The staircase did not wind. It plunged directly into the earth at a steep, unforgiving angle, cutting through the bedrock like a physical spear thrust into the heart of the mountain.
Alden walked a few paces ahead, his black boots making almost no sound against the ancient, dust-caked stone. Behind him, the arrogant girl with the violet eyes followed, her footsteps noticeably heavier. The heavy dwarven blanket dragged slightly behind her, catching on the jagged edges of the stairs.
The darkness was absolute, but Alden didn't bother pulling out the crystal sphere for light.
He didn't need it anymore.
With his Soul Efficiency permanently boosted to a staggering 1000%, Alden's perception had fundamentally altered. He wasn't just seeing the physical world; he was effortlessly reading the spiritual footprint of the environment. The stone walls hummed with residual, ancient intent, casting a faint, ghostly illumination that only he could perceive.
He let out a slow, silent breath, the air venting smoothly through the micro-perforations of his matte-black mask.
'It's like taking off a blindfold I never knew I was wearing,' Alden thought, his single crimson eye tracking the flawless, structural flow of the cavern.
He turned his head slightly, glancing back at the girl over his shoulder.
Using the foundational principles of his newly acquired Absolute Soul Manipulation (Imperfect), Alden focused his gaze entirely on her.
The physical layer of her pale skin, her jet-black hair, and the crimson travel cloak melted away. Alden looked directly at her spiritual vessel.
His breath hitched.
Her soul wasn't just dense. It was a terrifying, blindingly radiant star of pure, violet energy. The sheer magnitude of her spiritual presence rivaled the SS-Rank Demi-God, Herman Blackwood.
But it was completely, brutally caged.
Wrapped tightly around her radiant soul were thick, jagged chains of pitch-black, decaying energy. The chains were covered in ancient, crawling runes that pulsed with a parasitic heartbeat. They were actively siphoning her mana, suppressing her physical abilities, and suffocating her core. That was why she had been dying in the snow despite having the pedigree of a monster. She wasn't just cold; she was being spiritually choked to death by an incredibly high-tier curse.
"If you are quite finished gawking at my essence," the girl snapped, her voice cutting sharply through the stale air.
Alden blinked, his physical vision snapping back into focus.
She was glaring at him, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She had actually felt his gaze bypass her flesh.
"You have a parasite," Alden stated bluntly, turning fully to face her. "A high-tier curse. It's draining your mana to sustain itself. That's why you have no aura."
Her violet eyes narrowed into dangerous, defensive slits. Her jaw tightened, the aristocratic mask slipping just enough to reveal a flash of profound, deeply buried exhaustion.
"I am aware of my own condition, peasant," she said, lifting her chin, refusing to show a single ounce of vulnerability. "It is none of your concern. Keep your eyes facing forward."
Alden stared at her for a second longer. He could easily use his dark-gold Chaos mana and his new soul manipulation to carefully sever those black chains. He had the exact tools required to free her.
But he didn't offer.
'I'm not a charity,' Alden reminded himself, turning his back on her and resuming his descent. 'And I'm certainly not going to poke a dormant, high-tier curse linked to a girl who won't even tell me her name.'
They walked in silence for another ten minutes before the narrow staircase abruptly ended.
They stepped out onto a wide, circular platform suspended over a vast, subterranean lake of liquid silver. The lake was completely motionless, reflecting the ceiling like a flawless mirror.
In the exact center of the platform sat a sleek, waist-high pedestal carved from pure, white starlight.
Resting atop the pedestal was a crystalline teardrop, roughly the size of a human heart. It was completely transparent, but swirling inside the glass-like surface were billions of microscopic, glowing silver runes. It looked like a captured galaxy.
Alden approached the pedestal, his boots clicking softly against the stone.
The coordinates burned in his mind, pulsing with a searing, final heat. The invisible tether that had dragged him from the Human Empire, through the dwarven borders, and down into this abyss, officially snapped.
He had found it.
[DING!]
The pristine, chiming resonance echoed through his fortified mind. The dark, gold-laced interface of [THE SUPREME LUCK SYSTEM] materialized above the pedestal.
[Target Acquired: The Sovereign's Tear.]
[Item Classification: Mythic Grade Spiritual Artifact / Core Material.]
[Description: The condensed, crystallized memories and pure spiritual reservoir of the Soul Sovereign. It contains the foundational blueprints for constructing absolute spiritual domains.]
[System Prompt: This item is highly compatible with the Host's 'Absolute Soul Manipulation'. Consuming this artifact will bypass centuries of meditation and instantly evolve the ability toward the 'Mastery Stage'.]
Alden's hand hovered over the teardrop.
An artifact capable of instantly evolving a world-breaking ability. If he absorbed this, his control over the souls of the living and the dead wouldn't just be foundational. It would be absolute. He could look at the High Council and simply command their spirits to sleep.
He reached out, his leather-gloved fingers closing around the cool, smooth surface of the crystal.
CLICK.
The moment the teardrop left the pedestal, the absolute silence of the cavern shattered.
The subterranean lake of liquid silver surrounding the platform violently churned. The flawless mirror surface broke apart as massive, heavy shapes began to breach the water.
Alden quickly deposited the Sovereign's Tear into his storage ring, dropping his right hand to the hilt of Vajra.
Four colossal figures pulled themselves onto the circular platform.
They were guardians. But they weren't made of flesh or bone. They were massive, twelve-foot-tall suits of hollow, white-stone armor, wielding greatswords larger than Alden's entire body. They moved with terrifying, mechanical fluidity, water pouring off their heavy pauldrons.
"Physical constructs," the girl noted from the edge of the stairs, her voice entirely devoid of panic. She pulled the blanket tighter. "Animated by residual Sovereign intent. Your physical strikes will barely scratch that stone, and they have no central nervous system for your chaotic magic to disrupt."
She was right. If Alden tried to punch them, he would shatter his own arms against the enchanted stone. If he used a Chaos blast, he risked collapsing the platform and dumping them both into the silver lake.
The four golems raised their massive greatswords in perfect unison, their featureless stone helmets locking onto Alden.
Alden didn't draw Vajra. He didn't tense his muscles for a physical dodge.
A dark, incredibly arrogant smirk stretched across his face beneath the matte-black mask.
"I don't need to punch them," Alden whispered.
He closed his single crimson eye, instantly sinking into the Manual of the Abyssal Weaver. His 1000% Soul Efficiency flared to life, acting as a flawless, superconducting conduit for his willpower.
He opened his eye, his vision snapping entirely to the spiritual plane.
Inside the hollow chest cavities of the four stone golems, Alden saw the truth. There were no gears. There were no complex runic engines. There was only a single, glowing orb of pale spiritual fire in each construct—a manufactured, artificial soul acting as a battery.
The golems charged, their massive stone boots shaking the platform. The lead construct swung its greatsword in a devastating, horizontal arc designed to cleave Alden in two.
Alden didn't move a single inch.
He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers wide. He didn't channel dark-gold Chaos mana. He channeled pure, overwhelming spiritual authority.
Absolute Soul Manipulation.
Alden mentally reached out and grasped the four pale orbs of spiritual fire burning inside the golems.
He didn't try to sever their connections with needles. He didn't try to unweave them slowly.
He simply squeezed his hand into a tight fist.
Snuff.
The four glowing orbs of artificial soul-fire were instantly, violently crushed out of existence.
The lead golem's greatsword stopped exactly one inch from Alden's neck.
The terrifying, mechanical momentum of the constructs entirely evaporated. Without the spiritual batteries commanding their joints, the enchantments holding the heavy white stone together failed completely.
CRUMBLE.
All four twelve-foot-tall golems collapsed simultaneously. They didn't fall like defeated enemies; they simply broke apart into massive, lifeless piles of white rubble, crashing harmlessly against the platform.
The entire fight had lasted less than three seconds.
Alden slowly lowered his fist. He didn't pant. He didn't sweat. His D+ Rank Chaos core hadn't even twitched, meaning there was absolutely zero physical blowback.
It was the cleanest, most absolute victory he had ever achieved.
He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the girl.
For the first time since he had pulled her out of the snow, her aristocratic, haughty mask was completely gone. Her mouth was slightly open. Her violet eyes were wide with genuine, profound shock as she stared at the piles of rubble, then back up at him.
She understood exactly what he had just done. He had bypassed their physical immunity, ignored their elemental defenses, and simply turned off their existence with a single thought.
"You didn't use mana," she whispered, her voice barely carrying over the sound of the churning silver lake.
Alden fully turned around, the tails of his dark-grey cloak settling around his boots.
"I told you," Alden said smoothly, his single crimson eye pinning her in place. "I am not a hero. I'm the guy who breaks the rules."
He walked past her, heading back toward the dark staircase leading to the surface. He had the Sovereign's Tear. He had his god-killing sword. The coordinates were cleared.
"Are you coming, Your Highness?" Alden called back over his shoulder, not slowing his pace. "Or do you want to stay down here and freeze?"
The girl snapped her mouth shut. She glared at his retreating back, her cheeks flushing with a mix of fierce indignation and undeniable awe.
She gripped the edges of the dwarven blanket, lifted her chin, and hurried after him into the dark.