Facing the Thousand-Handed Centipede's fully berserk state—
Raven Shaw finally drew her weapon.
A pale-blue glow flickered.
The long, razor-sharp combat saber in her hand seemed to lengthen, its edge warping into something like a reaper's scythe forged from cold light.
Anyone with eyes could tell—
that blade wasn't ordinary.
To be precise, among all the weapons the contestants had pulled from the Divine Domain so far…
almost none could compare to what Raven held.
And that only fed the speculation.
Where did it come from?
Just like Raven herself, the weapon was wrapped in mystery.
People could sense it was extraordinary—
but that was all they could sense.
The moment Raven drew the saber, the berserk centipede was suppressed again.
Against a thirty-to-forty-meter monster, Raven moved like a shadow—stepping, turning, slipping past its reach.
Every pass.
Every brief stop.
Left behind a wound that made the livestream go cold.
After going berserk, the centipede had shed its shell completely, exposing raw flesh.
That shift boosted its speed and attack power, and the legs that were once hidden beneath its armor had transformed into flexible tendrils—stretching and snapping like whips.
Even with that upgrade—
it still couldn't touch Raven.
"BASTARD!!!"
The centipede screamed as Raven carved it again and again.
But rage didn't change reality.
It had no answer.
No solution.
Only the helpless certainty of being cut apart while never landing a clean hit.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Raven used its huge body like a battlefield, vaulting across it at full speed—
and somehow, her movements still looked elegant.
Almost like she wasn't fighting.
Almost like she was dancing.
A step.
A spring.
A flash of steel—
and a clean line of blood split the air.
With no shell left, the centipede's flesh in front of Raven's combat saber was paper.
Cuts stacked.
Blood poured.
Yet not a drop seemed to stain her.
Before long, the centipede was bleeding from everywhere.
"SKREEEEEEE!!"
It finally understood.
If this continued…
it would be chopped to pieces by this woman.
So it stopped trying to fight.
Because it couldn't.
It chose the only option left.
Run.
"Human!! I'll settle this with you later!!!"
It twisted and dove toward the ground.
As a burrowing lifeform, its true advantage was underground. If it could disappear beneath the earth, it could survive—maybe even turn the tables.
Only down there.
Only in its domain.
Could it truly bare its fangs.
But Raven didn't let it.
The moment she sensed its intention—
she moved.
Just as the centipede was about to vanish into the soil…
a clear, calm voice cut through the chaos.
"Leaving now?"
"Don't you think it's a little late?"
Her tone was almost gentle.
To the centipede, it sounded like death whispering.
When her words ended—
she appeared directly in front of it.
The centipede froze.
Blocking a charging berserk monster head-on…
Was she insane?
"IDIOT!!!"
Then another thought slammed into it—
She's in front of me.
She's not dodging.
That means… I can hit her.
For the first time in this fight, it felt hope.
A poisonous delusion:
If I land even one hit, she dies.
The next moment crushed that delusion completely.
BOOM!!!
The centipede charged with unstoppable momentum.
Its mouthparts flared open—rings of jagged teeth spreading like petals.
It rarely used them.
But its mouth was a weapon too.
This time, it committed.
I'll chew her to pieces. I'll shred her a thousand times before I swallow her whole—
Raven finally moved.
No words.
No flourish.
She lowered her center of gravity—simple, grounded, like she was bracing for a landslide.
The livestream couldn't understand what it was seeing.
A thirty-to-forty-meter berserk monster charging at full speed—
and she planned to meet it directly?
In that heartbeat, the centipede's grotesque head filled her vision.
"Hah!"
A sharp exhale—
and everything she'd been holding back exploded.
Her pupils tightened.
Pressure burst outward.
Air detonated around her.
And from beneath the long coat—
her leg whipped out.
A kick.
But the force behind it didn't belong to a human.
In the centipede's mind, only one word appeared.
Death.
BOOM!!
Her heel slammed into the centipede's head—clean, brutal, perfect.
For an instant, time seemed to pause.
Raven's body turned slightly, white hair lifting in the shockwave.
Her eyes were ice-cold.
Her raised leg looked heavy enough to crack bones through a screen.
Then time resumed.
BOOM!!
