The deluge of toxin continued relentlessly as the beam of liquid crashed into the cyclops, assaulting the enemy in every way it could. Now that he was really letting loose with Profound Toxin boosted by Monarch's Will, he could tell that somewhere inside him a finite resource was being drained.

It wasn't something physical, he was sure. It felt more spiritual in nature. How he knew this he had a hard time putting his finger on, but there was a sense of certainty nonetheless.

As a matter of fact, something about Monarch's Will felt… familiar. It was all very vague, but…

When the hammer came down for a crushing blow, he was forced to cut short the barrage and jump out of the way, launched at speed by a blue shell of his own making. Luckily, given how much the abundant amount of toxin impeded the giant, he had been able to see the attack coming this time.

Before the cyclops could rip the hammer free of the ground again, Eik detonated all of the Profound Toxin currently deployed. In addition to everything flowing through its circulatory system, much of the poison on the giant's skin had solidified in an effort to hinder its movements.

Everything went up in a violent blast.

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 93]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 13]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 14]

Caught mid air by his own ability, Eik was thrown backward violently, cracking his hip against the wall. Falling to the floor, blood dripping into the sand, he called for more Profound Toxin even as the cyclops sank to its knees, the overwhelming destructive power of the Worldbreaker breaking apart its tissue.

Eik could barely get up, but he could lift his arm, and that was all he needed to spout more of the deadly substance toward the cyclops, where it slithered about its body to invade any exposed wound.

It just managed to stand on its feet, the gray, rocky skin of its transformation beginning to crack even more as it grew weak. For a moment it just barely lifted its hammer above its head as it took a single step closer to deliver a final strike, but a couple of seconds later, its arm failed it and the hammer fell to the floor with a metallic clang, the massive, unadorned head burying itself in the ground.

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 15]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 16]

Determined then to use fists to pummel him, the giant pushed itself to take a few more short, wobbly steps before its knees too failed. Not only had Accelerant grown into an even more deadly technique under the influence of Monarch's Will, the toxic potency of Profound Toxin itself was utterly incomparable to before.

Rapidly, patches of diseased discoloration appeared all over the cyclops' body, growing and growing endlessly until it covered every single inch of skin. Now barely able to crawl forward, the desire to tear Eik apart limb from limb still shone vividly within that eye that began to face.

Profound Toxin was devouring it from the inside out.

Mere inches from managing to get its trunk-like fingers around his ankle, Eik simply watched as the gigantic monster grew still and eventually breathed its last. The cyclops was hemorrhaging from every orifice, a testament to the ravages done to its insides.

Eik couldn't stand. He tried to create more support braces for his broken bones but that wouldn't make his hip regain much mobility, and certainly didn't do anything to relieve the dizzying head wound that was making him want to vomit. That was probably not a good sign.

If there was a stronger monster waiting behind that portcullis, he was dead without a doubt. It was already absolutely ridiculous that he had actually beat the cyclops on his own but it was a victory he had earned at a great cost, and there was just no way he could take on anything stronger. Not to mention, in his current state, even just a second cyclops specimen would wipe the floor with him completely.

With this fight, more so than anytime before, it became clear just how nice it had been to have a team that had allowed him more freedom to deploy his extremely offensive ability set. Yes, his own defensive capabilities were developing as well, but nothing beat having someone else to get hit by attacks in his place, not to mention someone to drag him home when his body broke like this.

With seemingly no end, blazing letters etched themselves into his arm, notifying him of the rewards for successfully killing an A-rank monster on his own as a C-ranker.

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 46]

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[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 47]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 48]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 49]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 50]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 44]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 45]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 46]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 47]

The level ups were going totally off the rails. If it hadn't meant so much for his power growth, he would have cursed the constant, burning pain it brought with it.

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 17]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 18]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 1…]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 41]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 42]

Twenty… Twenty five additional level just from the kill alone. From skill acquisition to level 42 in a single fight was… absolutely hilarious. Even considering the dire situation he was in as a prisoner of a deranged cult, he couldn't keep a grin from sneaking its way onto his lips.

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 93]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 94]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 9…]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 99]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 100]

Level 100! What a milestone! Eik wasn't sure if an Awakened was supposed to hit level 100 with a main skill while still being at C-rank, but it felt significant nonetheless. A couple of months earlier, Andihar had taught him how to use his aura to conceal anything written out by the Ak'ki's interaction with his body from everybody but himself, so he didn't even bother to hide it from prying eyes.

The next message was possibly the most exciting yet.

