Daniel looked at the fruit. A true divine fruit. A source for increasing the power of gods. Something that could significantly increase his power with its help.
All his attention was on the branch that was no longer just carrying a fruit, but carrying something that seemed like the world itself had waited thousands of years to be born.
The fruit no longer looked like a fruit. Its white and golden surface pulsed quietly, and each pulse created an invisible wave in space.
Even the tree’s massive roots had slowly bent toward it.
Like millions of hands seeing off their child.
It truly was something that could be called a divine fruit. It really deserved its name. Something that might be among the most valuable existences for the gods.
Daniel raised his hand, and his fingers slowly closed around the fruit. At that moment, the entire tree trembled.
A tremor felt not just in the branches, but in the depths of the earth, in the sky, and even in the space outside the world. But the tree did not resist. The branch quietly bent.
How could it resist? This person had protected it all this time, so he deserved to take the fruit as well.
And the fruit silently separated from it.
Daniel looked at it. Inside the white and golden shell, something like a small sun shone, as if the heart of an unknown being was beating in his hands.
Then...
Without the slightest hesitation, he swallowed it.
Suddenly, Daniel felt his entire being sinking into an endless sea of light.
The laws around him awakened one after another.
Death.
Eternity.
Destruction.
Decay.
All of them began to tremble, as if something far greater had entered their domain.
System notifications appeared before his eyes one after another.
[Divine Source Detected]
[Immense Divine Force Absorbed]
[Calculating Evolution Path...]
[Divinity Rank Advancement Available]
[White Divinity: One-Star → White Divinity: Two-Star]
[Evolution In Progress...]
At that moment, a wave of divine power exploded from the depths of his being.
His veins filled with white light, his bones trembled, his soul expanded, and Daniel felt every cell of his body being rewritten.
His divinity within was evolving. A power that was once like a raging river was now turning into an endless ocean.
He felt like everything about him was evolving, from his bones to his skin and flesh, even the atoms that formed his body.
The tree’s roots turned to pure white, and even the space around him could not withstand this pressure.
Daniel slowly opened and closed his hand, and just this simple movement was enough to crack several layers of reality around him.
For the first time, a thought quietly crossed his mind: if he fought the Heavenly Kings again now, perhaps he wouldn’t need to use Self-Transcendence anymore.
His power had increased by leaps and bounds, and he could feel that he had become many times more powerful, but he himself didn’t know exactly what his limit was anymore.
But just at that moment, before he had a chance to look at his power and test it,
The white light went out. All the tree’s roots retracted at once.
The sky... split in half, as if a hand from outside the world had torn the sky’s curtain apart.
A black, deep, endless fissure opened above the ruins, and something descended from within it.
It had a human body, tall and calm, but its skin... its skin was not black. It was something darker than blackness, as if all the light in the world was being swallowed inside it.
Even looking at it was difficult. The boundary of its body was unclear, like a living black hole. And its head was the head of a massive bull.
But from its skull, twisted, long horns protruded.
Horns resembling the branches of ancient trees. And yet it had no eyes.
None.
But Daniel felt he was being watched from all directions by that being.
At that moment, his entire body warned him. His bones ached, his flesh trembled, even his newly evolved divinity became unstable.
As if the mere presence of that being was enough to collapse reality.
Daniel quietly looked at him.
"So... you’re the monster that destroyed two continents." And after a few seconds of silence, he said. From the descriptions, his face exactly matched the monster the princess had described.
And more importantly, the terrifying aura and power emanating from the monster’s body showed that it had the ability to destroy worlds.
The being gave no response. Its massive head turned slightly toward Daniel, and a voice was heard from within the void.
A voice heard not with the ears, but with the soul.
"...You ate that thing."
Daniel stood quietly. The pressure around him grew more and more, but his gaze still hadn’t changed. But this was the first time in a long while that he was truly under pressure.
Its aura was so powerful and overwhelming that he felt like the atoms of his body were being crushed.
The monster suddenly turned its head away from him and looked at the tree. The tree that now no longer had a fruit on its branches.
And for the first time, that being’s body paused slightly.
"It’s still... alive..." Then it whispered very quietly.
Then it looked at Daniel again.
"But you... are too weak, even with that power."
Daniel suddenly felt a terrifying sense of danger. A sense of danger that was practically warning him that if he didn’t run away now, he would die!
And for the first time in a long while, Daniel decided to release everything.
His hand rested on his sword’s hilt.
The Heaven’s Honor slowly came out of its sheath.
The Law of Eternity flowed around it. Death, Destruction, Eternity, and four massive laws merged together.
The sword rose, and all his newly born divine power gathered into a single point. He wanted to launch a preemptive strike, hoping to inflict devastating damage.
But the monster just raised one hand. No skill, no magic, no technique. Just a simple movement. And at that moment, Daniel felt all his laws go silent.
The sword’s light trembled. The Law of Death collapsed. The Law of Destruction disintegrated. Eternity went silent.
Even his two-star white divinity became unstable. Daniel’s eyes widened slightly for the first time. The monster just reached out its hand.
And struck.
Not a massive strike, not a majestic attack. As if just brushing dust off its clothes.
But that was enough. Daniel’s entire body was split in half. The divine light of his presence went out.
And the world completely fell into darkness. The last thing he heard was that being’s quiet voice.
"The time has not yet come."
Daniel suddenly opened his eyes. The white ceiling of the lobby was above his head.
His body was intact, no wounds existed, but his breathing was irregular. A system notification floated before his eyes.
[Floor 4 Completed]
Fortunately, he was lucky that the floor had ended, and the law of death on this floor was no longer considered equivalent to death in the real world.
Otherwise, he would have truly died! That attack had engulfed his body, soul, and existence. It could have completely killed him without leaving anything behind.
And with his current power, he could not mount any defense. He couldn’t even react.
He stared at it for a few seconds. Then quietly placed his hand on his chest. His heart was still beating with unusual intensity.
It had been a long time since he had felt such a feeling. It had been a long time since someone had killed him with just a single movement.
Not even the Holy Council, not the united armies, not all the enemies he had faced until today.
He couldn’t even guess what level that being was at.
A Demi-God?
Or a False God?
Or something that didn’t even belong to this world?
Daniel slowly raised his head. For the first time in a long while, there was neither indifference in his face nor his usual calmness.
Only silence. And only one question, repeating over and over in his mind.
"...What exactly was that?"