Meanwhile, the powerhouses that Maximus exiled outside the Aeon Plane felt gloomy.
Alone in the void, they faced countless dark beasts coming from all directions.
"This—this is too much..."
"Can we survive this?!"
"Shut up and fight! As long as you don’t stop, we won’t die!"
Even as Overlords, facing an endless ocean of dark beasts, they felt overwhelmed.
"Haha, what’s there to worry about? Isn’t this the perfect battlefield to consolidate our harvest from the trial?" Zar muttered, fighting with delight.
After the suffocating trial, he could finally fight to his heart’s content. How could he not be happy?
"Brat! Don’t forget these little things aren’t our main enemy. That big thing and another giant monster is coming for us," Marcus laughed, as he pointed at the Tier 13 dark beast already charging toward them.
"So, what, you scared, Old Man?"
"Scared? Tsk, I’ve never been scared..."
If he dared to face it in the past while only at the Tier 11 realm, now that he had advanced to the Overlord Realm, how could he be afraid?
"Enough chatter. Let’s kill it before the others arrive!" Lazo said solemnly, his previous lazy attitude gone.
Soon, with the Old Overlords, Zar, Marcus, Paragon, and dozens of others who’d been kicked out, they charge toward the enemy, surrounding the Tier 13 dark beast.
Facing a beast surpassing their realm, they didn’t back down, attacking from all sides.
They dodged or parried its attacks, doing their best to stay alive.
Even so, with the speed and power of the Tier 13 dark beast, some were struck, sent flying in a near-death state.
One after another, each time the beast hit someone, they never returned, too injured to fight another round.
"Stronger! Are you limp? Why can’t you do any damage?" Zar yelled, seeing only his, Lazo’s, and Marcus’s attacks had any effect.
For the most part, the others didn’t even make a dent, just wasting their strength.
"Protect the rear. Leave it to the three of us. You can’t join this battle." Unlike the brash Zar, Marcus understood the battlefield clearly.
It wasn’t that the others were weak, but the environment and the enemy were simply too strong.
Facing dark beasts on their territory, the enemy was dozens, if not hundreds, of times stronger.
With the dense concentration of dark energy, weaker attacks could instantly be restored, nullifying their efforts.
They were basically fighting a losing battle, not only outmatched by the enemy but also hindered by the environment.
Hearing Marcus’s call, the others recognized their limits and spread out to clear the battlefield for them.
"Tsk, at least you’re useful!" Zar muttered angrily, noticing the battlefield grow clearer.
"You brat, don’t be too arrogant!" Lazo slapped his head.
"What? If they’re weak, they’re weak! What’s there to be embarrassed about?"
"Enough talk! We’ve got a big beast to take down."
Fighting the Tier 13 dark beast, they couldn’t afford even a moment’s lapse in attention.
Soon, the three began to attack in volleys, slowly grinding it down, chipping away little by little.
Yet, as a thousand years began to pass, the Tier 13 dark beast remained as lively as ever, with barely a tenth of its body worn down.
The dark energy rendered most of their damage useless, as the beast healed rapidly, like an unkillable pest.
With a billion health points, even their million-point strikes left only a single point of damage as it continuously recovered.
Exhausted in body and mind, the dark energy began to erode their core of origin.
"This is bad... Hurry up! We can’t last much longer!"
The Origin Dark Beast still hadn’t arrived, and they were already in such a state. What would happen when it did?
Could it be that they were destined to die in this place?
Unwilling to accept such a fate, they fought on, clinging to even the tiniest shred of hope.
Soon, as another thousands of years passed, having worn down a third of the Tier 13 dark beast’s health, Zar, Lazo, and Marcus grew exhausted.
The intense battle and the corruption of dark energy began to take a toll on their spirit and will.
Fortunately, after merging their source of law with the source of chaos, they could still receive a continuous supply of energy, no matter where they were.
Otherwise, the mere lack of energy would have been enough to send them to their deaths.
Even so, fighting endlessly without rest, knowing another monster could appear at any moment, was grueling.
Some even began to think they should have swallowed their pride and accepted Maximus’s succession in their hearts.
Unfortunately, standing at the crossroads of fate, their pride had prevailed, landing them in this desperate situation.
As they pressed on, believing things would remain as they were, a sudden, ominous premonition gripped their minds.
"Damn, what could it be?"
"Is it what I think it is?!"
"It’s over... The big one is here..."
Even without facing the enemy, their hearts thumped, their blood boiled, and their origins stirred uncontrollably.
As if confronting an enemy they could never hope to defeat, their bodies reacted violently.
Soon, as if welcoming its leader, the ocean of dark beasts parted.
Even the Tier 13 dark beast the three were fighting retreated swiftly, driven by instinctive fear of its leader.
Too terrified to speak or move, they stood motionless, as if awaiting their inevitable death.
No matter how strong-willed they were, the power was too vast to overcome.
Watching the Origin Dark Beast charge, its mouth seemingly able to swallow the world, they unconsciously closed their eyes.
Among them, however, Zar refused to cower in fear, as he began to push his Plane-level Physique to its limit.
His power surged to 100 billion... 200 billion... 300 billion...
However, as he reached the maximum energy output of his source of law, Zar still couldn’t move, suppressed by the Origin Dark Beast’s overwhelming power.
"No! No! No! How could this be? How could I die ?!"
Unwilling to perish, he could only watch as the beast’s mouth began to engulf them.
Suddenly, just when they thought all was lost, a barely audible sound rang out, followed by a dazzling light.
"FIRE!" Googlᴇ search NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet