Real shockwaves boomed out as one of Ryuk’s right hands clasped tightly against the approaching claw, stopping it dead in its tracks, and then—
VROOOOOM!
The air weaved as the croc monster felt himself lifted off the ground and then—
BOOOOOOOOM!
The air on the path of Ryuk’s arm collapsed as he slammed a palm toward the croc-monster’s chest.
CRAAACKKKK!
The sound of ribs cracking into pieces rang out clearly as Ryuk’s palm connected with its chest, resulting in lava-like blood blasting onto his body—yet none of it reached him, repelled by an invisible barrier.
But he wasn’t done yet.
With both his hands and the croc-monster’s claws locked together—
BOOOOM!
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
Three more shockwaves undulated amidst the sound of ribs cracking as frost-covered palms slammed out through the air in timed strikes, each in less than a second.
Suddenly, he felt his hold on the croco-monster’s grasp slipping away as its clawed hand morphed into webbed hands, dipping with slimy liquid that caused Ryuk to lose his grip.
But the monster had yet to get far away when it saw Ryuk standing a meter away in one second, and in the next, there were the undersides of boots slamming toward its face.
They slammed into its head before it reacted, as it blasted backward toward the throne, its head caught in between Ryuk’s feet and the wall.
1 Second.
2 Seconds.
3 Seconds later...
PLOOOOPP!
Its head was blown into shimmering red blood amidst the cracks on the walls. The monster’s hand dropped lifelessly to the side.
Ryuk gently jumped back and landed atop the lava, but then, he raised his hands, watching as the frost that covered his claws was soon covered in cracks and shattered to pieces.
"I understand now... why my frost element is weaker against Antares and the Pseudo-Eternal Grade Knulls" he muttered.
’The truth is, my Frost Cultivation level right now is only at the initial stage of Cataclysm. With the aid of the Primordial Frost Scripture, its power could match that of an Enderthian’s peak Cataclysm frost energy.’
’But the Pseudo-eternal grade Knulls and Antares are like Endearth’s Eternity-grade monsters—and all my ice energy is only as strong as the peak of the Cataclysm stage. Two stages less than them.’
’No matter what the technique is, the energy behind it is weak, so they’re able to shatter it apart easily.’
"It’s not that the frost energy is useless when fighting high-grade opponents like I thought..." Ryuk muttered to himself.
He had been refraining from using his Ice Cultivation powers at all—even in the fight against High Scholar Emers—because he believed that frost couldn’t do much to Eternity-stage experts.
The Pseudo-Eternal Grade Knulls had made short work of it, and Antares had cleaved through his Frost domain like it was nothing.
But now, after this fight with the croco-monster, he realized—it wasn’t that frost energy was less practical against those fighters.
It was that he was still stuck at the initial plane of Cataclysm, and his frost power was only at the peak initial stage of Cataclysm at best, but then, he was using them against Eternity Grade Beings.
His Frost Sovereign body skill and Frozen Physique weren’t weak. It was the energy behind them that was.
"If that’s the case, I need to find a way to raise my Frost Cultivation level to preferably the Eternity stage too. Then, I’ll be able to truly use it against more powerful opponents..." he thought to himself.
But suddenly,
KAAABOOOM!
His body was suddenly blown off like a kite as a kick smashed into the side of Ryuk’s rib, sending him flying through the lava, crashing into the opposite side of the wall.
The croc-monster’s eyes flashed in ecstasy as it slammed straight into the walls where Ryuk had crashed in.
But then—Ryuk’s figure glicthed and re-appeared where it was standing a second later after it kicked off, except now, there was a new object in Ryuk’s grasp.
A one-meter-long croc-hand sprouting blood.
"GRRAAAHHH!"
A groan of pain rang out as the croc-monster landed crouched onto the ground, looking at its right arm, whose shoulder was exploding with blood.
It had thought to continue up with its sneak attack—but had lost a hand in an instant.
"Sorry, croc-monster. But Cataclysm stage experts aren’t my match..." Ryuk stated.
Yet the world seemed to pause in one second, and in the next, a claw tore through the air, approaching Ryuk’s face—only for him to raise his hand and stop it dead in its tracks.
"Far from my match actually."
In one swift motion—
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
The entire hand was ripped off from its shoulder as the groan of pain left the croc-monster’s maw.
But then, it was stopped when Ryuk wielded both severed arms as a weapon, slapping the monster with them ten times in three seconds.
The fourth second, the croc-monster’s eyes were widened in shock as it stared at Ryuk’s expressionless face, who watched as its body split into five pieces—before steam, blood, and tissues evaporated into glitching energy in the fifth second.
The entire lava was evaporated from the succeeding shockwave of Ryuk’s attack, entering the dominion state, causing even the lava to blow into nothing but glitching energy.
This was the power of 1000 stat points in all physical attributes. A power that will turn Cataclysm stage experts and Endearth’s proud warriors into mere dust in less than 6 seconds.
Ryuk turned to the side, watching the only person in the room—the holograph staff—who held a notepad in his hands, looking at the devastation before him with wide-open eyes and mouth, his pen slipping out of his hands and dropping onto the ground with a THUMP.
"What just happened?" he muttered in shock, but then his figure suddenly glitched weirdly before a serious expression appeared on its face, as if its earlier reaction was a hack.
"Congratulations Ryuk Knull, on being able to complete the test for the B-rank Adventurer."
"You will now be automatically sent to the A-rank test."
The figure said, as Ryuk watched the environment change once more.
This time it was a desolate wasteland, with the sun spiking hot, scorching sun rays landing on the ground, and Ryuk could feel his ice being evaporated into nothing.
’The test for A-rank adventurers, huh...’
’I can sense even my ice energy here is about 50% less effective. If so, then an expert at the Cataclysm stage of Ice Cultivation should not be able to pass this.’
’I can easily win using my body’s strength, but then, that’ll be too suspicious. I’ll forfeit here...’ Ryuk thought to himself, as he looked into the distance to find a single monster approaching him.