Chapter 96 Dungeon Break [5] - [Void Channel]

[Void Channel]

Pain.

That was all Lloyd felt, so to save his mind from completely breaking, his mind went blank.

Violet runes traveled from his back to the rest of his body, slowly covering his entire body with at least 1 rune per square inch of skin. His aura turned cold and bland, yet at the same time, there was something sinister about an aura being so bland.

As if it was dead, without a single heartbeat to commemorate the fact that he had reached a threshold far beyond his current grasp.

So when his aura spread throughout the dungeon, it resonated with the dungeon itself, as if it had become a part of him. An entity of void under his control.

Silence prevailed for what felt like a lifetime for anyone who could think or feel at that moment, and for the first time since entering the dungeon, Veronica felt danger.

*...*

*...*

*...*

Her face was paler than normal.

Every one of her breaths was ragged and staggered.

A single sweat drop streaked down her face, and the moment it fell off and hit the ground, the true battle had begun.

Lloyd's body looked like it was almost glitching. Like his entire body was slowly breaking apart, and the very universal code that kept him held together was being destroyed.

In a moment of desperation, Veronica threw her spear toward Lloyd with all the power she could muster.

The spear sounded like thunder as it broke through sound barriers and reached Lloyd in the space of a millisecond.

Yet...

*Zip*

Lloyd's body glitched and flickered before it appeared several hundred meters away with Tina in his arms again. He had deactivated the breakthrough energy that came from the sky the moment he decided to use [Void channel], so he didn't hurt Tina in any way by moving her away from Veronica's spear's range of destruction.

Veronica's spear had shot through the forest at tremendous speeds, destroying thousands of trees before hitting the autumn king's castle in the distance and blowing it to smithereens in a magnificent bright crimson energy explosion.

Looking at where Veronica was, Lloyd stared into the sky where hundreds of crimson blood spears rose to the air and pointed in his general direction, and with several loud sonic booms, they all fired toward him with half the speed of the last spear.

Yet, instead of dodging like before, Lloyd simply raised his hand and-

[Void Walker Style]

[Wave]

Waving his hands over the incoming spears, Veronica was forced to watch as Lloyd cast a mass teleportation technique, completely vanishing her attacks and sending them far into the distance, where Veronica wouldn't have any control over them anymore.

With a scowl, Veronica cut her hand and pooled out enough Blood to create a great sword the same height as her before using the Blood of her armor to blast herself at Lloyd.

Surprisingly, Lloyd did the same thing, shooting toward her like a violet star rising to the sky.

Veronica slashed down with everything she had, yet her sword slashed through a purple light.

The slash sent out an arch that scarred the ground with an enormous slash mark, yet she quickly realized that Lloyd was no longer in front of her.

The hairs at the back of her neck stood up, making her immediately turn around, swinging her blade toward the direction of danger just to find no one.

"Come out you coward!" She roared in rage while frantically looking around.

"Very well." A void echoed from all directions before a purple light shone in her peripherals, alerting her of his presence.

Yet, the light was not what it seemed.

Lloyd stood in thin air with limp arms and legs, and just like a man hanging from a rope, his presence was completely lifeless.

Glitching once more, several purple lights shone around Veronica from all directions as Lloyd's body seemingly began to appear at random locations, his figure multiplying into the hundreds.

[Void Walker Style + Shadow Manipulation]

[Void Clones]

Hundreds of clones reeled their arms back as void energy slowly covered their arms.

Veronica gritted her teeth but quickly acted before it was too late.

[Blood Knight Technique]

[Blood of the fallen]

Blood began to secrete from the ground, and before all of Lloyd's clones could attack, half was immediately pierced by hundreds of blood needles that shot right through them, destroying their bodies and causing them to disperse.

The other half teleported in time before throwing their fists forward and blasting a void rapture toward Veronica, yet now that there were fewer of them, she was quickly able to dodge the attacks by using her peak speed.

"Aren't you quite weak..." Lloyd's voice echoed again as the remaining clones propelled themselves at Veronica.

