A meteor fell down from the sky and crashed on the outskirts of the fortress. The ground trembled heavily and a shockwave swept out, knocking down the soldiers and mages inside the fortress.
Souta, Eztein, Yuko, and Yenxa hurriedly run out of their tents.
The magnitude of energy made everyone turn pale. The soldiers below A-rank clutched their chests tightly as if someone was crushing their hearts.
"W-What is happening?!"
"Why is a powerful fourth stage here in our kingdom?!"
"I can't breathe!"
"No way!"
The soldiers trembled in fear. Their complexion was bad as if they lose their blood.
Commander Eili hurriedly approached Souta and the rest. He knew that Eztein have monsters with him so he wanted to verify if the monster that appeared was their comrade or not.
Souta's answer made his expression turn bad. It was a simple "No" yet it brought him a heavy pressure that made his scalp numbed. He knew that there was a high chance that this would turn into a battle.
The only reason why he could retain his posture was because of Souta's group's presence. They gave him a little bit of assurance just by standing here with them.
"I think you need to evacuate the soldiers that couldn't handle the pressure," Souta said with utmost seriousness.
The presence of the fourth stage monster that appeared gave him a dangerous feeling. Souta was confident that he could fight any fourth stage with his combat prowess but this one gave him a different feeling.
"I understand..." Commander Eili nodded gravely. He turned around and quickly informed his soldiers.
"Souta, should we go now? It will be bad if this place turned into a battlefield." Eztein said.
"Yeah," Souta nodded and he turned his eyes to Yuko and Yenxa. "Stay here."
The two were just third stage. No matter what, their strength was far from reaching a peak level fourth stage. It was especially the case with Yenxa. Her power level hasn't even reached the peak level of third stage so it would be bad if she tried to fight someone who was several times stronger than her.
Yenxa and Yuko understood his words. The pressure alone from a higher species made them have to move.
The only people that could fight were Souta and Eztein.
"Let's go."
Souta and Eztein flew in the direction where the meteor crashed.
After a few moments, they arrived at their destination. In front of them was a huge crater with a radius of twenty-five meters and a depth of seven meters. Thick smoke and dust covered the area.
Ordinary smoke couldn't block Souta and Eztein's vision so they could see the creature in the center of the crater.
It was a five-meter-tall creature with a pair of red horns on the side of its head. It has two pairs of crimson eyes, rows of razor-sharp teeth, and pointed ears. It has long black hair and its body was covered in a tough looking pitch-black exoskeleton. Red veins could be seen through its yellowish skin and a long tail covered in sharp spikes were moving behind.
It has a gem on its chest, forehead, and both of its shoulders. A huge club in its right hand and a bunch of bracelets on his left wrist.
The appearance of this monster made Eztein subconsciously take a step back. The savage aura around this monster made his body feel numb.
Souta widened his eyes in shock when he saw this monster. He suddenly recalled something in the game.
This appearance...?!?
That two-meter long club...!!
There's no doubt about it!!
This monster was The Uncontrollable, Gerxuzs!!
Souta felt a chill run through his body. Gerxuzs was one of the monsters that rose quickly in the game and reached the highest level in a short amount of time. His growth speed could be compared to the genius of humans and demi races like Yanagi Shina and Alexander.
Suddenly, Gerxuzs figure flashed and he instantly appeared beside Eztein. Eztein's eyes shrank as he quickly brandished the halberd on his back. He wanted to strike first but it was too late.
Gerxuzs spun around and viciously swung the huge club in his hand. A terrifying energy swept out and Eztein had no choice but to raise his weapon.
BAM!!
The collision produced a loud sound. Eztein was thrown away and crashed on the ground deeply.
At this moment, dark clouds formed in the sky as thunder roared fiercely. Lightning bolt descended with unbelievable speed. It struck Gerxuzs' body fiercely.
[First Form: Mahayana Tribulation]!
Souta narrowed his eyes. He viciously pounced at his enemy while launching another powerful attack.
[Crimson Moon]!!
