Chapter 76: Unyielding Bulwark!

With every wave, the number of attacks increased. So did their power. Soon, the attacks had reached the level of level 5 and level 6 elite monsters.

Yet Silas remained like an immovable mountain. His tower shield swept from side to side, intercepting attack after attack.

The few projectiles that slipped through were absorbed by his Tough Combat Suit or endured through his naturally powerful constitution.

His health barely moved. But the trial had only just begun.

The fourth wave came, the fifth, then the sixth. The attacks became faster, more numerous and more destructive.

The seventh wave descended with the overwhelming power of a level 7 elite monster’s full-force attack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Silas’s arms shook violently beneath the barrage.

The eighth wave came immediately afterward. This time, different attributes were mixed together.

Flames, frost, lightning, corrosive poison, and compressed arcane energy intertwined into several enormous beams that tore across the platform.

Silas’s expression finally changed. The pressure had become tangible. His arms had gone numb from the constant impacts. Faint scorch marks spread across the surface of his tower shield, while his health steadily declined.

Sweat soaked through his clothes. His breathing became heavier.

Yet he refused to retreat.

One step. He only needed to take one step back, and the core behind him would become exposed.

Silas tightened his grip around the shield. His legs trembled. His muscles screamed. But he remained where he was.

At the edge of the platform, Aiden watched silently.

Then his voice rang out. "Steady."

Silas’s eyes sharpened.

"Feel your class."

Another beam crashed against his shield.

"Feel your will."

Boom!

Silas gritted his teeth.

Aiden’s voice remained calm, cutting through the chaos like an anchor in a raging storm.

"Remember, you’re not protecting a crystal."

Silas’s pupils contracted as Aiden voice came once again...

"You’re protecting your belief."

Another impact.

"Your promise."

Something inside Silas trembled.

Then—

ROAR!!!

Silas suddenly released a thunderous roar. The earthy-yellow light surrounding his body erupted.

It wasn’t the faint glow he had produced before. It was stronger, denser and almost tangible.

The power of his Unyielding Battle Body surged through every part of his body and flowed into his tower shield.

For the first time, Silas wasn’t merely using his class. He was channeling it. He was connecting his body, his shield, and his will into a single entity.

"Come!"

The next wave descended.

BANG! BANG! BOOM!

Energy impacts crashed into his shield like an endless storm and brilliant halos of destructive energy erupted with every collision.

Yet Silas stood firm. His feet dug into the platform as though they had taken root. He didn’t retreat, not even a single step.

His bones vibrated violently beneath the pressure. His muscles felt as though they were being torn apart. Every cell in his body screamed for him to collapse.

But beneath all that pain, something else was awakening. A scorching force surged from the deepest part of his soul.

It grew stronger with every impact. Stronger with every moment he refused to fall.

Then—

[Unyielding Battle Body proficiency increased!]

[Unyielding Battle Body proficiency increased!]

[Unyielding Battle Body proficiency increased!]

Silas’s eyes widened as the prompts continued to appear in his mind.

Then came a different notification.

[High compatibility with the user’s will detected.]

[Class characteristic awakening initiated...]

Silas’s breathing stopped for a moment. Something invisible spread outward from his body.

It wasn’t a shield..It wasn’t armor. It was something deeper. A tough, invisible force field began to envelop his entire body.

The energy impacts that had previously struck him with their full force suddenly weakened upon entering the field.

They were all weakened to half their original power, then they got weakened even more.

Silas could feel the difference. His defense wasn’t simply increasing on a numerical level.

His entire existence seemed to be becoming harder to break. The ninth wave arrived. The space trembled.

A single torrent of energy emerged from the distance.

It was enormous. A concentrated stream of destructive power comparable to the full strength of a level 8 boss.

It surged toward Silas like the breath of an enraged dragon.

Silas’s pupils shrank. His hands tightened around the shield until his knuckles turned white.

The earthy-yellow radiance surrounding his body condensed rapidly.

Thicker. Denser. Stronger. Then, within that earthy-yellow glow, a faint hint of dark gold appeared.

Silas’s eyes burned with determination. "Give me..."

His muscles bulged.

"...BLOCK IT!!!"

ROAR!!!

His voice shook the entire space. He planted both feet firmly against the platform and raised the tower shield directly before him.

The energy torrent arrived.

Boom—!!!

The destructive force collided head-on with the shield.

For a split second, everything fell silent.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!!!

Blinding light erupted across the entire platform, swallowing Silas, the shield, and everything around them.

The blinding light slowly dissipated but Silas was still standing.

His tower shield was covered in charred marks, its surface smoking faintly from the impact. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his health points had fallen dangerously close to the critical threshold.

Yet behind him, the core crystal remained completely intact.

He had succeeded!

[Guardian’s Trial completed!]

[Rating: Excellent!]

[Reward: Large amount of experience points!]

[Unyielding Battle Body proficiency greatly increased!]

[New characteristic awakened: [Unyielding Bulwark]!]

[Unyielding Bulwark (Passive): When health points fall below 30%, automatically generates a shield equivalent to 15% of maximum health points and significantly increases damage reduction for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.]

The moment the final notification appeared, a surge of power poured into Silas’s exhausted body like a sweet spring.

His wounds rapidly began to heal. The pain faded. His battered muscles recovered.

Even his depleted strength gradually returned. But the changes went far beyond simple recovery.

Silas could feel it. Something within him had fundamentally changed. His defensive ability had undergone a qualitative transformation.

The newly awakened [Unyielding Bulwark] was more than just another skill. In a battle where his health fell into the danger zone, it could give him the precious seconds needed to survive an otherwise fatal attack.

It was a genuine trump card. Silas leaned heavily against his tower shield, breathing hard.

His entire body was exhausted, yet an unprecedented excitement burned in his eyes.

He had done it. He had broken through his bottleneck.

The class he had once believed to be little more than a means of making himself tougher had finally revealed its true potential.