Chapter 33: Guardian II

The moment Ryan gave the order, every summon moved.

The Spirit Wolf was the first to attack.

It shot forward like a streak of silver, biting into the Fallen Holy Knight’s leg and forcing it to stagger.

Before the knight could retaliate, the Spirit Serpent wrapped around its other leg and released a powerful dose of venom.

Blizzy followed immediately.

The Ice Spirit slammed its paws against the ground, sending waves of freezing energy across the battlefield.

Ice rapidly spread beneath the Fallen Holy Knight’s feet.

The Orc Shaman Chief raised its staff and unleashed a barrage of elemental attacks.

Fire, wind, earth, and lightning descended upon the knight from different directions.

The Black Water Wyvern attacked from above.

It opened its enormous jaws and released a torrent of dark water that crashed into the Floor Guardian with tremendous force.

The Fallen Holy Knight managed to break free from the ice and raised its sword.

However, the Death Knight was already in front of it.

The two knights clashed.

BOOM!

The Death Knight’s sword struck the Fallen Holy Knight and forced it backward.

Before it could recover, the Skeleton King appeared beside it and brought its greatsword down.

CRASH!

The Fallen Holy Knight was smashed into the ground.

The Skeleton Great Mage raised both hands.

Countless dark magical runes appeared in the air.

A storm of bone spears formed above the battlefield before raining down.

The Fallen Priest immediately followed with another spell, covering the area in a strange mixture of holy and dark energy.

The Vampire Baroness moved through the battlefield like a shadow, appearing behind the Fallen Holy Knight and striking whenever an opening appeared.

The Floor Guardian tried to fight back.

It swung its sword toward the Death Knight.

The Death Knight blocked.

It tried to attack the Skeleton King.

The Skeleton King blocked.

It attempted to escape toward Ryan.

The Spirit Wolf and Spirit Serpent immediately stopped it.

Every direction was blocked.

Every attack was countered.

Every attempt to create an opening was immediately punished by another summon.

The Fallen Holy Knight’s powerful abilities, which were supposed to make the Heroic Difficulty extremely dangerous, were completely overwhelmed by Ryan’s army of Level 100 summons.

Even at the highest difficulty, the battle had turned into a one-sided slaughter.

Ryan simply stood behind his summons with his greatsword resting on his shoulder.

He didn’t even need to move.

The Floor Guardian was completely surrounded.

Within moments, its pristine armor was once again covered in cracks.

Its sword was knocked from its hand.

And then the combined attacks of Ryan’s summons completely overwhelmed it.

The mighty Floor Guardian of the second floor had no chance to fight back.

The battle continued for several more moments.

The Fallen Holy Knight was completely overwhelmed by Ryan’s summons. Every attack it attempted was stopped, and every opening it created was immediately exploited.

Its health continued to fall.

Then, suddenly, a notification appeared.

[Floor Guardian’s health has fallen below 50%.]

Ryan looked at the message.

"Hmm?"

Before he could say anything else, the Fallen Holy Knight suddenly stopped moving.

A powerful shockwave exploded from its body.

BOOM!

The force pushed several of Ryan’s summons backward.

Dark energy erupted from the Fallen Holy Knight and spread across the entire battlefield.

Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"So this is the second phase?"

The knight’s body began to change.

Its armor started cracking and breaking apart as its body grew larger.

Its arms and legs became longer, while sharp claws extended from its fingers.

The armor covering its legs split apart, revealing powerful beast-like limbs underneath.

Its helmet suddenly cracked.

Something began pushing outward from beneath it.

The face of the knight twisted and changed as a monstrous mouth emerged from beneath the broken helmet.

Jagged teeth filled the enormous mouth.

The rest of its armor shattered completely, revealing a body covered in dark, rough skin.

Its spine extended, and a long tail grew from its back.

The transformation continued for several seconds.

The once-human appearance of the Fallen Holy Knight disappeared completely.

Standing before Ryan was no longer a knight.

It had become a massive fallen beast.

Its claws dug into the ground as it lowered its body and stared at Ryan’s summons with blood-red eyes.

A deep growl echoed through the hall.

Ryan looked at the creature calmly.

"It’s really ugly."

The Fallen Beast suddenly opened its enormous mouth and roared.

ROOOAR!

The sound shook the entire hall.

Ryan’s summons immediately turned toward it.

The Fallen Beast lowered its body and prepared to charge.

Ryan tightened his grip on the greatsword resting on his shoulder.

"Don’t let your guard down. It’s stronger now."

The summons nodded and prepared for the next attack.

The Fallen Beast suddenly disappeared from its position.

A moment later, it appeared directly in front of the Death Knight.

Its massive claws swung downward with tremendous force.

The Death Knight raised its sword to block.

BOOM!

The impact sent the Death Knight sliding several meters across the ground.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Looks like its strength increased quite a bit."

The Fallen Beast immediately turned toward the other summons.

The Fallen Beast turned toward the other summons, but before they could react, it suddenly changed direction.

Its body blurred.

Instead of attacking the summons, it rushed directly toward Ryan.

Ryan immediately understood what it was trying to do.

’It figured out that I’m the one controlling them.’

The Fallen Beast clearly intended to eliminate him first. If Ryan died, his summons would disappear with him, leaving the creature with a much easier fight.

The beast crossed the distance in an instant.

Its claws came toward Ryan from one side while its tail swung toward him from the opposite direction, attempting to attack him from two directions at once.

Ryan remained calm.

He quickly raised his greatsword and blocked the claws.

CLANG!

The impact forced Ryan to take a step back, but he remained standing.

At the same time, the Fallen Beast’s tail came toward his back.

Ryan turned his body and swung his sword.

BOOM!

The greatsword struck the tail and knocked it away before it could reach him.

The Fallen Beast immediately followed with another attack.