[Reached Apostle of Toxin — IV]

Already, he found himself on the cusp of B-rank. Another step toward the safety of Earth. The system truly did seem to attempt to adjust any perceived errors in power placement. A C-rank equivalent Awakened should not be capable of bringing down a fully fledged A-ranker in single combat. A C-ranker was supposed to be exterminated within seconds. So if Eik went against that expectation, then his power rank must have been incorrectly judged.

What the system then apparently failed to include in its calculations was that an elevation in power rank and skill levels only granted more power and simply widening any gap that might exist.

Not that Eik was ever going to complain about that.

Naturally, that theory was nothing but guesswork on his part. It was perfectly probable that he was seeing deep layers of context in the system's process that weren't real.

Why the cultists had even allowed him to engage in a fight that had the potential to increase his strength so drastically he had no idea about. More than likely they hadn't expected him to come out on top, if lying broken in the sand in a pool of your own blood could be called the top.

Not to mention, if the cult truly was as powerful as he had heard, then they would surely have members that could control him.

But why would the black armor have brought his precious little mystery here just to die?

The crowd above stood stunned into silence. Although Eik's head was throbbing like crazy and making it difficult to really focus on anything, he thought he saw hints of fear in the demeanors of some of the spectating cultists. But why?

Narrowing his eyes, he tried to focus more on their faces despite the headache. A pair in the front row were staring at him. No, wait, that wasn't exactly right. They were staring at something above him.

A single glance up caused his mouth to fall open in surprise. Floating above his head like a halo hung a glowing, blue crown. The same strange sensation that he felt from the depths of Monarch's Will seemed to ooze out of the crown as it hung there. As if suspended by magnetic levitation, the brilliant crown followed the movements of his head, always staying about two hand spans above his scalp. Only when straining his eyes to look straight up could he see it at the edge of his vision.

If he tried to touch it, it felt much like the regular liquid Profound Toxin, albeit slightly firmer. Almost like gravy. Gravy crown.

When the sound of metal grating on metal sounded throughout the arena, Eik figured his life was at an end for real this time, but when the portcullis remained lowered, he glanced over to the double doors through which he had originally entered himself.

They were being pushed open to admit the black armored cultist, but it wasn't only him. Trailing him was an old man dressed in simple clothes. It resembled a linen tunic with matching baggy linen pants. He wore lace sandals but was completely uncaring of the blood-drenched sand churning between his bare toes.

Two slim horns protruded from a high forehead, the man's hairline receding with age. He looked like any old grandpa on the street, save his horns. Had the black armor brought a servant to support Eik's hobbling return to the confinement of the iron maiden?

The two of them came to a stop a couple of paces from where Eik was slumped against a Living Manifestation.

"Get up," the black armor ordered.

"I obviously can't get up right now," Eik shot back, irritated. "My hip and legs are broken."

Silent, the black armor shot a glance at the old man. Strange. He almost looked—

"So this is him, huh?" the old man said, his voice unbelievably deep and raspy. It was a sound that didn't fit such a frail appearance. It was a voice that should come out of a much bigger and more monstrous being.

Only then did Eik notice how quiet it had become. Even after his performance, there had been scattered mutterings and occasional shouts of anger, but now it was as if death had descended on the arena. What the hell was going on here?

"Ah, yes. Eik Magnasen is his name. I brought him and put him in the arena as you ordered." the black armor said. He was nervous. Afraid, even, of this little old man whose height only just reached his chest.

"And you say you found him on a new world?"

"That's right."

"There's something strange about him," the old man said simply.

"I agree!" the black armor exclaimed excitedly. "That's why I've been tryi—"

"I'm taking him."

"Bu—"

"Is there something you would like to say to me, Gih the Madman?" The old man's face was absolutely devoid of emotion.

Gih, as Eik now finally knew the black armor was called, trembled momentarily before getting his body under control. He hurried to shake his head. "Of course not, my lord."

When the old man turned those icy eyes on Eik, he felt a shiver run up his spine. There was a depth of power there that reminded him of Andihar Dayarunar. The difference was that these eyes were not nearly as kind and gracious.

"Do you have nothing to say, Eik Magnasen, Titan Slayer?"

Hesitating, Eik mulled over whether to speak or not, but in the end his concussed brain couldn't resist. "Who are you?"

With that cold gaze, the old man regarded Eik for a moment. Then, with a movement so quick and sudden that Eik couldn't even see it happen, his arm whipped out.

A second later, a torrent of warm blood poured from a deep cut in his throat. He tried to speak but only a helpless gurgle came out. Within moments, his vision darkened and he collapsed into the hot sand.

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