The serpent warriors stood stunned for a moment, clearly taken aback by what they had just witnessed.
The human in front of them had single-handedly taken down four of their comrades with a single attack, or rather, with just a single throw of his sword.
Their surprise quickly turned into rage.
Their predatory instincts took over, and without hesitation, they all rushed towards Michael. Their jaws snapped open as they lunged at him, while their spears swung through the air from every direction.
Three serpent warriors aimed their spears directly at Michael.
Without hesitation, Michael spun around and swung his sword in one clean slash.
CLANG!
His blade collided with the three spears at once, and the force of the impact drove the serpent warriors several steps backward.
But unlike the jackals he had fought before, the force behind his attack was not nearly as overwhelming, perhaps because they were just D-tier beasts.
Michael’s eyes narrowed as he held his sword tightly in hand.
It seemed that there was a dimension in rankings between the beasts of the abyss. The Serpent warriors were considerably stronger than the jackals being just one tier above them, but unlike the Abyssal Jackals whose bodies imploded by his might, his attacks merely pushed them back.
Even the four Serpent Warriors he killed moments ago died by just having their hearts penetrated by his sword.
’I have to be smart about this.’
As the serpent warriors rushed toward him, Michael immediately pivoted on his foot, narrowly dodging a spear that swept past his body.
Despite their strength, speed and resilience, Michael was still physically superior to them. His speed, strength, and agility were far beyond that of the serpent warriors.
He used that advantage to move seamless between their attacks, slipping past spears and claws with precise movements.
Every opening was met with a deadly counter.
Michael stabbed and slashed at their vital points with perfect accuracy, striking one serpent warrior after another.
Then he rotated his body in one powerful spin, like Eric did earlier, and as he came to a stop, several of them had fallen to the ground, and their heads rolled off their heads.
[Serpent Warriors Slain: 13/100]
"D—Damn..." Eric whispered as they watched him take down the Serpent Warriors with minimal effort.
Alexia shook her head, trying to rid herself of the amusement she felt whenever she watched Michael take down another serpent warrior.
She quickly turned her attention toward the rest of her team and raised her voice.
"Come on!" She ordered, her voice echoing through the battlefield. "We have to help him, even he won’t be able to handle such numbers if they surround him completely."
With a nod of agreement, the entire team sprang into action to help him.
Eric immediately slammed both hands into the ground. With the number of beasts there was, and their relatively high rank, he couldn’t afford to engage them at close range, not with his fighting skills at least.
Unlike Michael, who could weave through the beasts with ease, Eric knew better than to take such a risk.
He needed to keep his distance.
"Earth Nature Art: Mobile Core!" As Eric screamed, a vertical crack suddenly appeared beneath his hands, racing across the ground toward the serpent warriors.
As it reached them, the crack split in several directions, forming a wide circle around the beasts.
The ground beneath the serpent warriors began to tremble, then, without warning, the ground the serpent warriors stood on started descending.
It sank lower and lower, dragging the beasts down with it until the earth had dropped nearly seven feet below the surrounding ground.
"Nice, Eric!" With a strong foothold, Alexia leaped into the air, rising above the crater.
As she reached the opening, she extended both hands downward, aiming them toward the depths of the newly formed crater.
"Elemental Nature Art: Rising Dragon!" A bright and powerful flame burst from Alexia’s hands, blazing brightly as it descended toward the crater below.
As the flames traveled downward, they twisted and gathered together, taking the shape of a massive dragon’s head with its jaws wide open and its sharp fangs exposed.
Then the fiery dragon head crashed into the crater.
BOOM!
A powerful explosion erupted from within, sending flames and smoke surging upward. When the smoke cleared, every serpent warrior trapped inside the crater had been wiped out.
Michael glanced back for a moment, and genuinely? He was shocked. Not just from the skill Alexia used, but from the one Eric used too.
They were both skills worthy of being called A-rank and B-rank skills.
It was Alexia.
What caught his attention wasn’t simply the power of her flames, but the fact that she had used more than one elemental origin.
