100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 164

Chapter 164: Chapter 164 – Wiping the Remnants
“Stygian Shell. It’ll hold against these monsters… but Monster Lords?”

Lucien exhaled slowly, shrinking the tortoise shell in his hand until it became no larger than a pendant. “Never mind.”

He scanned the battlefield below.

Bodies… human and monster alike… littered the crimson soil.

The stench of blood and burning mana thickened the air, making even the wind feel heavy.

Lucien’s chest tightened as his gaze lingered on the fallen soldiers. He saw men and women who once laughed beneath sunlight now strewn across the shadow of war.

He closed his eyes briefly. A bitter smile ghosted across his face.

“I thought this would be easier… We had the advantage.”

A deep sigh escaped his lips.

“Tch. I lack experience in large-scale warfare.”

He clenched his fist. His divine energy swirled violently within his core.

Earlier, he had barely escaped death. If even one of his failsafes hadn’t triggered, he’d have been erased by the three Monster Lords.

He clutched his chest where his divine energy core was.

It was the only reason he still stood.

But the Magus Goblin’s words still echoed in his mind. The monsters beyond the rifts had already marked the location of this world.

If he didn’t end this now, more would come.

Still, there was one small mercy. The beings above Monster Lords would not descend. Their very presence could tear the fabric of reality. Their breath alone could shatter this realm. They wouldn’t risk it.

For now, these monsters below, though formidable, were still within his reach.

Lucien’s eyes hardened. His aura flared.

“Then I’ll handle this myself.”

He moved.

•••

On the battlefield below…

Lukas saw his Lord streak through the air. He looked like a comet of gold light.

“The Young Lord is back!” he roared.

At once, the soldiers rallied. Hope rekindled like fire across the ranks. Shields rose. Blades aligned.

“Form up! Hold the line!”

They obeyed without hesitation.

As Lucien soared overhead, they felt the shift in the air. The battlefield itself seemed to breathe again.

His presence alone boost their moral to the max.

The tides were turning.

•••

High above the field, chaos met divinity.

The skies burned with magic and blood. Monsters clashed in the air. Their shrieks echoed like thunder. Each flap of their wings sent shockwaves across the ruined battlefield below.

Lucien stood amidst the storm. His mantle whipped behind him as divine energy coiled around his form like molten light. His eyes burned with grim resolve.

“Sebas, Elunara, King Midas, Pope Augustus… and all of you, my pets,” Lucien called as his voice cut through the chaos. “Please take Elk and head to the Twisted Towers. Seal the rifts. No more monsters get through.”

“Understood, Young Lord!” Sebas’s deep voice thundered back steady despite the roar of battle.

Elunara nodded sharply. “We’ll protect her with our lives.”

Midas and Augustus exchanged a knowing glance then tightened their grips on their weapons.

Elk stepped forward with resolve etched across her face. Sparkles descended beside her and knelt low to let her mount.

The moment she climbed on, Sparkle stepped into the air. Skywalk.

They ascended into the dark sky, followed closely by her protectors.

Together, they soared toward the distant horizon where the Twisted Towers loomed like black fangs tearing through the heavens.

The battlefield below was ablaze.

Steel clashed and magic flared. Screams of both men and monsters filled the air. The soldiers carved through the lesser beasts like blades through parchment but even then, the endless tide pressed on wave after wave.

Amid the chaos, Lukas stood firm. His armor was drenched in blood and ash.

“Form up!” he roared. “Protect each other! Don’t think about anything else. Just fight! His Lordship watches over us from above!”

A chorus of cries rose from the ranks. Their fear turned to fire. Their blades sang again driven by renewed courage.

And above them all, Lucien moved.

A monstrous ogre swung its club. The sheer force split the air like thunder made flesh.

Lucien lifted his arm.

The Stygian Shell unfurled with a deep hum. Its black surface rippled and it formed a living bulwark before its master.

Clang!

The ogre’s blow struck but the sound that followed was not of impact. It was defiance.

The ground quaked and shockwaves rolled outward… yet Lucien did not budge.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

Morphis sang. A metallic hymn that parted the clouds above.

The ogre’s arm fell, still clutching its shattered club. Then its head followed… It spun once before thudding to the earth with a quake that silenced even the nearest monsters.

Before the corpse collapsed, a shadow blotted out the sun—

A monstrous wyvern dived from the heavens. Its talons wreathed in corrosive energy that hissed like acid rain.

