The two unlikely duo continued through the lair, moving toward what was the final wave of monsters that guarded the core chamber.

It was a sacrilegious scene. The green fog had become thicker, and more inanimate monoliths terrorized the lair's atmosphere.

They had moved past the tier shaken by Darien's spell, so the trial appeared untouched at this stage.

Both warriors felt the oppression of impending danger, so they were ready, especially the female one.

Apart from redeeming her significance, experience points were Vynsera's principal objective.

She couldn't tell how the news of her brother's death would be handled, but she knew that returning on the brink of a Rank 2 breakthrough would, at the very least, put a smile on her seniors' faces.

Whenever she looked back at her partner, Darien, his focus was never still.

His eyes always roamed the shadows, his senses always sharp and searching. Vynsera couldn't tell if he was just being alert or looking for a way to abandon her and go solo.

Unlike her, Darien didn't need a Mortal breakthrough right now.

All he hoped for was that the Forsaken Magus turned out to be Rank 2, strong enough to make this trial truly worthwhile.

This wasn't a subdungeon, and neither was it ranked by the system, meaning the outcome and scale of difficulty were ungoverned.

Not to mention Vincent's earlier outrageous operations that had rendered this trial inconstant.

[You have arrived at: Forsaken Magus' Core Chamber]

Both aspirants received the prompt at the same time, and their eyes instinctively met, each trying to read the other's reaction.

'This is the Core Chamber?' Darien thought.

They had just stepped into the widest hall yet, an immense space carved from obsidian slates, so polished their footprints glowed, and their weapons were reflected.

It didn't look like the traditional Core Chamber; rather, it resembled yet another wave location.

Above, a thick cloud of green mist hovered for a ceiling, while the floor beneath was coated in the same toxic hue, a rug of corruption, like a boiling furnace.

However, across the chamber and its corrupted magic was a tope at the far end, shrouded in darkness.

The moment Vynsera's gaze caught the archaic silhouette of the mini-shrine, her instincts surged, and she jerked forward in alarm.

"It's watching us," she said firmly.

Taking her word for it, Darien adjusted his stance too.

No sooner had his boots moved than the corrupted floor rippled, its green haze twisting ominously as countless monsters began to form from it.

(Soul Skeleton)

(HP: 1699)

(Rank 1 Stray!)

-----

(Toxinbone Knight)

(HP: 2000)

(Rank 1 Stray!)

Peeled from the very sunken cloud, the hideous monsters were dripping with corruption as they trudged forward.

The warriors were just as eager to act.

Vynsera lifted herself several inches into the air, her hands and eyes glowing sacredly, while Darien had already thrust out a spell.

<Solar Purge> rumbled over the corruption, sweeping everything in a furious tide.

-2010!

-1850!

-1930! x19

Even the murky stones were scorched by the searing blaze until it clashed against the tope, shaking its foundation.

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster] x21

'Not all of them?' Darien thought as the monsters recovered from the force and began trudging again.

All the Soul Skeletons were instantly annihilated, but the Toxinbine Knights remained standing, protected by their magical shields.

As for the Shrine Monster's trope that stood within the fifty-meter radius, a magical barrier, too, had resisted Darien's spell, defying the purge.

~Fwoooosh!

Vynsera lunged forward, defeating the knights without mercy. Their corrupted armor cracked and burst under her unrelenting spells, none standing a chance as she tore them apart in groups.

But just as quickly, more Soul Skeletons began to form, as if to replace the very ones Darien had wiped away.

It was a swarm nearly double! Their despairing echoes filled the chamber, shadowing the fighting grunts of the warriors.

Darien, who had already begun using <Mythic Pyrolashes> to drag and cleave several knights, saw the threat of these new summons.

'Hmph. Vincent must be a madman, thinking he could have done this all alone.'

The sight of the growing legion reminded Darien exactly who had tampered with and enhanced this trial, turning it into this battlefield.

He understood Vincent's potential, but he also had to admit that the duke's son had gotten ahead of himself with the sacrifices.

Vynsera's lie about the Shrine Monster slaying him would definitely sound convincing enough to anyone who heard it.

But since the lair's doors never closed, Darien deduced Vincent's contingency must've been to flee once he realized how hopelessly outnumbered he was against his own creation.

Back to his fight, he let out a cold breath as he severed one last Toxinbine Knight before making up his mind to craft another skill.

But he was… clueless.

Unlike Vynsera, who was attuned perfectly with her Light affinity, Darien was still a stranger to all the elements he could command.

He could conjure fire spells, water spells, earth, wood, darkness, space, etc., even light like his partner, but he understood none of them at all.

All the skills and spells he had been creating and casting were instinctive and shallow, no mastery of any element, no understanding of any element, leaving him with nothing more than what he could think of, not what he comprehended.

Having been tutored primarily as a knight, Darien himself didn't fully understand this limitation.

But after attending magi modules and assimilating tomes from the library, he had gradually begun to grasp concepts he never had the privilege to be taught.

So, he knew he had to create his own Energy Core, as that was the first step.

And he needed to do so as soon as possible because, despite the many skill points he possessed, this young warrior's understanding of Fire was drastically shallow.

[Skill: Sovereign Lance]

[Level: (5-star)]

[Description: Conjures 1-7 blazing, manipulable spears. Extreme piercing and burning damage. Exploding and incinerating impact. 20-meter radius each. 60 P.E Cost.]

[Cooldown: 75 sec]

[Cost: 2450 SP]

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