Chapter 2348: Breakthrough

While the other side of the battlefield was reaching a crucial stage of the raid, Shin and Emperor Dream were facing an entirely different level of challenge.

After steadily whittling down the Heavenly Dominator’s remaining Health, the two had finally managed to bring its Health Bar down to the 25% mark, reaching another major milestone.

Throughout their exchanges, the two had worked together to inflict as much damage as possible while avoiding the deadly and destructive attacks unleashed by the Heavenly Dominator.

Through their combined efforts, they had finally managed to reduce the Semi-World Boss’s multilayered Health Bar to just a quarter of its total.

However, despite achieving this feat, both Shin and Emperor Dream could feel an immense pressure emanating from the Heavenly Dominator. It was considerably more oppressive than anything they had experienced from the monster boss before.

This wasn’t the kind of pressure that manifested physically, capable of crushing anyone who stood against it.

Rather, it was the instinctive sense of danger one felt when facing an overwhelmingly powerful opponent—something akin to standing before an apex predator.

Shin and Emperor Dream immediately understood that the Heavenly Dominator was most likely entering another phase, which could very well be its final one.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Sensing the danger emanating from the Semi-World Boss, the two swiftly retreated.

Even as they moved away, neither took their eyes off the Heavenly Dominator. They continued watching it intently, waiting for the transformation to begin.

They had even expected the Semi-World Boss to unleash another thunderous roar capable of shaking the entire battlefield.

However, nothing of the sort happened.

Instead, the Heavenly Dominator suddenly became motionless. It stood completely still, resembling a gigantic statue frozen in the middle of the desert.

Shin furrowed his brows upon witnessing the strange sight, especially when every instinct in his body was screaming at him about the immense danger emanating from the monster boss.

Squinting his eyes, he carefully observed every minute change in the Heavenly Dominator’s appearance, remaining on guard for whatever might happen next.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

That was when he noticed multiple cracks appearing across the stone armor protecting the Heavenly Dominator. They rapidly spread throughout its gigantic body, branching out like a network of fractures.

Shin’s brows furrowed even deeper upon recognizing the familiar sight.

It was exactly what had happened when the Heavenly Dominator deliberately shattered its own body to summon the Trinity Apes from its broken parts.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Before long, different parts of the Heavenly Dominator began exploding one after another, breaking its gigantic body apart piece by piece.

Its limbs separated from its torso before crashing onto the desert floor, kicking up enormous amounts of sand and forming thick clouds of dust.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The deafening impacts of the massive stone fragments reverberated throughout the battlefield.

With each successive explosion, the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive.

Shin couldn’t shake the feeling that a terrifying beast was lurking within the cloud of dust, patiently stalking its prey from the darkness.

Moments later, the thick cloud of dust began to recede, gradually revealing a hazy silhouette within.

However, unlike the enormous figure of the Heavenly Dominator that Shin was expecting, the silhouette emerging from the dust appeared to be humanoid.

It was even slightly taller than Shin himself.

"Huh?"

Shin couldn’t help but furrow his brows even deeper at the sight, particularly when he sensed the terrifying presence emanating from that silhouette.

It was far more overwhelming than anything he had felt from the Heavenly Dominator, even when the monster boss had still possessed its original titanic form.

A while later, Shin finally got a clear look at the true appearance of the humanoid silhouette.

It was the Heavenly Dominator, but in an entirely different form.

Its appearance had undergone a complete transformation.

The rough, earthen features that had once defined its body had completely disappeared, replaced by a thick coat of coarse, grayish-brown fur covering its powerful frame.

Its formerly rocky hide had given way to actual flesh, revealing a more refined yet considerably more intimidating simian physique. Its face had also taken on the distinct features of a great ape, with a pronounced brow, a broad muzzle, and a thick mane of fur framing its stern countenance.

Its muscular body was now clad in elaborate, ancient-looking armor adorned with intricate golden ornaments and elaborate engravings. Every piece appeared meticulously crafted, from the ornate shoulder guards and protective armguards to the layered armor covering its waist and legs.

The massive cudgel in its grasp, equally adorned with intricate golden embellishments, further accentuated its imposing presence.

Rather than resembling a creature born from this plane, the Heavenly Dominator now looked like an ancient warrior king who had descended from the heavens.

Almost instinctively, Shin activated his True Sight Ocular Skill to inspect the basic information of the Semi-World Boss.

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[Monster Name]: Heavenly Dominator (Early Childhood)

[Monster Family]: Beast Family (Stone Ape Clan)

[Monster Rank]: Limit Emperor (Semi-World Boss)

[Life Rating]: Descendant of the First Stone Ape

???