By default, every Evolver possessed only a single origin, just one.
Eric, for example, possessed the Elemental Origin of Earth.
But Alexia had already demonstrated the ability to use wind origin, and now flames as well.
That could only mean one thing.
She possessed more than one elemental origin.
A Dual Origin.
It was truly an incredibly rare phenomenon.
As he was distracted, a serpent warrior swung its spear down at Michael.
He quickly twisted his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike, but the spearhead grazed past him.
"Tsk!" His arm flinched a bit in pain, then in one smooth motion, he immediately pivoted his foot to face the serpent warrior and swung his sword.
The blade flashed through the air and sliced cleanly through the serpent warrior’s neck, severing its head from its body, and the beast’s head fell to the ground, followed by its lifeless body.
[Serpent Warriors Slain: 40/100]
"Don’t worry! I’ve got you!" Natalie rushed towards Michael as soon as she noticed his injury.
She quickly raised both hands and placed them over the wound, then an emerald-green light began to shine from her palms, bathing the injured area in a soft glow.
Slowly, the wound began to close.
The torn flesh gradually knitted itself back together until the injury was completely healed.
"Thanks, I guess I got carried awa-" Michael’s heightened senses suddenly kicked in, and his eyes widened to their limits.
Without a second thought, he grabbed Natalie by the arm and yanked her aside to the ground.
At that exact moment, a sizzling ball of purple flame flashed past them, missing them by mere inches.
The attack struck a serpent warrior that attempted to strike them from behind, sending the beast crashing backward.
The serpent warrior let out a piercing shriek as its claws tightened into fists.
Veins bulged across several parts of its body as it struggled against the searing purple flames.
Then, almost immediately, it’s body disappeared, leaving behind nothing, not even it’s ashes.
"N—No way... Was that...?" Natalie’s eyes wavered in disbelief, and Michael stood slowly to his feet as he glanced at the grounds of the serpent warrior demise.
"Flames that doesn’t just burn the body, but incinerates it completely on contact. Even if this is the first level, I don’t think there are so many creatures who could do that."
He chuckled softly, then his expression died completely. "After watching your comrades die one by one, you have finally decided to join the fight?" He muttered under his breath as he glanced over his shoulder.
He knew the sensation that crept over all too well, after all, it was the same sensation he felt the moment the Abyssal Tyrant appeared before him.
Then, the earth suddenly began to tremble, a heavy footstep echoed through the battlefield, each one louder than the last.
The footsteps drew closer and closer until the entire ground shook beneath their feet.
Every fight ceased as the serpent warriors raised their spears, seemingly jubilant at the arrival of whatever giant just appeared.
The rest of the team turned towards Michael, and their attention shifted beyond him with most of their mouth’s wide open.
Then, a towering figure emerged from the distance.
It looked similar to the serpent warriors, but it was at least ten times larger. Its body was covered in dark purple scales, and it carried a massive trident in one hand.
Unlike the others, a long fin extended from the top of its head, running all the way down its back and continuing to the very end of its tail, a purple flames sizzled at the corner of it’s mouth.
[The boss of the first trial has appeared!]
[A-tier Beast, king of the serpent Warriors — Naga]
Eric chuckled in pure disbelief as he fell to his knees. His body trembling as he stared at the boss of the First level, unable to believe what stood before him.
"You’ve got to be kidding me..." The flames flickering around Alexia’s hands slowly faded away as she lowered them.
She stared at the boss of the First Trial, her eyes filled with fear and shock, unable to move as her body trembled slightly.
"Out of everywhere within the first trial to emerge, you’re telling it showed up here?" Ronan said as the spatial portal behind him closed, his eyes focused on Naga.
The reason was simple.
The boss of the First Trial and its subordinates were creatures born solely of the Abyss. Unlike the creatures they had faced before, such as the Abyssal Jackals, which were just influenced and changed by the Abyss, these creatures were different.
They were born from it.
They were bred within it.
