A golden blur wove through the sea of skeletons. Every swing of Godslayer: Surtr unleashed scorching sword winds, cleaving multiple skeleton soldiers in half.
A flaming kick radiating intense heat landed perfectly on a skeleton soldier's skull, reducing it and its cervical vertebrae into charred ash.
However, these undead felt no pain and knew no fear. For every one that fell, three immediately took its place.
"Gospel."
A brief incantation left Aiden's lips, and a condensed sonic cannon blasted from his palm, instantly turning a dozen skeleton soldiers directly in front of him into bone dust.
But the sea of skeletons seemed endless.
He sidestepped a heavy, forceful axe swing, beheaded the attacker with a backhand slash, then stomped on its sternum to propel himself high into the air.
In the moment he hung suspended, he took in the entire battlefield.
The sea of skeletons still stretched endlessly. Behind them, at the wound where Udaeus's left arm was severed, spectral blue fire gathered continuously. New, pitch-black bones were regenerating at a visible rate.
He couldn't drag this out any longer.
Aiden's gaze sharpened, and he raised Godslayer: Surtr high.
"—Unsheathed Heavenly Fire."
Sound and fire, fluctuation and heat, formless destruction and tangible incineration intertwined and clashed on the blade in his hands, ultimately merging into a brand-new, unprecedented, and terrifying form.
Godslayer: Surtr was no longer a sword.
It had transformed into a beam of pure, ultimately condensed "light."
The core of that light was a profound white, while the outer layer was wrapped in visible, constantly vibrating golden sonic rings.
An indescribable cannon of fiery light erupted from the tip of the sword.
Wherever the light cannon passed, whether it was the fearless skeleton soldiers or the hardened ground, everything was vaporized and annihilated instantly, leaving absolutely no trace behind.
A massive, perfectly straight trench, ten meters wide, was forcefully carved into the hall, stretching from Aiden's feet all the way to Udaeus.
Within the trench, all the Spartoi were reduced to nothingness in an instant.
The entire world seemed to fall silent for a second.
However, as the light faded and the dust settled, Aiden's pupils contracted slightly.
At the end of his line of sight, Udaeus still stood tall.
Its recently severed left arm, radiating spectral fire, had grown new pitch-black bones. Aside from the color being slightly lighter than the rest of its body, it was already completely restored.
Not only that, Udaeus, having cleared the sea of skeletons, slowly reached out its newly formed, pitch-black skeletal arm under everyone's watchful eyes.
The ground swelled in response, as if something colossal was trying to break free from the depths.
The next second, a pitch-black greatsword, over six meters long and radiating an ominous glow, broke through the earth and was gripped by Udaeus's massive skeletal palm.
It was a pitch-black greatsword forged purely from malice and magic.
The core joints all over Udaeus's body flared intensely. The deep purple, ominous light flowed through its entire frame, finally gathering completely into the arms holding the sword.
It moved.
It was just a simple horizontal sweep.
Yet, when that massive black sword tore through the air, the entire hall screamed under the overwhelming pressure.
Before the blade even reached him, the violent wind pressure it kicked up crashed forward like a tidal wave, sweeping up all the magma and shattered bones in its path to form a devastating storm.
Udaeus swung the greatsword so fast that its massive skeletal arms left a blurred afterimage in the air.
The corner of Aiden's vision barely caught that pitch-black shadow before the extremely intense blast of wind hit him head-on.
His reaction was pushed to the absolute limit. The rocky ground beneath his feet instantly cracked and caved in as he used the force to retreat violently.
Even so, he was blown away point-blank by that unparalleled, violent wave of wind, rolling awkwardly in the air several times before barely stabilizing his posture.
The spot where he just stood was swept by the sword wind; the ground was scorched black and billowing with thick smoke.
This was Udaeus's slash.
A strike that perfectly combined the Floor Boss's anomalous arm strength with the explosive power of the Magic Stone within its body.
As long as it swung this sword, everything within its slashing range would be thoroughly pulverized.
"Y-You've got to be kidding me! Udaeus actually uses weapons!?"
At the distant entrance, Lefiya covered her mouth, staring in shock at the scene.
It wasn't that the Loki Familia hadn't subjugated Udaeus before, but no records from other Familias ever mentioned this Skeleton King using a weapon.
"This must be a hidden mechanic."
Riveria's voice was as calm as water, but her emerald eyes glinted with solemnity.
"It only triggers when specific conditions are met, such as a solo challenge. If my guess is correct, that sword... is highly likely an extremely rare drop item."
"A rare drop item!"
Beside her, Tiona's eyes instantly lit up, shining with the glow of Valis.
She was incredibly short on money. The maintenance fees for her beloved Urga were astronomical, and she still owed the Goibniu Familia a massive debt.
A rare drop item, especially one from a Floor Boss that had never been recorded before, meant it was valuable. Extremely, incredibly valuable.
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