Chapter 501: Celeste’s Power, Cataclysmic Soul Fireball
Leon watched helplessly from the panel. If her soul shattered, there was nothing he could do from where he was standing.
But right as the flames were about to destroy her soul...
Fwoosh!
A wave of darkness suddenly surrounded Celeste’s body.
Her [Darkness Ember] emerged from within her and rapidly spread throughout her entire body before sinking directly into her soul.
The process was invisible from the outside, but Leon could still see the result.
The blue flames of the Soul Fireball had already begun scorching Celeste’s soul, yet the moment her [Darkness Ember] entered it, everything changed.
The dark energy wrapped around her soul and began strengthening it at an incredible rate.
Her soul, which had previously been vulnerable to the attack, suddenly became far stronger.
The boost was so enormous that it was almost as if Celeste’s soul had been pushed to its absolute limit in an instant.
It became comparable to Leon’s own maxed soul.
Basically, the Soul Fireball could no longer harm her.
Celeste slowly raised her head as the pain disappeared, then pushed herself off the ground.
The fear that had been visible on her face moments earlier was gone.
She gripped her spear and pointed it toward the Lich of Souls. Dark embers began gathering around her body.
A massive wave of darkness erupted forward, forming a gigantic wall of black flames that swept across the chamber and swallowed the Lich whole.
The creature attempted to resist, but its soul was completely overwhelmed.
Ding!
[All players have managed to defeat their monster, how fabulous.]
Leon finally relaxed after seeing the final panel.
He had been especially worried about Celeste, so seeing that she had not only survived but had also managed to strengthen her soul in the process left him feeling relieved.
’Looks like her [Darkness Ember] really is useful in situations like this.’
Leon smiled slightly. All three girls had managed to defeat their opponents, although each of them had handled the battle in a completely different way.
With that finished, Leon turned his attention toward his Storage Space.
Several rewards had appeared after his own battle.
[Lich of Souls Essence: Consuming will increase Spirit by 1,200.]
[Skill Book: Soul Fireball (Ascendant)]
[Crooked Lich Staff (Ancient)]
[Sub-Talent Scroll: Soul Pulse (C-Level)]
"Wow," Leon said, nodding with excitement. "That’s decent."
However, the reward that interested him the most was the skill book.
It was the exact same skill that the Lich of Souls had used against him.
Leon did not waste any time. He grabbed the skill book and immediately poured his mana into it.
The skill book dissolved into countless particles of light that quickly seeped into his body.
Ding!
[You have learned "Soul Fireball (Ascendant)"]
Leon smiled. He had just obtained another soul-based ability from the very first monsters he found in the Tower of Souls.
And he knew exactly how important and valuable these would be.
But before he could even examine the skill properly, another panel appeared.
[Synergy between "Soul Fireball" and Cataclysmic Fireball" detected.]
Leon blinked, ’Wait a minute...!’
Fwoosh!
The two skills suddenly began interacting with each other.
The energy belonging to [Soul Fireball] and [Cataclysmic Fireball] intertwined, causing the two abilities to fuse together.
Leon watched as the two separate skills disappeared and became a completely new one.
Ding!
["Cataclysmic Fireball" and "Soul Fireball" has fused into "Cataclysmic Soul Fireball"]
[Cataclysmic Soul Fireball (Max): Focus the power of your Spirit and Soul into a cataclysmic fireball able to wipe out anything standing in your way, it is able to directly target of the soul of those hit with it in addition to causing tremendous damage.]
Leon stared at the description for several seconds. A grin slowly appeared on his face.
This was far more useful than simply having [Soul Fireball] by itself.
The new skill combined the destructive power of [Cataclysmic Fireball] with the ability to directly attack the soul.
’Even if something has around 30 million combat power, if its soul is weak enough, this could probably destroy it in one attack.’
Leon understood the weakness immediately: the attack still needed to hit.
If an opponent was fast enough to dodge it, the power of the skill would not matter.
’Well, I just have to make sure it hits.’
He then consumed the [Lich of Souls Essence], allowing the energy within it to enter his body and strengthen his Spirit by 1,200.
It was not enough to make a huge difference to Leon’s overall strength, but every increase was still useful.
And as for the C-Level Soul Pulse sub-talent, it wasn’t that good so he simply stored it away for later.
A few seconds later, his body suddenly began glowing.
Fwoosh!
He, Celeste, Violet and Emilia were teleported away as their bodies broke apart into countless particles before disappearing from the chamber.
Ding!
[You are being sent to the "Soul Tower’s Dungeon".]
[You have only one objective: reach the top, you may do so extremely fast, or very slowly, depending your abilities.]
Those were the final words Leon saw before his surroundings completely disappeared.
A moment later, he reappeared somewhere else.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Soul Tower’s Dungeon"]
[Floor: 1]
[All monsters on this floor are creations from the Lord of Souls, he simplys enjoys watching what they do.]
Leon immediately began examining his surroundings. There was a lot of information contained within those few panels.
First, the Lord of Souls was apparently capable of creating monsters inside his own tower. That was not entirely surprising.
The Time Overseer seemed capable of creating monsters and other beings as well, so perhaps powerful existences like them had abilities that allowed them to create creatures within their domains.
However, the second part caught Leon’s attention even more: there was a floor number.
’So I guess I need to climb.’
Leon looked around.
He was a small hall with dark stone walls stretched into the distance, while countless passages connected different chambers together.
There was no obvious route leading upward. Instead, the dungeon was structured almost like a gigantic maze.
The walls were covered in faint blue markings that pulsed occasionally as well as blue torches to light up the way.
Since Violet, Emilia, and Celeste had also been sent to the [Soul Tower’s Dungeon], there was a good chance that they had all appeared somewhere on the same floor.
The only problem was finding them.
Leon increased his speed and began exploring the dungeon.
He did not have to travel for long before he sensed something nearby.
Several powerful presences were gathered in one of the chambers ahead.
Leon entered the room. Around a dozen monsters were standing throughout the large chamber.
One looked like a massive beast made from black bones, while another resembled a humanoid creature with a body covered in cracks filled with blue light.
There were also several strange creatures with elongated limbs, floating bodies, and monstrous faces.
Despite their different appearances, Leon could immediately tell that their strength was roughly comparable to the Lich of Souls.
Their combat powers were all around twelve million, while their abilities were focused on attacking or weakening the souls of their opponents.
For someone else, facing a dozen monsters like these at once would have been an extremely dangerous battle.
For Leon, however, it was almost like testing a new weapon.
He raised his staff, and a massive amount of blue energy immediately gathered around its tip.
The energy quickly condensed into a giant fireball, its surface covered in swirling blue flames.
Leon looked at the monsters, ’Let’s see how strong this really is.’
Cataclysmic Soul Fireball!