Chapter 48: Iron-Core Warmaster
The air inside the main smelting hall was thick with the blinding glow of molten titanium.
Leon Graves stepped through the shredded iron threshold, his boots making a dull, metallic sound against the red-hot floor plates. Rivers of glowing liquid metal ran down deep grooves in the obsidian stone walls, casting a violent crimson light across the massive chamber. At the center of the hall, standing directly before a massive, three-story industrial furnace, was the ultimate master of the fourth floor: the Iron-Core Warmaster.
The overboss stood nearly sixteen feet tall, its titan torso forged from interlocking plates of dark meteoric iron and reinforced bone alloy.
[Entity Identified: Iron-Core Warmaster (Level 38 - Floor 4 Overboss).]
[The target’s defenses are protected by an ’Absolute Kinetic Overshield’.]
[Warning: The target’s attacks deal 35% additional crushing damage against targets below 200 Constitution.]
Leon did not check his active parameters. He didn’t need a system interface to tell him that his baseline Constitution was already tracking at a game-breaking two hundred and six points. The 35% additional crushing damage modifier meant absolutely nothing to his current biological density. The intense, suffocating heat wave radiating from the overboss’s core simply dissolved into harmless gray vapor the moment it touched the outer boundary of his Aura of the End-Game.
The Warmaster let out a deafening, mechanical roar through its internal core pass-through, its multiple amber eye lenses flaring to life in the smoke.
"Terrestrial anomaly detected," the overboss’s synthesized voice boomed through the open link. "Your synchronization metrics break the structural progression roadmap. Initiating termination protocol."
The sixteen-foot titan launched its body forward with a velocity that shattered the reinforced iron floor plates beneath its feet. It violently swung a massive, ten-ton obsidian warhammer in a horizontal arc meant to flatten Leon’s entire physical frame into an unrefined metal sheet.
Leon Graves did not drop into a defensive stance. He took a single stride forward, allowing his massive fifty-foot Aura of the End-Game to violently expand from beneath his heels.
BOOM.
The blinding crimson glare of the molten titanium was instantly swallowed by a circle of pure, absolute darkness.
The moment the meteoric iron plating of the Warmaster crossed his border wire, the universal laws of Finality took hold, systematically slashing forty percent of its level 38 overboss attributes. The thick bolts holding its mechanical torso together turned brown with instant, deep-seated rust that flaked off onto the floor tiles like dry leaves.
The giant’s internal steam pistons hissed with erratic pressure as gravity multiplied by five within his circle, forcing its heavy knees to crack against the iron plates.
Leon didn’t give its processor units time to reset their defensive script. He closed the distance in a fraction of a millisecond, his bare fingers wrapping around the cold, textured grip of the Abyssal Stinger inside his sleeve. He channeled every drop of his active mana core directly into the black alloy steel blade, unlocking his ultimate execution skill.
"[Activating Skill: Finality Eclipse]"
Thanks to his complete 3/3 Finality Set active attributes, the SSS-rank skill forced the absolute concept of decay into a single point of contact, completely ignoring one hundred percent of the target’s ’Absolute Kinetic Overshield’.
He drove the black blade straight through the rusted center chest plate, piercing the burning amber core behind its ribs.
BOOM.
The internal core exploded inward. The kinetic energy did not blow outward; it collapsed into a black vortex of necrotic fire that systematically ate away at the titan’s level 38 framework. The sixteen-foot Warmaster did not even manage to complete its swing. Its massive obsidian warhammer clattered heavily onto the floor, its entire gold-plated structure turning into a towering mountain of dark gray sand that filled the center of the forge area.
[Floor 4 Overboss completely annihilated!][Total Experience Points gained: 25,000 EXP.]
[Level Up! You are now Level 24.]
[Unique Trait Activated...]
Target mana paths extracted: Your maximum Mana pool has permanently increased by +250 points.
Absolute Extraction Activated:
Strength:+12
Agility: +10
Constitution: +12
Mana: +15
Leon Graves stood alone in the quiet smelting hall, his charcoal duster coat slowly settling around his legs as the massive torrent of stolen attributes integrated deep into his bone marrow. His maximum mana capacity had permanently expanded past 2,740 points, his dark core buzzing with an unassailable power.
He walked over to the center of the massive gray sand mound. Resting on top of the ash was a heavy, platinum-rimmed container pulsing with a brilliant, blinding golden light—the Warmaster Master Casket. He reached down, his bare fingers wrapping around the cold lock as his violet eyes locked onto the central terminal console. The fourth floor of the Obsidian Firmament was officially broken, his progression line was flawless, and he intended to harvest every drop of data the gods dropped onto his path.