As the true Dungeon Master rose, a terrifying pin-drop silence fell over the cavern. The suffocating pressure instantly multiplied, becoming exponentially heavier than the aura they had felt during the final wave.

Serene, who was lying nearest to the entity, felt as if her very soul was being violently ripped apart. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to run away.

But the immense physical and mental toll from her previous battle had drained her completely. She didn’t even have the strength to sit up. As the bastard in front of her laughed arrogantly, she felt entirely helpless.

The monster’s body began to emit a highly dangerous, dark mana. Shadows swirled around him as if his body were a bottomless void. Thick purple mana leaked from his form, making him look like a walking nuclear bomb about to detonate.

He raised his hand. A sphere of chaotic purple mana started to manifest in his open palm. It rapidly gathered ambient energy, its size increasing exponentially by the each second.

There was nothing Serene could do but stare in horror at the massive, area-of-effect attack.

He thrust his hand forward, launching the giant sphere straight toward her.

"HAHAHAHA... DO NOT WORRY, GIRL! AFTER I FINISH YOU, I WILL PLAY WITH YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS!"

As the massive sphere of chaos closed the distance in less than a second, Serene knew there was no hope of survival. She braced herself for the impact and squeezed her eyes shut.

*BOOOOOOOM!*

Suddenly, she heard a massive blast a short distance away—but the attack never hit her.

She snapped her eyes open.

The chaotic sphere that had been hurtling toward her had been violently deflected midair, launching harmlessly toward the far side of the cavern like a beam of light reflecting off a mirror.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! WHO DID THIS?!"

the Dungeon Master roared, staring at the empty space in complete bewilderment.

Serene turned her head to see who had caused the deflection. What she saw made her stomach churn.

Zane stood nearby, heavily leaning against the cavern wall for support. His entire body was shaking violently. Both of his hands were raised, trembling as he channeled every last ounce of his dark magic.

He had instantly summoned his own shadows to cover the incoming attack, sacrificing them to misdirect the chaotic sphere away from Serene. But because his shadows were deeply bound to his own soul, destroying them meant the attack also inflicted massive internal damage directly onto him.

Whenever a Dark magic user bonded with their shadow, any damage the shadow suffered was transferred to the caster. That was exactly why nobody used their shadows defensively unless it was an absolute emergency, and why they rarely summoned full shadow-beings into combat. The risk of fatal backlash was simply too high.

*Thud!*

Having protected her with all of his remaining power, Zane’s legs finally gave way. He collapsed to the cold stone floor and instantly lost consciousness, leaving it entirely up to fate whether they would survive or not.

Serene stared at his fallen body, her own remaining strength leaving her.

’Is this the end...?... But where is Alen?’

The Dungeon Master finally calmed down as he saw the blonde boy collapse.

"TCH! ANNOYING PEST! YOU DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED!"

The entity channeled his dark mana again. Another chaos sphere rapidly manifested in his hand, and he prepared to shoot it directly at Zane’s unconscious body.

"Got you, you rotten vermin!"

Alen appeared directly behind the Dungeon Master’s back, channeling half of his total mana reserves into his clenched fist.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Elemental Fusion - Elemental Fist!]

His eyes glowed fiercely as his fist was coated in a highly dense fusion of Water and Sound elemental mana. With devastating force, he launched the strike straight into the Dungeon Master’s spine.

*BOOOOOOOOOM!*

A deafening blast of elemental mana shook the entire cavern. The shockwave shattered the ground beneath them, creating a massive crater, and heavy debris fell from the ceiling. The sneak attack had landed perfectly on the monster’s back.

The sheer air pressure created by the explosive impact launched Serene’s limp body several meters away. Without the strength to defend herself, she rolled continuously across the rough stone floor until she finally fell completely unconscious.

Now, only two beings were left in the ruined arena.

As the thick dust slowly cleared, Alen stepped back, looking at the epicenter of his attack with cold, calculating eyes.

But as the smoke fully dissipated, his calm demeanor shattered, dropping into an expression of sheer caution.

The Dungeon Master stood perfectly still. There wasn’t a single scratch on his back. His dark robes weren’t even torn.

Alen’s ultimate sneak attack had been completely and utterly insignificant.

Alen felt genuinely speechless. He hadn’t expected his fusion attack to easily kill the boss, but for it to not even leave a slight wound? It was completely useless against him.

Alen took a slow step back. The Dungeon Master’s head slowly twisted around at a terrifying, irregular angle. His cold, glowing eyes locked onto Alen, making every survival instinct in Alen’s body scream in warning.

"YOU PATHETIC LITTLE INSECT... YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE IN THE PRESENCE OF SOMETHING FAR ABOVE YOU..."

The boss turned his body fully toward the silver-haired boy.

"YOU’LL LEARN YOUR PLACE... EVEN IF I HAVE TO BREAK YOU TO DO IT, YOU LITTLE PEST!..."

The dark grimoire floating behind the entity suddenly flared with a suffocating, blinding darkness. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

[Dark Spirit Art: Endless Misery!]

A domain of pure, suffocating darkness erupted outward, enveloping Alen and completely closing off the space around him. Everything instantly turned pitch-black.

Alen looked around the terrifying domain the entity had just created. Even with his Night Vision actively flaring, he could barely see an inch in front of his face. The domain strictly and absolutely restricted all fields of vision.

Just as Alen was beginning to feel completely useless and trapped, he suddenly heard a voice directly behind him.

"It’s been a while... Brother?"