Galvaren, Benedict, and Infernal Knight knew Almond needed a split-second window, so they gave it their all.
Benedict conjured tentacles of darkness, binding Verenoor, though those tentacles burned instantly, Infernal Knight and Galvaren landed their strongest attacks on Verenoor during that time, forcing Verenoor to make a move against them.
And taking that chance, Almond made his move.
‘You are not escaping this time, you tricky mage!’ Almond’s eyes were resolved as he teleported again and unleashed Absolute Severing again while preparing to inject a spirit syringe into him since using this third Absolute Severing made his Mana reach below 20%.
*Slash!*
Verenoor got split into two, his eyes showing clear confusion as he could feel both parts of his body but not the connection between them. He thumped his staff held by his right side body on the ground, conjuring a powerful tornado of dark red flames, instantly killing Infernal Knight, Dark Pope, and Sky Lord.
Almond also quickly used Radiant Fortress because this was a crazy, powerful attack that could burn him to death swiftly.
Lily and others were safe as they were out of the range of this attack.
They couldn’t see Almond but knew he was safe as they saw the Voidbound Rifts vanish, meaning that Almond had used Phase 1 of his Unveiled Catastrophe!
Maya and Natalia were ready to make a move the instant tornado vanished, and it happened shortly as Verenoor faced Almond, the clouds above him unleashing arrows at Almond.
And right at that moment, Maya unleashed her fully empowered arrow that was further boosted by Nyssara. It streaked swiftly with a boom and struck Verenoor, freezing him into a popsicle with sharpened ice extending outward all over.
However, right before that arrow had struck him, Almond, who had a crazy high perception at the moment, unleashed Phase 2!
A pitch-black blade horizontal shot at Verenoor, who was frozen, splitting him again, but this time, it was an annihilating split!
*Slash!*
Almond wanted to finish the battle with this attack if possible, so he had aimed the blade at the upper body, intending to pulverize Verenoor’s head, but as if sensing threat even in a frozen state, the clouds above him churned as a sparkling stream of wind forcefully pushed the slash to strike into his lower-half.
If Almond had higher stats, this wouldn’t have happened, but Verenoor consumed a ton of his Mana to do that, resisting that blade’s power and forcefully using his wind to push it. It happened in a split second, but the Catastrophic Strike missed its mark, though it still entirely ate up the bottom half of Verenoor.
-58% Vitality! Stay connected through empire
But it wasn’t over yet! Lily arrived, unleashing her Voidless Sunderer and shattering the ice, reducing Verenoor’s vitality by 13%.
Right before the ice shattered with Lily’s attack, Natalia was also ready and used her skill, Celestial Songstress, as her flute released a circular football-sized ring with a golden border because it was also buffed by her light attribute. It was super fast, even faster than Maya’s arrow, and struck Verenoor, paralyzing and stunning his body and mind as he stopped as if time stopped for him.
Right at that moment, Almond placed his Spirit Nuke between the two halves of Verenoor’s upper body at perfect timing!
“One,” Almond’s eyes flashed. “Two.”
*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*
The blast shot Almond and Lily away, who were close, while an exotic spectacle of utterly chaotic explosion occurred—100 spirits, all condensed, and many of them triggering their special effects!
“Damn!” Marcus shouted with a stank face as the shockwave hit him and everyone.
“Crazy,” Maya muttered. “It’s really a nuke.”
“Let’s fucking go!” Natalia shouted with a red face, excited as the notification rang!
[Congratulations! You have achieved a tremendous feat by defeating a Heroic Challenge Floor Boss of the third floor—Archmage Verenoor of Lochbale Castle!]
[Along with the challenge completion reward, an additional reward is in the process of generating based on the performance.]
[You have defeated this Archmage Verenoor in 29 seconds. Your party—Grim Breakers has placed 1st rank in the Grimworld Heroic Challenge Leaderboard – Heroic Spirit Floor 3 Section.]
[You are granted 10 million gold coins each and 1 x Grand Abyss Labyrinth Roulette Ticket for getting the first rank on the leaderboard.]
“Yes!” Almond clenched his fist as he lay on the floor while feeling a headache. He hadn’t pushed his body, but he had pushed his mind past the limit this time.
Taking Verenoor’s 350 Perception was the best idea and was the crux that allowed him to successfully split him, thus creating the chance that led the party to this result.
But doing that had also strained his mind, especially after he used his Unveiled Catastroph’s Phase 2.
“I want to sleep…” Almond muttered as his eyelids got heavy. He quickly stored the Heroic Boss’s spirit, and he instantly fell asleep after removing his armor as it vanished and entered his storage ring.
Lily walked towards him while drinking a healing potion and sat down, putting his head on her lap.
“His head is very hot,” Lily blinked and looked at Maya and others who were walking towards him.
“Master,” Nyssara and Sylvia arrived quickly.
“Cool his head,” Lily said as she looked at Nyssara, who quickly nodded and released a gentle icy wave.
“Although we had a few unexpected bumps, Brother Almond created that chance in the end,” Marcus laughed. “We should let him rest.”
“Yep. Let’s start camping and cooking,” Natalia said with a grin. “Almond can eat something when he wakes up.”
Maya nodded.
Almond woke up after merely one hour, feeling refreshed and greater than ever.
[You have reached silver level 30. Please check your Advancement quest.
[Rank Advancement Quest]
-Task:
—> Kill 10 Gold rank monsters.
Almond saw a tent over his head with Lily smiling at him.
“Are you feeling good?” she asked.
“Yep,” Almond got up and sat beside her as he smiled. His nose slightly twitched as he smelled a delicious fragrance.
“You woke up at a perfect time. The feast is prepared, captain.”
Meanwhile, Almond was still getting notifications as he had woken up.
But he ignored them for now as his stomach rumbled, “Yeah, I am famished. Let’s eat.”