A red energy blade flew out and Gerxuzs simply crushed it by swinging the huge club in his hand. It was a simple swing yet it shattered Souta's attack easily.
"I didn't think that a monster like you is here! It seems that you're the reason why the warriors of Athen's Champion are missing!" Souta spoke using monster language. He activated his Second Mode.
Ohm!
The ground turned dark as various black tentacles emerged from it. His pores emitted a dark mist as black energy covered his body like a cloak. Then, ten black balls appeared behind him and the gravity instantly increased several times.
Gerxuzs was a little bit stunned when he saw Souta's skill. He grinned widely and said, "That's not a monster skill. You shouldn't rely on things like that. Let me show you a true monster trait skill."
[Enmity Dark Tyrant Body]!!
His aura grew several times stronger. His overwhelming energy clashed with Souta's energy causing sparks to fly out between them.
"We are monsters! You should change your attention to the power within! We have the power!"
Gerxuzs body flashed and collided with Souta. The two wrestled fiercely sweeping out the entire place. All the trees within a radius of five hundred meters were uprooted instantly.
The fierce battle between top fourth stage monsters in the entire Imperium had begun.
Souta recalled the doppelgangers around Lerna Island. He then recast it and the shadows immediately charged at his enemy.
[Fifth Form: Rage of the Thunder God]!!
Souta violently shouted. The vajra sword cross crossed producing a large amount of energy as layers of flesh covered his body. The weapon collision gave rise to a severe shockwave. The tyrannical power directly shook the atmosphere sucking everything within the center of impact. Then it exploded hurling the enormous energy in four directions.
[Sixth Form: Piercing Thunder Strike]!!
Violent black lightning smashed down, flooding the whole area. Gerxuzs viciously swung the huge club generating a powerful wind that clashed with the black lightning.
With practically no hesitation, Gerxuzs' foot suddenly stepped hard. The ground instantly broke apart, and the enormous opposite reaction spread smoke and dust everywhere. In the cloud of dust, a figure covered in black lightning charged forward.
BOOM!!
The two monsters exchanged thousands of blows. Both of them fiercely launched their overwhelming skills at each other.
"Damn it!" Eztein wiped the trail of blood on the corner of his mouth. Strings of flesh instantly covered his body before he activated his [Element Drive].
He joined the battle and it quickly became 2v1.
The horrifying battle shook the entire area. The soldiers watched in horror as they saw black lightning descend from the sky repeatedly.
The battle continued for half an hour. Eztein couldn't hold on and just changed his position to support. He could barely keep up with his One Shackle strength.
Souta shouted, violent lightning burst out from his sword. Gerxuzs continued to swing the huge club in his hand. The tyrannical collision caused a vicious shockwave, sweeping out everything.
Souta was fighting for half an hour yet he couldn't even push his Archetype to 50%. He was lucky that Gerxuzs was matching his strength and didn't use anything like release form.
Both of them were fighting with their base form to exhaustion. Despite only using their base form, the entire land within a radius of two kilometers was devastated. Their incredibly powerful attack flattened everything.
"Keke, truly magnificent but this is getting boring! Let's increase our power!" Gerxuzs laughed evilly. He activated another trait called [Boundless Fighting Wrath]. His energy level rose sharply as the club in his hand burst with tremendous energy.
A ray of light flashed as the sword and club collided.
Souta was getting receiving wounds every second. He was at a disadvantage in terms of stats against Gerxuzs who was at the top of peak level fourth stage.
In regard to this, Souta had no choice but to activate [Element Drive]. Dark and white light converged in his body as his skill power increased once again.
"Eat this!!"
...
Somewhere in a dark space...
A man with a black hair smiled faintly. "This is it. The battle between two variables, the Imperium's Blessed Children. It's been a while since I've seen heaven-defying people battled each other."
A pink-haired man was standing beside him. The pink-haired man narrowed his eyes. "They are like us... the Children of Imperium."
In front of them, various projections could be seen scattered everywhere but their attention was focused on one. In that projection, Souta was battling Gerxuzs.
