As Alex stepped through the portal, his senses were immediately assaulted by the overwhelming heat.

The fourth floor was a volcanic wasteland.

Massive rivers of molten lava flowed like veins across the cracked, obsidian ground. Towering geysers erupted sporadically, spewing fire and ash into the thick, suffocating air.

The sky above was a swirling mass of dark clouds illuminated by the occasional flash of red lightning, giving the battlefield an apocalyptic feel.

‘Tch…’ Alex narrowed his eyes. ‘A complete opposite of the last floor. But it makes sense. Testing both extremes.’

[The fourth and fifth-floor missions would be held on this floor. Please be prepared.]

A new notification, different from other floors, flashed before his eyes, making him raise a brow.

‘That’s new,’ he muttered before a deep rumbling filled the air.

[The fourth-floor mission: Clear the first wave.]

As soon as that notification appeared, deep rumbling filled the air, and in the distance, the first wave began to appear.

From the craggy cliffs and beneath the lava pools, creatures emerged—massive, molten-skinned behemoths, fire-breathing drakes, and crimson-scaled hounds with glowing eyes. Each one pulsed with violent mana, all of them powerful, all of them hungry.

All of them were in the middle of the star-connection realm, some high as well.

They were strong enough to cause the surroundings to tremble just by their mere presence, and Alex, seeing the scenery, knew they were the real deal.

He cracked his neck. “Alright… time to stop holding back.”

His body tensed, and then—

WHOOSH!

A surge of pure energy exploded from within him. His form shifted, dissolving into an ethereal mass of swirling astral mist.

His human body was no longer visible; instead, a cloudy silhouette in the shape of a man remained, pulsating with immense power. Only his piercing blue eyes remained perceptible, glowing like twin stars in the darkened battlefield.

His Eternal Devourer Physique had fully awakened.

His every attribute was enhanced, including his stats and mana control. As for his mana pool, well, it was always infinite.

The beasts, sensing the monumental shift in energy, roared in response and charged as one, their massive forms tearing across the volcanic terrain toward him.

Alex moved.

BOOM!

He shot forward, faster than sound, leaving a concussive shockwave in his wake. A crimson-scaled hound lunged, its jaws lined with magma-dripping fangs.

Alex grabbed those fangs with his bare hands, and just when the beast thought that it had won…

“Absorb.”

The flames engulfing the beast’s fangs vanished instantly as Alex’s mist-like body devoured the attack, his form glowing slightly brighter.

Before the beast could process what had happened—

SLASH!

A streak of wind cut cleanly through its neck, sending its head rolling before disintegrating into mana.

Wind Slash.

No time to breathe. Dozens more came at him from all sides.

Alex thrust his hand out. “Flashbang.”

BOOM!

A blinding explosion of white light engulfed the battlefield, sending several beasts stumbling, their roars filled with confusion.

Alex was already moving again.

His sword, Verathian, pulsed as he swung it in an arc—

“Mana Discharge.”

A wave of raw energy erupted outward, blasting through the frontlines and tearing through flesh and armor alike.

A shadow loomed overhead.

One of the behemoths—a monstrous, gorilla-like creature with molten veins running through its body—was mid-air, its fists crashing down like meteorites.

Alex didn’t flinch.

“Temporal Acceleration.”

The world slowed around him.

He took a single step back, narrowly dodging the monstrous fists that cratered the ground where he had stood.

Then—

“Thunderbolt.”

CRACK!

A blinding spear of lightning burst from his fingertips, striking the behemoth’s skull. Its body spasmed violently as the sheer voltage fried its insides.

But it wasn’t enough.

“Vein Slash.”

A brutal slash of compressed energy followed, severing its head from its shoulders. The beast collapsed, lifeless.

But the next wave was already approaching. Dozens of drakes circled in the sky, their bellies glowing as they inhaled deeply.

‘Coordinated fire attacks. Annoying.’

“Flashbang.”

Under the cover of another flashbang, Alex used his only stealth skill. “Darkness Veil.”

His body shimmered, becoming nearly invisible as the fire-breathing beasts lost their visual lock on him.

Then, he struck.

Space Shift.

He vanished from the ground, reappearing in the sky above them.

The drakes barely had time to react.

“Water Cannon.”

A concentrated torrent of pressurized water erupted from his palm, slamming into the nearest drake and sending it spiraling into the lava below, where it screamed as it was consumed.

The others roared, spinning mid-air to face him—

“Death Gaze.”

For a moment, the battlefield fell silent.

The drakes froze mid-flight, their minds overwhelmed by the sheer force of Alex’s presence. Some shuddered, some twitched, but all were momentarily stunned.

And that was all he needed.

“Ice Formation.”

The very air around him plummeted in temperature. Massive ice spikes erupted from below, skewering the helpless creatures before they realized what had happened.

Some, who had stronger willpower, were still alive, as Death Gaze only worked on those who had weaker willpower than Alex or were considerably weaker than him.

But he didn’t give them much time to realize their situation and regroup.

Fireballs, thunderbolts, water cannons, ice spikes, and green veins appeared around him, their numbers reaching more than a hundred before he raised his hand.

“Go,” he said as his hand came down, and those words became the last words the remaining beast could hear before they died under the series of attacks.

As soon as those attacks settled down, the result became apparent.

Hundreds of corpses remained littered on the battlefield, their mana slowly dissipating into the sky.

The surroundings cracked and sizzled, showing the remnants of the battle, and it was then that Alex received another notification from the system.

[You have earned 20,000 points for clearing the fourth floor.]

[The first wave has been cleared.]

[The next mission will continue without a pause.]

[The fifth-floor mission: Clear the second and final wave.]

Alex blinked at the notification.

‘No break?’ He wondered, raising a brow, but soon exhaled, his mist-like form swirling instead of getting released.

He wanted to relax for a bit, but he knew that it wouldn’t be possible, especially when he could already feel it—the incoming wave.

RRRUUUUMBLE!

The ground beneath him cracked violently.

The sky itself seemed to split apart. The air grew dense with a malevolent pressure.

The second wave had begun.

From the cracks in the ground, an endless tide of beasts began pouring out.

They were different. Bigger. Faster. More intelligent. Their levels were near the peak of the star-connection realm.

Hundreds—no, way more than that—of them, all rushing toward him in a tide of pure destruction.

Alex clenched his fists. The astral mist surrounding him grew darker, his blue eyes gleaming with intensity.

“This… might actually be dangerous.”

Realizing that the difficulty had been raised by a lot, he raised his hands to the heavens—

“Gravity Multiplier.”

BOOOOM!

An invisible force exploded outward. The charging beasts suddenly stilled as gravity quintupled around them, crushing many outright.

Some resisted, muscles straining, but Alex wasn’t done.

He pointed Verathian toward the sky.

“Weight Multiplier.”

The very air became oppressive. Their own bodies turned against them, doubling and tripling in weight, making even movement a struggle.

Alex stepped forward, the mist around him pulsing with raw power.

His sword gleamed, lightning coiling around the blade.

He smirked.

“Let’s end this.”

And then—

He vanished into the storm of battle.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep