The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Thanks to his recent level-up, his stamina had been fully restored. Now, he was fighting like a man with nothing to lose, swiftly dispatching the lesser monsters. He moved towards the fallen Devil Tiger and stopped beside its massive corpse.

"So this is what an Elemental Core looks like," Klaus muttered, picking up a red crystal-shaped core radiating intense heat. He studied it for a moment before storing it away in his ring.

"Good job, kid," the senior\'s voice echoed from his soul sea. "But don\'t be stupid next time. If you think you can take on a Devil without using your active abilities, you\'re fooling yourself."

Klaus smiled weakly, knowing the old man was right. If he had used his external abilities like the Ice Lotus Bloom, the Bell of Harrows, the Eye of Despair, or even the Ten Thousand Soul Needles technique, the fight would have ended much sooner.

Instead, he had only relied on his Soul Shock and Ice Beam, which had turned out to be more effective than expected. Even though he hadn\'t used much star qi, it had been surprisingly powerful.

"Still, I guess it worked out," Klaus muttered, a faint smirk on his lips. "But next time, I\'ll make sure to use everything I\'ve got."

"Do that," the senior said. Though he was always about the Karma involved in him teaching him some things, he doesn\'t always care to tell him the important stuff.

Klaus unsheathed his sword from his back, the blade gleaming in the dim light. After quickly storing the monster\'s body, he dashed forward, his mind sharp with focus. The Tier 7 Devils were too powerful to practice his sword skills on right now, but the Tier 6 Terrors would do just fine.

As he cut through the air with his sword, his mind also kept controlling the Void Piercing Needle, guiding it toward distant targets.

With his brain managing two tasks at once—slashing with his blade and directing the needle—he knew he was training more than just his body. He was honing his mind, sharpening it like a weapon.

The clash of battle shook the forest around him, and the sounds of dying beasts echoed in the air. But Klaus had no intention of stopping anytime soon. If he wanted to farm Elemental Devil Cores and grow stronger, he had to level up as quickly as possible.

He needed to be ready to face multiple Tier 7 Devils at once. Within five hours, Klaus had killed enough monsters to gain 50 percent of the experience points needed for his next level-up. But as the sky darkened, he decided to stop and head back to his resting area.

Stepping into the cave, Klaus sat down in a lotus posture, closing his eyes to replay the battle with the Tier 7 Devil in his mind. He analyzed every move, checking if he could have attacked differently or found a weakness in its defense.

After replaying it over and over again, Klaus came to the same conclusion: the Tiger Devil had outmatched him in speed, strength, and defense. He was at a disadvantage from the start.

"I was really stupid to think I could keep up with that thing without using [Absolute Ice Domain]," he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

With a sigh, he pulled out the Fire Devil Core, its heat warming his hand. "Senior, what do I do now?" Klaus asked, looking for guidance.

The senior\'s voice came from within his soul sea, sounding gruff but patient. "Brat, one core alone won\'t make much difference. You\'ve got two choices. First, consume it and hope for a fire-related power-up.

No promise it\'ll awaken your fire element, though. Or, second, create a technique like you did with the ice element. Consume the core to strengthen it, like how you fed the lightning runes to the Ice Lotus."

Klaus frowned. "But senior, I tried everything. I couldn\'t make it work," he admitted. He had spent hours trying to create a lotus with the fire element, but nothing had come of it. He had even tried shaping other flowers and animals, but every attempt failed.

"That\'s because you\'re not trying hard enough," the senior said bluntly. "You need to focus. Imagine exactly what you want your fire element to be. What does it look like? How does it act? Channel that vision into reality.

I\'m sure you\'ll figure something out."

Klaus exhaled deeply.

"I need to come up with something," Klaus muttered, but deep down, he knew sitting and thinking wouldn\'t help. Instead, he entered his soul sea and began studying the Pentaface Bead for now.

He had to do something, even if it wasn\'t what he initially planned. The faces on the bead were bizarre, far more complex than they had first seemed. As his connection to the bead grew stronger, he knew there was more to uncover. Much more.

As Klaus focused on the strange faces, he realized that beneath their emotionless expressions, something was hiding. He could feel it. There was something beneath the surface, something he hadn\'t understood before. He focused harder, trying to peel back the layers.

The first face, "The Nightmare of Harrow Sounds and Ringing," drew him in the most. There was something sinister beneath that blank expression, something that seemed ready to awaken. Klaus wasn\'t sure what he was looking for, but he could feel a deep connection to this face.

"Maybe I\'ve been going about this the wrong way," he muttered, settling into a lotus posture.

Tentatively, Klaus sent a strand of his sense into the Face of Harrow. Just as he expected, his mind was pulled into it—sucked into a void. But only for a moment. The instant his mind entered that dark space, two blood-red eyes slowly opened in the darkness.

Klaus felt his entire being freeze. Those eyes, huge and dripping with malice, filled the entire space. His mind went numb, overwhelmed by the sheer terror. In the real world, his body went limp, and he fell backward, unconscious.

It all happened so quickly that Klaus didn\'t even have time to react. His mind went numb, and before he knew it, he passed out. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in that familiar yet eerie space—the same place he\'d been after his death during the Arcadian Mine invasion.

The strange monk was there, just as before. The same violet hair, the same handsome features, and that all-too-familiar expression. He was staring right at Klaus.

"God, I hate myself," the monk muttered, his eyes locked on Klaus with a strange intensity.

Klaus scowled. "Tsk, of all the names in this world, you chose Fruity? What an idiot," he said, glaring at the monk. Despite the calm aura around him, Fruity\'s gaze was anything but peaceful.

"You\'re weak," Fruity said flatly, his voice cold.

"And you\'re annoying. Why am I here?" Klaus shot back.

"You tell me," Fruity replied, his tone laced with mockery. "You were the one who thought it\'d be a good idea to stare into the face of an Ancient Nightmare. God, how stupid can you be?"

Klaus clenched his fists. "Hey, shouldn\'t monks be more polite with their words? You\'re blaspheming the monk title," he retorted with a smug grin, though deep down, he knew Fruity was right. He had been reckless to send his sense into the bead. And now, he was paying the price for it.

Fruity clicked his tongue, giving Klaus a sideways glance. "Tsk, tell me, do you want some tea?" he asked with an infuriating smirk.

"Not today, bastard," Klaus replied, his irritation growing. He didn\'t like what his past self was hinting at. He wanted to learn more about his past, but he hadn\'t even processed the last memory yet. Watching his mother die had affected him more than he cared to admit.

"Tsk, weakling," Fruity said, dismissively waving his hand. "Then go back. Oh, and hey, you don\'t happen to still be infatuated with dragons, do you?" He smiled, but it wasn\'t a friendly one.

Klaus\'s eyes widened in sudden realization, but before he could ask anything, his vision darkened. He woke up back in the cave, his heart pounding.

"Fuck, my head hurts," Klaus groaned, rubbing his temples. Dive deeper into the story on m-vle-mpyr