—–

Louis sighed, arms crossed as he greeted Mirai. “What did I tell you?”

“I-I was wrong! I was wrong—please help me! They’re bleeding!” Mirai cried.

“Make sure to learn from this,” Louis said calmly. He summoned Handy and let her begin healing them.

Unlike before—when Handy could only deliver one major heal per day—her evolution now allowed her to distribute her daily power more evenly: up to fifteen minor heals or three major ones.

Of course, feeding her Fantasium Cores from Entities or Grievances removed that limit entirely.

While Mirai and Agustina were healed, the cultivators advanced. They sent their beasts to rampage.

“Kill the little insects.”

“Tear them to shreds.”

“Heh—let me see their colorful entrails~”

They were complete psychopaths.

This was why they were “monsters”—in far more than attitude alone.

“Alright, Zorba—let’s do it.”

“Yes, master.”

Zorba nodded. Their shadows merged and opened a portal. Nearly a hundred Undead monsters from the previous floor emerged, roaring as they clashed with the Cultivators.

The two Qilin and single Yellow Sky Serpent were strong despite their relatively small size—roughly that of a horse. They unleashed powerful elemental attacks, destroying dozens of undead at once.

But they were overwhelmed. Dozens of bone swords pierced their bodies. They died pitifully.

“Tsk—how useless!”

“They died already?”

“Whatever—let’s kill them personally.”

“Sword Rain.”

“Sun Blade.”

“Slicing Sword.”

They unleashed their signature techniques once more. A rain of swords slaughtered dozens of undead. A Sun Blade sliced through them, burning them to ash. A powerful slicing attack cleaved through even more.

As they focused on the undead, Louis, Mirai, and Zorba flanked them. Louis swung Gungnir, aiming to kill the tallest cultivator—but sharp eyes detected the spear. Two fingers gleaming with Sword Energy intercepted it.

“Fufu—how pitiful. Were you trying a sneak attack, weak one?”

“…”

Louis said nothing. He simply pressed forward, his free hand reaching out while he enveloped himself in Telekinesis.

The cultivator flew back from the attack and waved his hand downward—unleashing Sword Rain. Every blade concentrated solely on Louis.

“Die.”

He smiled warmly as dozens of swords impaled Louis.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“Hm? Oh?”

“…”

Louis slowly broke apart and shattered, revealing he had been nothing more than a doppelgänger: a golem of salt and ashen frost shaped by his Esper Spiritualization.

“…?!”

The cultivator’s head tilted in confusion—a fatal second too late. A golden spear pierced his stomach from behind.

“Gauck?!”

Blood poured from his mouth. His head slowly turned to see Louis standing right behind him.

“You can’t understand me, right? So there’s no point explaining anything.”

“M-Mongrel…! How…! Dare… you…!”

He struck Louis with an elbow infused with sword energy—slicing through his chest and covering his body with dozens of cuts.

At the same time, he tried to pull Gungnir from his wound—only to find three spirits emerging from the spear.

“W-Wha…?!?”

A golden phoenix, a white knight, and a serpent of golden chains attacked him—restraining him and worsening the wound.

Cultivators were incredibly resilient monsters. They possessed multiple “realms” beyond their simple monster level.

This one was likely near Core Formation—tough enough to survive a hole through his stomach.

As he fought back, Louis rushed in and swung his swords. Even wounded, the cultivator summoned a small Sword Barrier. The rotating blades shredded the spirits instantly and resisted Louis’ attacks.

“Tch—looks like you’re a strong one. Perhaps one of the talented disciples of your sect?” Louis mused.

“Filthy-mouthed creature—whatever words you’re speaking, I won’t have mercy!” the cultivator roared. His calm expression twisted into desperation as he vomited more blood. Gungnir refused to budge no matter how hard he pulled. “W-What is this damn spear?! How is it so tough—Aagh!”

“Sword Rain.”

As the cultivator tried to retaliate, Louis surprised him. Though his words sounded like gibberish to the man, Louis conjured dozens of blades of hardened Ashen Frost and Holy Salt—infused with Flames of Ruin.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“W-What?! Y-You copied my technique—Impossible! How could a lowly insect—”

“Slicing Sword.”

Louis swung all three blades vertically, unleashing three attacks at once. The Sword Barrier shattered under the pressure.

BOOOM!

A massive explosion engulfed the cultivator’s body. Gungnir finally flew free of the wound—only for Louis to scatter ashes across his entire form.

“Ashes…?! Cough…! What are you even trying to accomplish with—”

“Die.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Louis detonated dozens of Ashen Runes across the cultivator’s body. His protective robes exploded as their spirit fibers failed to withstand the damage.

Then his flesh and bone followed—torn apart by consecutive explosions.

“Guuaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Even as he screamed in agony, he clung to life—swallowing several pills in desperation. His body began regenerating instantly.

“Nnngghh…! Y-You!”

He groaned as his wounds slowly closed. Louis charged again. The cultivator responded with another Sword Rain. Their blades clashed amid explosions of sword energy.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“Bastard! I’ll kill you!”

Louis remained silent—his gaze fixed not on his opponent but somewhere else. The cultivator grew even more furious. He rushed forward, covering himself in Sword Energy and attacking with punches and kicks that sliced Louis’ body open.

“How weak.”

Despite the bleeding wounds, Louis felt almost nothing. He seized the cultivator’s face and slammed him into the ground.

At the same moment, Gungnir plunged downward, piercing straight through his forehead and blowing his brains apart.

“W-Wha—AAAAGGH!”

BOOOM!

“He was definitely planning to breakthrough with those elixirs,” Louis said calmly, opening the cultivator’s pouch and finding pills made from Mythical Beasts and even their own kind. “Definitely breakthrough pills… well, whatever.”

He stored them away.

The cultivator’s body distorted for a moment—revealing it had been a golden statue all along, animated by a distorted soul composed almost entirely of Fantasium and fragmented “Records” of someone who once lived in the realm this Dungeon Floor was based on.

This layer had likely been shaped from a Fantasy Field or Dimensional Rift—not purely generated by Yggdrasil Dungeon Cores.

“Are you done yet?”

Louis enslaved the dying soul and forced it back into the golden body—reviving it as a cultivator-shaped golem.

“Uuugh! Gaaaahh!”

It possessed no true intelligence. Louis realized the minds of these Cultivators were likely tied to the Layer Boss and the realm itself—not their individual souls or bodies.

“Well—it can still use some of its abilities, right?”

Louis tested the golem. To his satisfaction—it could. The statue raised a finger and summoned Sword Rain—impaling the two remaining Cultivators who were fiercely fighting his friends.

Mirai had been about to finish hers—but the fat one died from an attack by his own comrade.

The last one survived—gasping and vomiting blood as he glared at the golden statue approaching, resembling his former senior.

“Monsters…! What is this?! A mockery of our sect?! Of our senior?!”

As he screamed, Zorba swung his black sword—impaling his heart and slicing his torso in half, killing him instantly.

“How interesting—it seems they’re golden statues?”

Everyone quickly learned the truth: the Cultivators were “fake” beings—never truly living humans, but recreations shaped by something else.

Zorba and Louis turned the two fallen Cultivators into Golden Statue Zombies—infusing their enslaved souls back into their bodies.

They could only unleash their strongest technique—but that alone made them valuable assets.

Ding!

[You have slain [Core Formation Sword Path Cultivator (Level 4 Anomaly-Entity)] x1]

[You and your party have slain [Qi Building Sword Path Cultivators (Level 3 Anomaly-Entity)] x2]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 103 to Level 105/150.]

[All of your Stats have increased.]

[You have comprehended and extracted the knowledge of an Ancient Cultivation Method.]

[You have learned the Cultivation Method: [Heaven-Splitting Sword Intent – Initial Layer (Incomplete)]]

“Wait—what is this?”

A flood of knowledge surged into Louis’ mind and condensed into a complete Cultivation Method Formula. No one else in the group had experienced this.

“Is this because I enslaved his soul and read its contents—even though most of it was a blurry mess? There were still fragments of knowledge and images… Is this thanks to my Sword Breathing Method? Incredible—a Cultivation method from a long-forgotten civilization in another realm… this is invaluable!”

Louis could hardly believe it. His eyes widened as the incomplete method fully integrated. It wasn’t gentle like some qi-gathering manuals—it was brutal, direct, and hungry for conflict. Perfect for someone like him.

To complete it further, he might need to do the same thing again—enslave the souls of powerful Sword Path Cultivators and absorb their knowledge fragments.

But the surprises didn’t end there. The System began integrating even deeper—allowing Cultivation methods to merge with its functions.

“Hm?”

A new system window appeared, displaying information he could never have obtained from the method alone.

This was entirely new, and likely the result of the System helping him comprehend the extracted knowledge.

—–

[Heaven-Splitting Sword Intent – Initial Layer (Incomplete) (Progress for Full Comprehension: 25%)]

A profound sword cultivation scripture extracted from the fragmented soul memories of a Core Formation Sword Path Cultivator of the Ki Sword Sect. This method focuses on refining killing intent into pure Sword Intent—allowing the practitioner to manifest sword qi externally as extensions of their will. It follows the philosophy of “one sword breaks ten thousand techniques,” where overwhelming sharpness and momentum shatter defenses, illusions, and even natural laws at higher levels of mastery.

Core Principles…

—–

“Wait, this is…?!”

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep