A few thousand kilometers away from the territory of the Golden Apes, Arthur finally came to a stop and hovered silently above a vast mountain range. The sky above was clear while endless forests stretched toward the horizon beneath him. Although he had already left the battlefield behind, faint traces of his fight with the Ape King still lingered throughout the region.
Countless beasts had undoubtedly sensed the terrifying clash between two Moon Level existences, and he wasn't surprised when three powerful auras rapidly approached from different directions. Within moments, their owners came into view.
The first was a gigantic bull nearly three stories tall whose dark body resembled the charred bark of a tree. Flames continuously burned along its massive horns, causing the surrounding air to distort from the extreme heat.
The second was a silver fox with three tails. Unlike the bull, it radiated a calm and intelligent aura. Space seemed unstable around its body, occasionally rippling as though it was playing with it.
The final arrival was a colossal emerald snake whose body stretched for a hundred meters through the mountains below. Thick poisonous mist continuously leaked from its fangs, corroding everything it touched.
Arthur calmly observed the three beasts while piecing together the situation. It didn't take him long to understand why they had appeared. The Golden Adamant Apple forest was an extraordinary treasure. Until now, the Ape King's strength combined with the sheer number of Golden Apes had prevented any neighboring beast from challenging the territory.
However, after sensing the prolonged battle between him and the Ape King, these opportunists had likely assumed the victor would be weakened and easy to kill. If they could eliminate the exhausted Ape King afterward, they could claim the entire territory and the Golden Apples for themselves. Arthur couldn't help but smile faintly. "Greedy bastards, looks like beasts aren't much different from people after all."
Unfortunately, the bull lacked the patience of its companions. Before Arthur could say anything further, the beast released an earth shaking roar that echoed across the mountains. Flames exploded around its body while its horns turned crimson red from the extreme temperature.
The surrounding immediately ignited and the trees near it below burst into flames simply from the heat being released. Believing Arthur must be exhausted after his battle with the Ape King, the bull lowered its head and charged.
The mountain beneath its hooves exploded apart as the giant beast accelerated. Within moments it transformed into a blazing meteor rushing directly toward Arthur. The creature's speed was astonishing, but Arthur remained completely motionless. His expression didn't even change. The bull rapidly closed the distance, and when it was only meters away Arthur finally raised his arm and threw a simple punch forward.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The collision generated a deafening explosion that shook the surrounding area. A gigantic shockwave spread across the sky while countless clouds were instantly obliterated. The bull was violently launched backward. Its enormous body tumbled across multiple mountains before crashing into the landscape several kilometers away.
Arthur himself slid backward a few hundred meters before casually stabilizing his position in the air. The bull had lost one of its horns in the exchange just now and this made the difference between them immediately obvious. Slowly, the bull's gaze shifted toward its remaining horn.
"BWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRR!" The beast released an agonized scream filled with both pain and disbelief. Even the fox and snake visibly stiffened, they knew exactly how durable those horns were.
The fire infused horn of the Flame Bull was capable of instantly killing anyone below the Great Extreme Immortal realm and severely harming those of the same realm and it had survived countless battles. Yet a single punch from Arthur had shattered it completely.
More importantly, Arthur himself remained completely unharmed despite directly colliding with flames of the Flame Bull. What neither beast knew was that the fragment of the Origin Flame residing within Arthur's Sea of Consciousness rendered ordinary fire almost meaningless against him.
The fox and snake exchanged a glance. Instantly, their attitudes changed. Whatever arrogance they possessed vanished. They had arrived expecting an exhausted opponent, instead they found something far more dangerous. Yet greed still outweighed caution.
Retreating now meant giving up the Golden Adamant Apple forest forever. The fox's silver eyes narrowed while spatial fluctuations spread around its body. Simultaneously, poisonous mist began pouring from the snake's mouth in far greater quantities than before.
Arthur noticed the shift immediately and grinned. "Now we're getting somewhere."
The fox disappeared, one moment it occupied one section of space and the next it appeared directly behind Arthur. A claw coated in a razor thin spatial blade slashed toward the back of his neck.
At almost the same moment the snake unleashed a massive cloud of emerald poison while the bull charged again from the front, abandoning any attempt to use fire and relying entirely on brute force.
Their coordination was surprisingly impressive. The bull served as the frontline attacker, the snake restricted movement using poison while the fox exploited openings through spatial attacks.
