As soon as the light from the mirror fell on Ash.
He made his move.
With a single thought, he willed his first anchor to break. The mana stored inside the Earth Elemental Sword instantly went berserk, surging wildly, yet the sword itself did not shatter.
At the same time, space mana appeared around Ash from nowhere, thick and violent, wrapping around his body.
His figure vanished from where he stood within a second.
In the very next instant, he reappeared beside the mirror, right in front of the Earth Elemental Sword.
His hands blurred as he grabbed the mirror without hesitation. Almost at the same moment, he willed the second anchor, the one he had placed outside the throne room in the far corner of this region, to break as well.
At the same time, he threw a space ring onto the surface of the throne.
His hands and thoughts worked in a seamless coordination, without any mistake.
Within a second, mana surged around Ash again, but this time he did not vanish.
Instead, within the violet spatial mana surrounding him, a faint pinkish hue began to spread.
Motes of pink light clung to his body, wrapping around him like invisible restraints, firmly locking him in place and preventing his escape.
Shit!!
A shadow appeared in front of Ash with its bat like shadow wings projected onto the throne by the mirror’s light.
Ash understood instantly.
Lilith was already standing behind him, and her domain had fully descended, sealing his movement and blocking every path of escape.
Yet the mana around Ash did not disappear. Instead, it grew more violent, more desperate, surging again and again as if trying to tear him free by force.
Ash had no idea why the mana was reacting like this, acting almost as if it had a will of its own.
..Looks like I failed? haha.....what did I expect? Escaping from a Mythical rank person without having even mana was wishful thinking in the first place...
"What a little rat you are," Lilith said calmly. "If I had not been paying attention to you this whole time, while only pretending to watch the mirror, you would have really escaped."
Ash’s body slowly turned around against his will.
Behind Lilith, bat like wings had fully spread, casting a vast shadow across the throne room.
So she used her wings. Even though I knew about it, I cannot always be right. My calculations failed this time. I did not manage to win her trust in such a short time..
His face remained impassive as his gaze passed over her wings and settled on her face.
"When did you know?" Ash asked.
Lilith laughed softly. "Me? I did not realize anything at first. Your acting was truly excellent. You even managed to fool me by accepting my seed of desire into your heart. Yet you are not controlled by it at all."
Her smile deepened.
"The only thing I felt when I saw you was unease. The same kind of unease I feel toward a certain disgusting existence I know. He is also not affected by my powers."
She tilted her head slightly, watching him closely.
"My instincts never stopped doubting you. That alone was enough."
Lilith laughed again, covering her mouth, clearly enjoying herself.
"So your power involves planting your seeds in another person, is that right?" Ash asked, even though he already knew the answer.
Lilith glanced at his restrained body and replied casually, "That’s correct. But it does not work on you. There must be something special about you, right?"
Ash met her gaze without flinching.
"Well, I am curious. You plant your seed regardless of race or gender, whether it is a man or a woman. Then what exactly is your true gender?"
Lilith froze for a brief moment before realization struck.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh, I know. You are a pansexual—"
-SWISH!!
An overwhelming killing intent burst into the air. Deadly claws glowing with demonic energy snapped around Ash’s neck, lifting him slightly as they began to choke him.
Lilith stared at him as if he were nothing more than a corpse.
"Do you think I would not kill you?" she asked coldly.
Ash gasped for air, yet he continued to speak, his voice rough but steady.
"You won’t and to be honest I have never seen someone as idiotic as you. But what can I expect from someone who thinks with their lower region? You gave me the time I needed you bitch!!!"
Lilith felt the unease in her heart surge once more, sharper than before. That was not the voice of someone who had truly lost.
"Do you know?" Ash continued, forcing the words out. "My plan had less than a five percent chance of success. Even then, it was a plan where I was supposed to escape with some injuries at best, nothing more."
He looked straight into her eyes. Slowly, his smile widened, stretching unnaturally until it became deeply unsettling.
"But there was another plan. Though in this one..."
His voice dropped, carrying absolute certainty.
"...We will both die."
Lilith’s expression twisted into horror as she sensed something terribly wrong. She turned her head instinctively, but it was already too late.
-BEEEP!!!!!
-BOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
**
Few moments ago.....
Seeing the demons bringing the Earth Elemental Sword toward Lilith, Ash slowly closed his eyes and entered his Soul Vault.
Due to the absence of his mana pathways, storing anything inside his soul vault was no longer possible. However, the same restriction did not apply to taking things out. The Soul Vault was still his ability.
Time inside was faster, allowing him to revise his plan one last time without interruption.
With a single thought, an object appeared in his hands.
It was a core about the size of a football, pure white in color, with faint golden markings etched across its surface. Those markings were runes. They were crude, uneven, and clearly etched using an imperfect method, yet they served their purpose well enough.
They ensured that the mana inside the core would not lose its potency or disperse prematurely.
It was an Monarch rank monster core.
Ash had absorbed Mythical rank and even Saint rank cores before to increase his stats, but they were not something he could simply swallow whole.
