From the depths of the Abyss, three colossal figures emerged. They moved as one, their hulking forms carved from pale stone, veins of white light pulsing beneath their armored hides.

Stonehulks.

But not the B-rank ones they were fighting. These were A-ranks, three of them, together.

Even Kael narrowed his eyes. “Impossible. Multiple A-ranks never appeared in a single pack. Something is wrong here.”

Yet here they were, advancing in unison, their heavy steps shaking the land, their glowing eyes fixed on the intruders. Each titan stood twice the height of the B-ranks.

The lesser monsters surged around their feet, Stoneboars squealing as they charged, Venomwings raining poison like black rain. The battlefield became a maelstrom of claws, fangs, and venom.

Kael moved first. He blinked past the lesser horde, materializing before the three A-rank titans in the rear.

His spatial blades carved out arcs of light, but where they should have cut deep, the Stonehulks’ skin resisted. Sparks and distortions exploded from their armored hides.

“They’re harder than anything outside,” Kael muttered, his strikes slowing. The suppression pressed hard on him, and the mutated density of the monsters made them sharper, more vicious than anything outside.

One titan swung a massive fist wreathed in pale energy. Kael blinked away, but the shockwave still sent him tumbling through the air.

Ironwood’s face tightened as he cursed. “Shit!”

He abandoned the front line and rushed to Kael’s side.

“Two of us!” Ironwood roared, his newly ascended power blazing as he struck. His steel fist rang against stone hide, cracking but not breaking through.

Two S-ranks now fought shoulder to shoulder, yet even together, their blades and fists only forced the beasts back by inches. The titans pressed forward relentlessly, their combined weight making the ground buckle.

With Ironwood gone, the frontline collapsed in their absence.

Waves of Stoneboars crashed against Thomas and Elara. Venom burned the air, claws raked across their barriers.

Thomas’s flames faltered, his blade guttering low. Blood streamed from a gash across his forehead as a Stoneboar’s tusk grazed him.

Elara’s light flickered, her radiant spears dimming. Exhaustion clawed at them both. Their bodies screamed for collapse.

“Thomas!” Elara gasped, her barrier cracking under the assault. “I can’t—”

Adrian stepped between them. His mist surged outward, forming a wall of white-grey that bent the monsters back.

His eyes burned, anger flaring at the sight of his parents faltering. The Source manifestation writhed around him, begging to be unleashed in all its terrible glory.

He wanted to unleash everything. To erase this tide in an instant. But he clenched his teeth, forcing restraint.

“They need this. They need the pressure. They need the breakthrough.”

So he guarded. He endured. His manifestation held the line while his parents fought for their ascension.

Under his cover, Thomas compressed his mana tighter than ever. His flames screamed against the suppression, the fire turning white-hot as it condensed.

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“Come on,” he growled through gritted teeth. “Come on!”

The pressure built, his mana crushing inward until suddenly—

They roared alive.

His blade ignited into molten brilliance, a star carved into steel, slicing Stoneboars apart with terrifying precision. The very air around him shimmered with heat that made stone crack.

Beside him, Elara’s eyes blazed as her light hardened, her spears no longer flickering but burning straight through hide, stone, and mist itself. Her beams no longer scattered, they pierced absolute.

“Finally!” she breathed, golden radiance erupting from her form like a newborn sun.

Both of them broke through. Their mana liquefied. They had ascended.

The battlefield shone with fire and light, the air burning with their breakthroughs. Two new S-ranks stood together, their combined power making the nearby monsters tremble.

…

Meanwhile, Kael and Ironwood were still locked with the Stonehulks.

Their liquefied mana blazed, but even together, they could only push the A-ranks back. Each strike drained them, every exchange leaving their breathing harsher, their steps heavier.

The Hulks were intelligent, fighting in brutal coordination. When Kael blinked left, the center titan anticipated, swinging its massive arm to intercept his arrival point.

Ironwood’s steel-wrapped fists cracked against stone hide, but the impact sent shockwaves up his arms. “These bastards are learning our patterns!”

Kael’s spatial blade carved a shallow groove across one titan’s shoulder. The wound sealed itself with pale light, the creature’s regeneration fueled by the Abyss’s energy.

“Damn it,” Kael spat, blinking away from a crushing blow that shattered the ground where he’d stood. His spatial mana flickered, the suppression wearing him down.

But when Kael glanced back, he saw Thomas and Elara blazing with new strength. Relief sparked in his eyes.

“About time,” he muttered, dodging another coordinated assault. If they joined soon, victory was possible.

Adrian exhaled. His parents no longer needed his protection.

They stood as S-ranks now, burning brilliantly. Thomas’s blade carved molten arcs through the air, while Elara’s spears pierced straight through stone hide.

He smiled faintly. And now… it was his turn.

He turned toward the horde, his mist thickening, spreading like a storm. Lesser monsters still poured from the depths, drawn by the battle’s chaos.

He stepped forward. These were the monsters that hurt his parents, and now they would suffer his wrath.

He raised his hand. The world bent around him, reality warping as his manifestation surged.

The space around him trembled, the very air growing heavy with Source energy. Even the pale mist of the Abyss seemed to recoil.

[Absolute Source Order].

Every living being in the surroundings stopped. Stoneboars mid-charge, Venomwings hovering in the air, even the distant packs converging on their position.

Their mana, their affinities, their very essence trembled in submission. The command pressed against every soul within range, human and monster alike.

Even Kael paused mid-strike, his spatial blade suspended in the air. Ironwood’s fist froze inches from a titan’s face.

Thomas and Elara felt the pressure wash over them, their newly ascended power bowing before something far greater. “What is this?” Elara whispered.

Adrian’s voice was quiet, steady. “Erase.”

The command rippled outward like a decree from creation itself. It carried the weight of absolute authority, the Source speaking through its chosen vessel.

The Stoneboars convulsed first. Their bodies writhed as their affinities collapsed inward, their mana cores imploding.

The Venomwings screamed, their poison sacs bursting as their essence unraveled. They dropped from the sky like broken dolls.

One by one, they collapsed into nothingness. Not destroyed, erased, as if they had never existed at all.

Dozens. Hundreds. The battlefield emptied in an instant, leaving only scorched stone and drifting ash.

Only the three A-rank Stonehulks remained. Their massive bodies staggered, their wills resisting the command with desperate fury.

They roared, their bellows shaking the fractured ground. Their defiance echoed against the Source itself, raw will clashing against absolute authority.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Thomas stared at his son, his newly liquefied mana trembling in his core.

Elara’s golden eyes were wide with shock and something approaching fear. “That power… it felt like the Sentinel’s presence, but different.”

Ironwood lowered his steel-wrapped fists, his breakthrough forgotten in the face of what he’d witnessed. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Even Kael, who had once dismissed Adrian’s earlier display as a trick of Volume III, felt his heart pound. His spatial mana quivered as if bowing against its will.

“This isn’t Volume III,” he breathed. “This felt like something greater.”

Adrian lowered his hand slowly, his mist still swirling around him like a living thing. His gaze locked on the three A-rank hulks as they staggered, their eyes burning with fury.

“Not yet,” he thought, feeling their resistance. “Their wills are too strong.”

He could sense it, his command could not yet bind them fully.

But as his mana continued to condense, drops of liquefaction forming within him, he knew the truth. Once he attained the higher form of mana, even A-ranks would kneel.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep