Above the ruins, smoke and dust permeated the air.
When the colossal figure slowly rose from the rubble, the surrounding air seemed to solidify.
This... how much impact did it take for steam to be rising from Sir Thomas's body?!
Honestly, if it were an ordinary Hunter, being blasted and slammed in this manner would have already turned them into an unrecognizable pulp of flesh.
One could only say... Thomas Andre truly lived up to his reputation as the man who once caught the Dragon Kamish's breath with his bare hands.
But when he stood up from the ground, his face was so dark it looked like it could drip water.
Thomas threw away his broken sunglasses, his face as hard as stone and utterly dark, turning to scan the Hunters present with blood-red eyes burning with fury.
Under the murderous gaze of the National Authority-level Hunter, even the Hunters belonging to the same Guild began to turn pale.
"...You all, go rescue the injured."
Thomas said nothing, taking heavy steps towards the center of the ruins from where he had just flown out.
An intensely ferocious killing intent erupted from his entire body like a tsunami!
He walked back to Rhode's front, his sharp gaze fixed on the man who dared to destroy his "kingdom."
"Who are you?"
Rhode's expression remained calm, as if the earth-shattering blow he had just delivered was merely him casually dusting himself off.
"Let's just say, a Hunter from Z Country."
Thomas gritted his teeth, each word squeezed out.
"I've never heard of a monster like you in Z Country, besides Liu Zhikang!"
He still barely maintained a shred of rationality.
He did not want, and absolutely could not, rashly engage in full-scale war with this unfathomable monster before him.
"Why are you targeting Huang Dongshu?"
Rhode said in a tone so matter-of-fact it was infuriating.
"Huang Dongshi ambushed my people in the Dungeon, and I killed him in retaliation."
"Before he died, he even yelled, 'My brother will definitely avenge me'."
"To save myself trouble, I came to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots."
He glanced at Huang Dongshu, who was kneeling on the ground, glaring at him with intensely resentful eyes.
"See, his expression tells you I'm right."
A lunatic!
This guy was a complete and utter lunatic!
Just because of an unfulfilled threat, he traveled thousands of miles to one of the strongest Guilds in the world to publicly commit murder?!
But Thomas had to admit, this lunatic had done the right thing.
Knowing Huang Dongshu, if he found out his brother was killed, he would undoubtedly try every means to retaliate.
But even so... even so, Thomas Andre would never allow anyone to touch his property!
Thomas took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the rage about to erupt.
"Let him go. Your people didn't die, after all."
"If you let him go, we'll pretend this never happened. I'm begging you."
Rhode tilted his head, as if he had heard an amusing joke.
Then, he raised his foot.
Crack!!!
Another crisp, teeth-grinding sound of bone snapping, and Huang Dongshu's other leg was also cleanly broken by Rhode!
"Ah ah ah ah—!!!"
Huang Dongshu let out a miserable, inhuman shriek!
"Boss! Kill him! Help me kill him, ah ah ah ah!!!"
Rhode's face showed a brilliant, demonic smile.
"Now what?"
In this instant, Thomas's sanity was finally completely ignited!
The veins on his forehead bulged like twisted earthworms!
His knuckles cracked with a "clack"!
He gritted his teeth, squeezing out a few words.
"Now, I'm not begging anymore!"
Rip—!!!
His top-tier shirt, made from monster remains, was torn to shreds like thin paper by his instantly bulging muscles!
An invisible armor, made of pure power, seemed to envelop his entire body.
Chilling magical energy furiously poured out from beneath his feet!
"Feel this power! And then... despair for your mistake!"
Rhode stretched his neck, his movements as relaxed as if he were doing a daily warm-up.
He kicked the still-screaming Huang Dongshu away, casually pulled up a deformed steel bar from the ground, and like throwing a javelin, pinned him tightly to a distant wall!
"He was your last hope, wasn't he? Then open your eyes and watch how I crush even this last hope of yours."
"Roar ah ah ah ah—!!!"
Thomas roared, charging at Rhode!
He was like a rampaging armored vehicle on a battlefield.
With every step, his heavy footfalls made the entire ground violently shake!
Thomas's formidable aura finally piqued Rhode's interest.
"Speaking of which, I don't think... I've ever used this skill before."
In an instant, the clouds in the sky seemed to be wiped away by an invisible hand, vanishing without a trace.
The bright moonlight poured down unreservedly.
Bathed in this cool silver light, Rhode joyfully spread his arms.
When he opened his eyes again, his black pupils had vertically split into fierce, beast-like slits!
[Skill: Roar Under the Moon, Activated!]
[Domain: Silent Meteor, True Self State!]
"Let me properly enjoy a pure beast battle!"
Boom—!!!
Beneath Rhode's feet, the ground instantly shattered in a spiderweb pattern!
He instantly closed the distance with Thomas at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!
Two humanoid "beasts" faced each other.
Angry and mocking gazes immediately clashed in the air.
The next moment, both swung fists filled with terrifying magical energy with all their might, aiming for the other's face!
Boom boom boom boom boom—
This was no longer a battle; it was pure destruction!
The two monsters, capable of smashing reinforced concrete like tofu, began the most primal, most brutal exchange of blows.
Every punch carried a sonic boom that tore through the air!
Every collision erupted with a deafening roar!
They completely abandoned their defenses, using their flesh and blood bodies to directly withstand the opponent's fatal attacks!
The hunters watching from not far away had already held their breath, not daring to even gasp.
Just... just one hit... no, just a brush against the punch's wind, and we might die on the spot!
One of the hunters swallowed hard, forcing himself and his companions to cheer up.
"But, but! In close combat, the leader is invincible!"
However, the next moment—
Rod, leaping high, his figure stretching and twisting like a leopard under the illumination of the full moon behind him!
His punch, A punch that gathered all his strength,It hit Thomas hard on the head!
Boom—!!!
The earth, screaming, was torn apart!
With Thomas at the center, the entire ground, as if struck by an invisible meteorite, was instantly split in half!
The ruins and soil on both sides, like the parting of the Red Sea, stirred up giant waves dozens of meters high!
Thomas, pushed far back by this immense force, only stopped after plowing a deep gully and spitting out blood!
This guy... this guy is like me... no! He's a monster even more terrifying than me!
Thomas finally realized.
If he didn't fight with the belief that he would die, he might lose today!
And he absolutely could not accept such a thing!
"Enhance!!!"
Thomas roared at the sky!
As his voice fell, his already rock-solid body explosively grew larger again, like a balloon being inflated!
Muscle fibers proliferated and twisted wildly, finally transforming into an even thicker, more grotesque muscle armor.
In the blink of an eye, he became a true giant, over three meters tall!
He roared, picked up a nearby blown-up car, and threw it with all his might at Rod!
Rod easily dodged it with a beast-like posture that defied the laws of physics.
But the next second, Thomas's hand aimed at the car flying behind Rod!
"Capture!"
An invisible gravitational force was released, and the car, which had been flying backward, actually traced a strange arc in the air and was violently flung at Rod's back again!
However, facing this situation, Rod, who had already entered his True Self state, didn't need to think at all; his body's instinct had already made the optimal response!
He simply, casually, raised his right hand.
Buzz—
The car, flying at high speed in the air, seemed to receive a command to stop, instantly freezing in mid-air!
Seeing this incredibly familiar scene, Thomas's pupils suddenly constricted to the extreme!
"You... you have this skill too?!"
Dominator's Authority!
This was a power possessed by only a very few hunters who survived the war against the dragon Kamish and were chosen by the Dominators.
This was also regarded as a symbol of national power!
Not simple telekinesis, this was divine power from an absolute being of the universe, and it was the God-Slaying Power that the Dominators relied on to kill gods!
Rod didn't answer, just smiled disdainfully, and flicked his right hand lightly.
Whoosh—Boom!!!
The car, which had been frozen, flew back at an even faster speed than it came, smashing several hunters who were cheering for Thomas in the distance into a bloody, indistinguishable mess of flesh!
"Damn it!!!"
Thomas's eyes almost burst!
He roared, instantly rushing in front of Rod, raising his two giant hands, now as heavy as marble pillars, high above his head!
"Ugh ah ah ah ah ah—Collapse!!!"
He used his strongest area-of-effect attack skill against Rod!
His swollen arms, as if about to explode, carried a power that could destroy everything, smashing violently into the ground!
Boom—!!!!!!!
Everything within the radius of his punch's impact point was instantly disintegrated, pulverized, and evaporated by that terrifying shockwave!
