Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Once Kieran's body overflowed with the energy provided by Vim Restoration, he ducked under Bundal's subsequent blows before moving in closer. He did this to reduce the chances of Bundal succeeding in the strange series of Imperfect Transmutations he revealed throughout their heated back-and-forth exchanges.

There were times when Bundal would change the state of his skin to make it rubbery and absorbent to damage. When that happened, Kieran switched from blunt strikes, like Wrath Eruption, Seethe Burst, Fury Rush, and powerful basic attacks, to precise slashes.

Moreover, because Bundal broke free of his restraints, Kieran had to hold off on unleashing Blood Pulse until the perfect opportunity arose—which was right now.

By the time Bundal revealed that something was amiss, with several alarms raising his mind to exercise caution, it was already too late.

A hollow blood sphere with a dismaying interior instantly appeared in Kieran's palm. As he contained the skill to the best of his ability, Kieran suddenly swung his arm up, bringing the Blood Pulse to Bundal's chin.

Due to Bundal's high physical resistance and his identity as the Dungeon Boss, Kieran took zero chances with him somehow resisting the indirect detonation of the Blood Pulse.

…Boom!

Time seemed to crawl to a standstill as the sphere in Kieran's hand collapsed on itself and erupted with a frighteningly disorienting pressure. Bundal unmistakably bore the brunt of this attack because the madness in his eyes vanished, being replaced with a vacant gaze.

〈Alert: Dungeon Boss «Bundal, Chimeric Abomination» has been inflicted with «Crippling Hysteria».〉

〈Alert: For the next 5 seconds, Dungeon Boss «Bundal, Chimeric Abomination» resistance to physical damage and mental attacks will be weakened.〉

Five seconds wasn't an extremely large window, but it sufficed for what Kieran had planned. In fact, he wasn't interested in the Blood Pulse's Hysteria effect. 

Instead, he merely attacked to disorient Bundal and lower his defenses to increase the odds of his Soul Trait working.

Despite how powerful Veradin and the others made his Soul Trait out to be, it wasn't the source of their shock and awe. What awed them the most was his Aspect. 

Sadly, Kieran couldn't draw upon his Aspect's principles or energy when using his Soul Trait, so if the opponent was resistant to mental attacks, it was likely that his Soul Manifestation would be rendered ineffective, or in the best-case scenario, weakened.

Before making his move, Kieran exhaled to control his emotions as best as possible. 

While Deranged Spirit was active, even in its current unusual condition, Kieran realized that he struggled to suppress his emotions, specifically the ones he couldn't convert into raw power—the ones buried in the depths of his soul that could truly corrupt his reasoning beyond repair.

The event with Dusvim was merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to the wrath Kieran repressed. If it was ever unleashed in full, perhaps even his current Vengeful Soul wouldn't suffice to embody the entirety of his nature.

All of a sudden, several ripples of intangible dark energy undulated around Kieran's body, saturating the area surrounding him and Bundal in a strange sea of energy looking to inflict injuries fatal enough to kill.

Of course, as Kieran's soul was sorely immature, his Soul Trait couldn't directly inflict death. However, it could entrap someone in an illusion that felt like they were suffering death countless times. 

The rate and number of deaths experienced inside the illusion were dependent on Kieran's mental abilities, which, after learning the Ancient Wordmancing abilities of the Wykins, was empowered and much stronger in comparison to what he unleashed against Bracca.

"Soul Manifestation: ...Macabre Animosity!"

Facing the brunt of Kieran's ability, Bundal's previously vacant eyes rolled back as he struggled to resist the effects of Kieran's macabre attack, his body trembling soon after.

Once he felt a direct link to Bundal's unstable mental state, Kieran lifted his hand, signaling for Khaos and Alice to unleash binding skills to control Bundal on the off chance he broke free from the illusion produced by his Soul Manifestation.

After all, if Kieran had to focus on unleashing his new skill, then he couldn't spare Bundal as much attention as he'd like. 

Since Bundal's mental state was already unstable after subjecting himself to years of torturous experiments, Kieran felt that precautions were a necessity, not a possibility.

"I'm on it," Alice exclaimed. 

With that, she swiftly lifted her staff and chanted a spell to begin amassing a large amount of Mana, which also drained her Mana Pool rapidly. 

At the same time, Khaos similarly unleashed a spell of an element he had yet to use thus far.

"Spell of the Unyielding: Resilient Imprisonment!"

Several metal bands sprouted from a magic circle that Khaos unleashed beneath Bundal's feet. Despite being metal, the bands were as flexible as cloth, wrapping around Bundal's leg several times until they resembled the lower limbs of a mummy.

