{Special [Quest] granted — Conquer the domain core. Reward: Link with the domain core. Do you accept Special [Quest] 'Conquer the domain core?' [Yes] [No].}

Reading through the notification, Lucas' mind froze. He had just been through a gruesome battle and yet he was being enticed into another one?

The periodic thumping of the tree men pressed more and more on his psyche, pushing him to make a choice. Unable to even hear his own thoughts, Lucas barked out,

"I accept!"

The synchronous beating immediately stopped. Lucas tried to will his [Spirit Sense] to get a picture of what happened but his Mind failed him. An overwhelming pain flooded him as it had finally reached its limit.

'Fuck… me…'

With those last, regretful words, Lucas' blacked out. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a void.

Floating in this perfect darkness, Lucas felt a sense of serenity. His taut nerves finally unwound in the absolute silence. There were no thoughts, no sensations, just tranquil stillness.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound. No, it was more than that. He felt the domain core's presence. Its mythical form appeared within the perfect void as well.

With just the two of them in this blackness, they sat there for what felt like eons. Communicating yet not transmitting any information. Perfectly in tune with themselves, each other, and with the void.

The enigmatic tree weaved its mysterious power throughout Lucas' entire being, reconstructing and healing his broken body. Its power was like a mother's touch, soothing yet empowering, guiding his Mind and Physique to their peak state.

Before Lucas could fully comprehend what was going on, the tree retracted its power and vanished. Leaving him alone and somewhat lost.

"Ahh!"

Lucas suddenly snapped awake from his stupor. His [Spirit Sense] flared to its nearly one kilometer limit before he hastily withdrew it.

His fur immediately stood on end at what he sensed. He spun around to confirm it with his own gaze.

About fifty meters away from him, the army of tree men were gone. What took their place was a massive swirl of thick green Spirit energy spanning over sixty meters wide.

What caused Lucas' eyes to narrow however, was the corpse of the domain lord floating directly at its center. The Domain core floated above it, using its otherworldly influence to weave the Spirit energy through the corpse.

Countless Runes flickered across the corpse as its aura slowly but surely grew more terrifying. An overbearing pressure surged form the ritual, causing the ground beneath Lucas to crack.

Lucas easily resisted the pressure as his Mind raced.

"Wiki, what's going on? Is this related to the special [Quest]?"

Wiki immediately gave a response.

{Affirmative. The domain core has chosen this as your trial — defeat the Domain lord.}

"But I already defeated it!

{…}

Wiki's answer or lack of one, forced Lucas to accept the situation. Whatever the tree was doing to the corpse, it bode ill for Lucas and given how high they were in the sky he had no hopes of stopping it.

"Phew… Since I can't interrupt it, I can only prepare."

Expelling a deep breath, Lucas brought his focus to his Runes.

"Hmm?"

With raised eyebrows, he noticed his Rune felt noticeably different. He could feel faint amounts of Life energy resonating with the Runes. This had never happened before.

"Is it because I used Life energy to engrave them?"

Boom!—crack!

The pressure from the sky suddenly amplified, almost smashing Lucas to the floor. Cycling his Spirit energy, he felt the pressure decreased as he gazed up at the sky. His pupils shrunk to needle points at the sight above.

The domain core had returned to its position within the Yggorin's village, gently waving in the nonexistent wind. The corpse of the domain lord now hovered vertically in the air and gently floated to the ground.

Its form now a radiant white while its Runes were a profound black. Its stature had grown significantly, now standing at almost six meters tall.

Five pairs of tendrils extended from its torso, gently flexing like powerful vine. All these features combined gave it a rather haunting beauty.

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When its feet noiselessly touched the ground, it opened its bleach white eyes to reveal a pair of eerie black pupils. Unlike before, its gaze almost transfixed Lucas. It didn't feel like he was staring at another life form but rather… an entire world. A world drenched in decay and death.

Suddenly, the transformed domain lord spoke. Its voice was completely monotonous, lifeless, and eerily—in perfect English.

"Do not disappoint me, Lucas Maverick."

BOOM!

Before Lucas could express his shock, the domain lord rushed forward like a streak of light. Releasing a massive boom in its wake.

Lucas swiftly leapt to the side barely avoiding the Boss as it flashed by. Before Lucas could regain his footing, the white streak flashed to his side lashing out a sharp kick.

Lucas blocked with a hardened leg but the force of the attack smashed him away, injuring his leg in the process. The Boss immediately followed Lucas' flying form like a heat seeker locked onto its target.

"Argh."

Lucas grunted as he activated his Lightening Rune, his body sailed much further and faster than it logically should have. He then contorted and maneuvered his body mid flight to stick a perfect landing assisted by his tails.

The domain lord flashed in front of him, hammering down a brutal right cross. It's tendrils poised to strike. Its towering shadow covered Lucas entirely. Lucas weaved the blurry fist with a simple side step, the air groaned by his side as he struck out a sanguine claw.

