Dungeon Corpse Stacker: I Absorb Everything to Become Ominous Monarch
Chapter 7: The Crown of Ashes

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Crown of Ashes

Boss Victor couldn’t feel his legs.

The crimson system window hovered inches from his face, glowing with an unholy light that cast sharp shadows across his blood-drained cheeks. The atmospheric pressure inside the vault was so intense that several syndicate enforcers on the catwalk had already passed out from lack of oxygen.

[System Notice: Faction Subjugation Initiated.] [Target: Viper Syndicate.] [Choose: Complete Obedience or Immediate Extraction.]

"I... I choose..." Victor choked out, tears of absolute terror streaming down his wrinkled face. "I submit! I submit to you! Please... don’t turn me into dust!"

Renan’s eyes remained cold, unblinking slits. "Smart choice."

He released his grip. Victor collapsed onto the steel grating like a wet rag, gasping greedily for air, clutching his chest as if his lungs were on fire.

DING!

[Subjugation Successful.] [Faction Acquired: Viper Syndicate (Underground Sector 4).] [New Asset Unlocked: Underground Information Network.] [Faction Loyalty Enforcement Active: Any act of betrayal will trigger instant spiritual combustion.]

Renan walked toward the edge of the catwalk, looking down at the remaining thirty syndicate guards. They were frozen in place, their knuckles white around their useless weapons, staring at the lone man who had just swallowed forty million credits of monster remains in under a minute.

"Drop your weapons," Renan’s voice rang out, clear and sharp, echoing off the hollow concrete walls.

The clatter of rifles, enchanted daggers, and heavy mana-bazookas hitting the floor sounded like a rainstorm. Not a single guard dared to look him in the eye.

"From this moment on, the Viper Syndicate no longer exists," Renan declared, his dark aura flaring slightly, swirling around his shoulders like a regal cape made of shadows. "You answer to the Ominous Faction. Your sole purpose is to locate every unclaimed dungeon corpse in this city—and report the movements of Apex Guild."

"Understood... Lord Renan..." Victor wheezed from the floor, struggling to his knees. He bowed his head so low his forehead pressed against the cold steel mesh. "Whatever you command... it shall be done."

"Get up, Victor," Renan turned his back on him, walking toward the vault’s exit. "We have company."

Victor blinked, wiping sweat from his eyes. "Company? What company?"

Before Victor could finish his question, the heavy emergency alarms mounted along the ceiling began to blare in a high-pitched, frantic rhythm. Red warning lights bathed the dust-filled vault in crimson pulses.

BOOM!

The main concrete wall at the far end of the storage corridor exploded inward. A shower of pulverized brick and twisted rebar showered over the floor as a heavy combat unit smashed through the breach.

Ten elite Hunters clad in tactical black armor with glowing red insignia poured into the room, forming a tight defensive phalanx. Behind them walked a tall, lean man holding a pair of curved, obsidian daggers that crackled with blue high-frequency lightning.

It was Shadow Captain Vance—the head of Apex Guild’s covert assassination squad, the Night Stalkers.

Vance scanned the destroyed vault, his eyes widening slightly as he took in the empty racks and the piles of fine gray dust covering the floor.

"So the rumors were true," Vance said, his voice smooth, devoid of emotion, like ice sliding over glass. "The trash porter didn’t die in the gate. He crawled down here to hide among the rats."

Victor gasped, scrambling backward behind Renan. "Lord Renan! That’s Vance! He’s Guild Master Richard’s top assassin! An S-Rank speed-type Hunter!"

Renan didn’t look back. He stopped three paces from the edge of the shattered wall, eyeing Vance with mild disinterest.

"Richard sent his lapdog to clean up his mess," Renan said dryly. "He couldn’t even come himself after I broke his ribs?"

Vance’s eyes narrowed, a lethal gleam flashing within his pupils. "The Guild Master is currently recovering under the care of the nation’s top divine healers. He gave me a direct order: cut off your head, burn your body, and erase every trace of your existence before the Hunter Association launches a full investigation."

Vance lowered his stance, his body vibrating as his S-Rank speed skill activated. [Skill: Phantom Blitz].

"You got lucky against Leon because he was careless," Vance sneered, his figure blurring into three distinct afterimages in the dim lighting. "Speed reigns supreme in combat. Before your brain can even process my movement, your throat will already be opened."

SWOOSH!

The three afterimages vanished simultaneously.

The air in the room cracked as Vance broke the sound barrier, moving at speeds invisible to the naked eye. In a fraction of a millisecond, Vance materialized directly behind Renan, his twin lightning daggers driving downward toward the base of Renan’s skull in a double-lethal execution strike.

"Too slow," Vance whispered into the back of Renan’s neck.

CLANG!

A blinding flash of sparks erupted in the dark.

Vance’s smile instantly vanished.

His twin obsidian daggers—weapons forged from dragon scales capable of cutting through adamantine—were completely stopped in mid-air.

Renan hadn’t even turned around. A pair of dense, pitch-black shadow tendrils had sprouted directly from Renan’s back, catching both blades between razor-sharp, shadowy claws.

"What... what is this?!" Vance gritted his teeth, pouring all his S-Rank strength into pushing the blades down, but the shadow claws didn’t budge an inch.

[Agility Stat Check:] [Renan: 820] [Vance: 450] [Speed Disparity: Overwhelming.]

Renan slowly turned his head, his purple pupils glowing with a cold, predatory hunger.

"You talk about speed," Renan said softly, "when you’re moving like a turtle in pitch."

Before Vance could retract his blades and retreat, Renan’s right hand shot out like a lightning strike, wrapping around Vance’s face like a iron vise.

GRAB!

"GAH!" Vance choked, his daggers clattering to the floor as Renan lifted him five feet into the air with one hand, his fingers digging into Vance’s skull.

The ten elite Night Stalker guards panicked, raising their weapons. "CAPTAIN!"

"Don’t move," Renan commanded without looking at them.

[Skill Activated: Corrosive Aura (Rank-S)]

The suffocating violet pressure flared outward again. The ten elite guards were instantly brought to their knees, their heavy armor creaking and bending under the sheer physical weight of Renan’s aura. Blood burst from their noses and ears as they collapsed flat onto the floor, unable to lift a finger.

Vance thrashed wildly, his feet kicking empty air, his hands fruitlessly tearing at Renan’s wrist. "You... you monster... Richard will... never let you..."

"Richard sent you here to die, Vance," Renan whispered, his voice vibrating straight into Vance’s eardrums. "And I never refuse a free gift."

[Target: Live S-Rank Hunter (Vance - Suppressed) Detected.] [Initiating Forced Extraction...]

Vance let out a muffled, blood-curdling scream as dark violet lightning erupted from Renan’s palm, tearing through his facial bones and devouring his S-Rank agility stats in plain view of his paralyzed squad.