Chapter 216 – Demon Mountain

“Beep beep beep—”

A shuttle hovered over the quarry at the edge of the battlefield.

Inside the makeshift combat command center, the air was thick with palpable tension.

Numerous people dressed in Yellow Bear uniforms scurried about, while a group gathered in one corner, engaged in intense discussions, occasionally punctuated by the sound of fists hitting the table.

The grating sound of alarms had been constant, intensifying the anxiety of everyone inside the shuttle.

A man in his forties, with prominent features and clad in a Red Bear uniform, stood among the crowd.

His thick eyebrows were furrowed like broadswords, his tiger-like eyes fixed on the battlefield images before him. His face was taut as he listened to reports and advice from those around him while issuing rapid-fire commands.

Suddenly.

“Boom!”

The entire shuttle shuddered violently, the ground swayed, and the piercing alarms melded into a continuous wail.

A brief, low murmur echoed through the cabin as everyone staggered, their steps halting.

The cabin fell silent.

But the atmosphere turned oppressively heavy.

The shuttle stabilized, deep red warning lights swirling and flashing.

After a few breaths, a low voice broke the silence.

“Report the situation.”

A strained response followed.

“All combat Mechanical Bodies have been destroyed. The Mecha combat squad has sustained over forty percent casualties and has retreated. The overall defense system’s integrity is down to only eight percent… Estimated time left for resistance… less than two minutes!”

“Hiss—”

A soft intake of breath.

The face of the man with thick eyebrows, known as the Red Bear, twitched slightly. He was silent for several seconds before slowly speaking, “What about Lord Golden Bear? Has Lord Golden Bear arrived?”

A voice tinged with excitement quickly responded, “Peregrine Falcon has sent word confirming that Lord Golden Bear has arrived at the battlefield.”

“!”

The news rejuvenated everyone in the shuttle, as if they had suddenly found their backbone.

The Red Bear swiftly moved to the side of the reporter and asked urgently, “Can we contact the Lord?”

“We are attempting to connect… connection established!”

“Swish-“

A light screen flickered on, filled with the sound of intense wind in the background.

Then a calm voice came through the communication channel.

“What is it?”

The face of the man known as the Red Bear lit up with joy. “Lord, we are currently…”

“I know. I can see it.”

The calm voice interrupted him without reservation.

The Red Bear blinked, carefully asking, “Lord, where are you now?”

This time, the voice responded nonchalantly.

“Look up.”

Everyone in the shuttle cabin instinctively looked up.

The shuttle’s ceiling switched to a simulated, unobstructed external view.

A clear blue sky appeared above them, and in their view, a faintly glowing black dot was rapidly approaching.

The screen zoomed in automatically.

When the image fully resolved, showing the black dot’s appearance.

Everyone in the cabin collectively widened their eyes, their faces frozen in shock.

The Red Bear stared at the rapidly descending figure, his expression awestruck, muttering, “As expected… the Golden Bear Level…”

….

“Boom! Boom!”

The distant battlefield echoed with the sounds of intense combat.

Members of the Sleepless organization used advanced technology to conceal themselves, standing at the outskirts of the battlefield, watching the scene unfold with varied expressions.

Not a single person in the group spoke.

Despite having faced that terrifying monster once before, the current spectacle still left them deeply shaken.

“Is this the true power of a Level SS evil deity emissary? It’s terrifying… luckily, we didn’t try to take the ‘key’ last time.”

“The base that Yellow Bear painstakingly set up is almost completely destroyed, and they still stubbornly refuse to give up the ‘key.’ How persistent…”

Someone made a slight mocking comment.

But it was quickly countered by another.

“It looks like they’re stalling for time, waiting for someone to truly save the day…”

The blond man, leading the group, was in the middle of responding when his eyes flashed quickly, and he uttered a brief command.

“They’re here!”

Everyone else noticed as well.

In the sky, a shadow emitting a faint glow of fire was plummeting rapidly.

Before they could fully grasp what it was, the figure had already crashed heavily onto the battlefield.

“Boom-“

A deafening crash resonated.

