randomly enlarging and contracting, suddenly fixed on him and glowed intensely. The massive blood wings, crown, and the blood mist around her body all ignited simultaneously.

"Iaaaaaan—"

The Empress spread her arms wide and screamed. The burst of psychic waves swept over Ian. Even he couldn\'t fully resist the force. The image of Thesaya from the game flashed through his mind. Back then, she also emitted psychic waves that caused random status effects: Charm, Confusion, Fear, Frenzy, Paralysis, and so on.

This time, it seemed to induce a state of frenzy. It felt as if all the resentment, anger, and hatred he had always harbored were erupting like a volcano. The Blessing of Battle responded to his emotions, flaring up. The chaos power surged from him like a runaway fragment.

"Roar—" The Empress flew toward him.

With violet eyes blazing, Ian charged toward her.