Lucien twisted midair. The Stygian Shell pulsed. It shifted from defense to offense in a blink. He channeled divine energy into it and it expanded.

It became an obsidian crescent that struck the wyvern with earth-sundering might.

The wyvern roared as miasma erupted from its scales in waves of black fire. It met his attack head-on. Its claws clashed against the shell.

Sparks flared as air itself fractured under the pressure.

Lucien hovered amid the storm of power.

“What a fine relic,” he murmured. “Defense and offense, both perfect. If the Black Tortoise ever hatches from that egg… I’ll make sure it’s well treated.”

Lucien then pushed outward. His divine energy detonated from his body. The shell expanded again and it slammed into the wyvern, sending it spiraling into the ground with a crash that split the land.

But there was no pause.

A large griffin descended from the smoke. Its talons were like blades of sunlight. Its wings cut the air with hurricane force, scattering Lucien’s aura. He caught its beak mid-strike and divine energy flared from his palm.

“Begone.”

He crushed it.

Then… Golden fire erupted from within the beast’s skull, reducing it to ash that scattered with the wind.

From the corner of his eye, Lucien saw the others.

Titan monsters lumbered closer. Each step they took shattered the earth beneath them. Their roars drowned even the sky.

Lucien gritted his teeth. “If I drag this on… more will die.”

He raised his hand and the Gargoyle Ring pulsed faintly.

Lucien didn’t hesitate anymore. Like what he had done with the Goblin Ring earlier, he poured energy from the Origin Core Fragments straight into it.

The metal strained and cracks of light webbed across its surface.

But… he didn’t care if it shattered. He had more. What mattered was ending this.

Then—

A deep hum filled the air as energy erupted from his core. The ground rippled. The clouds split. The heavens themselves seemed to flinch.

Light and shadow intertwined, merging into radiant wings that tore free from his back.

Every monster within sight faltered. Their instincts screamed in terror.

Lucien hovered above the battlefield. Wind howled around him, bending to his will.

For a single heartbeat, the entire world stilled.

Then, his voice rang out.

“This ends now.”

He vanished.

A streak of light cut through the air, followed by thunder. Monsters screamed as they were cleaved apart.

Goblins, Ogres, Wyverns, Griffins, Titan monsters and the others. They all fell in mere seconds. Each of his strikes carved new craters into the ground. Each movement painted the sky with brilliance and ruin.

Even the corrupted energy of the Black Mass seemed to falter beneath his radiance.

When it was over, silence fell for the briefest moment.

Lucien floated amid the fading storm. His chest was rising and falling heavily. His glow was now flickering like the last embers of a divine flame struggling against the wind.

The air around him quaked and space itself still trembled from the aftershock of his unleashed might.

Below, silence reigned for a heartbeat.

The battlefield that was once drowned in roars and screams was now eerily still. The miasma had thinned. And the monsters… were nothing but scattered ash and ruin.

And then—

Crack.

The Gargoyle Ring splintered, unable to bear the weight of the power coursing through it. The fragments drifted like black petals before dissolving into dust.

Lucien exhaled slowly. “…Figures.”

Down below, the soldiers began to move again. They stared up with their eyes wide. Their weapons slacked in their hands.

Then one voice broke the stillness.

Lukas dropped to one knee. His sword trembled as it struck the ground. “That’s… our Lord.”

The words rippled through the ranks like wildfire.

Cheers erupted. Soldiers shouted, laughed, cried.

All at once.

Lucien let out a small breath, not of pride but of weary relief.

His gaze turned toward the horizon. Toward the dark silhouettes of the Twisted Towers.

One by one, the colossal spires began to crumble. The ground shuddered beneath their collapse and the sky flashed with thunderous brilliance. The sound rolled across the world like the toll of celestial bells announcing the end of an age.

Lucien’s pupils narrowed.

“…What a pity,” he muttered. “I could’ve gotten more dungeon cores from them.”

A faint smirk tugged at his lips though his tone carried a trace of genuine regret.

The fall of the towers meant only one thing. Their cores had been destroyed.

Dungeon cores weren’t things one could simply move or claim. They were immovable hearts of the dungeon.

The only exception… was him. He could absorb them directly into his divine core. That’s also the reason why he was so shock when it worked.

“Still,” he whispered to himself, “a small price to pay for survival.”

Lucien turned his gaze toward the remaining enemies. His eyes narrowed. “It’s not over yet.”