The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly, and the leaves of the surrounding trees rustled.

A small gray mushroom cloud rose into the sky, followed by a massive cloud of dust spreading out.

The tremendous impact force shattered half of the quarry’s ground, causing the surface around the point of impact to ripple like liquid before cracking apart.

A visible shockwave spread from the mushroom cloud’s epicenter, quickly dissipating, but still reaching the group of Sleepless, who could feel the sudden gust of wind.

Their expressions grew serious, and they stared unblinkingly at the center of the battlefield.

Finally.

As the dense dust settled, a huge crater appeared, and standing quietly within it was a figure that had descended like a meteor from the sky.

“Hmm?!”

When they saw who it was, the blond Sleepless furrowed his brow slightly.

He could clearly see the Golden Bear emblem on the left chest of the newcomer’s uniform.

“Just a Golden Bear?”

“After all this time, hasn’t the Yellow Bear collected enough data on the elephant deity emissary’s strength, only to send a Golden Bear Level?”

The blond Sleepless’s expression turned quirky.

Knowing the constitution of the Yellow Bear, the strength of a Golden Bear Level warrior wouldn’t surpass S+.

While still formidable, compared to a Level SS or higher elephant deity emissary…

The gap is not just a small one.

“Proud and arrogant Xia State people…”

The blond Sleepless quickly muttered, feeling a sense of relief.

The arrogance of the Xia State people would only increase their chances of obtaining the “key.”

After all, they had Fiery Fist Julian, a fellow Level SS, on their side.

The blond Sleepless didn’t notice that among their group, a beautiful woman with a high-powered telescope was observing the battlefield.

When she saw the Golden Bear’s appearance, her body involuntarily trembled slightly.

….

“This is the ‘Protagonist’ you mentioned?”

On the mountaintop, Julian glanced mockingly at the Handsome Young Man beside him and said, “A… Golden Bear Level?”

The Handsome Young Man looked at the scene with a peculiar expression and gestured for silence.

“Shh—quiet, I’m just as… surprised, okay? Golden Bear Level… how could it be a Golden Bear Level?”

“There are no traces of new martial arts or modifications, the estimated combat power fluctuates between S and S+. How are they supposed to fight? Isn’t this just sending them to their death?”

“No wonder that Lord insisted I make sure to keep an eye on things…”

The Handsome Young Man scratched his head and couldn’t help but sigh, “Old You, it looks like we’ll have to step in later…”

“Heh…”

Julian chuckled coldly.

….

Lu Yuan stood in the midst of the scene, his feet deeply embedded in the solid rock and soil.

At this moment, he stood 2.5 meters tall, with long hair cascading to his waist.

His muscles were knotted, his skin reddish, veins bulging, and under the deep blue Golden Bear Level protective suit, his body seemed as if it were cast from molten lava.

Behind him, a faintly visible, massive blood-colored Lotus Eye was on the verge of blooming…

He was like a blazing furnace, radiating waves of intense heat from head to toe.

“Whoo—whoo—”

Lu Yuan struggled to steady his breathing.

Having fallen from a height of a thousand meters, he had managed to slow his descent somewhat by using death energy to form wings.

Upon landing, he instantly activated the [Underworld Garment], combined with the shock-absorbing effect of the Golden Bear Level suit.

Even so, the tremendous recoil from the impact still jolted him significantly.

“Even with 20 constitution points after one limit break, it was barely enough…”

However, there were both pros and cons.

The recoil from the landing seemed to have accelerated the mysterious transformation his body was undergoing after breaking the limit in all four basic attributes.

After Lu Yuan activated the third rank of his Ultimate Transformation, his body could expand to 2.5 meters tall, closely related to this transformation.

“I wonder what changes will occur when the transformation is complete…”

As Lu Yuan pondered, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled.

His expression instantly turned serious, eyes narrowing as his mental power swiftly penetrated the ground.

In his “view,” Lu Yuan could clearly “see” a massive black shadow drilling up from the underground like a cannonball.

“The Ultimate Transformation from the sky nearly shattered my own body. To take such a hit and still be so vigorous?”

