All of Lian’s instincts were screaming at the same time.
Run.
But his mind, unlike his instincts, was calm, Predator’s Instincts was warning like crazy.
Certain death.
He felt that if he decided just a moment later, there would be no time left for anything.
His gaze fixed on the system panel, skills passed before his eyes one after another.
Fallen Wolf Speed... useless.
Diamond Skin... not enough, and against such an attack it had no value, maybe it would only increase his death time from 3 seconds to 3.5 seconds.
Finally, his gaze stopped on the last option.
Molten Armor.
The newest defensive skill he had obtained, he had not had the chance to test it until now, but just based on the description, he was sure it was his strongest defensive skill.
A very faint smile settled on his lips.
"So... it is time." Although even this skill with its current rank could not help, it needed to be made stronger, much stronger.
Without the slightest hesitation, he decided to upgrade it to its highest possible limit.
And suddenly, system notifications appeared before his eyes one after another.
[ 20 fragments used ]
[ Molten Armor has evolved ]
[ Rank: Great ( + ) ]
Upon seeing the rank, he still felt it was not enough, and without even looking at the description, he clicked on the upgrade option again.
[ 130 fragments used ]
[ Remaining fragments: 45 ]
Upon seeing the amount of fragments used, his eyes sparkled, this was the highest amount of fragments a skill had ever needed and consumed to reach Divine rank.
And then his gaze fell on the description.
[ Solar Forge Aegis ]
[ Rank: Divine ]
Armor forged from solar molten and condensed mana, transforming the user’s body into the core of living steel.
Effects: Massively increases both physical and magical defense by 1000%.
Distributes the impact of overwhelming attacks across the entire armor.
Emits extreme heat capable of melting or weakening ordinary weapons and armor.
Absorbs a portion of heavy incoming damage and converts it into mana.
Consumes 20 mana per minute. ]
The next moment... the mana inside Lian’s body began to boil, molten metal burst out from beneath his skin.
First it covered his arms, then his shoulders, chest, waist, legs, and within seconds, a magnificent armor covered his entire body.
A red and golden metal that seemed to have been forged in the heart of the sun, golden veins flowing like rivers of fire across the armor.
At that same moment, just for extra assurance, Diamond Skin was also activated.
Two defensive skills layered on top of each other, and despite having an A rank armor, he at least hoped to survive that strike.
After all, he could not keep two defensive skills active for long, or his mana would be completely drained.
Lian took a deep breath.
"Come on... let’s see if this is enough or not." Although it seemed like a long time had passed, not even 5 seconds had gone by.
At that same moment... the Abyssal River Drake released its attack.
Its massive mouth fully opened, a column of red and black energy, like absolute destruction, erupted from deep within its throat.
This was no longer a normal beam, it was as if death itself had taken form.
The entire path of the attack disappeared in an instant, the ground split, rocks melted, trees turned to ash before they even had a chance to burn.
Hundreds of Thunder Spine Serpents that were in the path did not even have a chance to scream.
Their bodies vanished in the blink of an eye, the massive Ironhorn Marsh Drakes were no different.
Their metal armors melted like wax, the wave of destruction advanced for kilometers.
For a few seconds... the entire battlefield was submerged in a red and black light, even the sky changed color.
Lian placed both his hands in front of his body.
"Endure it..." The attack covered a vast area, and he could not go to any side, everywhere he went, that attack was there.
Not just toward him... but even toward the base! And they also activated all their defensive power at once.
The next moment... impact.
There was no sound, only light, everything turned white, time stopped for a moment.
Then... pain, pain that was impossible to even imagine.
He felt every single bone in his body being crushed, the golden veins on the armor cracked one after another.
The molten metal began to break, Diamond Skin also cracked under that immense pressure.
The sound of defensive layers breaking like glass echoed in his ears, he was lifted from the ground and thrown hundreds of meters through the air at terrifying speed.
He passed through several massive rocks, each collision exploding a mountain of stone, and finally... he was buried under a pile of crushed rocks.
Although this was not the end, the massive attack went toward the base, all defensive lines were activated to counter it.
"Resist! If we fail here, we will all die!"
"Stop that damn attack with all your might!"
All the arrays and defensive layers were activated, the attack arrived but could not continue with the same speed.
A massive defensive power stopped it... although dozens of defensive lines suddenly collapsed.
The attack was stopped, but all the magical arrays and defensive layers of the base were destroyed.
Rhea lowered her sword, she said nothing, Bren held his breath, and Zak looked at the explosion site in disbelief.
Kael clenched his fists so hard that blood came out from between his fingers.
Seraphina’s face had completely lost its color, even Elizabeth forgot the attack for a few moments, everyone’s gaze fell on him to see Lian’s condition.
No human... could survive such an attack.
Everyone was worried... was he alive?
But... a few seconds later...
BOOOM!
The massive pile of rocks exploded from the inside, multi-ton rocks were thrown around, and from the dust... a shadow slowly emerged.
Lian.
His steps were unsteady, almost all his armor was destroyed.
Parts of the Solar Forge Aegis had shattered and were slowly separating from his body, his entire body was covered in blood.
Blood was flowing from the corner of his lip down his chin, his left arm was hanging limply, and his breaths were heavy and broken.
But... he was still standing.
This alone... was unbelievable to everyone, even the Abyssal River Drake stopped its movement for the first time.
Its golden eyes fixed on the human in front of it for a moment, as if even it had not expected such a thing.
Lian spat out the blood from his mouth, the taste of iron filled his entire mouth.
"Time to change strategy." His gaze slowly rose.
Only one choice remained.
He opened the mana panel, almost all the stats he had left... went into one stat... mana reached 650! But his remaining usable mana was 300 units.
[ Physical Strength: 468 ]
[ Spirit: 258 ]
[ Speed: 300 ]
[ Mana: 650 ]
[ Resistance: 380 ]
[ Stats Points: 0 ]
Eternal Frozen Apocalypse.
The next moment... all his remaining mana was released from his body.
Black clouds covered the sky, the sunlight disappeared, a cold wind began to blow.
A few seconds later... the temperature dropped at an unnatural speed.
The monsters’ breath froze in the air, the sky split, and massive ice crystals fell one after another.
But this was only the beginning.
BOOOOOOM! The frozen apocalypse began.
A storm of ice and absolute cold covered the entire field, hundreds of Thunder Spine Serpents froze inside ice before they could even run.
Their bodies turned into glass-like statues, dozens of Ironhorn Marsh Drakes were also buried under thick layers of ice.
A few moments later... all those statues shattered at the same time.
The sound of breaking ice filled the entire field, the cold wave spread for kilometers.
The ground, the trees, the rocks... everything turned white.
Even a few weaker Fallen ones were forced to retreat to escape that deadly cold, but it was useless.
When the storm ended... the entire monster army no longer existed.
Although they were not dead... just frozen.
But the price... was heavy, the system panel appeared before Lian’s eyes.
[ Your mana has reached 0 ]
[ All skills are automatically deactivated ]
The last particle of mana had also left his body, Solar Forge Aegis slowly collapsed and the molten metal turned into particles of light and disappeared.
Diamond Skin also turned off.
His body no longer had any protection.
His knees trembled, he could barely maintain his balance, breathing had become difficult, his vision was blurry.
He now had almost nothing left. No mana, no armor, and not enough strength to continue the battle.
A brief silence covered the field.
Then... the sound of heavy footsteps was heard.
From the thick ice mist... the Abyssal River Drake emerged.
Its body was covered in fresh wounds, a few scales were broken, the red veins on its body were bleeding.
But... not enough to stop it, even the freezing could not hold this monster for more than ten seconds.
The monster’s golden eyes were no longer emotionless... a human had managed to wound it.
And this... made the prey in front of it worth hunting.
The Drake calmly... took its first step.
The ground trembled beneath its feet.
Second step.
Third step.
Each step was like a hammer blow to the heart of the battlefield.
Lian raised his bloodied fist, his wounded arm was burning with pain, but he still did not retreat, his gaze did not separate from the monster’s golden eyes.
He knew well... if no help arrived at this very moment... the next attack... would be the last thing he would ever see in his life.