100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 820 - Clash

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Previously on 100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?...

Lucien tracks an Incarnation to a mineral-rich valley, where he is confronted by a Beastman wielding the Law of Rust. The Incarnation reveals he was expecting Lucien and states his mission has failed, before unleashing a powerful domain of rust. Lucien counters with his own Law, shattering the domain and revealing the Incarnation's power is weakened. A brutal battle ensues, with the Incarnation using the surrounding metal to attack. Lucien, empowered by his Dragon Beast Mode and his adaptable weapon Morphis, gains the upper hand. However, he realizes the Incarnation is not fighting to win, but merely to stall for time.

Once Lucien understood what Rust was trying to do, the entire battle became easier to read.

The terrain, the disposable weapons, even the way the Incarnation kept accepting pressure without making a serious attempt to escape all pointed toward the same conclusion.

He wanted Lucien here.

Every second Lucien spent fighting him was another second the other two Incarnations could move toward whatever the Arch-Lords had sent them to find.

Through Parallel Thoughts, Lucien kept track of both Split Bodies while the Spatial Compass remained with his real body. One trace had begun curving north, while the other continued deeper east. Neither had stopped.

Lucien looked at the Beastman.

"You really don’t care if this vessel dies."

Rust’s smile widened.

That reaction was enough.

Primordial Incarnations normally protected their vessels carefully. Destroying one did not kill the true Primordial behind it, but the backlash mattered, and returning through another Incarnation required time.

Rust, however, was acting as though none of that concerned him anymore.

The Beastman spread his arms.

Rust poured outward from his body.

"You worry too much about things that no longer matter."

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

That answer bothered him more than the threat itself.

Then Rust stopped conserving strength.

The entire region answered.

Lucien felt metal deposits buried kilometers beneath the ground begin to react. They did not rise immediately. Rust reached them first.

Oxidation spread through ancient veins hidden inside the earth.

Pressure shifted.

Rock cracked.

Then the ground burst apart.

Enormous streams of ore tore free and twisted upward like metallic rivers. Some remained intact, while others began rusting as they moved. Layers peeled away from their surfaces and filled the surroundings with expanding clouds of red-brown dust.

Within moments, the entire battlefield disappeared behind it.

Lucien’s sight became useless, but his perception remained clear.

Rust was everywhere.

Tiny fragments struck his draconic scales and bounced away at first, yet the Incarnation’s Law quickly pushed deeper. Lucien felt the metallic traces within several transformed scales begin reacting.

His eyes sharpened.

Rust could reach the trace metals within living structures as well.

Living Creation responded immediately.

The affected portions of Lucien’s body shifted before the process could spread, and the corrosion vanished almost as soon as it began.

The Beastman emerged from the rust-colored haze before Lucien finished adjusting.

A fist slammed into Lucien’s chest and sent him backward.

Rust-coated claws followed.

Lucien raised Morphis.

The claws scraped across the blade, and corrosion immediately began crawling over its surface.

Lucien changed the weapon’s structure.

Rust had already expected it.

The moment Morphis transformed, the ground beneath Lucien collapsed. The Incarnation had weakened the metallic minerals running through the stone below him, creating a hidden point of failure.

A spear erupted through the opening.

Lucien twisted aside.

The point missed his heart by a narrow margin before the entire weapon shattered into rusted fragments around him.

Space folded.

Lucien disappeared from the cloud and reappeared behind the Incarnation.

Morphis thickened into a heavy cleaver while Reflection gathered along its edge.

Lucien struck.

Rust crossed both arms to defend.

The collision drove him straight through the mountain.

Lucien followed immediately.

Before the rubble could settle, the Beastman burst from the opposite side with blood streaming down both forearms. One of the bones beneath the flesh had clearly broken.

He laughed.

Lucien did not.

That reaction confirmed everything.

Rust was willing to burn the vessel.

Lucien stopped holding back as well.

Divine Energy surged from his inner universe.

The ancient world had nothing for him to draw upon, but that no longer mattered. Lucien had brought his own source of power with him.

Living Creation spread through the battlefield.