When the bands finished enveloping Bundal's lower limbs, Alice completed her chant, creating several chains of pure Mana that lacked an attribute but possessed high amounts of stable Mana. 

These chains quickly converged around Bundal's torso, similarly wrapping around his body until properly reinforced.

Only after they unleashed these skills did Alice and Khaos relax, but not entirely. Their nerves were still taut as they analyzed the situation, anticipating the skill Kieran would reveal to bring an end to this truly stressful dungeon.

'This skill…' 

Though reluctant to use such a thing, Kieran had no choice but to reach into his inventory to consume another Intermediate Mana Potion, preparing for the big reveal of this new skill. 

On this run alone, Kieran had used more Mana Consumables than he had before. 

'The stronger my skills get, the more disgusting the Mana requirements become. It looks like I'll really have to make some concessions later on. However, if I play my cards right, I might reap more benefits than the losses I suffer,' Kieran thought.

Sure, a Mana Pool was important to all classes, but Kieran didn't feel that it was important enough to sacrifice his precious UAPs. 

Though, there was more than one reason as to why he felt this way.

The most important, however, was his current race. Hekaina had hinted that a High Human's worth wouldn't appear until the Advanced level. But more than that, its true worth required that he Awakened first.

Based on his experiences with these two "transformative" stages, they were centered around the Mana Pool, more importantly expanding and refining the Mana Pool.

'A High Human refers to a liberated human that has demonstrated increased spiritual abilities, but these abilities are the precursor to commanding a greater and purer form of Mana. Since that is true… I can be frugal in terms of what I spare to sacrifice on my INT,' Kieran thought.

A second later, Kieran pushed this matter aside, choosing to revisit it at a later time. In the meantime, Kieran inhaled and focused on one of the new Source Runes in his mind. 

Compared to his other skills, the state of this rune was more complete and felt magnificent, but at the same time, it felt awful. It gave off the feeling that it was terrifying enough to become the bane of all existences by causing devastation of untold proportions.

Unlike his other skills, this particular skill required a meticulous flow of Mana on par with Dread Culling, if not slightly more complicated. Kieran's only saving grace was the fact this was not manual learning, so his soul had already become accustomed to following the guidelines of the skill.

As he lifted Crimson Ashrune, making it parallel to the ground, and aligning it with the height of his shoulder, Kieran suddenly felt as if the blade had doubled and then tripled in weight.

However, after opening his eyes and peeking at Crimson Ashrune, he realized there was no change to his blade. It had not grown larger like he had assumed in his mind. 

'Don't tell me… this skill is directly increasing the weight of the Mana embedded within the Vampiric Blood Encrustation?! Is this why it costs so much damned Mana?!'

After coming to this assumption, Kieran closed his eyes and continued to exhaust the Mana his Mana Pool was refilled with. Such a sudden exhaustion of his recently replenished Mana naturally led to Kieran feeling somewhat weakened, but he ignored the rising sensation.

It was not the time to be shaken by his current predicament.

As Kieran continued to amass the Mana and guide it as per the directions of his skill, Bundal's vacant eyes regained their madness, only to witness the growing destructive presence that encompassed Kieran's body.

"My powerful mind… snatched from me by the likes of you? This is insane! I will not stand for this!" Bundal yelled in a rage. Soon, the entire dungeon began to quake as Bundal forcibly entered a Berserk state.

Gruesome growths appeared all over Bundal's body as the bindings holding him in place shattered one by one. Upon understanding the situation had just gone awry, Nemean unhesitantly rushed toward Bundal.

"Nemean, what are you doing?! Bundal has gone Berserk!" Alice screamed out.

"That's why I have to move!" Nemean decisively yelled back. He held out his arms by his side and flung them all of a sudden, unleashing the same skill from early on in the run. 

"Enforcer's Fury: Twin Returning Cyclones!"

With great speed, Nemean's two shields blitzed through the air. 

However, before they could even impact Bundal, he caught them, forcibly canceling the skill. Despite this fact, Nemean continued to rush at Bundal with a darkened expression.

'It's just like training. It's just like training…' Nemean repeated in his mind, psyching himself into believing that he could accomplish this.

Fwoosh!

Nemean slid underneath Bundal's first attack, however, they kept coming. 

"Hyuk!" With a grunt, Nemean jumped away from Bundal's mighty downward smash. 

In the next moment, Nemean rolled between Bundal's legs, infuriating him further until he pounded the ground before transmuting a geyser of earth and debris all around.

"Oh…" Nemean blinked helplessly, limited by the obstruction of the earth geyser. In wake of Bundal's huge body, he could no longer dodge. And, without his shields, defending was impossible.

"You insignificant miscreant, die!" Bundal's voice echoed.

However, a deep voice backed by an infallible conviction responded soon after. "No, you will die."

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