"Now, this looks promising."
Seeing the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast charging from afar, Goku's face lit up with interest.
By sensing the creature's Ki, he had already determined that it was worthy of being his sparring partner.
"Take this punch!"
Goku assumed the Turtle School's opening stance.
In a flash, he broke the sound barrier and unleashed a full-power punch at the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast.
"Roar!"
Sensing sudden danger, the charging six-armed humanoid Phage Beast stopped instantly and threw out a punch of its own to meet the attack.
"BOOM!"
Two fists—one large and one small, completely disproportionate to each other—collided. The terrifying force instantly leveled the surrounding buildings.
"What incredible power!"
Goku's eyes lit up. His hands blurred into a flurry of punches, raining blows upon the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast.
The beast, in turn, moved its six arms with lightning speed, intercepting every single one of Goku's strikes.
The sound of clashing fists reverberated throughout the city, leaving all the onlookers dumbfounded.
That was a Monarch-class Phage Beast—over three hundred meters tall, capable of tearing the earth apart with a single punch and obliterating steel spaceships in mid-air. Yet now, it was being forced onto the defensive by Goku's tiny fists.
Indeed, despite having four extra arms, the six-armed beast was losing ground, constantly pushed back by Goku's assault.
In terms of raw strength, it was no match for Goku.
Moreover, everyone could clearly see the beast's fists being repeatedly torn apart, only to instantly regenerate.
Had it not possessed such extraordinary regenerative abilities, all six of its arms would likely have been pulverized by Goku during the exchange.
Seeming shocked that a mighty Monarch-class Phage Beast could lose a contest of pure physical strength to Goku, it let out another bizarre, furious roar. At that moment, countless streams of blue light converged at its chest, and a powerful blast of energy shot out violently.
Faced with this terrifying energy attack, Goku didn't dodge; instead, he held his hands out in front of him and blocked the blast head-on.
"Now, take this!"
Goku clasped his hands together, and a full-power Kamehameha wave blasted forth.
A blinding white light engulfed the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast, accompanied by its agonized roars.
When the white light faded, the beast was revealed to the crowd—half of its body charred black.
"You're pretty good—an excellent sparring partner. Let's go again!"
Goku watched as the charred body of the six-armed humanoid Phage Beasts rapidly regenerated; a smile reappeared on his face.
It had been quite some time since he'd had a fight this satisfying.
While Mr. Popo's mastery of martial arts was profound, his raw power ultimately fell a bit short.
Even when Goku used only his base combat strength, the training sessions never quite felt fully satisfying.
The main issue was that he had to hold back; he worried that if he used too much force, he might accidentally kill Mr. Popo.
But this six-armed humanoid Phage Beast was perfect.
Although its strength was a notch below his own base level...
...it possessed incredible regenerative abilities and could take a real beating.
It wouldn't matter if he accidentally killed it—after all, his very purpose in coming here was to help humanity destroy these creatures.
And the thought that there might be several more "Monarch-class" Phage Beast like this one—some perhaps even stronger—
...made him even more excited.
"Die, you low-dimensional trash!"
Seeing Goku charging at him again, the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast flew into a rage, actually speaking in the local language.
Clearly, this Monarch-class Phage Beast was different from the ordinary ones; it possessed intelligence comparable to that of a human.
"Metamorphosis: Second Form!"
A massive surge of energy erupted from the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast, and its body began to tremble violently.
"Oh? You can get even stronger?"
Seeing this, Goku immediately halted his attack.
If the six-armed humanoid Phage Beast could become even stronger, ...that would be even better.
Two seconds later, the creature's body stopped trembling and began to shrink drastically.
In the blink of an eye, it shrank from over three hundred meters tall to less than ten meters.
Despite the massive reduction in size, Goku could clearly sense a significant increase in its power.
"Boom!"
The six-armed humanoid Phage Beast—now shrunk in size—instantly appeared before Goku. With a single strike, it unleashed immense power, sending him flying backward.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
After crashing through several abandoned buildings in succession, Goku finally managed to steady himself.
However, the six-armed beast clearly had no intention of stopping there.
Even as it sent Goku flying, it pushed off violently with its legs; a blur of motion later, it had caught up to him again, intent on finishing him off with a rapid-fire combo.
"Quick! Activate the central electromagnetic cannon to provide support!"
Seeing Goku being overwhelmed below, Mark—stationed atop the Lighthouse—immediately issued the order for combat support.
However, the operator in charge of the central electromagnetic cannon replied, beads of sweat rolling down his face:
"Commander, the Monarch-class Phage Beast is moving too fast; we can't get a lock on it.
If we fire blindly, there's a risk of accidentally hitting Mr. Goku!"
The Monarch-class beasts the Lighthouse had encountered in the past were all hundreds of meters tall; no matter how fast they moved, their massive size made them easy targets.
Furthermore, those beasts would usually fire a single shot and then quickly retreat to a safe distance.
No one had ever known a Monarch-class beast capable of shrinking down to a mere ten meters in height.
"What?!"
Mark's expression shifted instantly upon hearing this.
This meant the Lighthouse could offer no combat support whatsoever; ultimately, Goku would have to face the terrifying Monarch-class beast entirely on his own.
As for the Lighthouse's heavy mechs—even if the Monarch-class beast stood still and let them attack, they likely wouldn't be able to penetrate its defenses.
"Mark, don't panic. Remember, Goku can teleport."
At that moment, Bing spoke up to reassure him.
Mark felt a wave of relief wash over him; he had momentarily forgotten that even if Goku couldn't win the fight, he could simply teleport back to the Lighthouse at any time.
"Boss, what should we do?"
Meanwhile, atop another abandoned building, the group from Dragonbone Village was also beginning to worry about Goku.
Although they didn't know the little boy, the ability to go head-to-head with a Monarch-class Phage Beast made such a person invaluable in this post-apocalyptic world.
"Be ready to rescue him at any moment!"
Bai Yuekui drew her Tang sword with a serious expression.
To be able to fight a Monarch-class Phage Beast like that—if he were injected with the Angel and Miracle serums and underwent her training, he could absolutely sweep across the globe and wipe out every Phage Beast in existence.
When that time came, they wouldn't even need to rely on Mark; they could use sheer power to storm the Scarlet Abyss and put a definitive end to the Mana ecosystem.
However, she also understood that even if she went all out regardless of the cost, she couldn't defeat the Monarch-class Phage Beast in its transformed state.
But their primary objective was rescue; if they could save him and retreat immediately, the chances of success would be quite high.
Yet, just as they were preparing to make their move, their eyes suddenly widened in disbelief.
"How is that possible?"
It turned out that just as the transformed, six-armed, humanoid Monarch-class Phage Beast caught up to the little boy again, the boy's body suddenly expanded.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a sixty-meter-tall giant, then slammed his hands together with tremendous force.
He crushed the ten-meter-tall, six-armed, humanoid Monarch-class Phage Beast right on the spot—swatting it like a fly!
"Oops, I accidentally used too much strength."
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