The weight hit Zenon like a physical wall. His boots sank two inches into the mud, not because the ground was soft, but because his own body suddenly weighed as much as a horse. Every breath felt like he was sucking air through a straw while someone stood on his chest.
Fifteen meters. That was the kill zone.
Malakai didn't rush immediately. The four-meter giant gripped its rusted cleaver with both hands, its grey muscles bulging like coiled pythons. It took a slow, heavy step forward. The ground beneath the monster's foot cracked, the pressure of the gravity well pulverizing the trash into dust.
"Curses," Zenon wheezed. His vision blurred for a second. He could feel the blood vessels in his eyes starting to pop from the pressure.
The monster raised the massive cleaver. The green acid on the blade bubbled, dripping onto a carriage hood and melting through the wood in seconds. With a guttural roar, the giant swung.
The blade was huge, but in this gravity, it moved with a terrifying, slow momentum. To Zenon, who was moving at a moderate but diminished speed, it looked like a falling building.
He tried to spring to the right. His brain sent the signal, but his legs didn't respond. He was too heavy. He managed to stumble, dragging his leaden limbs through the muck.
The cleaver slammed into the spot where Zenon had been standing a microsecond before. The impact sent a shockwave through the mud, tossing Zenon into the air. He hit a pile of old metal, his ribs screaming in pain.
He didn't have time to groan since Malakai was already turning, the massive blade scraping against the ground with a sound like grinding teeth.
Zenon scrambled to his feet, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood. His ceremonial sword felt like it was made of solid lead. He looked at the monster's chest. There, right in the center of the grey torso, was a single purple rune that glowed brighter than the rest.
For some reason, Zenon felt he could kill it if he attacked the purple rune.
'That could be its still point.'
Malakai lunged again, thrusting the blunt end of the cleaver like a battering ram.
Zenon couldn't dodge. He threw his sword up in a desperate parry.
The collision felt like being hit by a speeding carriage. Zenon's feet left the ground, and he was sent hurtling backward. He slammed into a hard platform, the platform denting behind his back with a loud sound.
"Come on..." Zenon hissed, his fingers shaking as he gripped the hilt. "Is that all a Rank 5 monster has?"
The giant didn't answer. It roared again, a sound so loud it made Zenon's ears bleed. It raised the cleaver high for a finishing blow, its shadow covering Zenon completely.
Zenon didn't try to run this time. He knew he wouldn't make it. Instead, he watched the monster's shoulders. He waited for the exact moment the giant committed to the strike.
The cleaver began its descent.
Zenon moved in at a precise moment. He used the crushing gravity to his advantage. Instead of fighting the weight, he let himself fall forward, dropping his center of gravity until his chest almost touched the mud. He slid between the giant's massive legs just as the cleaver obliterated the dump behind him, sending lumps of refuse and dirt everywhere.
Zenon popped up behind the monster. His muscles were screaming, and his heart felt like it was going to explode, but he didn't stop and immediately jumped.
It was a clumsy, heavy leap, but it was enough to get him level with the monster's lower back. He drove the ceremonial blade into the back of the Warden's knee. The gold-plated sword groaned, the metal bending under the pressure, but it found a gap in the thick skin.
Malakai roared in fury, its leg buckling. The giant collapsed onto one knee, the impact shaking the entire dump.
Zenon didn't waste a second. He scrambled up the monster's back, using the tattered ceremonial rags like a rope. The gravity was even stronger here, pressing him against the monster's spine. It felt like his skin was being peeled off.
He reached the shoulder. The monster tried to reach back with a massive hand to crush him, but Zenon was already moving. He swung himself around to the front, dangling over the giant's chest. The purple rune was right there, inches away.
"My turn," Zenon growled.
He reversed his grip on the sword, holding it with both hands like a stake. He put every ounce of his weight, every bit of the crushing gravity, and every drop of his hatred into the strike.
The tip of the sword touched the center of the rune.
For a heartbeat, everything went silent. Then, the world exploded.
The purple light from the rune imploded. The gravity well reversed for a split second, pulling everything toward the sword's tip. The Warden's chest caved in, its grey skin tearing like wet paper.
The ceremonial sword finally snapped. The blade stayed buried deep in the Warden's heart, while the hilt remained in Zenon's hands.
The giant let out one final, choked gasp before its entire body turned into a swirling cloud of violet dust. The pressure vanished instantly. The air became light again.
Zenon fell. He hit the mud hard, his body finally giving out. He lay there on his back, staring up at the cinematic sky, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
He was alive.
[Kill! SP +100]
High above, the Galaxy Online drone hovered silently. The interface above it glowed, the chat log moving so fast it looked like white noise.
[Galaxy Online chat]
User {Void_Watcher}: "WHAT?! HE ACTUALLY DID IT?!"
User {Sword_Master_99}: "That last move... what in the three worlds was that?"
User {LazyGoat}: "I'm officially a fan. Someone send this kid a gift."
User {WhoKnows}: "Good enough."
Zenon looked at the broken hilt in his hand and then at the pile of violet dust where the Warden had been.
[System notification]
[Battle ended]
[Loot identified: Gravity wall]
[Would you like to evolve?]
"Evolve."
Suddenly, the hilt of the ceremonial sword glowed in a golden light, elongated, and dimmed almost immediately.
[Successfully evolved]
In its place was now a long golden odachi; its hilt was now made of a purple metal.
[Weapon ascension complete]
[Name: Grave-binder (Relic grade - Growth type)]
[Rank: Rank 5 (Evolvable)]
[Current form: Heavy straight-sword]
[Description: A blade forged from the physical collapse of a Tower Warden. It no longer relies on sharpness alone; the edge of the blade generates its own localized gravitational field, pulling the target's flesh toward the cut.]
[Core attribute: Weightless deception]
[The sword feels like a feather to the wielder but strikes with the effective mass of 500kg upon impact.]
Zenon smiled as he stared at his new weapon.
"It was worth it, huh?"
He stared at the sky again. The spaceships still hovered above, already done with their own part of the invasion.
"Ze... Ze... Zenon?"
Zenon froze on hearing the voice that called him. He turned back and saw Xavier standing at the far end of the dump with his mouth wide open.