Chapter 161: Chapter 161- Hard Fight
Lucien felt it. With the two combined cores, his divine core mended faster than the Monster Lords’ attacks.
Now... every attempt to break his core failed.
Lucien grinned.
He used the moment to attune himself to the energy from the second fragment in his hands.
His eyes snapped open and a grin broke across his face.
He sat cross-legged in one corner then harnessed its power.
In that instant, his figure shifted. He became one with nature and blended into the environment itself.
Finally... he decided it was time.
He stored the fragment inside his divine energy core.
Then, he observed what was happening inside.
The moment his vision seeped into his inner world...
The air convulsed with crushing intent.
The combined aura of the three Monster Lords rolled over the horizon like an ocean trying to drown everything. The skies dimmed. The earth cracked. And for a heartbeat, it felt as though his world would collapse.
But it didn’t.
Every fracture healed instantly. Every tear in the sky is sealed with blinding light. The two fragments of the Origin Core now pulsed at the deepest point of the realm. They mended all irregularities before they could spread.
The Winged Goblin was the first to notice. Its slitted eyes widened.
"What is this place...? It cannot be destroyed."
The Magus Goblin hissed. "No... this is not possible. I can feel the pulse of two fragments... He has taken our Origin Core Fragment! This can’t be! Such vast power cannot be wielded by a mere human! How is he still fine?!"
The Giant snarled. It pounded its clawed fists into the ground. Each strike shattered the land into canyons, only for the terrain to reform in a breath. The destruction was swallowed like water rippling shut.
"I told you. Humans. Dangerous. But you didn’t listen. Now look where we are. We can’t escape..."
For the first time in countless ages, the Monster Lords looked uneasy.
And finally... Lucien’s consciousness stepped inside the world.
His slime body wobbled. His translucent form contained no core since this was only his consciousness.
He didn’t know what would happen if his consciousness died here. But he didn’t want to find out.
His experience here mirrored that of his real body. Every sensation and every wound felt just as vivid. If he died here, he feared it would mean dying for real as well...
He spoke from afar... yet his voice carried clearly to the Monster Lords.
"You wanted a vessel... you got one. But here—" he grinned, "—I am no vessel. I am the jailer."
The Winged Goblin moved first. A single beat of its wings turned the skies into a storm of razor feathers.
But they weren’t simple projectiles. Each one carried compressed miasma. They aimed to sever the very fabric of his world.
Just then...
Lucien’s hand snapped up. Then space itself folded.
The barrage curved mid-flight. They bent into a spiral vortex that threatened to consume the Winged Goblin itself.
But it wasn’t foolish. With a shriek, it twisted its wings, reversing the flow and shattering the vortex before it could collapse. The black feathers rained down, piercing the earth like spears.
The Giant struck next. Its fist slammed down. The land caved and shockwaves rippled outward in concentric rings. Lucien blinked aside but even the aftershock threatened to shatter his slime form.
He staggered, clutching his chest. ’Damn... even here, their power is still overwhelming. If I take one hit head-on, I’m done.’
The Magus extended its staff. Whispers seeped into Lucien’s ears. Visions of despair, screams, illusions of himself breaking apart.
But only for a heartbeat. The nightmare shattered.
"Harold Coalheart," the Magus hissed. "This world may not break... but you will."
Lucien’s body pulsed.
A portal appeared and from it... his slime form emerged.
One... two... then three... then countless shimmering copies.
Each one was laughing loudly.
Advanced Cosmic Magic Spell: Eternal Convergence.
He had called upon the echoes of his past selves.
Then.. the copies danced across the battlefield.
"Blablabla. Catch me if you can," the copies said in chorus, mocking the Monster Lords.
The Winged Goblin’s eyes turned bloodshot. Rage twisted its face at being mocked by an insect.
"Fool! You think such tricks—" It lunged, tearing through five clones in a blur. Each dissolved into smoke.
But Lucien grinned. He had been waiting for that to happen. From the fragments of those bodies, golden chains erupted, coiling around the Winged Goblin’s wings and forcing it down.
The Giant immediately swung to tear the other clones off.
And then... Lucien blinked, appearing above its head. Morphis split into a hundred blades and rained down. Each blade carried condensed energy from the Origin Core fragments.
The Giant felt the danger. It raised an arm and then... black ichor spilled as the blades pierced its hide. Yet even as it bellowed in pain, its other fist swatted Lucien from the sky.
