SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 676: Before It Can Recover

Chapter 676: Before It Can Recover

Leon spent the next few minutes avoiding a fight he had been trying very hard to win.

He gave ground along the wall, turned the blade with cheap angled defenses, and refused the openings that required another close exchange. The construct followed without tiring.

His chest settled as the repair completed. The relief was immediate, but the effort left him lightheaded for a step.

He could not keep paying that cost.

The fifth node was the problem. Reaching the shoulders forced him beneath the weapon, and reaching the skull afterward meant climbing past a defense that was already recovering.

Leon watched the construct turn its head to track a spatial probe.

He tried approaching the skull first. The construct rotated its body to keep the blade between them, exposing the lower back for a moment.

Leon took the opening with a small strike and withdrew.

On his second attempt, it kept its stance and thrust at him instead. He barely turned the point aside. The impact numbed his hand even through the armor.

It would not repeat a response simply because he wanted it to.

He would have to make the threat dangerous enough that protecting the skull became necessary.

The following exchanges left him with less room for mistakes.

He drove fire against the construct’s chest and used the glare to shift his approach. The opponent stepped through it, blade sweeping horizontally, and Leon folded beneath the cut into a region of space he had already claimed.

He reached the left hip. The construct dropped an elbow toward his head.

Leon abandoned the attack and caught the descending arm on an Earth brace. Stone burst against his shoulder. He released before the next impact and sent Lightning into the exposed wrist.

The hand spasmed open for an instant.

That was useful. It also hurt badly enough that he had to stop thinking about it until he escaped.

He changed sides, carried the momentum through a short burst of Raijin, and placed a holy cut across the lower back. The wound reached toward the node but did not break it.

The construct turned to protect the damaged region.

Leon watched the skull move with the shoulders and finally saw a sequence he might complete.

He tested parts of it over the next stretch of fighting. Every test used strength. Once, the blade caught his collarbone as he withdrew, and he had to spend an opening repairing damage instead of learning anything new.

His recovery still closed the injury quickly. Afterward, however, it took him several breaths to steady his grip.

The thought was directed at his own body, which had become increasingly unhelpful about what he wanted.

Two hours had passed when he began preparing the final attempt.

The construct’s weight had opened long cracks in the floor. Leon used them to conceal two ice restraints, both positioned near places where he could still maintain reliable spatial control.

He let the enemy destroy the first.

The second stayed beneath an uneven shelf of stone, outside the path it had been taking. To bring it there, he would need to surrender the safer strip beside the wall and cross the center of its pressure.

Leon checked his remaining strength while retreating.

The Primordial Void Heart was still supplying his techniques, but repeated exertion had worn down his control. His holy attacks had spent a substantial part of the Divinordial Heart’s reserve. Neither had stopped working. The trouble was keeping everything coordinated while his arms grew heavy and another wound demanded attention.

He sealed a cut at his side and left the deeper ache alone.

If this attempt failed, he would withdraw. He disliked the decision enough to know he should have made it earlier.

The construct advanced.

Leon threatened the skull with a concentrated holy strike, strong enough that ignoring it would mean taking real damage. At the same time, a spatial attack approached the lower back from beyond the opponent’s protected field.

It turned to bring both threats within its defense.

He changed the angle, forcing another step.

The construct reached the uneven shelf.

Leon let the first attack fall short and drove the second into its raised weapon arm. The response was immediate: a sweeping counter aimed through his middle.

He moved with it. The haft clipped his side, but he had already committed to the retreat, and the impact carried him toward the clear space he needed.

His boots struck stone. He turned before the pain could interrupt him.

Ice locked around the construct’s feet as it followed.

Leon strengthened the restraint with Elemental Surge and drove wind against its upper body. Its pressure began breaking the ice immediately. He raised an Earth obstruction behind its rear foot, denying the simple backward step that would free the leading leg.

For a brief interval, it had to fight for its stance.

Leon crossed that interval with Raijin.

The lower-back node broke first, a spatial spear passing through plating he had weakened in the preceding exchanges.

He moved along its left side and drove his sword into the hip knot. The construct twisted toward him. He withdrew the blade and ducked beneath its elbow, using the movement to reach the left shoulder.

The third node ruptured against a concentrated strike.

Its weapon came down toward his back.

Leon folded away from the edge of the protected field rather than trying to pass through its center. He emerged high on the opposite side, shoulder striking the construct as he drove the fourth attack into the right shoulder knot.

The impact sent pain down his arm. He kept the hand closed long enough to feel the node break.

Four.

The skull brightened, preparing to restore the nearest damaged region.

Leon was already moving toward it.

He maintained the spatial pressure and elemental restraints through the Primordial Void Heart. The Divinordial Heart supplied his sword separately, holy energy gathering along the edge as he rose from beside the ruined shoulder.

The construct jerked its head away and tried to bring the haft between them.

Its arm no longer answered quickly enough.

Leon’s blade entered beneath the base of the skull and cut through the fifth node.

The restoration stopped before it reached the shoulder.

The construct was still moving.

Its weight tore one foot free, and the long blade dropped toward Leon as he landed. He threw himself inside the weapon’s reach, taking the shoulder against his armor instead of the edge across his neck.

For one frightening moment he could not lift his sword.

His arm had gone numb. The opponent’s chest filled his vision, cracked plates shifting as it tried to crush him against its body.

Leon caught the hilt with both hands.

Mana held the damaged layers apart. Holy energy remained in the blade.

He drove it through the chest and into the exposed core.

Something broke beneath the point.

The pressure vanished. Leon stumbled as the body collapsed around his sword, plates falling into a spreading heap of gray formation matter.

He landed on his knees beside it.

[Senior Course — Stage Eleven: Cleared]

[First-clear contribution: 2,400]

[Available contribution: 7,200]

Below the result, the chamber showed his stage duration.

Two hours and eleven minutes.

Leon tried to laugh and coughed instead. He wiped his mouth on a ruined sleeve, then sat back because his legs had made the decision without consulting him.

He stayed there while the chamber withdrew the broken construct.

When he could concentrate properly, he repaired the remaining injuries. Skin closed. His shoulder settled. The pain diminished, leaving an exhaustion that healing did not remove.

Stage Twelve appeared as an available challenge.

Leon dismissed it without opening the description.

Seven thousand two hundred contribution. The marrow, the supplies, and enough left to bring something useful home.

He had what he wanted.

"End run," he said, pressing the token’s withdrawal control.

The results wall updated before the chamber opened.

The hall elder rose from beside the steward’s desk. Around her, disciples who had been discussing the previous record fell silent.

[Senior Course — Stage Eleven: Cleared]

[Run concluded]

[Safety status: Amber]

Then Leon walked out.

Dried blood covered the front of his robe. His armor had withdrawn, and he carried his sword low at his side because lifting it any higher seemed unnecessary.

The hall elder approached without asking him to explain the result.

"Do you need the medicine court?"

"Somewhere to sit first," Leon said.

She moved aside and indicated the bench beyond the entrance.

He thanked her, reached it, and sat down before noticing how many people were watching.

Under other circumstances, he would have enjoyed their expressions much more.