The designation "System Error: Blackout" echoed in the cold, synthetic data stream of the Central Authority, a death sentence issued by the unseen rulers of the world. I ignored it. The distant gathering of Mythic Enforcers was a problem for tomorrow. Today, I had a score to settle and a final display of dominance to enact before leaving the relative safety of Solaria City.
My immediate target was the A-Rank community, the segment of hunters who believed they were the elite, operating just below the Epic echelon. They were predictable, arrogant, and they were the most numerous obstacle in my ascent. To truly consolidate my power and send a final, demoralizing message to the Grand Guild, I needed to crush one of their most sacrosanct proving grounds: the Siren's Grotto.
The Siren's Grotto was a notorious A-Rank dungeon, a flooded coastal cave system that opened only during the lowest tide. Its boss was the Kraken Matriarch, a massive cephalopod whose defense was simple: overwhelming physical bulk, a paralyzing, dense ink cloud, and a terrifying ability to regenerate its massive limbs almost instantaneously. The Matriarch's clear was mandatory for any Rank A team aspiring to Rank S status, typically requiring a full twelve-man raid group utilizing constant elemental fire attacks and specialized cutting artifacts to prevent regeneration.
My plan was not to mimic their raid; it was to use my broken, self-sustaining continuous pressure to negate the Matriarch's core defense—regeneration.
I informed Grand Master Theron, through a brief, unencrypted message that terrified his administrative staff, that the Siren's Grotto was my next objective, giving him just enough time to dispatch his Rank A observers. I wanted witnesses.
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I entered the Grotto at the precise moment the tide receded, the air immediately thick with salt and the metallic tang of monster ichor. My Aura Projection was active, creating a constant, low-frequency pressure wave around me, subtly displacing the water and terrifying the low-level aquatic monsters into immediate retreat.
The initial levels were riddled with armored Crab Sentinels. Normally, these required focused strikes to their joint armor. I didn't waste the energy. I simply maintained the Density Manipulation defense and activated Hyper-Focus. To my accelerated perception, the Sentinels moved with agonizing slowness. I moved past them using Chain Lightning Evasion, dissolving into pure electrical energy and instantly reappearing beyond their defensive formations. The Sentinels' own confusion and slow reaction time allowed me to save valuable minutes and mana.
The physical constraints of the water were neutralized by my continuous Aura Projection, which acted as a kinetic sheath. I reached the boss chamber—a vast, pitch-black underwater cavern—in under thirty minutes.
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The Kraken Matriarch was a sight of primal terror—a hundred-foot-long monstrosity whose skin was the color of volcanic rock, radiating a terrifying, ancient aquatic energy. It sensed my presence and immediately reacted, filling the entire cavern with a cloud of paralyzing, dense black ink.
For a conventional team, the fight was over immediately. The ink blinds, suffocates, and paralyzes. But not for me.
I activated Specter Sight. The ink cloud was simply a visible obstruction; the energy signatures of the Matriarch's tentacles and core were still perfectly visible in the gloom. I breathed deep, confident that the combination of my kinetic aura and the Void Alchemist's filtration would expel the toxins.
The Matriarch launched its primary attack: all eight massive tentacles surged toward me, the suckers powerful enough to crush rock.
I didn't attempt to dodge all eight. That was inefficient. I allowed the two lead tentacles to strike my side, which was protected by Density Manipulation. The impact was immense, forcing the Matriarch to exert maximum force, but my defense held absolutely. The Matriarch, sensing no damage, immediately began to retract its tentacles to regenerate the minor, surface abrasions I had caused.
This was the opening.