The entire guild building was forcibly lifted by this power, then disintegrated in mid-air, turning into hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble, raining down like a storm!
The king's majesty must not be challenged!
·············
Thomas, unwilling to miss the opportunity, slammed his magic-infused fists down countless times, like a furious storm!
[Skill · Heavy Strike]
Boom boom boom boom—
The continuous explosions made the buildings on the distant streets shake violently, as if they could collapse at any moment!
Terrifying airwaves spread in all directions, shattering all the glass in the even more distant buildings!
The survivors, who had long since fled far away, finally showed joyful smiles on their faces.
"The leader has used this move; even Kamish back then met his demise here, that guy is definitely going to lose!"
However, Thomas, at the center of the explosion, gradually felt beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
No... the feeling is wrong!
The more he punched, the more that sense of unease tightened around his neck like a rope!
He didn't feel like he was hitting a human body at all!
And...
His eyes...
That guy's eyes hadn't changed at all, from beginning to end!
He just watched him quietly with those chillingly calm eyes!
As if he was measuring just how far he could go.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah—!!!"
His sanity completely snapped, Thomas, known to the world as Goliath, intertwined his fingers and raised his hands above his head again.
Thick veins, as thick as thighs, popped out on the muscles of his shoulders.
An unimaginably vast amount of magic permeated his shoulders, arms, wrists, and finally, his fists.
If you take this head-on, can you still be so calm?!
"Col—lapse—!!!"
Just then, he suddenly saw a brilliant golden flash of lightning in the corner of Rod's eye.
Tap.
.... ..... ...
A light sound.
Thomas's full-force blow, powerful enough to destroy a small town, was steadily caught by Rod's... lightly raised... single hand.
[Domain · Silent Suzuka, Passionate State.]
The surging will to fight, the passionate life-and-death struggle, successfully allowed the Domain skill granted by Silent Suzuka to enter its second stage!
A complete liberation of the self, a hundred percent utilization of the current body's limits!
"So... my normal state is still so far from the current stage of perfection..."
?!!!
Thomas looked down at his single-handedly caught, immobile fist, and a chill instantly shot from his spine to the top of his head!
Rod's joyful voice entered his ears.
"I also have you to thank for helping me verify my power."
"What?"
At that very moment.
Boom—!!!
Rod's black hair instantly grew long, trailing to the ground, and the next second, it turned a dazzling gold, like the sun.
His figure became slightly more robust, every inch of muscle filled with an explosive sense of power, yet he maintained his agility and elegance, like a perfect war deity from ancient Greek mythology!
"This... this is impossible!!!"
The terrifying, almost tangible magical power flowing from Rod made Thomas tremble from his very soul!
"You... how did you do that?!"
Rod didn't answer.
He simply grabbed Thomas's arm and squeezed it gently.
Crack!!!
"Ugh ah ah ah ah ah!"
With pure grip strength alone, Rod crushed the indestructible hand bones of Goliath!
Silence.
Dead silence.
When this once high and mighty king let out such a tragic scream, all the surviving hunters' minds instantly went blank.
They desperately hoped this wasn't the end of the battle.
They hoped Thomas could burst forth with power again, stand up again!
However, Rod mercilessly shattered their last illusion.
He suddenly grabbed Thomas's wrist, swung his massive body around, and then—slammed him heavily to the ground!
Boom—!!!
Lifted, then slammed down!
Boom—!!!
Lifted again, then slammed down again!
Boom—!!!
Rod treated the strongest man in M country like a rag doll, repeatedly and wildly smashing him against the ground dozens of times!
Finally, he tossed the strongest hunter, now a bloody, unrecognizable mess, aside as if he were throwing trash.
The scene was utterly silent.
All the watching hunters present felt a cold emotion called [Despair].
Rod slowly walked to Thomas, looking down at him from above.
Thomas, his face almost a bloody mess, trembled as he tried to raise his right hand again to counterattack Rhode.
He struggled to force a sound from his throat.
"Again... come..."
Rhode expressionlessly stepped on his face with the sole of his shoe.
"It seems you haven't truly mastered that power yet."
He shook his head, seemingly a little disappointed.
"I defeated you in the field you are most skilled in, so now you should have no regrets dying, right?"
Thomas struggled to open his blood-obscured eye, as if wanting to take one last look at the man who had utterly defeated him.