His body was already weak. Absorbing dozens of high ranking cores was impossible, and even the single Mythical rank core he had absorbed earlier had pushed him dangerously close to collapse.
But it worked and increased his stats, with excessive loss of mana of course.
After that one core he tried to absorb the Saint rank one, but other than pain he felt nothing else, so he stopped. And just after that he got entangled with demon prince.
There is a reason why high ranking beings can’t enter lower rank dungeons. It is simply because their presence alone destabilizes the structure of the dungeon and leads it toward collapse.....
The mana contained inside a Saint rank core was at least ten times greater than that of a Mythical rank being. If such a core detonated inside an SS rank dungeon, the result would not be limited to destruction alone.
The dungeon itself would break apart, and the surrounding space would destabilize violently.
And when that happens, everyone inside the dungeon will die. Everyone outside will be caught in a spatial storm that could kill them or scatter them to unknown places.....
Ash was going to use that uncertainty.
He knew very well that demons would be waiting for him outside the dungeon. Walking out openly was nothing more than suicide. If escape was impossible through strength, then chaos would have to become his shield.
A Saint rank core would not explode on its own.
So he began to prepare.
First, he took out a small wooden box and removed its lid. He carefully placed the Saint rank core inside, positioning it at the center. Then he filled the remaining space with two Mythical rank cores and dozens of lower rank cores, packing them tightly so that no space was wasted.
After that, he added two mana reactive bombs into the box. These bombs were extremely sensitive. Even the slightest trace of mana would trigger them instantly. Their explosion alone was dangerous, but when combined with mana cores, their destructive power would multiply several times over.
Still, this alone would not create the timed destruction he needed.
So he took out another item.
It was a small, square device with a visible timer etched onto its surface.
..Mana destabilizing device..
It was a smaller prototype of the bomb he had used earlier against the demons, the same type that caused mana to destabilize and refuse to flow properly.
He set the timer to five minutes and placed it inside the box as well.
Now the final step.....
Ash took out a knife and carefully carved small holes into every core inside the box. Despite the damage, no mana leaked out. The destabilizing device ensured that the mana remained trapped, unstable, and compressed.
Once the timer reached zero, the device would shut down.
At that moment, the damaged cores would begin leaking mana simultaneously. The reactive bombs would ignite instantly, and the presence of one Saint rank core and two Mythical rank cores would amplify the explosion beyond control.
It will be enough to destabilize the dungeon completely, tear apart the structure, and trigger a spatial storm.....
Ash was immune to spatial anomalies. His body would most likely survive.
That was his path to escape.
Time flowed inside his Soul Vault as he calculated everything one last time. When his senses felt the light from the mirror finally falling upon him, he knew the moment had arrived.
With a space ring that now contained the entire explosive setup, Ash vanished.
**
-BOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!
The space ring burst open with a deafening sound, and it did not stop there. The explosion caused by three high ranking cores was far more devastating than a full powered attack from a Saint rank being.
Raw destruction swallowed everything.
Ash felt his skin melt as unbearable heat surged through his body. The domain that had been covering him shattered, vanishing along with Lilith as she retreated to reduce the damage to herself. Ash had no way of knowing that.
All he felt was pain.
Pain that drowned thought.
The space mana around him grew more and more violent, raging without restraint, and in the next instant it forcefully dragged him away.
-Thud!!
His body crashed onto the ground, just next to a boulder he had marked as his anchor.
I escaped the immediate explosion, but.....
His thoughts froze as he saw it.
White fire rushed toward him like a colossal wave, devouring everything in its path. Space itself cracked and twisted, unable to endure the pressure. Pure carnage filled the surroundings.
Screams echoed everywhere.
Demons cried out in terror as they tried to flee, but there was nowhere to run. The dungeon was collapsing, and the space within it was tearing itself apart.
Ash’s mind churned as he looked down at his own body.
Bones were exposed. Flesh was torn and burned beyond recognition. His hair had turned into nothing more than clumps of black ash.
One of his eyes was completely burned away, while the other was barely intact, its vision blurred and unstable.
Even so, the mirror in his hand remained unharmed, slick with his blood, still firmly held within his grasp.
His wounds were healing.
Slowly, relentlessly.
Skin crawled back over exposed muscle. Bones knit themselves together. His remaining eye cleared, vision returning piece by piece.
So this is what it feels to endure an explosion stronger than a nuclear weapon from Earth.
The thought surfaced like a bitter joke.
He did not laugh.
Only he could feel the agony tearing through every nerve in his body. Even his attempts to distract his mind failed. Pain was absolute, leaving no room for escape.
But he did not allow himself to stop.
There was still something he had to do.
He could not store the Rune. That option was gone. If he did not absorb it now, it would be lost forever to the spatial storm consuming the dungeon.
With trembling hands, he brought the mirror closer. His throat was burned, his lungs screamed, and with barely functioning vocal cords he forced the words out.
"R..un..e...o..f..T..ru..t..h."
And then, the explosion finally swallowed the entire dungeon.
****