Chapter 229: When Monsters Collide!

Sophie lowered her gaze, a soft warmth blooming in her chest as she stood beside him, surrounded by the quiet aftermath of another conquered Labyrinth.

For a moment, the chaos felt distant.

The battlefield behind them was still littered with shattered bone, fading curses, and the lingering echoes of violence, yet between them there was only a strange, fragile calm. Bruce turned toward her, eyes steady, and she met his gaze without hesitation.

“I’ll take you out first,” he said simply.

Sophie nodded.

The Labyrinth gate pulsed nearby, its warped light flickering like a dying heartbeat. Bruce stepped toward it, his shadow stretching long across the ruined ground, and with a gentle motion he reached out, letting his will brush against the Labyrinth’s obedient consciousness.

Space folded.

He still left the portal the forces of the reign family can still depart from the labyrinth when they feel like it…

In the next instant, the dungeon world collapsed behind them and the open skies of Reignland returned. They stood just beyond the Labyrinth’s boundary, the massive gate looming behind them as emergency forces and Reign family squads moved in the distance, still battling the remnants of Zorvak’s invasion.

The air felt lighter here.

Safer.

Bruce released Sophie, lowering her carefully to the ground.

She lingered for a second, fingers curling slightly at her side before she looked up at him.

“Be careful,” she said quietly.

Bruce gave her a small nod. “I will.”

She wanted to say more. She could feel it, the words gathering at the edge of her heart, but there was no time. Whatever lay ahead of him was beyond anything she could follow into.

So she simply watched as he turned.

And ran.

The ground detonated beneath his feet as he accelerated, SS Rank speed erupting in full as he shot toward the final remaining Labyrinth. The air screamed around him, shockwaves rippling outward as his form became a streak of compressed force tearing across Reignland.

In moments, he reached it.

The SSS Ranked Labyrinth.

It dwarfed every other gate he had entered so far.

An enormous vortex of distorted space dominated the region, spiraling endlessly like a wound in reality itself. Layers of twisted mana overlapped and folded inward, creating a colossal portal that looked less like a doorway and more like the mouth of a world sized beast waiting to swallow anything foolish enough to approach.

Necrotic light pulsed within its depths, slow and ominous.

Bruce didn’t hesitate.

He stepped forward.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the world twisted violently.

A freezing, suffocating aura slammed into him like a wall, cold enough to seep through mana and bone alike. The air was thick with ancient malice, layered with killing intent so dense it felt almost physical. This was not the hollow, restless energy of lesser Labyrinths.

This was something far older.

Far heavier.

Bruce exhaled slowly.

“This familiar aura…” he murmured. “Bane was here.”

The dungeon world stretched out before him, vast and desolate. A blackened sky loomed overhead, unmoving, while endless plains of fractured stone and bone extended in every direction. And scattered across the land…

Bodies.

Fifteen meter tall Bone Kings lay everywhere, their massive skeletal frames collapsed and shattered, some still faintly glowing with dying runes. Their undying curse had been overridden completely, their remains lifeless and inert, as if the very concept of being alive as an undead had been stripped away.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“So he really can do it,” he muttered.

Bane had not simply killed them.

He had erased them.

The path forward was clear, carved through devastation on a scale that only someone like Bane Reign could leave behind. The ground itself was cracked and warped by overwhelming aura, entire regions flattened by invisible pressure. Every step Bruce took deeper into the Labyrinth confirmed it.

This place had already been walked by a monster.

Bruce moved on.

He advanced deeper and deeper into the endless dungeon world, his senses stretched wide as he followed the fading trail of Bane’s presence. The farther he went, the heavier the air became, thick with residual killing intent and the echoes of battles that had shaken this realm to its core.

Whatever Zorvak was planning.

Whatever body and soul he sought.

It was waiting at the heart of this Labyrinth.

And Bruce was closing in.

The deeper Bruce went, the heavier the pressure became, but he was not the first to reach the heart of the SSS Labyrinth.

Far ahead of him, in a vast region where the land itself had been crushed flat by overwhelming forces, two figures waited.

