100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 220

Chapter 220: Chapter 220 – Phase 1
Lucien tightened his grip on Marie’s arm…

…and the floor simply ceased to exist.

There was no falling sensation. No descent.

The world just flipped, twisting like a page being turned by a giant hand.

Up became down, down became sideways, and sideways became a direction mortals had no name for.

Wind roared past their ears and light warped…

THUMP.

They landed on their feet.

Not in a cave nor a cavern.

But in… A Hidden World beneath the mountains.

Actually… it was a realm the Solar Concordium had spent years constructing, revealed now for the first time since its creation. It’s a secret domain carved under the arena yet vast enough to feel like its own continent.

Above the real arena, the audience gasped as translucent viewing windows bloomed like giant lotus petals. Each window showed the perspective of the pairs.

“I’ve NEVER seen this place before!”

“Wait! Did the Eternal Master make a whole new battle ground?!”

“Beneath the mountains?! Since when!?”

Inside the realm, Marie’s mouth hung open.

“…We’re under the arena, but… this doesn’t feel like underground. It’s like a different world.”

Lucien silently agreed.

The scenery was unreal.

A sunless horizon glowed with enormous floating crystal lanterns. These massive orbs drifted like artificial suns. Their warm light painted everything below.

To the left, there’s a lake of shimmering liquid mercury. It is perfectly still, reflecting the upside-down sky like a mirror to another realm.

To the right, there’s a forest of diamond-leafed trees. The leaves chimed gently as wind passed through crystal branches.

Ahead is a vast land of shattered plains, jagged ridges, cracked earth.

It was a battlefield handcrafted to test everything a partnered pair could be.

But the sight that pulled the breath from their lungs.

An enormous inverted stone disk, covered in glowing runes, hovered above the center of this world like a flipped sky.

Massive chains anchored it to the void, each link thick as a tower.

The underside held multiple glowing gateways.

If they reached those gates, they’d ascend into the next phase.

Marie pointed up as her tail swished like crazy.

“That’s… our destination? It’s floating!”

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

“And everything down here is meant to kill us before we reach it.”

They exchanged a knowing nod.

Before the trial truly began, the glowing chain at their ankles pulsed… and faded into near invisibility.

It was still there. Still unbreakable. Still refusing to stretch more than one meter.

Marie took one curious step.

TUG—!!

“Ah—!”

She nearly fell into Lucien again. They steadied each other quickly and tried to sync their movements.

All around the battlefield, other pairs were learning exactly how cursed the chain was

The Silent Monastery Monk duo bowed to sync their breathing… and slammed foreheads with a loud DONK.

The Obsidian Scholars argued about optimal foot spacing and kinetic balance theories.

Sskavyrn’s partner tripped immediately and he hauled him upright like a sack of rice.

The Dawnblade pair tested sword movements—then yelped when the chain yanked their legs mid-spin.

The Scarlet Sect members began bickering LOUDLY, loudly enough to scare birds.

Lilith & her space prodigy moved with uncanny precision.

Lythrae & her Moonlit Maiden drifted like two serene lanterns, stepping in perfect arcs.

The two black-robed women? They just stood. Perfectly aligned. They were silent as if they didn’t need to practice at all.

And then the comedic tragedy…

“STOP SWINGING ME LIKE A BAG OF RICE!!”

“THE BEASTS TARGET YOUR KIND MORE—IT’S PROVEN BY STATISTICS—!!!”

The shaved-head traitor’s pair was already collapsing into chaos.

Above, the crowd HOWLED with laughter.

•••

The hidden realm stayed silent…

…until the earth itself vibrated.

A low hum crawled across the plains like a pulse.

Lucien’s grip tensened instinctively.

Marie leaned close.

“Something’s coming.”

He nodded—

And then the world ignited.

No horns. No countdown. No warning.

Just—

KRZZZZHT—!!

The runes etched into the plains lit up like veins of lightning.

Then—

RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR—!!

Beasts erupted from everywhere.

• From the diamond forest — obsidian wolves with jaws like forged metal.

• From the mercury lake — crystal serpents, slicing the air like glass ribbons.

• From the fractured earth — molten apes dripping magma.

• From the glowing fog — boar-like armored beasts.

• From above — blade-feathered birds with their wings whistling like knives tearing through cloth.

A tidal wave of monsters… all sprinting toward the ten bound pairs.

Marie cracked her knuckles.

“You ready, Luc?”

Lucien inhaled slowly.

“Stay close.”

Marie flashed a grin.

“With this chain? I don’t have a choice!”

And together… they charged.

•••

The first pack of obsidian wolves lunged… and Lucien moved.

Not a dodge nor a leap. Just a shift of weight.

Marie matched him instantly.

He pulled, she pivoted. She stepped, he widened.

Their chain barely shimmered between them, but their bodies read the tension in it like shared nerves.

It was instinct.

No, it was more.

Lucien felt it. When he rewrote Marie into a Wolf Beastman, her instincts had also bloomed. She already had a good battle sense as a human and now it was sharpened with beastman instinct.

And it showed.

Marie makes her move. She raised a hand and…

…the earth answered.

A delighted grin split her face.

“Haha— I KNEW this would still work! My cheat isn’t suppressed!”

Lucien’s expression flickered.

They were all forcibly brought down to the Mortal Realm again so they can’t use laws.

But them? Their cheats came from their existence, not cultivation.

“Well, technically…” Lucien muttered under his breath, “we HAD these cheats when we were mortals. But yours are TOO much. You’re not supposed to use anything law-like… so hide it. Use magic instead.”