Rust reacted immediately.

For a brief period, both Laws fought over the same structures. Metal decayed beneath Rust, only for Lucien to restore it. The Incarnation forced the corrosion faster, while Living Creation repeatedly rebuilt what was being lost.

Lucien quickly abandoned the contest.

There was no reason to keep repairing something Rust understood better than he did.

He changed the material instead.

The moment Rust reached for iron, Lucien turned the exposed surface into stone. When the Incarnation shifted toward another metallic component, Lucien altered the composition again before the corrosion could establish itself.

The Beastman’s expression darkened.

"You are irritating."

Lucien almost smiled.

"I’ve been told."

Then he moved.

Morphis became a spear in his hands.

Lucien thrust.

Space contracted along the path of the weapon.

Rust raised a wall of metal directly in front of him.

Lucien had expected that.

Reflection spread through Morphis at the instant of impact. Instead of allowing the force of the collision to rebound into Lucien, the resistance from the wall was redirected forward.

The barrier shattered.

Morphis continued through.

The spear pierced the Beastman’s side.

Rust caught the shaft with both hands and poured corrosion across it.

Lucien released the weapon.

Morphis transformed while it was still inside him.

The narrow spear widened into a broad blade.

The Beastman’s eyes widened.

Lucien pulled.

Blood sprayed across the stone.

Rust roared and released a burst of authority that threw Lucien backward.

Morphis returned to his hand before he landed.

The Beastman pressed one hand against the wound in his side.

Rust spread over his own blood.

Lucien frowned.

The iron within it oxidized while minerals from the surrounding earth were dragged into the injury. The damaged tissue hardened around the resulting layer, forming a crude support that held the torn flesh together.

Lucien stared at it.

"That’s disgusting."

Rust laughed.

"It works."

Lucien had no argument for that.

The Beastman charged again.

This time, any trace of restraint disappeared.

Metal continuously gathered around his body in unstable layers. Armor formed over his shoulders and chest, rusted almost immediately, then broke away as fresh material replaced it.

Every collapsing layer became another weapon.

Fragments scattered through the air carrying Rust authority with them. Broken shields became clouds of corrosive debris. Destroyed weapons became dangerous only after they shattered.

Rust had turned deterioration itself into part of his fighting style.

Lucien adjusted.

Instead of destroying the constructs, he began seizing them with Living Creation before Rust could complete the next stage.

A rusted spear flew toward him.

Lucien touched its structure.

The oxidation reversed.

Clean metal returned.

Then Living Creation changed its shape.

The spear turned in midair and flew back toward its owner.

Rust shattered it before it reached him.

Lucien was already behind him.

Morphis struck his spine.

The Beastman dropped.

Lucien kicked him through the ground.

Before Rust could rise again, several formation discs appeared around the crater.

Lucien activated them immediately.

Space tightened.

Pressure increased.

Barriers formed around the Incarnation before he could escape.

Rust erupted upward.

The first barrier began corroding where metallic components existed.

Lucien had expected that.

The second formation contained almost no metal.

Rust struck it physically instead.

The barrier shook.

Lucien descended into the formation with Morphis returning to its two-handed form.

Dragon Beast Mode surged harder through his body.

He struck once.

The formation denied Rust enough room to evade properly, forcing him to absorb the blow.

His left arm broke.

Lucien attacked again.

Rust produced a thick metallic shield.

The shield deliberately corroded the moment Morphis entered it, allowing the weakened material to fold around the weapon and attempt to trap the blade.

Lucien smiled.

Morphis changed before the metal could close.

The sword narrowed into a segmented chain-like weapon and slipped free, then returned to a blade behind Rust’s guard.

The edge carved across the Beastman’s chest.

He staggered.

Lucien did not give him another opening.

"Bind."

Living Creation answered the Edict.

The surrounding formation changed.

Stone flowed upward around Rust’s legs and torso, wrapping around him without providing the easy metallic target his Law preferred.

Rust tried to exploit mineral impurities within the material, but Lucien continuously renewed the structure faster than he could weaken it.

For the first time, genuine strain appeared on the Beastman’s face.