"Stellar Devourer...?"
Leo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the planet-size pile of flesh in front of him. This monster lord was stronger than the gods he had fought before. It didn't live in Imperium but instead, it was leaving in the second dimension.
"You are wondering why I'm here? It's simple, I just sensed the battle here from the other dimension so I came to check what happened."
A large eye appeared on the humongous monster and it gazed at Leo.
The second dimension, third dimension, and fourth dimension up to the thirteenth dimension were the layers of this universe which ancient people called Mother.
Most of the dimensions were destroyed because of the war twenty thousand years ago. Even the dimensional beings that inhabited those dimensions have perished. Only god-level powerhouses could travel between dimensions using void travel. But then, there's nothing much to see in other dimensions because it was full of space cracks and holes. There's no energy in those dimensions anymore and there's nothing that could be found there.
Still, some creatures were living in those places like this monster lord, the Stellar Devourer.
Also, some of the bases of God's Will and Deadly Sins were situated in those shattered dimensions. Even some of the heretic gods were hiding there.
"You are injured right now and yet I'm afraid that even in your current condition I wouldn't win a fight against you. One of the strongest gods of Imperium." Stellar Devourer said in a deep tone.
"Tsk, at the very least you can worsen my injuries and I don't want that to happen. I still have something to do so I don't want any trouble." Leo clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't think that you came here to say those words to me so spill it."
"I'm 19,000 years old and one of the oldest monster lords. I don't care about worldly affairs. I just want to see the Zodiac Leo and know your goals."
"As expected of an old monster lord, you aren't even afraid to mention the words, Zodiac Leo." Leo grinned.
"What can you find with your curse name? I'm just staying in the second dimension for the past hundred years so you will not find anything interesting with that."
"That's true, but what else do you want to know? Hmm..." Leo suddenly stopped talking as he stared at the monster in front of him with wide eyes.
Zodiac Leo was a curse name. Anyone who uttered these two words will be known by Leo. Everything that they did in the past two years will become visible to Leo.
"You...!!" Leo couldn't believe what he saw in Stellar Devourer.
"Yeah, I'm sure that you've seen it with your curse name ability but that creature is indeed the administrator that protected the laws of the universe." Stellar Devourer nodded and said.
"The Great Barrier is going to open and the whole Imperium will undergo a huge change." Leo paused as his eyes turned cold. "But I don't care about the universe, I will only change my mind after I achieved my goal. That's the reason why I'm doing this."
"The forgotten gods, monster lords, and spirit gods from my era are preparing to enter the Imperium once the barrier has opened."
"I don't care about you people. Just remember that don't get in my way or else it will become a bloodbath. You will realize why they call Zodiacs the Bringer of Calamity."
Dense energy seeped out of Leo's body as he stared at Stellar Lord with chilly eyes.
...
Souta and Gragas went inside the hidden base while Amanda and Yenxa were distracting the guards around the two mountains.
The upper floors of the hidden base were destroyed because of their previous encounter. The only floors that were left were the lower floors and these floors were several times tougher than the upper floors.
But then, the lower floors were covered in boulders. They didn't have a time to find the passage so they had create one.
[Burrow]!
Souta used his skill and he easily pierced through the ground using his hands. He only stopped when he found the passage before the upper floors collapsed. Since he could remember, it was easy to find and drill it.
Thud!
Souta and Gragas landed in front of the giant gate.
"If I'm not wrong, there are two golems here... But it seems that it's gone now." Souta said as he looked at the side of the gate.
"Two golems?" Gragas glanced at him.
"Yeah, two golems and they probably had a power of an Extermination Realm master," Souta replied and he was about to add something when he sensed several mana fluctuations.
Boom!
The whole area shook heavily as dense mana spread out in the atmosphere.
Souta narrowed his eyes and he stared at the floor. He could sense that there were one S-rank and a fierce number of A-rank experts below.
One S-rank alone wasn't a problem but there were more than fifty A-rank here. Gragas and Souta would have a hard time eliminating them.
'Well, this is different compared to the auction house.' Souta said inwardly as he glanced at Gragas.
Gragas was covered in orange grade armor and his hammer was red grade. He was fully prepared this time compared to the time in Paultry City.
Without high grade armor, Gragas could already defeat an S-rank. So Souta didn't need to worry about him.
"Let's go and surprise them," Souta said as he placed his palm on the gate and pushed it.
"Yeah, I'm upset because they are occupying the hidden base of Witch Clan like this. If they aren't, I would have learned something about the Witch Clan decades ago." Gragas grinned as he placed his hammer on his shoulder.
"Don't come back to me while crying," Souta said as he slowly pulled the vajra sword out of its sheath.
"Ha? You're the one that should be careful, monster. If you run from them, I will personally subjugate you." Gragas snorted.
The door slowly opened and a pale light shone ahead.
A group of people was waiting for them behind the gate. All of them possessed a powerful aura that made the ground beneath their feet tremble.
"Let's go and start fighting them. Remember to spare some people so that we could interrogate them."
Souta said with a wide grin before he charged forward.
Swoosh!
[Night Overlord's Aura]! [Agility Boost]! [Strength Boost]! [Shadow Cloak]! [Triple Muscle Strengthening]! [Cat's Speed]!
Best feram burst out of his body and it collided with the mana causing sparks to fly out in the atmosphere.
[Cross Moon]!!
Boom! Boom!
Gragas looked at the scene before him. He shook his head before he charged forward to join the battle.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Souta moved his body left and right as he avoided various attacks of more than twenty A-rank experts. His speed was faster than these people but they could still react because of various buffs and combat arts.
[Shadow Bind]!
The ground turned black as dozens of shadows rose from it. It quickly attacked the nearby people.
[Dark Cloud Hunting]!
Black mist oozed out of his body and it quickly spread in the entire floor, covering everything in black smoke.
Obviously, this would affect Gragas as well but he didn't care as this would also affect the enemies. It was a fair trade for them. At least, Souta got buffed and the enemies received a debuff.
Souta turned around and waved his hand. He casted [Agility Boost] and [Strength Boost] on Gragas to make sure that he could handle several A-rank experts.
"For now, I need to find the S-rank."
He muttered as ten black balls formed on his back. The black balls spun and the gravity had increased several times. It tried to suppress all the A-rank experts within his sight.
Boom!
With his current amount of energy, Souta didn't need to worry about the energy cost of his spells. He could afford to use them at the same time and use them repeatedly.
"There!"
Souta turned his head as he sensed the S-rank on the floor below.
Suddenly, six people appeared around him. The six people quickly thrust their sharp weapons forward without saying anything. It was swift and accurate as they blocked all the escape routes. Also, ordinary people wouldn't be able to block all of their attack which was positioned in different directions.
Unfortunately, they met Souta. Strings of black flesh protruded on Souta's skin and it matched the attack of the six people.
"What?!!"
Then, they saw Souta inflated as various savage-looking spikes burst on his back and exoskeleton black armor slowly covered his body. Four spider limbs grew and it quickly slashed down.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The six people managed to block the attack but the force behind it pushed them dozens of meters away.
They stabilized their posture as their expression turned serious. A huge amount of best feram spread out trying to suppress their mana.
A three-meter tall monster came out of the smoke as it looked at them with fierce eyes.. The sword in its hand looked like a stick with the monster's size but then a layer of black flesh covered the sword.