Their bodies and very existence were shaped by the Abyss itself, giving them power far beyond anything the trial participants had ever encountered.
That was also one of the reasons why Michael’s enhanced strength, even after awakening his SSS-rank talent, could barely do anything against them. His attacks were no more effective than a simple scratch against their bodies.
Naga opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp fangs laced with a very deadly venom, the sizzling purple flames began to leak from the corners of its mouth, and it intensified, growing brighter and hotter with each passing second.
Michael’s eyes widened instantly as he sensed the danger, he immediately grabbed Natalie by her hand and started racing towards the others. "Ronan! Quick!"
"I know!" Ronan joined his palms together in a sharp clap, he didn’t anyone to tell him what came next. It was a sensation that almost everyone in the first trial had faced before, the creeping feeling that none could withstand, and trembled under it’s weight as it got closer.
Death.
Naga opened its mouth wide as a Spatial portal materialized behind Ronan. A sizzling ball of purple flame began forming in front of its mouth, growing larger with every passing second.
The serpent warriors immediately began slithering sluggishly toward Naga as they saw it, taking cover behind its massive body.
They already knew what was coming next.
Then, Naga launched the sizzling ball of purple flames at high speeds.
"Shit!" With a slight grunt, Michael contracted his leg muscles and shot forward. He tackled the three remaining members of his team and knocked them into the portal with Natalie’s hand interlocked with his as the blazing sphere rapidly closed the distance.
Then it struck the ground beside the portal, and the purple ball of flame exploded, releasing a massive wave of energy that spread in every direction. The force even seeped into the portal, shaking its edges.
Most of the serpent warriors that were too slow to hide behind Naga were caught in the blast. The energy engulfed their bodies, burning them and incinerating their physical bodies instantly before the explosion tore through the ground and left behind a massive crater.
The portal opened not far away from the crater, and the team fell out of it and to the ground.
But just as they landed, the wave of energy that had seeped into the portal suddenly burst out behind them, and the trees caught in it were instantly engulfed in purple flames, burning to ashes as the team stared in shock.
Michael got up immediately to his feet and turned to face Naga who let out a deafening after displaying it’s power.
The numbers of the Serpent Warriors had dwindled to just 50 after most of them were incinerated in the last explosion.
[Several enemies slain: 40/100]
"Damn it!" Michael dashed towards the serpent warriors immediately, if Naga tried releasing another one of those flames, they’ll all die.
"No! Michael! Alexia shouted to him. "Not even you can take it head on and hope to win!" At that moment, the only option they had was to retreat and return to hiding till the time had elapsed.
But not for Michael, there was no running. ’I can’t lose.’ He tightened his grip on his sword as he ran.
’If I die here... My vengeance will too, I can’t die, not here!’
As he closed the distance between him and the serpent warriors, Naga opened its mouth and fired several sizzling balls of purple flame at him.
They were smaller than the one from before, but they were still deadly. Thanks to his enhanced physical attributes, Michael managed to dodge most of them, narrowly escaping each blast.
Then one struck the ground close to his feet.
The impact released a powerful shockwave that knocked Michael off balance and threw his sword away from him before he tumbled several meters forward.
"Tsk..." As he raised his head, his eyes widened.
Five Serpent Warriors stood above him, their spears raised high as they descended toward him all at once, and there was no time to dodge it.
"Shit!"
Michael instinctively stretched his hand forward as Nature Energy surged through his arm and gathered in his palm. Then, a swirling ball of dark energy quickly materialized in his hand.
In the next instant, it shot forward at incredible speed, meeting the descending spears head-on.
The sphere of dark energy shattered the spears to pieces, then struck the five Serpent Warriors and launched them high into the sky, and shrank before disappearing completely.
For a moment, everything fell silent, and the serpent warriors descended slowly.
Then.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion erupted in the sky, and shook the abyss, spreading several meters in every direction and leaving nothing but darkness behind.
[You have activated the class skill (1st Genesis)]
[Enemies slain: 45/100]