Dungeon King: The Hidden Ruler-Chapter 47: [Roots of Dominion 6] - Priestess of Endless War

The figure stand straight in fluid motion..

A hairline fracture split down its chest as if the scream it had frozen mid-way was now crawling back up through stone. Bark twisted free from the ribcage. Roots peeled back from muscle. A blade forged of memory and ritual snapped free from its arm like a second spine.

Priestess Zavalei had arrived.

—Priestess Zavalei—

Mid Boss Type: Momentum Duelist / Phase Repeater

Abilities:

Ascendant Chain:

Replays her previous attack patterns at 30% increased speed at 75%, 50%, and 25% HP.

Trial Chant Reverb: Randomly casts one of three mantras that punish disobedience:

"Stand Rooted" – Moving causes psychic backlash."Flow Between Blades" – Stopping causes psychic backlash."Bend or Break" – Blocking triggers knockback. Barkskin Flare: At 50% HP, enters a no-damage phase with bark armor. Damage can only be dealt by destroying 6 red-glowing root nodules around the arena.

Growth Rebound: Failing to interrupt a loop causes knockback and bleed.

She did not walk.

She stepped forward as if dragged by past footsteps—a marionette tangled in her own legacy.

"No rest," she whispered. "Only root. Only fight."

The moment her foot hit the engraved floor, the room responded. Echoes shimmered faster. Illusions began pacing their own battle paths. And then the statue was no longer a statue.

She lunged.

Raven was ready. Mostly.

"Open with pressure!" he shouted, already moving.

Duskrunner took the front, leaping low and fast. Phantom Seer scattered illusions left and right, laying traps in a curved arc to flank. The Ironbark Seneschal moved like a tanking wedge, raising both arms to deflect her first slash—a carving diagonal strike that sparked off bark armor.

Zavalei spun.

"Flow Between Blades."

The room tilted.

The moment Raven halted, the back of his skull lit up with psychic static.

"Move! That was a mantra! If you stop moving—"

Too late. A pulse of invisible force cracked through him.

He staggered, teeth clenched.

"Psychic backlash. She’s not just repeating words—they’re coded triggers."

Zavalei twisted again, this time targeting Phantom Seer. Two rapid jabs, followed by a pirouette slash that passed harmlessly through an illusion.

"Ironbark, mark her pattern! Every loop speeds up!"

The Seneschal grunted, pulsing green once as it tracked her movement.

"Duskrunner, now!"

The wolf dove, intercepting her just as she twisted into another dance. But he wasn’t fast enough this time—her blade caught him in a shallow arc across the ribs. He yelped, staggered, and kept going.

Raven followed, chain whirling. The timing was tight. She reacted faster than any normal boss—her moves growing sharper as if memory had removed hesitation.

HP: 75%

The room pulsed.

Ascendant Chain triggered.

Zavalei flashed back to her initial phase—but now it played out again, 30% faster. Each movement a blur. Raven dodged the same downward slash he had just seen minutes before—but this time, it nearly clipped his shoulder.

"Timing’s off!" he snapped. "Everyone, sync up—this is a loop!"

He ducked a stab, rolled to the right. Phantom Seer mirrored her position perfectly, drawing her eye. Duskrunner circled, waiting for command.

"Interrupt now or she rebounds!"

The Ironbark Seneschal surged forward, activating Rootwarden’s Cycle. Barkwave stun initiated as it slammed both arms down. A minor healing pulse spread out from its feet as the impact zone rippled through the ground—Zavalei stuttered mid-spin, her momentum disrupted.

Loop Interrupted.

Growth Rebound avoided.

Raven let out a breath. "That’s one."

He grinned despite the sweat. This was tense, but it was the kind of tension he lived for. A dungeon run that meant something. Not just numbers—execution.

Zavalei didn’t stop. She lunged again, whispering:

"Stand Rooted."

This time, Raven skidded to a halt. A faint shimmer passed over his armor—he had obeyed.

Duskrunner, however, dashed too soon. The psychic backlash caught him, stunning the beast mid-move.

"Seer! Cover him!"

Haunting Mirage activated. Illusions blinked forward, creating false targets to obscure the stunned companion as Zavalei slashed—each strike misdirected into shifting shadows. Her strikes passed through phantoms, buying Raven enough time to toss his chain around her ankle and yank.

She fell to a knee—then screamed.

HP: 50%

Barkskin Flare activated.

Roots exploded from the walls. Nodules sprouted in glowing red clusters, spiraling around the arena’s edge. Zavalei’s body shifted. Bark covered her arms, her blade, her legs. She stood in full armor now, immune to direct attacks.

But the transformation didn’t end with her.

From the edges of the arena, smaller figures tore free—hunched creatures of bone and vine, their faces stretched like masks made from failed rituals.

—Barkspawn—

Mob Type: Add Phase Minion

Role: Interruption / Distraction

Abilities:

Latch: Jumps onto players and slows movement by 40%.

Explode on Death: When killed near a root node, deals bonus damage to it.

Phantom Seer intercepted two with a blink-and-slice motion, but a third leapt toward Duskrunner, clinging to his flank.

Raven hurled his chain. The daggered tip caught the Barkspawn mid-air, yanking it sideways into a glowing node. The creature burst—and the node cracked.

