Chapter 268
The pure white lightning of Extortion hummed in Rudra's hands. He glanced at Mumud. The Magic Saint was kneeling on the stones nearby, breathing heavily and completely drained from his immediate resurrection.
Rudra looked at his interface.
His health and mana regeneration rates which were usually quite monstrous due to his [Regeneration] stat which was above 2000 and his titles [Curse of the Troll King] & [Starfish King Slayer], but now they were set to 0 due to the aura of the Devil Monarch.
[Health Regeneration: 0]
[Mana Regeneration: 0]
"Okay," Rudra muttered, his jaw locking tight.
He opened his skill menu. [Weapon Enchant] activated. He pushed his mana outward, trying to wrap a secondary layer of golden energy around his staff. Simultaneously, he triggered the skill [Will’s Construct Armor], trying to shape his mana into a heavy, crimson illusionary armor and gloves. To force the armor to hold against the crushing gravity, he activated his [Mana Heart] skill’s sub-skill, [Targeted Manifestation].
Red text violently overwrote his commands.
[The aura of the Devil Monarch denies your magic.]
[All buff and healing skills are nullified.]
[The manifestation of 'Will’s Construct Armor' has collapsed.]
The golden energy around his staff fizzled out instantly. The crimson armor shattered before it could even form over his shoulders.
Lucious watched the failed magic with polite interest. The Devil Monarch stood perfectly straight near the archway. His feet were planted casually on the stones. He hadn't taken a single step since releasing his aura.
"You seem determined to struggle," Lucious noted.
"I'm stubborn," Rudra said.
He didn't move first. Piaro did.
The farmer lunged without so much as making a sound, He moved with the silent, terrifying efficiency of a man who had completely accepted his own death. His polished steel sword cut through the air, carrying the sword energy of his supreme swordsmanship.
At the exact same time, Singuled roared. The veteran knight forced his body into a dark, violent aura, triggering his half-killing energy. He abandoned all defense to maximize his speed, aiming straight for Lucious’s flank.
The Beastmen Chieftains followed. Garrick, the Panther Chieftain, leaped forward, his claws glowing with silver aura. Talon launched himself into the sky, wings beating fiercely. The Tiger, Lion , Bear, Wolf, and Fox chieftains charged in a coordinated, desperate pack.
The Red Knights fanned out, striking from all sides with practiced military precision.
It was a perfectly synchronized, multi-directional assault by some of the strongest NPCs on the continent.
Lucious didn't draw a weapon or shift his stance. He didn't even move his feet. He simply raised his left hand, palm open.
Piaro’s sword strike arrived first. Instead of blocking it, Lucious lightly tapped the flat of the blade with his index finger.
A ripple of black and white energy spread from Lucious's fingertip. It was the absolute peak of Divine and Demonic energy manipulation. The opposing forces didn't clash; they perfectly dismantled Piaro's aura. The nature’s energy combined with sword energy was instantly converted into pure energy.
Singuled’s dark half-killing energy crashed into Lucious’s side. The Devil Monarch simply breathed in. The violent energy unravelled, flowing directly into Lucious’s chest, mending a microscopic, invisible scratch on his dark suit.
He was absorbing their ultimate strikes and using them to heal himself.
"Too rigid," Lucious murmured.
The Devil Monarch flicked his wrist.
He didn't use a skill. He just expelled the energy he had absorbed, multiplying it through his own divine and demonic energy combination. A wave of distorted, grey force erupted outward.
It completely ignored their defense stats.
Red saw the wave expanding. He looked at Galahad, Gold and Echo. The combat players were still forced to their knees by the system suppression.
"Screw this," Red gritted out.
The player opened his inventory and crushed a rare, single-use status reversal talisman he had been saving for a major raid. Galahad burned his ultimate knight's resolve skill. Echo shattered a highly volatile mana crystal in her bare hands and all the other players each used a method to temporarily break from the suppression
The system suppression broke for a couple of moments
The players surged to their feet. They didn't run away or choose to attack the Devil. They threw themselves directly in front of the NPCs, using their bodies to block the incoming wave of grey force just to make sure that the NPCs didn't die.
The impact was entirely silent.
The players took the brunt of the deflected attack. Their health bars vanished instantly. They immediately turned to ashes and were ready to resurrect in the resurrection point in the middle of the Stormbreak City. To a player, a death penalty was just lost experience. They had guild buffs and resurrection points to earn it back. But if the NPCs died here, they were gone forever. The players didn't hesitate to trade their disposable lives to protect them
Lucious paused. He tilted his head, watching the grey light fade.
"A complete reconstruction of the physical form through an unseen tether," the Devil Monarch said softly. "A different breed of immortality. Fascinating... but ultimately an artificial, external force."
He dismissed the players entirely.
But their sacrifice, while useful, wasn't enough to stop the wave completely. The residual force carried through, tearing into the NPCs.
The Red Knights were thrown backward. Amelda screamed as the force sheared right through her steel gauntlet, severing two of her fingers. Kentrick clutched the side of his head where his left ear had been cleanly sliced off. Icarus took a glancing blow to the face, his right eye rupturing under the pressure.
The Beastmen fared much worse.
Talon shrieked in agony as the residual wave ripped his right wing cleanly from his back, sending the avian chieftain spiraling into the dirt. Garrick tried to block with his heavy broadsword, but the wave bypassed the metal entirely, severing the panther’s left arm just below the elbow.
The Tiger and Lion chieftains were thrown like ragdolls, their tails sliced off and their legs horribly mangled. The Bear, Wolf, and Fox chieftains suffered similar amputations, their raw animal vitality the only thing keeping them from dying on the spot.
Only Thalassa and Neria escaped the worst of it. The Siren and the Sea Tribe warrior instinctively dropped to the ground, using their innate water magic to coat their bodies in a frictionless layer of moisture. The wave slipped past them, leaving only shallow, bleeding cuts across their arms and ribs.
Singuled saw the devastation. He pushed his half-killing energy far past his physical limits to cover the still weak Mumud. But the full effect of blocking the attack caused him to directly collapse, hitting the dirt with a heavy thud.
A stray ripple of the grey force ricocheted off the stones, shooting directly toward Rudra’s chest.