I didn't waste time on the Kraken Matriarch's corpse. I grabbed the single, most valuable item it dropped: the Hydro-Kinetic Essence—a unique, water-based A-Rank essence that provided incredible mobility in aquatic environments. I absorbed it instantly, the Void Alchemist smoothing the integration into my Epic core.
I left the Grotto and found the Rank A observers waiting, pale and visibly trembling. They were not trembling from fear of the monster, but from the fear of absolute, unquantifiable power.
I walked past them without a word. They quickly scrambled to their comms, the report they had to send back to the Grand Guild utterly rewriting the laws of hunter physics.
The shockwave hit Solaria within the hour. The news was not of a successful raid, but of a violation of hunter physics.
"The Matriarch was defeated in 41 minutes."
"No physical damage was done to the tentacles; they were paralyzed."
"The hunter maintained continuous fire, exceeding recorded Epic output by 300%."
The Rank A community was utterly demoralized. Their biggest, most brutal challenge had been casually dismantled by a single individual who treated their rules as trivial suggestions. The path to Rank S was not impossible; it was now meaningless. I had crushed not just a boss, but their entire belief system.
---
My A-Rank dominance was now secure. It served its purpose: consolidating my local authority and ensuring the Grand Guild remained subservient and terrified. But the true enemy was not localized.
I returned to my safehouse and activated the encrypted communication device given to me by the Central Authority. I bypassed their standard protocol and accessed the Mythic Enforcers' estimated time of arrival.
ETA: 12 Hours.
The Mythic Enforcers were no longer distant. The System Error: Blackout designation had activated the Authority's final, most powerful solution.
My final preparations were minimal. I stood over the full storage of the Kraken Matriarch's vast corpse—the high-value A-Rank loot that would finance my campaign for the next year. I had all the resources I needed: infinite money, absolute power control, and a full set of Epic utility.
I had crushed the A-Rank ceiling. Now, I would break the Mythic one.
I left the safehouse, heading not towards the civilian center of Solaria, but toward the empty, unmapped northern mountains—the rumored gathering point of the Central Authority's final attack force.
The time for crushing dungeons was over. The time for crushing Gods had begun.