The centipede's massive head snapped back at an absurd angle.
Its mind went blank.
It didn't lose.
It got kicked into unconsciousness.
Raven landed lightly.
Then she canceled Cell Burn.
The centipede was already dying—she didn't need to keep paying the cost.
She dusted off her coat and walked toward it.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Elegant.
Like she hadn't just rewritten physics.
The chat went feral.
"My god… Raven is so damn cool!"
"RAVEN!! I can't—!"
"Dragonia's two contestants are both monsters—who was laughing at them at the start?"
"While they're crushing A-ranks, other countries are still scheming over D-rank resources…"
And it wasn't exaggeration.
While Adrian and Raven were suppressing A-rank Divine Domain lifeforms…
most contestants were still bleeding for D-rank rewards.
Take Chicken Nation—a country whose name sounded one step away from "Miracle Nation," but whose strength wasn't even close.
Their two contestants got lucky early. After pulling two F+ resources, they rolled two stat rewards.
Lucky enough to make people jealous.
Even better, they found a much larger oasis than the one Adrian and Raven had run into.
And Blue Star Will confirmed it:
A D-rank Divine Domain resource.
A jackpot.
In the current points challenge, even one D-rank resource was worth a terrifying amount of points—plus a D-rank treasure chest afterward.
Of course, not everyone could treat D-rank like trash the way Adrian and Raven did.
Because a D-rank resource meant a D-rank guardian.
And yes—
they met it.
[Congratulations! Chicken Nation contestants have encountered a Divine Domain lifeform! Analyzing… Analysis complete!]
[Name: Rhino Water Buffalo (D-rank!)]
[Traits: A solitary, omnivorous D-rank Divine Domain beast. Rhino or buffalo—doesn't matter. Its horns will tell every enemy what it is: the terrifying Rhino Water Buffalo!]
As Blue Star Will finished, the beast stepped into view.
Dark gray-black hide.
A body like armored plating.
Defense so obvious it didn't need explanation.
And the most striking feature—
two curved buffalo horns…
and a rhino horn on its nose.
Rhino? Buffalo?
It looked like both had been stitched together.
"ROOOOAAAR!!"
Its roar was low and heavy.
It had noticed the intruders the moment they entered its territory.
And it didn't hesitate.
It charged.
Boom—boom—boom!
The two contestants felt their hearts sink.
But greed forced them to stay.
We've got two stat boosts. We're stronger now. It's only D-rank—two of us can handle it.
That confidence lasted exactly one charge.
Whoosh!!
A gust tore past as it rushed by.
They dodged—barely.
But it didn't stop.
"ROOOOAAAR!!"
It turned and charged again—faster, harder.
Whoosh!!
Another near miss.
They dodged again, just in time.
"Damn… this is D-rank? It's way stronger than those F-rank beasts!"
The next charge answered him.
"ROOOOAAAR!!"
Whoosh!!
Even through the screen, viewers felt the wind blade off its body.
And then they noticed something worse:
Every charge was stronger than the last.
The livestream started shaking.
"This… THIS is what a Divine Domain beast is supposed to look like!"
"D-rank is already this insane—imagine higher ranks…"
"Go to Dragonia's streams if you want A-rank…"
"Wait—doesn't it get faster every charge?"
"Don't panic! Our contestants have two stat boosts!"
But the Rhino Water Buffalo's real strength was momentum.
Its armor let it tank punishment.
And once it started running, it escalated.
If it could keep charging without dying…
a D-rank Rhino Water Buffalo could even clash with some D+ beasts.
"ROOOOAAAR!!"
It charged again.
Whoosh—
"What?!"
This time, the speed was too much.
They didn't react.
BANG!!
One contestant got clipped—only a graze.
And still, his right arm lost a massive chunk of flesh.
Just a scrape.
And it did that.
If it hit clean—
they'd die instantly.
Their confidence shattered.
But there was no time to breathe.
The next charge came immediately.
No pause. No reset.
Like it had cheated.
BANG!!!
Both of them got hit clean.
The impact was obscene.
Their bodies flew like torn dolls, blood spraying through the air.
The chat went silent—
until the beast charged again.
"ROOOOAAAR!!!"
BANG!!!
It hit them mid-fall.
