Not long after the confrontation began, just as the Goliath teetered on the verge of defeat, its massive frame began to shudder. A roar erupted saturated with primal fury and agonizing pain as if an omen of something catastrophic was about to unfold.
[Threat Level Anomaly Detected: Target is Evolving!]
The warning blared through the Welders' communication devices in a chaotic chorus. Suddenly, a sickening CRACK of splintering bone echoed through the air a sound so repulsive it made the warriors grit their teeth against the rising bile. The Goliath's body convulsed violently, as if a localized hurricane were raging within its marrow. Muscles surged and expanded, veins bulging like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree. The pale, chalky skin that once encased its form began to spiderweb with fissures like parched earth, revealing a new, far more resilient tissue shimmering with a lethal luster beneath.
But what truly froze their hearts as if time itself had come to a standstill were the additional eyes sprouting across its visage, like seeds germinating from the gore.
From two to four...
From four to six...
The three pairs of blood-red eyes rolled erratically at first, unaccustomed to the world they had just opened to behold. Then, they sharpened. They focused. Finally, they locked onto the surrounding enemies with a field of vision wider and more profound than any human could ever comprehend.
It had achieved a perfect ascension to Level 5.
"Watch out! It's reading every single one of our movements!" a Welder's voice rasped, nearly broken, yet heard by everyone.
And everyone knew it was the truth.
The Level 5 Goliath moved with a grace that defied its mountainous bulk, as if the fundamental laws of physics no longer applied to its existence. It evaded the blades of two mid-level Welders with terrifying ease not through sheer speed, but through omniscience. It was as if it saw the trajectory of the steel before the hands even twitched.
Then, it struck back.
A heavy fist plunged into a Welder's midsection with haunting precision. The enchanted armor, crafted to withstand high-yield explosives, shattered like fragile glass. The Welders were hurled into the ruins of a building, buried instantly under collapsing masonry. There were no screams, no pleas for mercy, only the hollow sound of settling stones.
A silence more cruel than any shriek.
The battle intensified into a nightmare as the Welders realized conventional weapons were becoming obsolete. They shifted tactics, swarming the beast with high-tier skills honed over years of bloodshed, unleashing torrents of flame and lightning from every direction. The temperature soared until the air itself shimmered; floor tiles cracked under the mounting heat. Finally, the Goliath buckled. Its legs trembled, and it collapsed with a sound that shook the very foundations of the earth.
A massive greatsword plunged deep into its shoulder, buried to the hilt.
The beast let out a piteous wail of agony, a sound that vibrated through the sector, shattering every remaining window in the vicinity.
Victory seemed within their grasp...
But that was merely the gateway to true Hell.
Its final roar was not the thunderous blast of before. Instead, it was a low, subterranean thrum that gradually climbed in pitch so deep it was felt in the marrow, the ribs, and the nameless depths of the human psyche. It was a vibration that shook the soul, as if a god were declaring: "This is not the end."
Its body curled inward slowly before detonating an aura of abyssal black energy. The shockwave blasted everyone back; not a single Welder could remain standing.
Then, the true transformation began.
The Goliath's muscular back split open like a blooming, macabre flower too slow, making it more sadistic than if it had been swift. Warm blood erupted like a pressurized geyser, spraying a crimson mist so thick with the scent of iron it scorched the nostrils.
And then, they emerged.
A second pair of giant arms, with talons as long and sharp as poisoned blades, shifted out from the spine. It was a deliberate, theatrical display of horror, intended for them to see, to remember, and to carry that terror until their dying breath if they lived long enough to have one.
An eighth eye sprouted slowly in the center of its forehead, blossoming like a flower of calamity. Deep red, like smoldering embers, it glared at Knight with a deep-seated malice. It looked as if it knew him knew his pain, and every shred of hope he had ever harbored and lost.
[Threat Level Anomaly Detected: Target is Evolving Again!]
Now, it possesses four arms and eight eyes.
Its body towered so high that its silhouette eclipsed the afternoon sun, plunging the alleyway into the darkest shadow of death dark as a starless night, dark as hope extinguishing all at once. It wasn't just physical strength it brought; it brought something no fighter there had ever felt in their life
It was so dense that the air around Knight began to solidify, as if an invisible, colossal hand were strangling every atom in the vicinity. His lungs labored even though he hadn't moved. The Goliath's pale skin gradually turned a charcoal-gray, hard as steel forged in the pits of hell. The new arms protruding from its back moved independently, possessed of their own sinister life. Each claw, nearly half a meter long, exhaled a faint, hazy purple vapor of lethal poison, leaving small scorch marks on the concrete wherever they brushed.
"Aaaagh!"
A scream rang out, jolting everyone from their paralysis.
A welder attempting to retreat was snatched by the waist by the rear arms with a speed invisible to the naked eye. No warning, no movement, just the hiss of sliced air followed by a mid-air cry.
A Level 6 Goliath didn't just kill. It began to tear.
Using all four arms simultaneously, as if performing a ritual from the abyss it hailed from, the sound of tearing enchanted armor and human flesh echoed through the dark alley, reflecting endlessly. Blood splattered, bathing the creature until it was a mottled mess of dark crimson and charcoal gray hideous as a demon from ancient myth, newly unchained.
The surviving Welders dared not move, dared not breathe. Some even forgot how to swallow.
The eight eyes spun manically, scanning everything, processing every movement at once. However, the eye in the center of its forehead remained fixed. It didn't roll; it didn't twitch. It stared solely at Knight, the most worthless human in everyone's eyes; the one with no "Box," no talent, and no right to stand on this battlefield.
Yet, he was the only target it desired to crush into the dirt. It was as if the beast knew there was something within Knight far more terrifying than the blades and flames of every gifted warrior combined.
"Fall back! Everyone falls back!"
The unit leader roared with a voice that trembled despite his pride. He unleashed all his remaining energy to manifest a light shield. It glowed with a beautiful bronze radiance the product of over a decade of training, a shield that had withstood simulated nuclear blasts.
But it was utterly worthless in the face of a Level 6 monster, an entity that should only exist on the 15th floor and above. For these low-level Welders to resist it was... impossible.
The Goliath swung a single arm down.
The light shield shattered into fragments like a thin mirror. No resistance. No delay. The leader was sent flying along with the shards of light, slamming into a wall with a force that sent cracks rippling outward in a massive radius. He did not get back up.
Knight lay still amidst the wreckage.
The agony from his shattered bones began to shift from a searing sting to a terrifying numbness. It meant his body was surrendering, shutting down non-essential systems one by one, like a city slowly dousing its lights in the dead of night.
He looked up at the sky, now completely blotted out by the Goliath's shadow.