Kaelen realized then that the "Living Saints" were a different breed of enemy. Valerius had been a man playing at godhood; Malphas was a tool forged by the Heavens.
Kaelen surged down the cliffside, his obsidian wings unfurled to slow his descent. He used [Sovereign's Leap] to clear the final fifty feet, aiming his Sovereign's Glaive directly at the Saint's neck.
CLANG.
The morning star met the glaive with a sound that shattered the nearby stone. Kaelen, despite his massive Tier 2 strength, felt his arms vibrate with the force of the impact. The Level 62 Saint didn't budge an inch.
"You are heavy, serpent," Malphas remarked, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, blank white light. "But weight is not worth. [Judgment: Solar Flare]!"
The morning star erupted. A point-blank explosion of holy energy threw Kaelen backward, his Abyssal Obsidian scales smoking and cracked.
[Warning: Health at 72%.] [Status Effect: Divine Burn (Healing inhibited).]
Kaelen skidded to a halt, his tail carving a furrow in the scorched granite. He was outleveled, out-classed in raw output, and fighting on "Sanctified Ground."
If I can't overpower him, Kaelen thought, his intelligence stat working at overclock speeds, I have to change the rules of the terrain.
"Prime! The Abyssal Anchor!" Kaelen roared.
Prime, perched on a ledge above, slammed a massive, violet-glowing crystal into a pre-drilled hole in the cliffside. It was a Dungeon Heart Fragment, a concentrated piece of Kaelen's own Core.
[Dungeon Domain Forced Overwrite: Initiated.]
The white light of the Hallowed Ground flickered. Deep, violet-black veins of dungeon-mana erupted from the granite, fighting the holy light for every inch of stone. The gravity in the pass intensified, shifting from a holy burn to a crushing, abyssal weight.
The Price of Silence
The Flagellants behind the Saint began to scream as the [Dread Sovereign] aura finally bit into them, stripped of the Saint's full protection.
Malphas frowned. "You would sacrifice a piece of your own heart to dim the Sun?"
"I would burn this entire mountain to keep you out of my house," Kaelen hissed, his throat glowing with a swirling violet vortex.
He unhinged his jaw. This wasn't just a breath attack; he was channeling the raw mana from the Anchor Prime had just set.
[Skill Activated: Abyssal Collapse (Combo)]
The beam of void-energy struck the Saint's shield. This time, the shield didn't hold. The violet beam didn't try to break the fire—it consumed it, siphoning the holy mana to fuel the explosion.
The pass vanished in a blinding flash of purple and white. When the dust settled, the hundred Flagellants were gone, and Malphas was kneeling, his white robe torn, a thin line of golden blood trickling from his lip.
He looked at Kaelen, who was also gasping, his obsidian horns flickering.
"You have won this pass, monster," Malphas said, standing up with painful grace. "But you have revealed your location. The Seventh Crusade does not send one Saint to a war. It sends twelve. We know where your Anchor is now."
Malphas dissolved into a pillar of silver light, retreating before the Dungeon Domain could trap him.
[Battle Resolved: The Defense of the Highlands]
Victory: Tactical (Enemy Retreat).
Experience Gained: 12,000 EXP.
Level Up! You are now Level 31.
Current Status: Exhausted.
Kaelen looked at the shattered remains of his Heart Fragment. He had saved the pass, but he had shown his hand. The Saints were coming, and they were stronger than he had imagined.