"Adds confirmed," Raven barked. "Use them! Redirect the chaos."

"No damage phase! You heard me back then—hit the nodules!"

Raven pivoted, launching his chain at one of the glowing root-clusters. It shattered on impact, but another pulsed brighter.

The arena thrashed. Roots now erupted unpredictably, lashing at the floor and ceiling. Cracks split the wall as Zavalei moved like a storm’s echo, weaving through the team’s formation. Not attacking. Distracting.

Phantom Seer flickered left and right, using Haunting Mirage to spawn illusions mid-field and cloak its position. Claws slashed nodules in rhythmic intervals, its movement tracing patterns designed to mislead Zavalei’s tracking. Duskrunner shook off the stun and howled, launching toward the wall.

Zavalei spun toward him, but an illusion of Raven dashed ahead—baiting her away.

Raven redirected his chain mid-flight, hooking it around another nodule and ripping it free with a whip-crack.

Root Node: 4/6

The floor split with a loud crack. The arena’s centerline—the one etched with duelist stances—fractured as if rejecting the ritual. Glowing root veins flickered erratically across the floor, pulsing red like arteries under siege.

Zavalei’s past selves flickered at the edges of the chamber, ghostly projections mid-scream or mid-parry. The memory overload was becoming physical—real.

Even Raven’s shadow stretched too far now, like the Vault didn’t know which version of him it was tracking.

Zavalei hissed.

"Flow Between Blades."

They all kept moving.

No backlash.

Root Node: 6/6

A crack exploded down her bark armor.

She roared—a guttural, personal noise, not a game scream. Her eyes flickered red as the armor collapsed.

HP: 48%

"Back in it!"

Raven surged forward. The chain in his hand snapped wide—not randomly, but with deliberate curve. Its jagged edge spun once mid-air, catching a glint of fractured light.

He flexed two fingers. The chain obeyed.

It didn’t just strike—it latched onto Zavalei’s armored shoulder and twisted, redirecting her spin and halting her blade’s arc.

She snarled, wrenching free, but the motion had cost her.

Phantom Seer flickered into position behind her.

The chain slithered back across the floor, coiling around Raven’s arm like a practiced movement.

To Zavalei, it might have been just another tool.

To Raven, it was the signature that turned survival into precision.

Dagger edge of the chain clashed with her blade.

She parried perfectly. She remembered the timing.

Raven grunted as she kicked his leg mid-strike, nearly dropping him.

His heart raced.

He was getting sloppy. The loop of adrenaline had pushed him into overconfidence.

HP: 25%

Another shimmer.

Ascendant Chain triggered. Final Phase Loop.

Raven’s breath caught.

"Third loop’s gonna be hell."

Zavalei moved like lightning now.

She whispered again.

"Stand Rooted."

He froze. But Phantom Seer dodged—a fraction too late.

Backlash.

The Seer reeled, staggered. Zavalei lunged.

Raven yelled and activated Dominion Chain mid-roll. The cursed link snaked through the air, latching onto her blade mid-swing and halting the fatal arc.

Duskrunner tackled her from the side.

"Seneschal! Interrupt!"

The construct slammed the floor.

Zavalei shuddered.

Loop Interrupted.

She swayed now.

Barely holding together.

Raven closed in, sweat dripping into his eyes.

"You’re strong," he muttered. "But I’ve seen this phase already."

One last chain whip.

She turned, ducked, twisted—but her leg clipped an illusion.

Phantom Seer struck.

Duskrunner tore from behind.

Zavalei collapsed, blade dissolving into pieces of ashen roots.

Her voice, as she faded:

"Still I fight. Even here. Even broken."

Silence.

Raven let out a long breath.

One more to go.

His heart was still pounding.

He survived once again.

The talisman at Raven’s chest pulsed again.

Faint threads of violet light stretched from Zavalei’s fading form into the bark-wrapped charm. The mana moved like fog pulled by breath, absorbed in slow, heavy draws. The talisman’s second band ignited—now two-thirds of its surface shimmered with deep purple, like a mark of burdens carried.

[Quest Progress Updated: Vault of the Rootbound – Buried Will, Unbroken Blood]

Main Objective: Complete the Trial of Growth within the Vault. (2/3)

Second Trial Complete – Combat Integrity Recorded.

Final Trial Location: ??? – Path Pending Recognition.

Duskrunner padded to Raven’s side, panting slightly but wearing a wild, wolfish grin. "She hit hard. Real hard. That final combo nearly hollowed me. Thought I was done."

Phantom Seer materialized a few feet away, its many eyes blinking slowly. "So this is what ascension failure looks like... rhythmic despair... looped until she forgot how to die."

Then it turned its head to the Ironbark Seneschal.

"You knew her, didn’t you? Is it treason now to strike against your kin?"

The Seneschal did not answer immediately. Its glowing bark pulse was slow, deliberate.

Then it spoke. "I am bound to the Sovereign. That is all that matters."

A moment of silence passed.

Raven looked at them all. Three monsters, once enemies for players. Now allies.

His allies.

The weight of control—earned, not given—settled again on his shoulders. A twisted raid team this world would never know.

But the Vault wasn’t finished yet.

Somewhere ahead, the roots stirred. Listening.

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