Chapter 39: Aegis of Finality Mytic Set Fragment 2/3
The platinum-rimmed Overboss Clearance Box throbbed in the dead center of the obsidian clearing, its polished surface reflecting the pale green lightning that still cut through the pitch-black sky void.
Leon Graves dropped to one knee amidst the thick, cooling pile of gray ash left behind by the Tartarus Gate Commander. The entire sub-sector had fallen into an absolute, freezing silence. The ten level 25 Dreadnoughts that had stood as an iron wall before the portal were gone, their metal frames completely dissolved into smaller sand mounds as his Aura of the End-Game slowly receded back into his duster coat.
He did not check his physical status panel. His expanded Perception attribute, now tracking past seventy-one, instantly picked up the golden translucent screen unrolling his updated parameters across his vision.
[STATUS MENU]
Name: Leon Graves
Class: Sovereign of Finality: Apocalypse Monarch (Rank: SSS)
Level: 21 (Regional Threshold Leader)
Health: 3,130 / 3,130 (+240 from Con Increase)
Mana: 2,090 / 2,090 (+150 from Grave Reclamation)
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 172
Agility: 148
Constitution: 179
Mana: 140
Perception: 71
His numbers were locked into a flawless, unassailable progression line. At level 21, his raw physical attributes had already broken past the absolute hard limits of the first three tiers of the survival game, matching the parameters of a seasoned platinum rank hunter who had spent half a decade clearing high-level gates. He extended his left hand, his bare fingers wrapping around the cold metal latch of the clearance casket.
"Open," he commanded silently.
The heavy platinum pins inside the lock frame snapped back with a fluid, seamless click. The massive lid slid back with a soft hiss, releasing a dense, freezing cloud of silver-white smoke that carried the sharp, volatile scent of pure high-concept system alloy.
[Opening Tier-2 Overboss Clearance Box...][You have received: 100,000 High-Density Mana Crystals]
[You have received: ]
[You have received: 1x Hidden Skill Book: Death Wave (Rank: A)]
Leon’s breath caught slightly, his twin rings of deep violet pupils contracting sharply as his gaze locked onto the heavy, starlight-absorbing black iron amulet floating in the center of the silver fog.
The second Mythic-rank drop.
In his past life, before his regression, pieces of the Finality Set were nothing more than dark legends whispered by the oldest human mages on the top floors of the Tower. The leaders of Earth’s multi-billion-dollar corporate syndicates had to spend years raiding high-level hell-zones just to patch together an incomplete set of Epic or Ancient-rank gear. Pulling a second mythic fragment from a standard floor-two overboss box was a statistical exploit that only an SSS-rank class could extract from the system algorithm.
He reached into the silver cloud, his fingers closing around the cold alloy amulet. The moment the metal touched his chest plate, it dissolved into a fluid line of liquid violet fire before hardening into a permanent black seal etched directly into the center of his Pauldrons of Finality.
The integration instantly triggered a massive structural resonance check across his equipment slots.
[Equipment Set Effect Detected: 2/3 Pieces of ’Finality Set’ Active.]
[Unlocking Mythic Set Bonus Attribute...]
Set Passive Effect:
The user’s unique class skill has experienced a structural promotion. The true decay damage output is increased from 300% to 400%, and the armor-piercing ratio has been elevated from 50% to 70%.
Leon let out a slow, steady stream of white vapor into the freezing dark air. A 70% armor-piercing ratio meant he could now completely ignore the physical and conceptual shields of almost any entity guarding the lower tiers. Even if an ancient alien general threw up a multi-layered divine defense barrier later in the roadmap, Leon’s blade would pass straight through their protection values like a hot knife slicing through thin paper.
He turned his focus back to the bottom of the casket, picking up the final reward—the high-tier A-rank skill book, Death Wave.
He pressed his palm against the glowing black surface of the parchment, forcing the conceptual data to integrate directly into his active mind pathways.
[Skill Book Integrated Successfully.]
[You have unlocked the active skill: ]
Effect: The user can project a thirty-foot horizontal blade of compressed decay energy from their weapon or bare knuckles. Targets caught in the path of the wave take 250% decay damage and suffer an instant 3-second movement speed reduction of 50%. Costs 80 Mana. Cooldown: 45 seconds.
A cold, razor-sharp smile cut across Leon’s pale face beneath his hood. Death Wave provided his build with a highly efficient mid-range crowd-control option that he desperately lacked during his solo skirmishes. Combined with his infinite mana pool driven by Grave Reclamation, he could now continuously spam wide-scale kinetic blades to control the layout of the battlefield before closing the distance to execute targets with his dagger.
He stood up slowly, the charcoal fabric of his coat settling around his leather boots as he turned his gaze toward the massive crimson portal of the gate.
"Miller," Leon’s flat voice transmitted directly into the mind of his guard back at the central lobby through the core link. "The second floor has been cleared. The structural boundaries are stabilizing. I am stepping across the line to Floor 3."
"U-Understood, boss," Miller’s voice crackled back, filled with an absolute, terrified respect. "The Ashen Armory is already at 80% completion. We’ll have the automated turrets fortified before the next wave drops."
Leon cut the link with a sharp flick of his mind. He took a single, controlled step forward, his leather boots crossing the threshold of the stone steps as his physical form seamlessly dissolved into the thick gray curtains of the fog. The crimson plasma of the portal wrapped around his dark cloak, a violent, gravity-warping force trying to tear his molecular mass apart as the system prepared to transition his data to the third layer.
But Leon Graves didn’t even bend his knees under the weight of the spatial transfer. He stood straight, his expression dead calm beneath his hood as the toxic mist of Tartarus faded completely, replaced by the blazing, white-gold sands of the third floor. Volume 1 of his regression was officially closed, and the true slaughterhouse of the Obsidian Firmament was about to widen.