Zorvak.

Vexor.

The demonic lord stood tall and composed once more, crimson skin reflecting the dim light of the dungeon world as if stained by old blood. Though his main will had been devoured, the aura around him was still suffocating, layered with countless lesser wills and demonic authority. Vexor remained beside him, lean and alert, his presence sharp like a drawn blade.

And then.

The air split.

A ripple tore through space as something moved through the Labyrinth at a speed that defied common sense. The ground detonated behind it, shockwaves rolling outward as reality itself strained to keep up.

Bane Reign arrived.

He didn’t slow. He didn’t hesitate. He simply crossed the distance in an instant, black suit fluttering violently as his red eyes locked onto the two demons ahead.

Zorvak’s lips curved slightly.

“Bane Reign,” he said coldly. “I have heard so much about you.”

Bane didn’t answer.

The moment Zorvak finished speaking, Bane vanished.

BOOM.

The sound barrier shattered.

A deafening sonic boom ripped through the dungeon world as Bane accelerated, the air compressing and exploding behind him in a violent shockwave. In less than a heartbeat, he appeared right beside Zorvak, dark aura flooding outward like a living shadow as he drove his fist forward.

The punch was not just fast.

It was absolute.

Dense killing intent wrapped around his arm, space bending and warping around the strike as if reality itself were being dragged toward the impact point. The pressure alone cracked the ground in a widening circle beneath their feet.

Zorvak did not move.

Vexor did.

In the same instant Bane’s fist descended, Vexor stepped forward, his own aura flaring violently as he met the blow head-on. His palm slammed into Bane’s fist.

The collision was catastrophic.

A shockwave erupted outward, a spherical blast of compressed force that flattened everything within hundreds of meters. The ground shattered and folded inward, massive slabs of stone lifted into the air before being pulverized into dust. Even the distant skeletal remains were reduced to drifting fragments as the pressure tore through the area.

The Labyrinth itself trembled.

Bane was hurled backward.

His body tore through the air like a cannonball, crashing through layers of compressed mana before slamming into the ground far away. A trench was carved into the earth as he skidded backward, debris exploding outward in his wake.

And then.

He stopped.

Mid crash.

His body froze in mid motion as if time itself had been halted, yet the world around him continued to move. Dust still drifted. Fragments still fell.

But he could not move.

A cold sensation crept through his limbs.

Then the notifications appeared.

[You have been affected by the Unmoving Curse.]

[You have been affected by the Unfeeling Curse.]

Bane’s eyes widened.

He tried to move.

Nothing responded.

He activated one hidden card after another, layers of defensive and cleansing abilities surging through his body, but the effects barely rippled against the curses wrapped around him. They were absolute. Overwhelming.

The suppression of an existence beyond Ex Rank.

No matter how powerful Bane was, his current class could not override it.

Not even close.

He still had one last card and was about to use it when, a slow, amused laugh echoed across the battlefield.

Zorvak began walking forward, his steps unhurried as he crossed the shattered land toward Bane’s immobilized form. Vexor followed at his side, his expression calm, composed.

“You know, Bane,” Zorvak said lazily, eyes glowing with cold amusement, “I truly believed I would achieve everything I planned with this invasion.”

He stopped a few meters away, looking down at Bane as if examining a captured beast.

“But my cards have all been ruined,” he continued. “Only one Labyrinth was able to reach maturity. The beasts breaking out. The rest were all destroyed before they could even be used.”

His lips curled. “So you see, I will have to take things slow now.”

Zorvak raised a hand slightly, aura thickening around his fingers.

“And for that,” he said calmly, “we need your body.”

His gaze sharpened.

“Hopefully my brother does not mess things up this time.”

Bane’s eyes burned with fury as he stared back at him, unable to move, unable to speak.

The storm had only just begun.

***

A/N:

What do you guys think of the story so far?

I’m really sorry, but I have a few things I need to take care of today, so I’ll only be able to release one Chapter.

I hope you’re enjoying the story so far… And also read Creator’s thoughts below…

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