???

???

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Skimming through the newly updated information panel, Shin immediately noticed several changes in the monster boss’s displayed information.

"I’m pretty sure it was labeled as Late Infanthood when I first inspected it," he mumbled as he examined the information. "Since its suffix has changed to Early Childhood, it clearly means that it has undergone another breakthrough."

"Its Peak Emperor Rank has also advanced to Limit Emperor, which is something I’ve never encountered before."

"Even its Monster Family has been added to its information. That means it has finally become a formal member of its clan."

"This guy must have undergone a massive transformation..." His tone grew increasingly heavy, especially when every instinct in his body was screaming at him to get as far away from this place as possible.

However, all of these changes were still minor concerns compared to the real problem at hand.

The fact that the Heavenly Dominator had transformed into a humanoid creature was clearly the most alarming development.

Throughout the battle, the Heavenly Dominator had demonstrated an insane growth rate, which was already one of its most terrifying aspects. Even its combat standards had gradually reached the level of Players and NPCs, despite being a Beast-Type Monster.

Now that it had assumed a humanoid form, its combat standards would undoubtedly advance even further, especially with its current physique.

Regardless of how much the Heavenly Dominator had improved its combat standards in its previous form, there had always been certain limitations holding it back.

After all, its original physique was simply unsuitable for executing advanced combat techniques or martial arts. Its innate physical characteristics imposed restrictions on the movements it could perform, preventing it from fully utilizing the techniques it had gradually learned.

Now, however, those restrictions should no longer exist.

With its current humanoid physique, the Heavenly Dominator should be capable of performing techniques that had previously been beyond its physical capabilities.

Moreover, humanoid creatures were the hardest to fight among all kinds of opponents that the Players could face within the game, regardless of whether they were NPCs or Monsters.

Realizing all of this, Shin could already imagine the kind of challenge awaiting him and Emperor Dream in the next phase of their battle.

...

The newly transformed Heavenly Dominator stood in the air, hovering above the desert just like Shin and Emperor Dream.

The two flanked the Semi-World Boss from opposite directions, cautiously bracing themselves for what was about to come.

They were still in their respective combat stance when the Heavenly Dominator finally made its move.

SWOOSH!

Emperor Dream’s eyes contracted when he suddenly saw the Heavenly Dominator standing before him, striking with its stone cudgel in a seemingly casual manner.

BOOM!

The air exploded as the stone cudgel struck down at him.

Emperor Dream did not have the time to dodge or execute a counterattack, barely activating one of his strongest lifesaving skills, which granted him immunity to all kinds of damage.

BOOM!

He was barely able to raise his sword to block when the strike sent him flying straight to the desert floor and buried him into the depths of the sand.

SHING!

Shin did not miss this opportunity and appeared behind the Heavenly Dominator, unsheathing the [Yamato] and striking forward.

’Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw (Void) – Flash Final (Dimensional Collapse)’

The surrounding space seemed to have contracted due to his strike, collapsing toward the tip of his sword, which was about to stab the exposed back of the Heavenly Dominator.

BOOOOOM!

Unfortunately, right before the collapsing space could even reach its target, an extremely sturdy shield made of earth suddenly materialized before it, withstanding the terrifying spatial attack.

The two sides clashed multiple times before all the momentum behind Shin’s attack was finally exhausted, letting the surrounding space repair itself.

Shin swiftly retreated upon seeing that his ambush had failed.

Unfortunately, right before he could even fully retrieve his sword, a stone cudgel suddenly appeared beside him and struck him with a terrifying force.

The speed of the attack was so fast that Shin almost lost track of it despite his terrifying senses and extreme reflexes.

Fortunately, the overlapping Phantoms stacked with his body added an extra layer of protection, which confused the senses of the opposing party.

’Phantom Series: Movement Technique – Phantom Shroud’

SWOOSH!

The stone cudgel phased through Shin’s body, only striking one of his phantoms.

Shin had already swapped places with one of the Phantoms within an extremely short distance, taking a ducking position and letting the stone cudgel fly past his head.

He was about to unleash yet another sword-draw when he sensed an intense threat coming from the Heavenly Dominator, forcing him to retreat instead.

BOOM!

Right after retreating, the space where he previously stood suddenly collapsed as the Heavenly Dominator struck its fist in that location.

Shin could not help but sweat a little upon seeing this scene. "That was close."

The simple exchange was more than enough to tell Shin that this Heavenly Dominator was completely different from the one that they had been fighting since the start of the raid.

......