Dungeon Corpse Stacker: I Absorb Everything to Become Ominous Monarch

The air inside Vault Level 2 was stifling, saturated with the pungent stench of ancient ozone, scorched copper, and concentrated mana crystals.

Located one hundred meters beneath the surface bedrock, Vault Level 2 was known in restricted Association archives as the Relic Research & Containment Facility. Unlike the sterile marble aesthetics of the upper level, this floor opened into a vast, cavernous industrial vault lined with towering glass stasis tubes, ancient stone obelisks covered in glowing glowing runes, and massive containment cells holding forbidden magical artifacts confiscated from Tier-SS gates across the globe over the last two decades.

In the center of the vast chamber, hovering thirty feet above a massive, rune-inscribed brass altar, was a primary artifact—a hovering, three-foot-wide crimson orb wrapped in dark iron chains known as the Orb of the Blood Monarch.

The crimson orb emitted a sickening, violent pulse of red energy every three seconds, projecting a dense, viscous red barrier across the entire two-hundred-meter hall. Standing behind the crimson barrier were two hundred elite Executive Enforcers, flanked by six automated Class-S Relic Automations—giant, ten-foot-tall suits of ancient enchanted steel armor animated by pure, pressurized mana cores.

At the center of the defense formation stood one of the Three Pillars of the Nation—Commander Drake, an S-Rank Arcane Enforcer known as the Sentinel of the Realm. Drake was a tall, grizzled veteran clad in heavy, rune-engraved platinum armor, wielding a massive dual-bladed battleaxe that crackled with blue lightning.

”Hold the line at the altar!” Drake roared, his booming voice echoing across the metal catwalks of Level 2. ”The Orb of the Blood Monarch is siphoning mana directly from the subterranean crystal vein! Nothing can breach that blood barrier while the core is active!”

Beside him, an Enforcer officer nervously adjusted his visor, staring at the shattered steel security gates at the end of the entry corridor. ”Commander! The perimeter sensors on Level 1 went completely silent four minutes ago! They wiped out one hundred enforcers in seconds!”

”Because those fools relied on modern steel and spell-rifles!” Drake spat, slamming the butt of his battleaxe onto the metal floor, sending sparks flying across the catwalk. ”We are using primordial relics harvested from the deepest gates! The Sovereign’s shadow summons cannot bypass the Blood Monarch’s domain!”

THUD... THUD... THUD...

A heavy, rhythmic sound echoed down the dark entry stairs. The metal floorboards of the catwalks vibrated in harmony with the approaching footsteps.

Out from the shadowy hallway stepped Renan.

His black coat swayed gently in the cold, copper-scented draft of the vault. His glowing golden eyes locked immediately onto the hovering crimson orb above the altar, completely ignoring the two hundred enforcers and the six massive steel automatons standing behind the blood barrier.

Flanking Renan were Shadow General Ignis, Shadow Commander Gregory, Shadow Commander Carlos, and Shadow Commander Rebecca. Behind them, two thousand Shadow Knights filled the entry hall in absolute, terrifying silence.

[Target Profile: Vault Level 2 Defense Commander]

Identity: Commander Drake (S-Rank Arcane Enforcer / Three Pillars)

Active Artifact: ’Orb of the Blood Monarch’ (Class-SS Ancient Relic)

Barrier Property: Corrodes Physical & Magical Attacks on Impact

Enemy Strength: 200 Executive Enforcers + 6 Relic Automatons

”Renan!” Commander Drake shouted, stepping to the front of the catwalk, his heavy platinum armor flaring with intense blue lighting. ”You have committed high treason against the National Hunter Association! You breached the Capital Sector, murdered Association officials, and brought monsters into our sacred vaults! You will advance no further!”

Renan stopped thirty paces from the shimmering red blood barrier. He looked at Drake, then glanced up at the pulsing crimson orb floating above the brass altar.

”A sacred vault?” Renan murmured, his layered, double-toned voice reverberating through the vast cavernous chamber, carrying an icy pressure that caused the glass stasis tubes along the walls to hairline-crack. ”You hoard ancient relics in dark basements to secure your political power, while leaving the front-line Hunters to bleed in unranked gates.”

Renan took a single step forward, his leather boot clicking against the steel floor grate.

”You call this a defense line, Drake,” Renan whispered coldly. ”I call it a collection of materials.”

