The black fog parted to both sides like a filthy curtain.
A massive, ferocious demon, wreathed in the scorching stench of sulfur and destruction, materialized before the crowd.
Its colossal frame stood five to six meters tall, its entire body encased in a dark red, jagged carapace that resembled solidified magma.
Hellfire pulsed faintly beneath its skin, distorting the air with every breath.
Its pillar-like legs slammed down, cracking the hard rock floor in a spiderweb of fissures.
From its back, over a dozen blade-like bone spurs jutted skyward, intertwining to form a shattered throne of bone.
A thick, barbed tail thrashed restlessly behind it, lashing the air with sharp, cracking sounds.
Most terrifying of all was its head.
The Goblin's head was gone.
In its place was a demonic skull forged from pure malice. Two enormous, twisted horns curved backward as if to pierce the heavens.
Its face had no mouth or nose—only a savage mask burning with hellfire.
Beneath the mask, two crimson lights were its only features—the Abyssal Evil Eyes, spewing pure brutality, greed, and hatred.
And seared onto its muscular, mountain-like chest was a face.
It was Gyrus's face—the same one that had been meticulously groomed, with its stylish center-parted hair.
Now, its features were grotesquely contorted in a silent scream, creating a scene both comical and utterly terrifying.
A terrifying pressure, more than ten times stronger than before, erupted with a roar!
The horrifying aura of brutality, destruction, and greed materialized into tangible hellfire, instantly engulfing the entire cavern!
"Ugh..."
Lin Xiyue's face turned deathly pale. She stumbled back a step, her shield-bearing hand trembling.
This monster's form was beyond mere ugliness.
It was the embodiment of power and malice, capable of directly invoking the most primal fears in intelligent beings!
"Holy shit... This is what you call a final BOSS!"
Lin Xiyue swallowed hard, her voice cracking. "That Goblin from before? He was just a welcoming mascot, right?"
Lin Qingyue's eye twitched uncontrollably.
Holy cow! So after all this time, the one I blew up with a single spear thrust was just the pilot? And now the real boss has shown up in a Gundam?
He went from a sleazy Goblin to a budget version of Diablo? What a sudden shift in style!
So, the true Dungeon Core is this thing made of greed and malice?
[Greed Aggregate · Dungeon Core Lv. ???]
Staring at the newly detected nameplate, Lin Qingyue was utterly speechless.
Great. All that fighting was for nothing.
"All forces, on alert!"
Ilanier forced out the hoarse command, fighting back the soul-deep tremor that ran through her.
Her face was even paler than when she had been hit by Gyrus's psychic assault.
No one could have imagined that, just when they thought victory was theirs, they would have to face a monster more terrifying than all their previous enemies combined!
The Elf Army, which had just begun to relax, felt their hearts leap back into their throats.
They stared at the colossal demon radiating terrifying pressure, the joy of victory that had just ignited in their eyes replaced by a chilling, resurgent despair.
Can this thing... truly be defeated?
ROAR—!!!
The monster known as the Greed Aggregate adapted to its new body.
Its two crimson demonic eyes swept across the battlefield, finally locking precisely onto Lin Qingyue.
Her figure, clad in dark gold, was clearly reflected in its demonic eyes.
Greed, fury, and even a lingering trace of fear swirled and erupted within them.
It still retained "Gyrus's" memories.
It remembered: this was the woman who had destroyed its "art" and impaled its humanoid form!
The monster abruptly opened its flame-wreathed mask and unleashed a roar powerful enough to tear souls asunder!
The roar transformed into an invisible siege hammer, laced with the stench of sulfur, and slammed violently into the Elf Army's front line.
VWOOM—!
The Jade Shield Lin Qingyue had previously deployed flickered violently, its surface instantly covered in a spiderweb of cracks.
Less than two seconds later, the shield emitted a groan of overload and shattered into a shower of light motes
Pfft!
The dozens of Elf Knights in the front rank spat out mouthfuls of blood, their bodies thrown back like rag dolls as if struck by an invisible giant hammer. Their formation instantly collapsed into chaos.
A single roar had shattered the group shield, which was empowered by 1% of Rex Lapis's authority!
Despair instantly flooded the hearts of many young Elf Soldiers.
But these battle-hardened elites did not break.
Forcing down the ringing in their ears and the searing pain in their organs, they used their scabbards to push themselves back to their feet.
Their pale faces were etched with horror, but their grips on their weapons only tightened.
With iron wills, they suppressed their fear and stared fixedly at the terrifying behemoth.
Yet, amidst the despair-shrouded silence...
A voice, so flat it bordered on disgust, echoed clearly in everyone's ears.
"So noisy."
Lin Qingyue frowned and cleaned out her ear.
She looked at the colossal, posturing demon, her eyes devoid of fear—only pure disdain.
Not only are you ugly, but your roar is hideous too. It's a double dose of Mental Pollution.
I was going to play with you a little longer, see what new tricks you had.
Now, I see there's no need.
The sooner I purify you, the sooner we can go out for dinner.
She slowly raised her hand, palm facing upward.
Her golden eyes, imbued with Primordial Radiance, gazed toward the cave's ceiling, as if piercing through countless layers of rock to behold the deep, starry sky beyond.
"Sis! What are you doing?!"
Seeing this opening stance, Lin Xiyue's heart lurched. A deeply ominous premonition washed over her.
She knew that expression all too well—the slight upward curl of her sister's lips, the utterly calm, ripple-free eyes. It was the "I'm about to pull off something huge" look!
"Sis! Don't! I recognize that look! You're about to do something earth-shattering again, aren't you?!"
"Earth-shattering? It's just standard procedure," Lin Qingyue replied, feigning ignorance.
"What do you mean, 'standard procedure'?!" Lin Xiyue was so frantic she nearly jumped. "Against a monster this big... you're not thinking of using some massive area-of-effect attack, are you?"
"Oh, you mean an AoE damage Skill," Lin Qingyue said, nodding as if just realizing.
Then, in a tone that suggested it was the most obvious thing in the world, she added, "What else? Against a BOSS this large, of course you use an AoE damage Skill. That's common sense."
"This is a cave! It'll collapse! We'll be buried alive!" Lin Xiyue was on the verge of tears.
"Relax." Lin Qingyue gave her an "I've got everything under control" look. "It won't collapse."
Against Gyrus, it wasn't necessary. Now, it's time to unleash the ultimate!
She had absolute confidence in her "Zhongli Trial Card."
With the authority of Rex Lapis, supporting a mere cave was trivial; theoretically, even holding up the entire sky wouldn't be impossible.
Though she only had a 1% trial version, at this moment, she was the sole law of this world.
She cleared her throat and began to speak in a voice as calm as an ancient well, as if reciting the fundamental truths of the universe.
"By universal reason..."
As she spoke, intricate golden patterns lit up across the cave walls, like ancient contracts manifesting.
"Until the contract is fulfilled, this realm shall be as solid as bedrock."
The instant her voice fell, all the golden patterns flared with brilliant light, and an immeasurably heavy power locked the entire space in place.
With that, she ignored her stunned sister and teammates, her gaze refocusing on the colossal demon.
"I will have order."
Her deep voice echoed through the cave.
As the words left her lips, the entire ceiling of the cave, without any warning, lit up.
It wasn't the glow of magic.
Nor the gleam of crystals.
It was a star.
A star so immense it blotted out the entire cavern dome!
It pulsed with a dark golden light, condensed from the purest Geo, and simply materialized out of thin air!
It ignored the physical barrier of the thick rock layers.
It pierced the boundary between reality and illusion.
And descended with overwhelming might into this subterranean space