Dungeon Corpse Stacker: I Absorb Everything to Become Ominous Monarch
Chapter 36: THE BLOODLINE OF APEX

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: THE BLOODLINE OF APEX

The ambient atmospheric pressure inside the shattered 50th-floor executive suite plummeted to a suffocating, bone-crushing level. Golden mana tore through the air like invisible scythes, leaving deep, scorching fissures along the remaining structural pillars. Outside, the morning sky was obscured by dark, swirling storm clouds summoned by the sheer density of Guild Master Richard’s unleashed aura.

"A scavenger..." Richard whispered, his voice dangerously low as his pupils narrowed into slitted, reptilian gold. "A worthless, non-ranked corpse-cleaner from the gutters of Sector 4... returned as a Calamity."

Renan did not move. He stood thirty paces away, his tattered black coat swaying gently against the turbulent gale created by Richard’s mana. Flanking him, five hundred Shadow Knights lined the ruined floor and the outer ledge of the skyscraper, their spectral eyes burning with cold violet flames, waiting for a single command to tear the room apart.

"You left me in the dark to preserve your Guild’s profit margins, Richard," Renan said, his voice flat, echoing with the layered resonance of a hundred souls. "You covered up the deaths of forty scavengers in that Class-S Rift, filed it as an unpredictable monster outbreak, and collected the insurance payout from the Association."

"And I would do it a thousand times over!" Richard shouted, stepping forward. The marble floor caved in beneath his boots, shattering into fine white powder. "In this world, men like you are fuel for the forge! You are numbers on a balance sheet! You exist so that men like me can hold the line against the Rifts and rule this nation!"

Richard raised his massive, S-Rank golden broadsword—the Aegis Dragon Blade—with both hands. The ancient runes carved along the fuller ignited in a blinding, crimson flame that consumed his golden aura.

[Target Analysis: Guild Master Richard]

Class: S-Rank Vanguard / Dragon Knight

Current Status: Activating Secret Skill ’Dragon Blood Resonance’

Danger Level: Extreme (Peak S-Rank Threshold)

"You think your horde of shadowy specters makes you invincible?!" Richard roared, his physical frame expanding as dragon-like scales manifested across his neck, arms, and chest. "I have slaughtered Calamity Bosses in the deepest Rifts! I have bathed in dragon blood! Your pathetic undead will melt before my flame!"

BOOM!

With a sonic boom that blew out the remaining reinforced glass panels across the entire 50th floor, Richard vanished.

His speed transcended human limits. In less than a fraction of a millisecond, Richard materialized directly in front of Renan, his massive broadsword descending in a vertical execution arc wrapped in dragon fire capable of vaporizing steel.

"Die!" Richard screamed.

THUD!

The explosive shockwave tore through the ceiling, ripping away the roof of the Apex Headquarters and exposing the ruined penthouse to the open sky. Dust, concrete debris, and crimson flames billowed outward for miles. The entire top five floors groaned under the catastrophic kinetic force, showering the streets below in chunks of masonry and burning glass.

When the smoke cleared slightly, Richard’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated horror.

His broadsword had not cleaved Renan in two.

Shadow Gregory, the extracted Rank-A Association Director, had intercepted the strike. Standing in front of Renan, Shadow Gregory held his massive, black-iron barrier shield angled upward. The dark steel of the shield groaned, spiderweb cracks spreading across its surface as dragon fire washed over its edges, but it held firm.

"What?!" Richard gasped, his breath catching in his throat. "An A-Rank shadow... blocked my full-power S-Rank strike?!"

"Gregory’s shield alone could not stop your blade, Richard," Renan spoke softly from behind the Shadow Director, his posture relaxed and completely unbothered by the hellfire swirling inches from his face. "But his shield is no longer powered by his own weak mana."

Renan stepped out from behind the barrier, his right hand glowing with a deep, pulsing violet aura that hummed with gravitational density.

[Skill Applied: ’Shadow Mana Transfer’ (Tier-2 Sovereign)]

Pumping 2,000+ Reserve Mana into Shadow Gregory...

Barrier Integrity Fully Restored.

"My legion’s strength is bound directly to my stats," Renan continued, his golden eyes narrowing into razor-sharp slits. "To destroy my soldiers, you must first drain an ocean. And you, Richard... are running out of breath."

Before Richard could pull back his broadsword, two Shadow Knights—the extracted forms of Director Marcus and Director Harold—leaped from the shadows beside him. Shadow Marcus swung his dual daggers in a crimson arc, aiming for Richard’s unarmored throat, while Shadow Harold unleashed a point-blank burst of necrotic energy aimed at Richard’s chest.

"Get off me, you abominations!" Richard yelled, detonating a wave of radial golden fire from his body.

The explosion blew Shadow Marcus and Shadow Harold backward, their dark forms disintegrating into wisps of black smoke before immediately reforming ten feet away on the ledge, perfectly intact and completely indifferent to the flame.

Richard took three rapid steps back, panting heavily. The scales on his arms were smoking, and a thin line of black, necrotic rot was beginning to spread near his collarbone from Harold’s spell. For the first time in ten years, the Guild Master of Apex felt a cold, sharp blade of dread piercing his heart.

He looked around the ruined room. Five hundred Shadow Knights stood motionless, their ranks untouched, their violet eyes watching his every breath like vultures surrounding a dying carcass. Every piece of damage he dealt was instantly repaired. Every strike he landed was absorbed by an infinite well of mana. His legendary S-Rank prowess was being treated like nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

"You aren’t a Hunter..." Richard whispered, his teeth coated in blood as he wiped his mouth with the back of his gauntlet. "You aren’t using a normal System skill... What in God’s name are you?!"

Renan slowly raised his right arm, pointing his palm toward the sky. The dark storm clouds above the skyscraper began to swirl into a massive, funnel-like vortex, centered directly above Apex Headquarters. Lightning crackled across the sky, turning the clouds into a violent shroud of violet and black.

"I am the debt collector, Richard," Renan said coldly, his voice echoing through the minds of everyone in the city below. "And your time is up."

Richard stared at the swirling abyss in the sky, his hands trembling violently as he realized his absolute authority, his wealth, and his S-Rank title meant nothing against the entity standing before him. The pride he had cultivated over decades shattered like glass beneath Renan’s gaze.

Renan shifted his weight, his fingers closing into a tight, brutal fist that compressed the air around it.

[Absolute Extraction System: Domain Threshold]

Initiating Grand Execution Protocol.

Target: Guild Master Richard.

"If you won’t bow," Renan murmured, stepping through the space between them faster than Richard’s S-Rank perception could track, "I will tear your spine out and make your shadow bow for you."

Richard raised his blade in a frantic, desperate parry, but Renan’s bare hand clamped directly onto the glowing edge of the S-Rank weapon, stopping it dead in its tracks.

CRACK.

With a single flex of Renan’s fingers, the legendary Aegis Dragon Blade shattered into golden fragments, spraying sharp metal shards across the bloodied floor.

"Impossible..." Richard choked out, his eyes bulging as Renan’s left hand shot forward, gripping the Guild Master’s throat with crushing force and lifting his massive body off the ground.

Renan leaned in close, his golden eyes burning into Richard’s fading vision as dark miasma began to seep from the floor beneath their feet.

"Your Guild dies today, Richard," Renan whispered coldly. "And your soul belongs to my dark."