”Arrogant monster!” Drake screamed, raising his battleaxe. ”Blood Core, activate! Exterminate the intruders!”

ROOOOOAAAR!

The hovering Orb of the Blood Monarch flared with blinding, apocalyptic crimson light. The three-foot-thick red barrier surrounding the hall didn’t just defend—it surged forward like a tidal wave of boiling, corrosive blood energy, attempting to swallow Renan and his entire shadow army in a single sweeping wave!

”Carlos. Gregory,” Renan commanded softly without even turning his head.

”By your command, My Monarch!”

Shadow Commander Carlos and Shadow Commander Gregory stepped forward simultaneously, driving their massive weapons directly into the subterranean bedrock beneath the metal floor grates!

[Combined Skill Activated: ’Dual Obsidian Fortress Domain’ (Rank-EX)]

Effect: Manifests a 100-Foot Layered Obsidian-Kinetic Barrier

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive, fifty-foot wall of solid, compressed obsidian rock and black kinetic energy erupted from the metal floorboards, locking together like an impenetrable mountain shield in front of Renan. The incoming tidal wave of corrosive crimson blood slammed violently into the obsidian barrier, spitting streams of burning acidic steam, but failing to move the heavy shadow commanders by even a fraction of an inch!

Before the crimson wave could settle, Renan raised his gloved right hand, aiming his open palm straight at the hovering crimson orb behind the enemy lines.

[Skill Activated: ’Sovereign’s Spatial Compression’]

Target: Orb of the Blood Monarch (Core Structure)

Applied Vector: Absolute Gravitational Collapse

Renan clenched his raised hand into a tight, brutal fist.

BANG-CRACK!

An invisible, high-density gravitational sphere materialised directly around the hovering crimson orb. The ancient iron chains binding the artifact instantly snapped into flying metal shrapnel! The three-foot crimson orb groaned, cracked, and violently imploded inward, collapsing into a dense, marble-sized specks of dark red dust before shattering into nothingness!

”WHAT?!” Commander Drake gasped, stumbling backward on the catwalk as the entire blood barrier collapsed into fading red mist. ”He crushed a Class-SS primordial relic with a gesture?!”

”The barrier is gone!” an Enforcer lieutenant shrieked. ”The core is destroyed!”

Renan lowered his hand, his golden eyes glowing through the lingering red mist with cold, absolute lethality.

”Ignis. Rebecca. Sylas,” Renan commanded, his layered voice echoing like the toll of a funeral bell through the chamber. ”Clean the laboratory.”

ROOOOOOOAR!

Shadow General Ignis leaped over the obsidian wall, its broadsword bursting into fifty-foot waves of roaring black dragon-fire that engulfed three Relic Automatons and fifty enforcers in a single, terrifying sweep! At the same time, Rebecca and Sylas blurred through the catwalks like dark lightning, slicing through the remaining defenders before they could even draw their sidearms.

Commander Drake raised his battleaxe in sheer desperation as Shadow General Ignis landed heavily onto his catwalk, bringing its flaming blade down with crushing momentum!

BANG!

The metal catwalk collapsed completely. Commander Drake was slammed into the lower concrete floor, his platinum armor shattered and his battleaxe broken into pieces.

Renan walked calmly through the burning wreckage of the laboratory, stopping beside the dying S-Rank Arcane Enforcer.

”President James... is on Level 4...” Drake choked out, coughing up thick crimson blood as he looked up into Renan’s glowing golden eyes. ”You’ll never... defeat the Ancient World Core...”

Renan placed his hand over Drake’s forehead.

”Your watch is over, Sentinel,” Renan said softly as dark purple lightning erupted from his palm.

[Skill Activated: ’Absolute Corpse Extraction’]

Target: Commander Drake (S-Rank Arcane Enforcer / Three Pillars)

Extraction Yield: Shadow Commander ’Drake’ (Rank-EX / Arcane Enforcer)

+900 Strength | +400 Agility | +1,100 Vitality | +1,500 Mana

[New Physical Stat Total: 43,600 Points!]

Renan felt the massive surge of arcane mana flow into his core as the dark phantom of Commander Drake rose from the floor, bowing in fanatical obedience.

Looking down the dark cargo elevator shaft leading to Vault Level 3, Renan’s coat billowed in the hot draft.

”Two levels remain,” Renan whispered, stepping onto the descending platform as his army marched into the dark depth.