"GUHHH!" Lucien was sent flying toward the ground. But before he could hit, he blinked to the far corner of the earth.
Still, his body scattered like liquid. For a terrifying instant, his slime form barely held together. But... his form mended itself as though it were only natural.
The Magus Goblin’s staff pulsed.
"Now. End him."
The Winged Goblin tore free of the chains and all three lunged at once.
Lucien blinked desperately, reappearing at the far horizon. But the monsters were fast. Too fast.
Their strength carved through the rules he bent. His world gave him control but it wasn’t absolute. Their overwhelming force strained it to the limit.
’I can’t overpower them. I can’t outrun them. Then...’
His eyes lit up with ruthless clarity.
The earth shifted beneath the Monster Lords. Mountains erupted. Rivers of light carved valleys. The terrain itself turned hostile and it bent into a labyrinth around them. Every step they took, the world tried to smother, to confuse, to trap.
The Winged Goblin shot upward... only for the sky itself to fold into an infinite maze of mirrored wings.
The Giant slammed the ground... only for it to ripple like water, sending its strike back against its own chest.
The Magus spread fire across the horizon... only for Lucien to fold the flames into a loop, turning them back on their caster.
And yet...
They adapted.
The Winged Goblin closed its eyes, navigating the maze by sound.
The Giant braced itself, letting the reflected shockwaves roll off its hide.
The Magus layered runes upon itself, shielding against its own rebounding spells.
The battlefield shook as if the core itself struggled to hold them all.
The Winged Goblin then swooped low as it neared Lucien. Its feathers spiraled like sickles aimed to cut him into ribbons.
The Giant stomped forward. Each step sunk the earth and raised tides of stone.
The Magus whispered. It weaved runes and magic circles that tried to cage Lucien’s very existence.
Lucien blinked aside... but not fast enough. A feather clipped him...
His slime arm tore off... He snarled as the torn arm reformed itself.
’Damn... I can’t keep this up.’
He blinked behind the Magus, swinging Morphis in a brutal arc. But... his blade sliced nothing but an afterimage. The staff cracked against him from the side, blasting him across a mountain ridge.
The ridge folded to catch him... But the Giant’s fist was already there, smashing the mountain flat. Lucien barely blinked out before the rubble collapsed inward. His form reappeared a dozen paces away.
His thoughts raced. ’I have control... but against their raw force? I’m drowning. I just need something that can twist their strength back on them.’
His gaze flicked to his slime body.
Then he saw something that made his eyes lit up.
There’s a faint, flickering glow on his fingers.
The unpurified Goblin Ring.
He was already under the influence of the Gargoyle Ring yet still... he could not keep up.
But the Goblin Ring... He had no idea what power it truly held.
If it contained the power he thought it had... then it might change everything.
The Winged Goblin lunged again. Lucien bent the land into a wall to slow it then blinked to safety... just long enough to draw out his Essence of Purity.
He grinned.
He pressed the crystal into the ring.
The result was immediate.
The ring shrieked.... not in sound but in waves of despair that rippled across his world. The corruption burned and dissolved under the Essence’s brilliance.
The ring then shone in a brilliant light.
Lucien’s grin widened.
"You might be stronger... but this is my world. Here, I decide the rules."
He raised his hand.
The skies cracked with golden lightning. The ground split open into a sea of radiant fire.
The Monster Lords looked uncertain. Lucien was delaying them for something.
The Giant was the first to realize it. Its monstrous eyes narrowed then it roared. With reckless force, it charged forward, smashing everything in its path.
Mountains crumbled, valleys split apart and even the sea of fire Lucien had conjured was ripped open as the Giant tore through. Its intent was clear. Stop Lucien before whatever he was planning came to fruition.
The Winged Goblin followed close behind. But the golden lightning webbing the sky struck down in torrents, forcing it back.
The Magus carved runes into the air. Spells surged outward. It binded the Giant in protection and tore at Lucien’s world to weaken his control.
But then... they all froze.
From the very depths of this world... a pulse.
The fragments of the Origin Core throbbed together, spilling waves of impossible energy across the land.
The Monster Lords turned in unison. Their instincts screamed.
Lucien’s grin widened. His slime body flickered in the glow.
"Too late."
The fragments pulsed again. It was pouring rivers of divine power into the Goblin Ring on his finger.
The ring blazed like a miniature sun. It devoured the energy around it as if it was a beast that hasn’t eaten for thousand years.
And just then... Lucien felt it.