A tendril blocked his strike before another struck at his head in a split second later. Lucas countered with a tail causing the exchange to become a haze of tail and tendril strikes, filling the five meter radius around them with blurry after images. As they went blow for blow, Lucas was still forced to dodge its devastating punches and kicks.

Bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang—BOOM!

The blitz of clashes was ended by a cratering haymaker from the Domain lord. Lucas' skull crashed into the cavern floor with an audible crack.

Capitalizing on this, the domain lord froze for an instant as its huge arms suddenly burst into three parts. With the extra appendages, it continued its onslaught. The black, tree ring-like Runes across its form glowing with a baleful light.

Lucas tried to create some distance and recuperate but it was to no avail. In a second, he was hit by almost two dozen attacks, each one heavier than the last. Every cut, bruise, and broken bone from the Domain lord was extremely tedious to heal.

Lucas' Spirit energy could barely keep up with his healing demands and he hadn't even been seriously injured yet.

As the pressure increased, the deeper Lucas fell into his frenzied state. The fight itself became a backdrop to him as every exchange became his world. The deeper into the fight he got, the smoother his energy flowed, he was getting hit less and less while his Life energy powered his Runes far beyond their usual capabilities.

Each successful attack he landed provided him with enough energy to perform three more exchanges. His Physique and Spirit energy were rapidly adapting to the strain of the battle. Honing his instincts and Skills to a degree he never knew was possible.

He could feel his [Mimicry] constantly feed him a constant stream of information on how to shift and change his form. Coordinating with [Leech], [Spirit Sense], and Runes, his form became a flickering sanguine blur. Completely untouchable.

"Enough!"

BOOM!

Suddenly, a powerful white shock wave erupted from the domain lord. It batted Lucas tens of meters away before he got himself together.

Thankfully, the domain lord didn't chase after him. It simply stood in place, its split arms coming back together. It's extended its right arm to the side, palm opened. One of its tendrils broke off, going completely stiff and fell into its grasp. It then spoke to Lucas with its emotionless voice, its broken tendril instantly regenerating.

"Good. Now we can get started. Brace yourself, challenger."

As it spoke, the broken tendril morphed into a weighty pitch black spear. The Rune on it made Lucas' hair stand on end. It gave him the same feeling as the Boss's abyss-like gaze. Lucas' growled as his eyes burned brightly due to his overwhelming fighting Spirit. His claws pierced into the hard floor while his energies cycled within him faster than ever.

The domain lord took a basic spear stance, its body tense, yet poised as it leaned forward to perform a simple thrust.

"??!?!?!!"

Lucas' instinct blared in alarm as he jolted to the side. His senses still picked up the Boss performing its simple thrust before it simply vanished.

Crack!-BOOOM!

Lucas felt a burst of pain on the side of his face. The pain didn't phase him as he turned to a streak of crimson and flickered multiple times in less than a second.

When the Boss finally stopped its supersonic movements, dozens gashes and gaping holes exploded out of him. All his wounds showed exposed bones and oozed with putrid black blood as steam whiffed off his stationary form. Oddly

though, Lucas didn't let out a single sound. His eyes hazy as if he didn't even know where he was, completely lost in a trance.

"You have done well, Lucas Maverick but your journey ends here."

After uttering those final words, the domain lord thrust out its spear. With its blistering acceleration, it pierced through Lucas core with no difficulty.

"???"

The Boss immediately came to a halt as it noticed something wrong—its spear had felt zero resistance.

Crack.

It suddenly felt a large object thrust into its wide back. Hastily, it spun around and lashed out with a spear strike only to hit nothing.

Crack!

It repeated the process only to find nothing once more. What followed was five seconds of the Domain lord furiously "shadow boxing". Its spear strikes eventually plateaued in speed and power while it caught just the faintest glimpse of a hazy, crimson silhouette.

Lucas didn't say anything. He spoke solely through his actions. His movements were completely ephemeral.

Each time the domain lord showed an opening—he struck. Each time it over extended—he struck. Each time it slowed down—he struck. Every misjudgment, every error, every inefficiency was punctuated by a leeching strike.

Barely a minute later, the domain lord was on a knee. Its body bore hundreds if not thousands of wounds. Its pristine white color was now a dreadful brown while its Runes were completely depowered. It had barely a few seconds of life left in it, staying somewhat upright solely due to its spear.

Crack.

'[Leech]'

Lucas appeared behind it once more, delivering the final strike. Its form disintegrated into black dust as he leeched it.

Lucas' body was a mess, he was missing most of his skull and a decent amount of his torso. Covered in dozens of normally life threatening wounds, he collapsed into a heap as notifications ran in his mind.

{Congratulations, [Mimicry] has evolved into [Adaptive Resonance]. Well done.} {Congratulations, special [Quest], Conquer the Domain core, completed!}

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