Marie winked as her eyes glowed with excitement.

Then—

The ground convulsed.

Not with simple earth magic.

Not with raw force.

But with controlled fusion.

The soil liquefied into thick dragging sludge…

Capturing wolves mid-pounce, freezing them in place.

Lucien’s eyes widened.

She hadn’t cast mud.

She had cast Earth + Water through her earth origin.

He felt his breath catch.

“You’re… integrating attributes into your earth?”

Marie smirked, proud and smug.

Earth was her first language.

Everything else Lucien gave her… Fire, water, wind, lightning, ice, light, darkness…

She treated them not as separate attributes…

…but as ingredients.

Not many mages could do that. Only true geniuses who deeply understood magic.

‘Well… My Grandpa Ciel can do that too.’ Lucien thought.

Marie stomped the ground.

“You haven’t seen everything yet!”

And then… Marie unleashed hell.

She lifted both hands.

Earth + Fire. The muddy terrain ignited into molten slurry, devouring armor and fur in bubbling waves.

She flicked her wrist.

Earth + Wind. A slicing gale of sand and grit shredded crystal serpents out of the air.

She inhaled—

Earth + Ice. Frozen earth spears erupted, skewering molten apes through their blazing hides.

She curled her fingers—

Earth + Lightning. Cracks of earth turned into electrical conduits, stunning beasts long enough for Lucien to dismantle them.

She was… A walking natural disaster.

A one-woman elemental apocalypse.

The spectator windows flashed as the crowd lost their collective minds.

“WHAT KIND OF CASTING IS THAT?!”

“She’s stronger than half the prodigies up there!!”

“VERDANT VEIL’S WOLF GIRL IS A MONSTER—IN A GOOD WAY!”

“IS SHE ACCEPTING MARRIAGE APPLICATIONS?!”

From Verdant Veil’s seats…

“W-wait… she was THIS strong?!”

“She’s… a genius?!”

“Did we just… underestimate her all this time…?”

“Never judge a book by its cover!!”

Eirene simply smiled.

•••

On the other hand, Lucien fought with no magic. He was careful never to expose his divine energy.

But to the spectators, that only made his precision more terrifying.

His boots cut clean arcs across the shifting stone.

His knives flew like cold comets.

If needed, he loosed arrows with unerring aim, or tossed smoke bombs that twisted enemy attention.

Nothing wasted. Nothing flashy.

Every motion was absolute.

Marie shouted, “Luc! Right!”

He obeyed instantly.

She pulled him forward. The Astral Chain snapped tight and she used that very tension to swing herself around his body.

Together… they dodged a horned boar’s rampage by inches and countered with a spiral of claws, steel, and lightning-lit earth.

The crowd erupted.

“THEY’RE FIGHTING LIKE THEY REHEARSED THIS FOR YEARS!!”

“THEIR TIMING—WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!”

“VERDANT VEIL’S WOLF PAIR IS COOKING—THEY’RE COOKING SO HARD THEY’RE BURNING THE KITCHEN DOWN!!”

The chain wasn’t a restraint.

It was their choreography anchor.

Lucien anticipated.

Marie executed.

Marie created space.

Lucien struck the opening.

They moved like two halves of one will.

•••

Meanwhile, the other pairs were also faring well.

Lythrae & the Moonlit Maiden. Their stillness created unnatural calm. Their presence softened the air. Beasts hesitated as they marched. Illusion or instinct? No one knew.

They drifted past danger like floating petals.

Silent Monastery Monks. Their unified breathing created waves of force. Every palm strike landed with dual impact. The beasts bounced like balls.

Obsidian Scholars. One mapped paths, the other altered terrain. Beasts fell into traps they built in seconds.

Black-Robed Duo. No shouting. No hesitation. Just quiet, methodical slaughter. Even some beasts sensed them as predators.

Lilith & Star-Forge Prodigy. Explosions everywhere. Lilith tossed artifact after artifact like confetti at a parade. Her prodigy sighed and barely had to lift a finger.

Scarlet Sect disciples. They insulted each other nonstop while burning monsters alive. Somehow… effective.

Dawnblade Pair. Twin sword lights danced like paired comets.

Shaved-Head Traitor and Regretful Independent…

Absolute chaos.

“DON’T THROW ME AT THE BOAR!!!”

“I’M DISTRACTING IT—BE USEFUL!!”

“I SWEAR IF I DIE I’M HAUNTING YOU FOREVER—!!!”

The entire stadium cried laughing.

•••

The terrain constantly shifted. The ridges rose, fissures opened, wind tunnels formed out of nowhere… but each pair found their rhythm.

After a brutal sequence of beasts, shifting ground, and deadly tests… two pairs shot ahead of the rest.

1st Pair to Enter Phase Two:

The two Black-Robed Women.

Lucien wasn’t surprised.

They didn’t rush. They didn’t struggle. They just moved, unbothered, unhurried, crushing anything in their path like it was habit.

If any pair seemed forged for this trial… it was them.

The floating gateway shimmered in the distance.

Lucien and Marie broke through the last wave of crystal serpents. Lucien dragged Marie just enough for her to spin. Marie then using the chain to pull him back into perfect attacking angle—

And together, they leapt through the ascending light.

The spectator windows trembled with the force of the crowd’s roar.

A glowing announcement appeared:

2nd Pair to Enter Phase Two:

Verdant Veil

The arena shook under the uproar.