And this time—
there weren't two bodies anymore.
There were four pieces.
They'd been split in half.
Death was instant.
Then the Rhino Water Buffalo finally slowed.
It walked to the remains—
and began to eat.
Chewing.
Swallowing.
Live on stream.
The livestream turned ice-cold.
"What… what is this?!"
"It's eating people—!"
"Aren't cows supposed to eat grass?!"
"This is the Divine Domain… these are real man-eaters…"
"Is Dragonia's stream the only one with a different 'tone'…?"
For Chicken Nation, reactions didn't matter.
With their contestants dead—
their country was about to fall into hell.
And that was the normal reality for most contestants.
Even E-rank and D-rank beasts demanded everything they had.
As for A-rank?
Forget it.
And then there was Adrian Vale—
Back in the Divine Domain—
still torturing his A-rank centipede.
It tried to burrow and escape.
Adrian dragged it back out with Kagune, ripping a forty-to-fifty-meter body out of the earth like it weighed nothing.
After that, the centipede understood the truth:
this "human" wasn't something it could oppose.
In front of him, it really was a little bug.
Adrian chuckled.
"Heh… little bug."
"Didn't you want to play a game?"
The centipede couldn't even respond.
Adrian didn't wait.
With a flick of Kagune—
he severed seven legs in an instant.
The centipede screamed.
Adrian asked calmly:
"Little bug…"
"1000 minus 7 equals what?"
The centipede nearly collapsed.
It wasn't Nolan Mercer.
It didn't go to school.
How the hell would it know?
But Adrian didn't care.
No answer?
Another seven legs.
Again.
And again.
"Heh…"
"1000 minus 7?"
The centipede finally realized—he was serious.
If I can't answer… I die.
"997!! 997!!"
Swish!
Seven more legs fell.
Adrian's voice was flat.
"Wrong."
The centipede's mind cracked.
It couldn't fight.
It couldn't run.
And the "question" didn't end.
What kind of game was this?!
It froze—
Adrian cut again.
Swish!
"Slow."
Monster.
This is a monster.
And what made it worse was its vitality.
Any normal creature would've gone insane by now.
It was still conscious.
Still feeling every cut.
For it, losing a leg was like losing a finger for a human—
and it had thousands of "fingers."
Swish!
Seven more.
Swish!
Seven more.
Adrian's voice didn't change.
"I guess I've been too gentle."
"953."
Swish!
"Ah… wrong again."
"Keep subtracting."
The centipede finally understood—
even if it answered correctly once, it wouldn't matter.
This wasn't a test.
It was torture.
Swish!
Seven more legs.
It couldn't take it anymore.
"Lord!! Lord!! Please—spare me! I can serve you! I'll be your beast! I swear loyalty—never betray you!"
Swish!
Adrian cut again.
Then looked down coldly.
"Did I tell you to talk?"
"Keep subtracting."
The livestream was speechless.
"That's an A-rank lifeform… begging like that?"
"A-rank in Adrian's hands is a toy…"
"It's not A-rank being weak—Adrian is just insane."
And they were right.
This centipede had slaughtered contestants from more than ten countries.
It wasn't weak.
It was just facing something worse.
Time dragged on.
Under endless cuts, the centipede was running out of legs.
It begged.
It screamed.
It even blurted insane things like—
"I'll give you my wife!"
Adrian didn't react.
By now, the centipede knew the truth:
Adrian never planned to spare it.
The question was just a handle for the torture.
Like the centipede had done to others—
now it was the victim.
Swish!
Seven more.
Adrian asked again, voice flat:
"1000 minus 7 equals what?"
Looking at the mountain of severed legs piled around them, even the viewers felt sick.
Even an A-rank lifeform was approaching its limit.
Its thoughts blurred—
and with that blur came terror.
Because after the legs were gone…
something worse would come.
And it didn't want to die.
Not like this.
Then—
a spark.
A desperate idea.
"Wait!! Wait!! Lord—I can tell you a secret! A huge—"
Swish!
Seven legs fell again.
Adrian didn't pause.
"Unnecessary."
"L-Lord… please…"
"I know where my clan has guarded a treasure vault for a thousand years!"
"If you spare me… I can tell you the exact location—!!"
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