Chapter 108: The Warden’s Retribution

The blinding violet light from the Warden’s chest furnace bathed the rusted coliseum in a toxic glow.

[WARNING: Phase 2 Initiated. Warden’s Retribution.]

The massive Iron Executioner did not just repair itself.

It weaponized the very room against us.

The violet mana leaked from its core and spread rapidly across the heavy iron chains and boiler plates of the floor.

The rusted metal instantly superheated, glowing a bright, lethal orange.

"Keep moving!" I roared over the Pack Link.

"If you stand still for more than a second, your boots will melt to the floor!"

From the severed stump of its right arm, the Warden projected a massive, crackling whip made entirely of radioactive violet energy.

The beast lashed out.

The energy whip completely obliterated a heavy stone pillar where Kaelith had been standing a fraction of a second before.

CRACK!

My leadership shifted from calculated tactician to a cold blooded Sovereign of Death.

"Lysandra! Take the air and drop the cages on it!" I barked.

"Rolf, pop your Warlord aura and draw its heat!"

"Kaelith, cripple its remaining leg!"

My pack executed the commands with flawless, terrifying synchronization.

Lysandra folded her maroon wings and darted through the scorching air.

She lashed her Phantom Silk around the heavy, suspended iron cages near the ceiling.

With a sharp yank, she brought three massive cages crashing down directly onto the Warden’s broad shoulders.

CLANG! KRASH!

The boss stumbled under the immense weight.

Rolf bounded across the melting floor, his heavy silver fur bristling as he activated his C Grade aura.

He roared, absorbing the ambient heat and drawing the blinding violet gaze of the beast entirely onto himself.

Kaelith used the distraction perfectly.

She shadow stepped directly through the violet light, appearing right behind the Warden’s thick iron knee.

Her dark daggers flashed.

SHING! SHING!

Thick hydraulic cables snapped, spewing black oil and toxic mana across the superheated floor.

The colossal Executioner dropped to one knee, completely immobilized.

"My turn," I growled.

I remembered Anise’s warning about my core.

I did not let the apocalyptic rage expand and tear my vessel apart.

I compressed it.

I forced every ounce of my hatred, my grief, and my absolute fury into a single, highly condensed point inside my Vanguard Arm.

The heavy brass plates hissed, glowing a terrifying, volatile green.

I used the superheated floor to my advantage.

I channeled mana into the soles of my boots and pushed off with catastrophic force.

KRA-KOOM!

I launched myself like a ballistic missile directly at the kneeling boss.

The Warden raised its giant guillotine blade to block.

I did not care.

"You think you can break my world?! You would need to try harder, dumbass!" I screamed, swinging my brass fist.

CLANG!

The kinetic impact completely shattered the heavy guillotine blade into useless shrapnel.

I grabbed the edges of the Warden’s caved in chest plate with my bare organic hand.

"Nobody touches her! You hear me?! Nobody!" I roared, staring directly into the beast’s glowing violet eyes.

With every hit I could remember the horrifying and brutalized face of Elara. Her pained eyes just kept hovering in my head.

I pulled my mechanical fist back.

I drove it straight into the radioactive violet furnace burning in its chest.

KRA-KOOM!

"Die you piece of rusted shit!" I spat, fully detonating the compressed kinetic energy inside its core.

A shockwave of pure, condensed wrath erupted from my palm.

The Iron Warden was completely obliterated from the inside out.

Chunks of black iron and shattered boiler plates rained down across the melting coliseum.

The heavy, dead silence of the arena returned.

Golden text cascaded down my System interface in an endless waterfall.

[Floor Guardian Defeated: The Iron Warden.]

[Level Gap Bonus Applied: 8 Levels.]

[Massive EXP Awarded.]

[Level Up! Current Level: 38]

[Level Up! Current Level: 39]

[Level Up! Current Level: 40 ]

[Level Up! Current Level: 41]

[Level Up! Current Level: 42]

[Level Up! Current Level: 43]

The notifications kept rolling until the entire pack hit Level 43.

I landed heavily on the cooling iron floor.

Amidst the smoking wreckage of the boss, a single, flawless metallic orb pulsed with a gentle violet light.

I picked it up.

[Item Acquired: Warden’s Arcanium Core.]

[Rarity: Ultra Rare.]

I pocketed the core immediately.

’I will deal with this later. We will move as fast as we can and achieve Level 50 so that our bodies are prepared for awakening the Law Seed. I cannot suppress this power for long.’

Nyssa would need this to perfectly stabilize the Ironclad suits.

The pack gathered around me, panting heavily and completely exhausted from the superheated fight.

"Well, we all reached Level 43 now. Should we keep going Boss?" asked Rolf after catching his breath.

"Yes! We will not stop until we reach the maximum limit our bodies can handle. The time for political games is over! We will show them what it means to be Strong on the Monster Continent. We worship Strength above everything. So, defeating them with unparalleled Strength is the way to go." I replied as my voice was filled with conviction.

"My Past Human self was heavily impacting my decision-making capability. I thought the War would lead to a great loss of life. And it surely will. But they breached our home. Those cowardly bastards laid hands on my innocent lover. They did not even have the balls to face me head to head." I continued as I moved towards the next Strata.

"I will give them hell. And that woman who made Elara a cripple today shall know what it’s like to beg for Death. She will want die after I am done with her. I swear it on my Life!" I vowed.

At the far end of the coliseum, the massive iron gates groaned.

They slowly ground open, revealing a dark, freezing abyss.

This was the entrance to Strata 4.

The Cognitive Void.

I did not give them a single moment to rest.

I wiped the toxic blue blood from my face.

I pointed my steel longsword directly into the dark, starless abyss.

"Keep moving," I commanded.

"Seven levels to go."