Solo Leveling : 10 Shadow Technique

Chapter: The Venom Tyrant's Fall

The dungeon trembled, its very foundation groaning under the weight of the battle unfolding within. Finn stood amidst the wreckage of shattered pillars and broken corpses, his shadow rippling unnaturally beneath him. The Dead Plague King's residual mana still lingered in the air, coiling like venomous smoke, but Finn paid it no mind. His golden eyes gleamed as he focused on the massive, central pillar—the one that had begun to crack and leak noxious energy.

Then, with a deafening roar, the pillar split apart.

Its shattered fragments didn't fall. Instead, they reassembled mid-air, forming something new. A dragon—colossal, serpentine, and pulsing with a sickly green luminescence—emerged from the broken remains. Its obsidian scales were streaked with lines of corrosive liquid, its wings dripping with a miasma so potent that the very air hissed upon contact. The newly born monstrosity stretched its enormous body, its eyes flaring with an eerie golden glow.

The Venom Tyrant had arrived.

"Mortal filth," the dragon's voice rumbled, each syllable laced with venom. "You reek of poison, yet you dare challenge me? Do you not realize that I am toxicity itself?"

Finn smiled, an almost delighted expression spreading across his face. He clasped his hands together as if greeting an old friend. "Ah, what a grand entrance! A true monarch of pestilence, birthed from ruin and malice." His eyes darkened, his shadow expanding behind him. "But I wonder, dear Tyrant—will your poison be your salvation, or shall it be your doom?"

The dragon didn't wait for an answer. With a single flap of its wings, a storm of acidic rain filled the dungeon, melting everything it touched. The air itself twisted with the sheer toxicity, the walls corroding instantly. Any lesser hunter would have perished instantly.

But Finn was no lesser hunter.

He moved like a wraith, his body flickering between shadows. The acid fell upon his form, but rather than burning him, it sizzled and dissipated, absorbed into his very being. He let out a small chuckle.

"Delightful! A perfect composition of destruction. Shall I return the favor?"

From his palm, tendrils of white venom surged forth, slamming into the dragon's scales. The beast roared in outrage as the toxin ate through its hide, its own essence betraying it. The battle had begun in earnest.

The dungeon walls began to fracture. The sheer intensity of their clash was too much for this space to contain. The moment Finn unleashed his Chimera Shadow Garden, the final tether snapped.

Reality buckled.

The dungeon collapsed.

A rift tore through space, and in the next instant, both Finn and the Venom Tyrant plummeted into the world outside—directly over Taal Volcano.

The eruption was instantaneous.

As the combatants crashed onto the island, the very earth rebelled against their presence. The lake boiled. Geysers of magma burst forth, the volcanic landscape becoming an extension of their battle. The skies darkened with noxious clouds, and the air turned thick with death.

The Venom Tyrant coiled around the crater, its golden eyes burning with rage. "This world is unfit to hold me! I will reduce it all to rot!"

Finn spread his arms, laughing. "Then let us conduct the grandest performance of ruin, my dear Tyrant! Shall we dance?"

With a flick of his wrist, his shadow surged forward, forming a thousand writhing serpents of venomous darkness. They lunged at the dragon, biting and burrowing into its flesh. The Tyrant countered with a wave of acidic breath, scorching the land and sky alike.

Their battle raged across the island, each attack reshaping the battlefield. Toxic tsunamis clashed against venomous storms. Finn danced through it all, weaving between death itself.

Far from the battlefield, a pair of eyes watched the chaos unfold.

Elias, the President of the Philippine Hunter Association, stood atop a distant skyscraper, his wrinkled hands gripping the railing as he observed the cataclysm through a telescope. His expression was grim.

"So, it has come to this."

Beside him, his assistant spoke hesitantly. "Sir, should we—"

"No." Elias cut him off. "We cannot interfere. This is beyond us now."

Meanwhile, across the city, Jess sat on her couch, her phone clutched tightly in her hands. The news broadcast showed nothing but a burning wasteland where Taal once stood. The footage was shaky, captured from a helicopter desperately trying to keep its distance.

She saw him.

Finn—Chimera.

She whispered, "You better not die, you idiot."

Back on the battlefield, Finn wiped a trickle of black blood from his mouth. He had taken damage—his body bore the scars of the Tyrant's venom—but his grin never faded.

"You are persistent," he mused. "But I wonder… can you endure a dose crafted just for you?"

He lifted his hand. From his fingertips, droplets of venom fell—not onto the ground, but into the air itself. The very fabric of reality warped around them as they coalesced into a single, writhing sphere of living plague.

"Endbringer Toxin."

The Venom Tyrant's eyes widened in something almost like fear.

"You… you dare use my own nature against me?!"

Finn laughed, a rich, theatrical sound. "Oh, dear Tyrant. This is not your venom." He stepped forward. "This is mine."

The sphere shot forward, embedding itself directly into the beast's chest. For a moment, there was silence.

Then, the Tyrant screamed.

Its body convulsed, its own venom turning against it, rewriting its very existence. Scales melted into sludge. Wings collapsed into mist. The beast thrashed, its death throes shaking the entire island.

Finn watched with quiet satisfaction. "Just Like A Perfect Dose."

And then, with one final shriek, the Venom Tyrant disintegrated.

The battlefield fell silent.

Finn exhaled slowly, his shadow shifting unnaturally beneath him. The air was still thick with residual venom, but he absorbed it effortlessly. His body had changed, strengthened. He could feel it.

The Venom Tyrant's essence had become his own.

He rolled his shoulders, glancing around at the destruction. The lake had been all but drained, the volcano had quieted, and the land was forever scarred.

Then, from the distance, the sound of helicopters filled the air.

Finn looked up to see news crews filming him. The realization settled over him with amusement. There was no hiding it now.

The world had just witnessed his ascension.

Breaking News: "Chimera" Declared Sixth National Hunter on the world

Finn smiled.

"Well then," he murmured, his golden eyes glinting. "Let's wait until the monarch will come."