[Ding! You have successfully collected a Star Radiance. Currt collection progress (/6).]
Just now, the one who defeated the BOSS was, of course, Sterl.
As the Array Master, he had the ability to capture spatial trajectories and forcibly intercept the Heavly Curtain core.
However, he deliberately allowed the Heavly Curtain core to escape, wanting to see what would happ wh these six cores were combined. Would it yield ev greater befits?
As for why he pretded to feel regret and frustration, that was mainly for show.
In case Sterl gained significant befits from the fusion of the Heavly Curtain core, no one should be able to guess that this befit might be related to his demigod disguise.
Hmm? You're wondering how Sterl would escape if the combined tity turned out to be an emy he couldn't handle? He had already tested it; the teleportation scroll was unusable, but he could op the Gate of Hell, slip into Hell for a while, and th use the teleportation scroll there.
The coordinates in Hell correspond to those in the main world, but they are constantly shifting. This change requires time. As long as he spt a short ough time in Hell, Sterl could sure that the teleportation scroll would bring him back to the main world.
...
After that, Sterl quickly followed the marker for the Star Radiance to find the next boss.
After another of teleportation attacks, Sterl soon arrived at the location...
It was a giant stone statue, slightly grown in size, formed from orange-yellow ergy. The statue was pure , holding a long spear. It looked incredibly powerful.
As Sterl arrived, he found the boss still standing in place, motionless. It wasn't until he casually tossed out a ball of Ignition Flame as a test attack that the statue was instantly activated. The flame struck the statue and immediately dissipated into a cloud of gre smoke, as if it had hit the surface of water.
The next second.
Creak. Creak.
Accompanied by a violt rumbling, the suring stones shook, and the giant statue began to move slowly. Gripping the long spear, a tremdous amount of light quickly gathered within its body. Clearly, this was the cutsce before a fierce battle with a powerful boss.
But Sterl wasn't going to wait a. Faced with a formidable foe, he activated Arcane Law, and rich purple light shone brilliantly a him.
Legdary Ability: Inspire! A roar erupted from Sterl's side.
Th various attribute boosts activated all at once.
A purple-gold flame blazed fiercely a Sterl.
He executed a Shadow Stealth, slipping into the shadow world, and wh he reappeared, he slashed down from above!
Sterl wielded a blade summoned by the Rain Curtain Sword!
Clang!
Accompanied by a deafing sound, shockwaves burst outward, shaking the g, cracking stones, and shattering trees.
The head of the giant guardian was severed by more than half, revealing its rough stone ure.
However, the "cutsce" of this boss was still not over!
Sterl swiftly struck again with his sword!
This time, he effortlessly severed the head cleanly in two!
He th aimed directly at the head that had fall to the g, thrusting his sword forward. A massive surge of star power transformed into Flowing Water, rushing into the boss's head.
It shattered the protective barrier suring one of the Heavly Curtain cores inside!
With a crisp sound, a Heavly Curtain core shot out from the boss's head, still racing toward the distance.
At the same time, in mid-air, this core began to disintegrate, splitting into four distinct ergies.
The giant stone statue boss immediately declared its loss of all vitality and slowly collapsed, bursting forth two colorful orbs of light.
Just before the boss completely vanished, Sterl casually activated Star Insight to scan it.
He th discovered that this was also a powerful boss at the peak of legd, but in front of Sterl, it hadn't ev had a chance to strike back.
It was gone!
Furthermore, a mandatory point-adding plus sign appeared on this platinum-level skill, indicating that the next upgrade would be the final hancemt.
At that momt, Sterl also vaguely ssed something...
The Rain Curtain Sword, as a skill, was indeed relatively weak, because Sterl, possessing the platinum-level skill Silt Domain, knew—
Combining two Laws with a platinum-level skill could produce effects greater than the sum of their parts (+>).
Silt Domain, having Arcane Law, could invoke its most basic form, but if it had dual Law Power, the might of that domain would significantly increase.
On the other hand, the single Law Power of the Rain Curtain Sword was inhertly lacking. Ev with added points, it could not achieve the highest quality as a platinum skill.
However, Sterl quickly stopped dwelling on the shortcomings of his skills.
He had more important matters at hand.
At that momt, Sterl found himself on the surface of a smooth lake, sured by a group of ice-blue humanoid beings—monsters known as Ice Spirits. This group of monsters was not weak, but their unique life forms produced almost no blood force.
Sterl swore in frustration.
The smooth surface of the lake was froz from the chilling aura of these Ice Spirits, marking it as one of the most peculiar areas in Heavly Curtain Canyon, where the natural space had effects of concealmt and obscurity.
Without hesitation, Sterl sat cross-legged, directly using the surings to gather materials from the air.
Just momts ago, he had forcibly captured the souls of several Ice Spirits he had defeated.
Th, Sterl quickly retrieved the horrific materials produced by the Blood Cult followers from his small world—
The tortured souls, the bodies of infants slain by their own parts, the crystallized essce of pain and screams...
A pile of ominous materials glimmering with unsettling light was swiftly cast out by him.
Accompanied by unique ergy fluctuations, these materials were fed into a spatial node.
The atmosphere a him shifted from an initial calm serity to an eerie, chilling vibe.
Everything seemed to be shrouded in a layer of gray mist.
But that was not the d of it.
Crimson lights gradually illuminated the area, and beath the lake's surface, there were still some fish swimming about.
Now, under the blood-red glow, they quickly flipped onto their backs, their flesh being refined into threads...
Evtually, a blood-red patterned formation was about to take shape.
Sterl swiftly tossed in core materials like the Soul Solidification Gem, suring that all the ergy nodes were connected just before the formation was completed.
In fact, wh the Blood Cult followers drew up the formation, they were far less casual than Sterl.
Sterl ev dared to initiate the formation without extracting any core materials first, only adding them wh the ergy was on the verge of linking.
While this method increased efficicy, it also significantly raised the risk of failure.
Sterl's high skill allowed him to perform such actions.
The advantage of this approach was—
With a faint wave of ergy, the blood-red formation instantly vanished.
Sterl had tak less than a few seconds from starting the formation to making it hidd.
Without anyone noticing...
The first sub-formation was complete!
Although Sterl knew there was no one nearby watching him, he emphasized caution above all else.
"No matter how strong the emy is,
under the hanced divine-level formation, it will be meaningless!"