Chapter 642: Disaster Suppression Fist

Lian lowered his hand.

"Good, with much less energy than I would’ve needed to break that defense directly."

At that moment, the sound of breaking stone came from the direction of the main crack.

He turned his head, part of the stone wall moved outward, and then a huge hand appeared from the darkness.

Thick fingers covered in structures that looked like metal and stone grabbed the edge of the crack, and a few moments later, a creature nearly six meters tall climbed up from the depths.

Its body was covered in several layers of natural armor, dark streams of mana moved between those layers, and every heavy step it took crushed the stones beneath its feet.

Its information window appeared.

[Race: The Withered]

[Rank: Mutated]

[Level: 48]

Rindo immediately tightened his grip on his spear, a Level 48 monster!

This was no longer a joke, this was a monster that could even be a threat to a small base in the Ruined Realm.

And now one of them had appeared in front of two students.

"Lian, that one—"

"I see it."

The young Vorhelm answered calmly.

The huge Withered looked around.

Several bodies were lying on the ground, and a large part of the battlefield was covered in ice.

The creature let out a deep roar and then fixed its gaze on him.

For a moment, the streams of mana around its armor became brighter, as if it was strengthening its defense to face the enemy.

Lian noticed this change.

Hmm.

He could defeat this creature with a few normal punches as well.

But since obtaining one of his recent skills, he had not yet found a good chance to test its effect in a real battle.

And now, a relatively tough target was standing in front of him, he slowly clenched his right fist.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

Mana slowly gathered around his fist.

But unlike skills that released energy into the surroundings, this time, the power was focused in a compressed structure along his fist and arm.

Rindo, who was standing a few meters away, felt the change in mana pressure.

He raised his head without thinking.

What kind of skill is this?

The energy around Lian’s fist was extremely dense, not in a messy way, but with such precise control that most of the power remained in the same place until the moment of impact.

Meanwhile, the huge Withered charged toward Lian with a loud roar, every step crushed the rocky ground beneath it, and the creature raised its right arm.

An arm as thick as a tree trunk, covered in several layers of natural armor...then it brought it down with all its strength.

The young Vorhelm took one step forward, just one step, and threw his fist.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

BOOOOOOM!

At the moment of impact, a heavy sound filled the battlefield. The layers of armor on the creature’s arm cracked at the same time.

The mana streams moving inside them to strengthen its defense broke apart under the huge pressure of the strike.

But his fist did not stop.

The compressed force passed through the creature’s arm and spread along its shoulder and chest, for a fraction of a second, the Withered’s six-meter-tall body remained completely still.

Then...CRAAAACK!

Deep cracks appeared all across the armor on its chest.

The force of the strike came out through the creature’s back, and a wave of pressure destroyed a huge rock farther away.

The Withered’s body was thrown backward with terrifying force.

It flew several meters through the air and finally crashed into the stone wall of the crack.

BAAANG!

Part of the wall collapsed, and broken rocks fell onto the creature’s body, sending a cloud of dust across the battlefield.

For a few seconds, there was silence.

But Lian was still standing in the same place, he had not lost his balance or even been forced to move his back foot.

His right fist was still held in front of his body.

He looked at his hand for a moment.

"Hmm..."

He examined the small amount of mana still flowing around it.

Then he opened his fist.

"Not bad."

Rindo stared at him for a few seconds and then looked toward the collapsed wall.

"Not bad?"

"What?" He turned his head.

His friend remained silent for a moment and then sighed.

"Nothing. I just think our definitions of that phrase are a little different."

"Well, there’s still room for improvement." Lian gave a short laugh.

This time, Rindo decided not to answer.

Because he was completely sure that if Lian decided to strengthen that skill even more, the result would not be very pleasant for his future enemies.

That skill was already so powerful that it had knocked out a damn Level 48 monster in a single strike.

At that moment, several system messages appeared in front of Lian.

[EXP Gained]

[EXP Gained]

[Level Up!]

[Level: 30 → 31]

He looked at the system window for a moment.

Finally.

He had reached Level 31.

The EXP gained from his hunts over the past few days and today’s battle had finally been enough to increase his level.

Then he closed the window.

At that moment, one of the rescued Awakened carefully approached.

"...I really don’t know how to thank you."

"There’s no need, how many of you are injured?" Lian looked at the man.

"One of us has serious injuries to his legs, but the rest of us can still move."

"Then you’d better head back right now, the northern path is still open, but there’s no telling how long it’ll stay that way."

Rindo also approached.

"I’ll report your location to the base, if you follow this path, you should be able to reach one of the outer positions."

The man nodded.

"Understood."

After that, the four Awakened slowly left the area.

Lian and Rindo watched their positions until they were sure they had moved away from the dangerous area.

Then they started moving toward the center again, in the afternoon, the sky was still bright with the golden light of the Hollow Sun.

But the land beneath it no longer looked much like it had on the first day.

More trees had been pulled out of the ground, and some of the old paths now ended at deep cracks.

They were passing beside one of these cracks when a weak voice caught their attention.

"D-don’t... come... closer..."

Rindo immediately prepared his spear.

Lian turned his gaze toward the voice.

A little farther away, beside the huge roots of a broken tree, one of the Withered was sitting, the creature was nearly two and a half meters tall.

Its body was thin and covered in white, cracked skin, and one of its eyes was completely gone.

But unlike many of the other Withered, its face still had a somewhat normal shape.

An information window appeared.

[Race: The Withered]

[Rank: Mutated]

[Level: 38]

When the creature saw them, it tried to move backward, but its body was strangely resisting.

Its long hands pressed against the ground, and its legs turned toward the center, in the opposite direction of where it was trying to move.

"D-don’t... come..."

"You can speak?" Lian took a few steps forward.

The Withered raised its head with difficulty, for a moment, its remaining eye socket stayed fixed on him.

"S-still..."

Rindo looked at his friend for a moment.

"This one’s more aware than the others."

Lian nodded, he had noticed the same thing.

"Why are all of you moving toward the center?"

The creature said nothing for several seconds and then looked down at its own legs, wrapping its long fingers around one of them.

"I... don’t... want to..."

"Don’t want to what?" The young Vorhelm narrowed his eyes.

"Go... back..." The Withered answered with difficulty.

"Where?"

The creature began to shake, for a moment, it opened its mouth, but no sound came out, and then it said with difficulty.

"The... center..."

Lian glanced into the distance, the center of this land.

"What’s there?"