---
title: "Chapter 1240: Futile Efforts"
slug: "ch-1247"
novel: "Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100"
number: 1247
views: 0
likes: 0
wordCount: 1033
createdAt: "2026-04-15"
---

"Concept of Space is truly terrifying when mastered to a high level," Mariona said through gritted teeth. Despite the agony that flashed across her face, she forced a smile.

A thick surge of demonic energy rippled around her, and in the span of a heartbeat, two new arms grew out from her shoulders. Flesh, bone, and muscle reconstructed themselves until her limbs looked untouched, as though they had never been severed.

"No wonder they call you the genius with the strongest potential," she added with a cold smirk.

Max didn’t even spare her a glance.

His focus shifted entirely to Balthazar. His expression stayed calm, but his eyes held a sharp edge that made the air grow heavy.

"Tell me, Balthazar," Max said in a quiet tone that carried danger. "What are the demons planning right now?"

Balthazar chuckled lightly, his expression relaxed as if this entire encounter was nothing more than a casual conversation. "I would have told you if you were on our side," he replied. "But you aren’t, sadly."

The smile he wore was playful, but his eyes carried a cunning coldness. He wasn’t taking Max lightly. Not anymore.

Max narrowed his eyes slightly. The demons hadn’t launched a full assault on the Four God Nation. That alone told him everything. They were planning something. Something large. Something that required time and secrecy. The demons rarely stayed quiet unless they were preparing for something dangerously significant.

Finding their plan would have been difficult under normal circumstances.

But as Max turned his gaze toward Mariona, his expression shifted.

A small, dangerous smile touched his lips.

Mariona, who had just been dismissed in the most humiliating way possible, felt her fury erupt. Being ignored in the middle of a battle was an insult she could not tolerate. Her eyes darkened, and her killing intent surged like a storm.

"Do not think for a second that just because you severed my arms you can kill me so easily!" she shouted, her voice echoing across the ocean.

Her aura exploded outward.

A deep, suffocating darkness rose from her body—thick, heavy, and ancient. It wrapped around her like a second skin, swirling and condensing until her entire figure disappeared inside a cloak of shadows.

Max’s eyes narrowed.

Fourth Level Concept of Darkness.

And she used it masterfully.

The darkness around her was not ordinary. It bent the space around her body, warping the laws of the world in her favor. Space struggled to stabilize against the suffocating pressure radiating from her form. Within that cloak, her presence scattered, layered, and distorted.

Even Max’s Fourth Level Concept of Space could not lock onto her position. That didn’t mean her concept of darkness was more powerful than Max’s concept of space. It was just that the concept of darkness she had mastered just happened to counter the natural concept of space.

She had erased herself from physical perception and severed the threads that bound her to the surrounding space.

Max could see her... but only the image of her shadow, not her exact body through his Three Dimensional Body.

Mariona’s voice echoed from within the darkness—cold and delighted.

"Let me show you why demons rule the battlefield."

The cloak of shadows surged outward.

Mariona moved.

It was not speed.

It was erasure of distance.

One instant she was engulfed in her dark shroud, and in the next, she stood right before Max—her presence appearing without warning as though she had stepped out of nothingness.

A sphere of pure darkness formed in her palm. It was small, no bigger than an apple, but its destructive nature twisted the air violently around it. The world itself trembled.

This was darkness condensed to its purest form, devouring everything it touched.

She thrust the attack toward Max.

"Dark Abyss Collapse!"

The sphere detonated.

The world reacted violently.

The ocean beneath them vanished. It did not explode. It evaporated into nothingness. The seabed cracked open. The land in the distance shuddered, split apart and rose into the air before collapsing into rubble.

A crater hundreds of kilometers wide appeared where water once stood.

The shockwave rippled outward, ripping apart clouds and tearing a visible scar across the sky.

Darkness surged toward Max consuming his figure entirety.

"Let me see you walk through this, Max Voidwalker!" Mariona’s laughter echoed through the devastation.

When the explosion of darkness faded, the ocean calmed and the sky brightened again. Max stood exactly where he had been—untouched, unshaken, uninjured. Not even a single thread of his clothing was disturbed.

Mariona stared at him in disbelief. Her eyes trembled. Her entire body weakened under the shock.

"How is that possible?" she whispered, stepping back with fear twisting her expression. She had used her full power. Not just her strength, but her Concept of Darkness as well. That attack could reduce a mountain range to dust... yet it had done nothing.

Not a scratch.

"Is that supposed to do something?" Max asked lightly.

He raised his right hand and positioned his fingers to snap. A moment later, he paused. His expression shifted as if he had caught himself doing something distasteful.

"Damn... why am I acting like Mark?" Max muttered.

He shook his head, dismissing the gesture. Then he pointed casually at Mariona.

She panicked instantly.

"No—!"

But it was already too late.𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Black flames erupted across her body. They spread like a second skin, clinging to her entirely. And beneath the surface of those black flames, faint purple flames flickered—almost invisible, yet far more sinister.

"Black flames?" Mariona gasped.

She summoned her power of darkness and tried to extinguish them. She pushed her concept to the limit, her eyes glowing with demonic sigils. But it did nothing. The flames didn’t shrink or weaken. They didn’t even react to her efforts.

Nothing changed.

"What are these black flames?" Her voice shook, trembling with real fear. "I can’t extinguish them. They won’t go out!"

Her fear grew into panic.

She turned to Balthazar. "Do something! This flame is terrifying!"

Balthazar frowned deeply. He raised his hand and used his own concept of darkness, releasing a wave of devouring shadows toward the flames. Even that failed. The black flames remained untouched.