Landing on the ground, Veronica quickly spun to cut one in half, yet just like the original Lloyd, they would teleport away at the last moment before sending out a quick jab at her.

"For a half-step 3rd commandment?"

The clones began to pile up quickly, and while that made them easier to cleave through, they were also rapidly chipping away at Veronica's armor and body.

Of course, she could regenerate, but all things have a limit, and the clones testing that limit.

Veronica was slowly being overwhelmed by the number of hits she was taking, but at the same time, she was learning and growing. Her power remained the same, yet the efficiency of her attacks improved dramatically.

She got used to teleportation of the clones in less than a minute, creating attacks that looked like they were aiming for the clones themselves, but actually aimed at the area she knew they would teleport.

Minutes felt like hours to her, and by the end, there were only 20 clones left.

She felt a spike in the power of the clones around her, and while she didn't think much of it at first, she felt a shiver down her spine when she saw the clone's faces deform into disgusting, creepy smiles.

Their eyes and mouths were completely black and hollow, while their lips quite literally morphed to stretch from one ear to the other.

Without a second of hesitation, they all created void raptures that pierced toward Veronica like small beams of pure darkness.

Veronica tried her best to dodge the attacks but quickly realized something.

'They aren't aiming for me?' She thought, but when she looked at the patterns of attacks, her eyes widened in horror.

Looking into the sky, Veronica watched as it lit up with thousands of purple stars.

However, she wasn't looking at the true threats.

All the clones suddenly appeared right next to her before quickly pouncing on her, yet now, when she looked into their eyes to kill them, she did not see black. Instead, she saw bright purple flames slowly rising from the depths of their bodies. All her danger senses were going off, yet she was far too late.

[Aspect of Void + Flame Control]

[Void Flames]

A beam of purple light shot into the heavens, and in the next second, a violet explosion encapsulated everything within a mile and destroyed anything within 5 miles of the blast.

Of course, Lloyd had moved Tina very far away from the blast radius, yet when there was nothing but smoke and scorched earth, Lloyd was there, floating in the air and simply staring down at the aftermath of his ability.

"You are quite the cockroach, you know." Lloyd spoke.

He had already regained consciousness, and while the pain was barely bearable, with the goal of killing Veronica in mind, he couldn't think of anything else.

"I'm... I'm going to kill you." Veronica stated that as she barely stood up, her armor was half destroyed and her body severely wounded.

"You'll pay for this!" She roared, her eyes turning to large slits as her passive ability [Apex Predetor] activated.

Lloyd could feel her power increasing dramatically, and while he knew he had the upper advantage so far, he also knew that could change very easily.

So, since she was using her trump card, why shouldn't he use his?

*SNAP*

[Eris' Blessing + Void Control]

[Reality Deteriation]

As if the entire world around them had begun to break down at the snap of Lloyd's fingers, the ground began to distort before everything in the distance started to curve upwards.

'What the fuck...' Veronica stopped in her tracks. She was no longer angry, nor was she shocked anymore.

There was ground above her, to the right of her. It was as if they were encased in a box, which only meant one thing.

"A true domain." She muttered with a terror-stricken face while Lloyd simply tilted his head at her words.

"You're a monster." A muttered before she slowly closed her eyes.

"I should have seen it sooner. It was you, all along, hasn't it?" She asked while forming a blood spear in her right hand and pointing it at Lloyd.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Lloyd replied without much thought while creating a violet blade out of pure void energy.

"I finally understand all your unexplained abilities and tremendous power despite not having even reached the first commandment. I finally understand my purpose." She muttered before her body turned into a blur.

"My purpose, is to make sure you never get out of this dungeon alive!" She roared before slamming her foot into the ground and shooting herself into the sky.

"Don't act like you're the good guy." Lloyd sneered, his tone unamused at the bullshit she was spouting, but without thinking twice, he extended his hand toward her and...

[Pull]

Creating his fist, Lloyd pulled his hand back, and as he did so, reality before him distorted, and despite both of them not having moved a single inch, Veronica was now right in front of Lloyd, his blade traveling toward her neck in a violet blur.