Against most opponents, the combination would have been devastating. Arthur reacted instantly, space distorted around him as he activated his own Spatial Manipulation. The fox's claw passed harmlessly through an afterimage while he teleported several hundred meters away.
Unfortunately, the poison cloud had already expanded throughout the battlefield. Arthur inhaled a small amount before retreating. Almost immediately he felt a burning sensation spread through his veins and his expression sharpened. "Interesting."
This poison was far more dangerous than anything he had encountered earlier. Even his powerful physique couldn't immediately neutralize it. And most importantly the poison was not affecting the Flame Bull and the Fox, somehow the snake could use the poison to target only him.
The snake hissed proudly upon noticing his reaction. However, what the creature didn't realize was that poisoning Arthur was often the worst possible decision. Deep within his body countless microscopic changes began occurring as his cells analyzed the foreign toxin and started adapting to it.
The battle escalated rapidly after that. The bull attacked relentlessly from the front while the fox continuously teleported around the battlefield searching for openings. Every one of its claws carried spatial energy capable of slicing through mountains as though they were paper.
Meanwhile, the snake remained at a distance and flooded the battlefield with increasingly potent venom. Arthur quickly found himself fighting on three completely different fronts simultaneously. Taking advantage of the proximity he punched the bull directly in the chest, sending the giant creature crashing through several mountain peaks, only for a claw from the fox to suddenly appear near his ribs.
He twisted aside at the last second, but the attack still sliced through his clothing and left a shallow cut on his side. Before he could retaliate, dozens of poisonous projectiles erupted from below as the snake launched another attack.
He teleported upward, avoiding most of them, but a few droplets landed on his skin and immediately began corroding his flesh. Instead of becoming frustrated, Arthur felt excitement growing. This was exactly why he had come to the rogue planet, every opponent here possessed unique abilities capable of challenging him.
He felt this was the best way to utilize his Reactive Evolution. The poison's effects were gradually weakening while his body continuously adapted. At the same time, his experience with Spatial Manipulation allowed him to begin understanding the fox's movement patterns.
The beast wasn't truly teleporting randomly. It relied on fixed spatial anchors it secretly placed throughout the battlefield. Once Arthur realized this, a smile slowly appeared on his face. The fox noticed that smile and for the first time felt a strange sense of unease.
The bull charged from below while the fox emerged from a spatial tear directly above Arthur. Simultaneously, the snake unleashed a concentrated stream of poison powerful enough to melt the strongest material on the planet. Instead of retreating, Arthur attacked with more intensity.
He punched downward toward the already injured bull while simultaneously extending his other hand toward the fox as spatial energy erupted from his palm. The fox's eyes widened in shock as its own teleportation path suddenly destabilized. The beast's attack missed completely and Arthur's fist collided with the bull's head at the same moment.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The giant creature was smashed directly into the mountain range below. Several peaks collapsed instantly. Arthur then dived through the incoming poison stream, his skin blackened immediately before rapidly beginning to heal and seeing it the snake hissed in surprise. It was now noticing its poison was not affecting Arthur as much as it should have.
And Arthur could feel the poison losing effectiveness with every passing minute. He was adapting far faster than even he expected. Looking at the three beasts surrounding him, he cracked his neck and smiled. "Alright," he said while purple Aether slowly began leaking from his body. "Let's see how long you three can keep this up."
…
The battlefield continued to expand with every passing minute. Mountains collapsed beneath their attacks while shockwaves rolled across the landscape like natural disasters. Arthur no longer bothered counting how many peaks had been destroyed since the fight began. His entire focus was directed toward the three beasts surrounding him.
The bull finally recovered after getting punched in the head, and it quickly realized something was wrong. Earlier, even after Arthur shattered its horn and knocked him out for some moment, it could still contend with him physically. But now the situation was taking a weird turn, every exchange pushed the creature farther backward.
But after getting humiliated by having its horns destroyed, the bull had become increasingly reckless. It charged forward with little regard for defense, relying entirely on its immense physical strength to overwhelm him. Normally such aggression would have been dangerous, but after his battle with the Ape King Arthur's body had evolved significantly.
He met the charging beast head on, his fists collided against the bull's face. The impact generated an explosion powerful enough to flatten the forest below, and the status of the bull remained unknown as he focused on the attacks of the Fox.
***
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