My Charity System made me too OP-Chapter 314: Tier VII - II

The next dungeon loomed before them like a forgotten wound in the world—"The Hollow God's Spine." Nestled in a canyon veined with obsidian and bone, the entrance was a gaping maw flanked by petrified titanic ribs. Ancient glyphs glowed faintly across the surface, whispering warnings in a language older than the Tower itself.

Leon, now at level 590, stood at the front with Roselia beside him, the rest of the team in tow—Naval, Milim, Liliana, and Roman. Each of them carried the battle scars from previous raids, but their resolve had only sharpened.

"This place reeks of death," Roman muttered, adjusting his undead-forged armor.

"Appropriate," Liliana said softly. "It was once the prison of a lesser god. They say its bones curse the air."

Leon narrowed his eyes. "Perfect place to level up."

The inside of the dungeon was claustrophobic—narrow corridors carved between ancient ribs, where every step triggered rumbling whispers. The enemies here were Bonefeasters—serpentine creatures with skeletal maws and ghostly bodies that phased through walls.

"Don't let them surround you!" Naval shouted, slicing one cleanly through its spectral core.

Leon ducked, twisted, and countered a Bonefeaster's charge with a precise Shell Reverb-enhanced strike, sending it crashing into the wall—bone and ectoplasm shattering.

Milim unleashed a Blood Pulse Barrage, her fists glowing red as she blitzed through a trio of Bonefeasters, her chaotic power overwhelming even the dungeon's spirit-forged enemies.

[Shell Reverb Mastery: 48%]

A massive chamber greeted them next—its center dominated by a chained skeletal colossus slumped in a kneeling position. Floating around it were Soulbind Sentinels, armed with curved blades of hardened regret, striking with terrifying speed and bound by duty even in death.

Liliana took point here, her glass-themed abilities turning the chamber into a mirrored dance of death. "They're not bound by physical sight. They echo your regrets," she warned.

Leon closed his eyes mid-battle—and opened them anew, his Shell Pulse synchronized with his inner rhythm. The first sentinel struck—he redirected the blow and countered.

[Shell Reverb: Subform unlocked — Shatter Echo]

(Redirected force now emits a ripple, disrupting nearby enemies with residual shockwaves.)

With each clash, Leon's blows began to stagger multiple sentinels at once. Roselia used her control spells to trap two of them mid-air while Roman shattered another with a Soulrend Slash.

One by one, they fell—until only silence remained.

At the heart of the dungeon was the boss: Nuz'Ahar, Warden of the Hollow Spine.

It descended from the ceiling like a nightmare given form—its body a mix of ethereal sinew and ossified wings, with a horned skull-mask leaking crimson mist. It didn't speak—it screamed.

[Warning: You are now affected by Hollow Decree — HP recovery halved, mana regeneration blocked.]

The fight was brutal.

Recommended Party Level: Tier VI+

Hazard Type: Arcane Distortion | Time Fracture | High-Concept Constructs

The entrance to the next dungeon was nearly invisible—just a faint shimmer at the bottom of a dried-out aqueduct carved through basalt and bone. Roselia detected it by accident while scanning for leyline disruptions.

As Leon and his team stepped through the anomaly, the world twisted.

Gravity inverted for a moment. Sound dulled. Every heartbeat echoed like thunder.

They arrived inside a domed, golden chamber carved from time-worn crystal and obsidian marble, where floating hourglass obelisks drifted around a central spire. Each second here felt like a minute—then reversed. Every breath was unstable.

"This place is wrong," Milim whispered, fists glowing. "It feels like it remembers us before we even walked in."

Leon narrowed his eyes. "Get ready. Something here knows how to unmake causality."

A corridor of mirrors stretched endlessly, but each step forward distorted time further. The enemies here were Chrono Fractures—sentient reflections of the team, each mimicking their moves exactly three seconds before they made them.

Fighting became chaos.

Roman struck one fracture—only to be hit by his own technique reflected back.