Lu Yuan’s heart was slightly shocked, and the next second, a furious expression appeared on his face.

He took a long, deep breath, as if drawing all the heat waves he had emitted back into his body.

His demon-like body tensed like a drawn bow, his right arm pulled back, and his chest puffed out high.

Dark red muscles bulged, with veins almost forming small balls.

“Rumble, rumble—”

The ground beneath him continued to shake. Just as the colossal black shadow was about to burst through the surface.

A surging wave of black death energy quickly erupted from Lu Yuan’s body and instantly gathered around his fully charged right fist…

“Boom!”

A pitch-black, oppressive, and grotesquely bizarre elephant head burst through the earth, screeching.

A malformed eye split open on its forehead like the mouthparts of some demonic creature, fringed with dense, saw-like teeth.

Simultaneously, a fierce, intense light flared in Lu Yuan’s eyes.

With a cold grunt, his right fist, completely enveloped in death energy, smashed down hard!

With his first limit break, a staggering 21 strength points!

The LV4 [Special Exertion] Ultimate Exertion Effect driving it!

Nearly 200 tons of terrifying force!

And…

[Super Killer Move—Death Message on the Way to the Underworld]!

“Bam!”

His punch landed solidly on the grotesque elephant head.

The moment the punch connected, the blood-colored Lotus Eye behind Lu Yuan seemed to open and close rapidly.

Lu Yuan felt as if his punch had landed on an incredibly hard piece of steel.

The impact and sound waves from the collision exploded instantly…

With a “boom,” the soil and rocks within a hundred-meter radius around him shattered into finer fragments and then were propelled several meters into the air.

“Boom-“

The intense death energy burst forth like burning black flames, shooting up from the ground in a column.

Large rocks and soil were pulverized into fine sand by the surging death energy.

The entire section of the battlefield where Lu Yuan stood collapsed and kept sinking…

The terrifying display of power caused the Yellow Bear members who had retreated to the edges of the arena to look on in horror. But soon, their expressions turned to uncontrollable fervor and admiration.

Golden Bear!

This is the combat power of a Golden Bear Level Lord!

On the mountaintop, Julian and the Handsome Young Man who were watching the battle both had their eyes gleam with intensity.

The latter couldn’t help but smile, pointing down at Julian and saying, “So, still think he doesn’t fit the role of the Protagonist?”

“Interesting.”

Julian’s narrowed eyes flickered with light, but soon returned to calm. He glanced at the Handsome Young Man and said lightly, “But to compete with the emissary level of the elephant deity sect, this level of skill… is far from enough.”

The Handsome Young Man snorted lightly, as if disdainful, but didn’t argue.

…

“Whoo—”

Lu Yuan steadied himself on the slowly collapsing ground, gradually massaging the wrist of the hand he had just punched with.

[Super Killer Move—Death Message on the Way to the Underworld] + Strength Points limit broke to nearly 200 tons of boxing power!

This punch was undoubtedly the peak punch he had ever thrown in his life.

The overwhelming sensation of sweeping and crushing everything in its path even touched upon some deep-seated inspiration within him, colliding and bursting rapidly.

But…

“It seems like it’s unharmed?”

Lu Yuan frowned, his mental power quickly probing beneath the ground.

However, he lost the trail of the elephant deity emissary that he had once again forcibly punched into the earth.

A faint sense of unease and crisis, like smoke, shrouded Lu Yuan’s mind.

As this feeling grew stronger and more intense…

Lu Yuan’s face suddenly changed, his powerful body instantaneously enveloped in a layer of brilliant golden and deep black hues.

Composite [Amitabha Golden Garment] + [Underworld Garment]!

It was the moment he simultaneously executed these two techniques.

“Boom!”

A massive, demonic silhouette abruptly burst from beneath his feet.

Alongside the resounding, ancient yet profoundly evil elephant screech, Lu Yuan was caught off guard and was violently launched high into the sky, propelled like a cannonball…

“@￥…”

Spoken in Ancient Phoenician Language.

“Demon Mountain!”