Chapter 19: Drowning the Scavenger
The Valley of Thorns was a geological wound, a massive canyon slicing across the warped demonic earth, and it was here that Lord Krull had committed the entirety of his frontline forces. Five thousand elite demons of the Obsidian Brigade—Shock Troopers encased in heavy armor and flanking archers crackling with corrosive energy—lined the jagged walls. Their goal was not victory, but obliteration through volume.
John's arrival was the signal. Five thousand throats roared in unison, and the sky dissolved into a terrifying, concentrated deluge of destructive energy. Corrosive bolts, shards of solidified shadow, and toxic mana spheres descended in a torrent, a calculated attempt to saturate the area and overwhelm the absorption capacity of his armor.
John did not flinch. His Cosmic-Level composure was absolute. His Ultimate Magus Armor hummed not in distress, but with potent anticipation, ready to prove its new supremacy.
The Test of Cosmic Control
John was not going to waste energy defending against a static assault. He chose to neutralize the threat strategically, utilizing the true power of his evolved skills.
First, he activated his [Advanced Kinetic Sovereignty]. With a simple thought, he created a three-foot spherical boundary around himself. This was not a passive shield; it was a localized force centrifuge. Every single energy bolt that entered the sphere was instantly neutralized, its force and vector flawlessly counteracted and diffused before it could even touch the armor. The continuous stream of five thousand attacks was rendered utterly inert, the kinetic force simply vanishing into the bedrock, leaving John standing untouched in the eye of the storm.
The demons, momentarily confused by the futility of their barrage, wavered. That was the opening John needed.
He utilized his newly upgraded [Dimensional Sovereignty (Tier 2)]. Targeting the densest formation of the Shock Troopers—a section nearly three hundred strong—he manipulated the chaotic energy of the dimensional boundaries beneath them. He didn't move them through space; he twisted the local dimension. The ground beneath the entire formation violently inverted, opening a massive, razor-sharp fissure that snapped shut instantly, crushing and dissolving the three hundred elite demons into a compressed, void-like nothingness.
[EXP Gained: 300,000,000 EXP!]
The sight of three hundred elite comrades instantly and impossibly erased from existence shattered the cohesion of the remaining Brigade. Their barrage momentarily stuttered, replaced by guttural whimpers of terror.
The Ultimate Feast
John had demonstrated his invulnerability; now it was time for the harvest. He needed to absorb the remaining forty-seven hundred demons—a feat that would break any known magical system.
He raised both hands high, and the full measure of his [True Magus: Universal Arcana] and [Arcane Scripting Mastery] was deployed. He didn't cast a spell; he imposed a new, temporary law upon the dimension. He instantly etched a massive, hyper-complex Mass Essence Harvesting Array across the entire Valley of Thorns. The runes, glowing in a terrifying silver and crimson network, covered every surface, magnetically tagging every remaining demonic entity.
With a powerful mental command, the array activated.
The remaining forty-seven hundred demons let out a terrifying, unified scream of existential terror as their fundamental life-force was violently and simultaneously ripped from their forms. Their physical bodies instantly withered and crumbled into dust, their powerful obsidian armor collapsing into meaningless scraps. The totality of their malice, power, and being was converted into a gigantic, swirling hurricane of black and crimson essence.
This colossal vortex of raw, screaming power was instantly vacuumed toward John. The Ultimate Magus Armor did not buckle; it roared to life. The Essence Devourer Sigil glowed with the intensity of a contained supernova as it systematically absorbed and purified the five thousand souls worth of energy. The armor's physical form visibly hardened, its composite nanite structure integrating the demonic resilience into its own permanent integrity.
Astronomical Power Gain
The System registered the annihilation of the Obsidian Brigade and initiated the most explosive power surge John had yet experienced.
[Total EXP Gained: 4,700,000,000 EXP!]
The torrent of notifications confirmed the multi-layered rewards:
[Essence Absorption Confirmed! Armor Integrity +15.0% (Permanent)!]
[New Passive Perk Gained: Minor Resilience Augmentation Stack (x1)]
The massive influx of energy triggered a cascade of super level-ups:
[Level 90 -> Level 100! New Power Tier Unlocked!]
[Level 100 -> Level 120!]
[Attribute Points Gained: 6 Attribute Points x 30 Levels = 180 Attribute Points.]
[100x Multiplier applied!]
[Total Attribute Points Gained: 18,000!]
John distributed the points, the overwhelming power settling into a steady, reliable state of universal command. Most profoundly, the extreme, focused use of his core magical resource had triggered the final stage of evolution for his [Master of All Magics] skill:
[The core magical principles of [Master of All Magics] have been hyper-optimized by raw energy infusion. Commencing Ultimate Synthesis...]
[Skill [Master of All Magics] has evolved into [True Magus: Universal Arcana]!]
John's comprehension of magic instantly jumped from a mastery of every system to an absolute, intuitive command over the fundamental laws of magic itself. He could now create, dismantle, and fuse spells from any source with zero effort.
[Status]
* Name: John Vance
* Level: 120
* EXP: (Massive Amount) / (Even More Massive Amount)
* STR/DEX/VIT/INT/WIS/LUK: Over 1,630,000 each (Reflecting the new gains)
[Overall Power Level: Cosmic-Level (Universal Nexus)]
[Ultimate Magus Armor Status: Integrity 117.5% (Permanent), Demonic Energy Resistance Stack x1, Strength Augmentation Stack x1, Resilience Augmentation Stack x1]
[Core Skill Upgraded: [True Magus: Universal Arcana]]
Krull's Despair
In the crumbling sanctuary of the Inner Citadel, Lord Krull watched the execution of his army in his scrying pool. The terror was complete; his cold, tactical malice had been replaced by existential dread. He saw the final, catastrophic plume of essence slam into the Magus, causing the entity to glow with an obscene, terrifying power.
"He is not defeated; he is fed," Krull choked out, his massive body trembling as he stumbled away from the pool. "Five thousand souls... gone in a breath. We were not overwhelming him; we were providing a feast!"
Krull realized the horrific truth: the Magus was an engine of accelerated evolution. Every death fueled his ascent, and by sending the entire Obsidian Brigade, Krull had not only lost his defense, but he had gifted the enemy a power-up that pushed him into the realm of the truly divine.
All strategic thought vanished. There was no more army, no more perimeter. All that remained was the final, desperate hope of the Demon King himself.
"Mobilize the remaining thralls!" Krull screamed, his voice cracking with utter defeat. "Throw them at his path! Slow him down! Buy time for the Lord! The scavenger is coming, and he is insatiable!"
John stood alone in the center of the Valley of Thorns, his armor radiating the cold, terrifying satisfaction of a predator that had just eaten a mountain. He looked toward the Citadel, his destination now inevitable. The warm-up was over, and the true hunt was about to begin.