Leon adapted quickly, using Shell Reverb to trap kinetic echoes and "pre-charge" his attacks before they were mimicked. He deliberately allowed himself to be hit once—then transferred the force with Shatter Echo, slamming the mirrored wall and shattering it.

"Don't fight yourself," he warned. "Redirect your intent."

Naval used disruption fields to confuse her double. Liliana sliced through her reflection's mask with pinpoint strikes aimed a half-second early. Milim simply powered through hers with a chaos-fueled spiral punch that shattered cause and effect.

This section resembled a clockwork cathedral—pillars spinning slowly in the air, time-runes floating like dust.

Here, they met the Clockborne Custodians—constructs forged from metal, amber, and frozen seconds. Their cores flickered with moments stolen from defeated challengers.

"Watch out—if they hit you, you'll lose an ability for a while," Roselia warned, barely shielding Milim from a time-strike.

Leon charged into one, letting it land a solid punch on his chest. It hurt—but he captured the kinetic force and let Shell Reverb send it rippling across a trio of constructs.

[Shell Reverb Mastery: 53%]

[New Application Unlocked: Time-Echo Release]

(Echoed force can now be delayed and launched after a chosen interval, up to 3 seconds.)

Using that, Leon "banked" a blow and launched it behind a construct that was flanking Roman. It exploded in amber shards.

Roselia froze time briefly around a second Custodian while Naval drove a dagger of null-matter into its temporal core. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

At the dungeon's heart stood Archivist Sol'Reth, a ten-foot-tall being of spiraled gold and liquid sapphire eyes. Its voice echoed in their minds, speaking in broken tenses:

"You… were… will become… unworthy."

It fought not with brute force, but with memory reconfiguration.

Sol'Reth altered reality—reverting the team to previous injuries or mistakes mid-battle. Roman was suddenly bleeding from an old wound he healed a day ago. Roselia couldn't remember a spell she cast just moments before.

Leon gritted his teeth. "He's rewriting our personal timelines!"

He let Sol'Reth strike him—a gleaming rod of frozen time energy tore through his side.

Leon grinned.

Then, with Shell Reverb at full surge, he unleashed the Time-Echo Release of all three previous redirected attacks—compressing them into a singularity ripple and driving it into Sol'Reth's center mass.

Milim followed up with a Time-Crushing Comet Dive, smashing through the fractured timeline Sol'Reth was barely holding together.

The vault exploded into cascading starlight.

[Boss Defeated: Sol'Reth, Archivist of the Lost]

[You have gained 5 Levels. Current Level: 599]

[Shell Reverb Mastery: 56%]

[Skill Gained: Temporal Remnant – Passive]

(You are now immune to time manipulation up to Tier VII and can perceive momentary future echoes.)

Leon's fingers tingled. His body thrummed with anticipation—Tier VII was now within reach.

Back at their resting camp, Roselia leaned on him, eyes closed. "One more level."

Leon nodded. "And now only one Dungeon remains and this one I will challenege myself"

***

Leon stood before a shimmering archway, suspended above a sheer drop into lightless void. The glyphs on the arch pulsed with a warning known across countless Ascenders:

"This trial marks the border between mortals who strive… and beings who endure.Step alone, or step never."

His party waited behind him—Milim leaned against her chaos lance, arms crossed. Naval gave a small nod. Liliana simply whispered, "Come back alive." Roselia kissed his cheek without a word.

Leon stepped forward, and the portal closed behind him.

The world twisted.

He emerged in a circular obsidian basin, not unlike the arena below… but far colder. The air shimmered with finality. In the center stood a lone figure:

Tall. Barefoot. Muscled like carved basalt.

Wrapped in gray ribbons of faded light, their face hidden behind a helm of dull gold.

A single phrase hovered over their head:

"Rankless."

"Name?" Leon asked, fists clenching.

The being tilted its head. Voice like two timelines grinding together.

"None. I am the Final Before. Your last shadow."

A tone rang. And the world dropped.