The Champion's bellow shook the earth itself. Blood gushed from its severed wrist as it gripped the spear single-handed, fighting with the savage fury of something that had already lost everything.
Leon's warrior zombie caught the next spear thrust on crossed arms. The impact sent it skidding backward, boots carving trenches through concrete. Black ichor splashed from fresh wounds. But it refused to fall.
Leon circled like a predator, switching angles with each shot. His Voidreaper barked repeatedly, forcing the Champion to retreat step by bloody step. Dark mana rounds chipped away at armor that glowed with alien heat.
His assassin zombie materialized behind the Champion like death itself. Her knives found exposed tendons, slicing through sinew with surgical precision. The creature stumbled but kept fighting.
The mage zombie raised spectral hands. Ice erupted from the ground in crystalline chains, wrapping around the Champion's legs. Freezing magic slowed its movements just enough for Leon to keep up with its inhuman speed.
But the Champion adapted. It grabbed a chunk of broken concrete and hurled it at Leon's head. He dove aside as the projectile smashed into a storefront window.
The creature swept civilians aside like toys, using their screaming bodies as distractions. A woman flew through the air, crashing into an abandoned car. Leon's jaw clenched but he couldn't break formation to help.
Jino's camera shook as his viewer count exploded past twenty thousand. His voice cracked with excitement and terror.
"This is insane! Are you guys seeing this? The necromancer's actually winning!"
Chat scrolled like digital fire:
NO WAY THIS IS E-RANK
ZOMBIE SQUAD OP
GET REKT ALIEN SCUM
The Champion suddenly bellowed in broken human speech: "I will conquer this planet for my master!"
Jino's eyes went wide. "Master? Did you guys hear that? Who's the master? Is this an alien invasion or something?"
The chat exploded:
ALIEN ARC???
EARTH IS DOOMED LOL
PLOT TWIST
MULTIVERSAL THREAT INCOMING
Leon's blood chilled. Master. This thing wasn't acting alone.
He opened his system interface with shaking fingers. Experience points from the ongoing battle flooded his display.
[Available Stat Points: 127]
[Allocate quickly - combat ongoing]
Leon dumped points into Strength and Agility with rapid taps. Power surged through his body as the system recalibrated his capabilities.
Then he opened the market.
Weapons scrolled past in a blur. Leon searched for something with killing power. His fingers stopped on a sleek blade that pulsed with dark energy.
[Shadowedge - Epic Blade]
[Damage: 150-200]
[Special: Dark Mana Channeling, Armor Piercing]
[Price: 15 Dungeon Tokens]
Leon had exactly fifteen tokens from his accumulated victories. He bought it without hesitation.
The sword materialized in his grip like liquid shadow given form. Dark energy coursed along its edge, hungry for blood.
Leon charged into the melee alongside his warrior zombie.
"Mage! Lock down its arms!" he shouted. "Assassin, harass from behind! Warrior, with me!"
Ice chains erupted around the Champion's shoulders, binding its spear arm. The assassin danced between its legs, knives flashing like silver lightning. Leon and his warrior zombie attacked in perfect synchronization.
The new blade sang through the air. Leon's strike opened a gash across the Champion's thigh. His zombie's mantis blade followed, driving deep into the creature's side.
Dark blood sprayed in twin arcs.
The Champion roared and broke free from the ice chains. Its spear swept in a killing arc. Leon ducked. His zombie caught the weapon's shaft, stopping it inches from Leon's skull.
The assassin struck at that moment. Her knives punched through the Champion's Achilles tendons. The creature's legs buckled.
Leon saw his opening.
The Champion made one final, desperate charge. Its spear aimed straight for Leon's heart with killing intent.
His warrior zombie threw itself into the weapon's path. The spear punched through spectral armor and buried itself in the zombie's chest. But the sacrifice pushed Leon clear.
Leon leaped forward. Shadowedge blazed with dark mana as he slashed across the Champion's chest. The blade split armor and flesh like paper, releasing a spray of violet energy.
The boss crashed to its knees. Black blood pooled beneath its massive form. It looked up at Leon with burning hatred.
"My boss… is coming…"
Leon raised Shadowedge high. The blade hummed with contained power.
One strike. Clean and final.
The Champion's head separated from its shoulders in a spray of dark blood. The massive body toppled forward, shaking the ground like a falling tree.
Leon's system interface exploded with notifications:
[BOSS DEFEATED: LORD'S CHAMPION]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
The messages kept coming. Ten level ups in rapid succession. Power flooded through Leon's body like lightning in his veins. His vision blurred with the rush of accumulated experience.
[Leon Graves: Level 12 → 22]
[Health: 240 → 440]
[Mana: 420 → 820]
[Available Stat Points: 200]
Jino screamed into his microphone. "HE DID IT! THE NECROMANCER ACTUALLY DID IT!"
His chat became a wall of victory spam:
GG
MVP LEON
BEST FIGHT EVER
NECROMANCER OP
Fifty thousand viewers and climbing. The stream had gone viral.
Silence fell over the plaza like a heavy blanket. Hunters and bystanders gathered in a wide circle, staring at the alien corpse in shock and awe.
Leon stood over his kill, Shadowedge dripping with dark blood. His warrior zombie reformed beside him, spectral wounds already healing. His other undead emerged from the shadows, battered but victorious.
The Hunter Association's response squad finally arrived. Armored vehicles surrounded the plaza as elite hunters secured the perimeter. Medics rushed to treat the wounded while investigators began documenting the scene.
The squad leader approached Leon with measured steps. A woman in formal uniform with commander's stripes on her shoulders. She stopped three feet away and saluted with military precision.
"Thank you. The Association would like to speak with you about this incident."
Leon glanced at the Champion's massive corpse. Loot glittered around the body - armor fragments, weapons, crystallized mana cores worth a fortune.
"Hope I get my reward for this. And the loot too."
The commander nodded without hesitation. "You will. It's yours by right. No one else could have done what you did today."
She gestured toward an armored bus idling at the plaza's edge. "If you would come with us? We have questions about the creature's final words. And there are… opportunities we'd like to discuss."
Leon sheathed Shadowedge and collected several glowing items from around the Champion's corpse. The system automatically catalogued each piece as rare or epic quality.
He followed the commander toward the waiting vehicle. Behind them, Jino kept streaming to his massive audience, narrating the aftermath for viewers around the world.
Leon settled into the bus's plush seats, his bloodied sword across his knees. The commander sat across from him, her expression mixing respect with barely contained excitement.
"We'll handle everything from here," she assured him. "Evidence collection, media management, cleanup operations."
Leon leaned back and grinned. "Just don't forget my payment."
The bus doors closed with a pneumatic hiss. Through tinted windows, Leon watched the shocked crowd still gathered around the alien corpse.
The vehicle pulled away from the plaza, carrying him toward whatever came next.