Deep underground in the tunnel passage, several minutes after Ren had given his command—
The Crab Warrior, Ren's beast memory, kept thrashing the lethal-backed crabs as if it were casually harvesting crops on its turf.
One by one it cut them down.
True to its master's final command, it remained completely stationary, standing at the tunnel entrance, guarding and protecting the passage from any entity that tried to pass.
With a single swing of its pincer, dozens of lethal-backed crabs were sent crashing to the ground, unable to rise again.
Another swing followed.
More bodies fell.
But no matter how many it crushed, the swarm did not stop.
The crabs kept pouring out of the tunnel endlessly.
Realizing it couldn't wipe out the entire swarm this way, the Crab Warrior released a piercing screech.
A surge of crimson energy burst from its body, spreading outward before rushing toward the cavern entrance where it materialized into a gigantic wall.
Another screech followed as it lunged forward and jumped into the fray.
Its pincers rose high as it began a full rampage.
Moving through the swarm of lethal-backed crabs, it reaped life like a grim reaper.
But the rampage was cut short when a loud banging sound echoed from the tunnel where the crabs were pouring in.
The Crab Warrior raised both pincers in front of itself, crossing them into an X defensively against its body.
Booom!
The Crab Warrior was pushed backward several meters before skidding to a stop.
Where it had been standing moments earlier, another beast now stood.
The creature was the same height and build as it. The only difference lay in the color of their carapaces. While the Crab Warrior's shell was a deep crimson red, the newcomer's was black with red stripes running along its carapace.
The new beast was a Crab Soldier.
And to top it all off, it was not alone.
One by one, more Crab Soldiers began stepping out of the tunnel. In total there were now six of them.
Six Absolute Beasts now stood facing a single Crab Warrior.
The Crab Warrior screeched.
All across the battlefield, crimson energy began converging upon the corpses of the slain beasts. Then, as if called by a single command, the energy streams rushed toward the Crab Warrior and merged with its body.
Its crimson carapace began glowing brighter.
Moments later, the glow shifted toward its pincers.
Then it swung.
A crescent of crimson energy flew outward in a wide arc, slicing through everything in its path like butter.
The six Crab Soldiers reacted immediately, shifting into a straight-line formation with their pincers raised in an X shape.
The crimson arc from the Crab Warrior rushed toward them.
It sliced through the first soldier, then the second. By the time it reached the third, its momentum had already faded. The attack struck the third and dissipated into a swirling red mist.
The four remaining Crab Soldiers screeched in unison and immediately spread out, circling the Crab Warrior from different angles.
The Crab Warrior screeched again and raised its pincers toward the sky. Instantly, crimson energy began gathering from the corpses of the slain beasts once more.
But before the energy could reach it, four crimson slashes shot in from different directions.
They struck the Crab Warrior simultaneously, sending it flying backward until it slammed into the energy wall it had created at the cavern entrance.
Spiderweb cracks appeared across the wall.
Then the Crab Warrior dislodged itself and roared.
The cracks on the wall began slowly mending, and step by step the Crab Warrior started walking toward the swarm.
Then something incredible happened.
Its size began decreasing as it approached the swarm, and a crimson aura began spreading from its body.
The red aura flowed outward and clung to every beast present—both the dead and the living.
Now, standing in the middle of the Crab Soldiers, was the Crab Warrior, reduced to half of its earlier height.
All the lethal-backed crabs that were still alive began trembling.
As for the ones that were already dead, the crimson aura clung to their bodies. Red energy began coagulating around them before suddenly rushing toward the Crab Warrior.
The Crab Soldiers screeched again and raised their pincers, sending crimson slashes toward the Crab Warrior.
But unfortunately for them, their attacks were now slower than before.
The now smaller Crab Warrior weaved through the incoming strikes with ease. Instead of tanking the attacks like before, it avoided every slash as it moved toward the Crab Soldier on its right.
At the same time, the crimson energy rushed toward the Crab Warrior and merged with its body.
Now close to the Crab Soldier, it swung its pincer and cleanly sliced the creature into two.
A surge of red energy burst from the fallen Crab Soldier and flowed into the Crab Warrior.
Without pausing, the Crab Warrior spun and rushed toward another Crab Soldier.
But before it could swing its pincer again—
Boom!
A loud explosion echoed from another tunnel entrance.
Then another.
And another.
Soon every tunnel leading into the passage was erupting with thunderous blasts.
There were six tunnels in total.
From the remaining five, different types of beasts began pouring into the passage.
From the first tunnel emerged jet-black ants, each about one meter long and half a meter tall.
From another tunnel came scorpions with brown carapaces, roughly the same size as the ants.
From the remaining three tunnels emerged a green mantis, a green wasp, and a snake respectively.
The sudden disturbance distracted the Crab Warrior.
Taking advantage of the moment, a Crab Soldier's attack landed successfully, sending the Crab Warrior flying to the side.
Back inside the cavern, a notification screen appeared in Ren's view.
Ding!
[Crab Warrior is in a critical state. Unsummon it or risk losing it.]
Ding!
[Crab Warrior is in a critical state. Unsummon it or risk losing it.]
The Crab Warrior slid down the wall before collapsing onto the ground.
But it quickly rose again and dove back into the fray.
The battlefield soon descended into madness as all the beasts began attacking one another.
Meanwhile, back inside the cavern—just before Ren delivered his final strike—Miyoshi stood to the side, watching everything unfold.
He couldn't help but feel astonished.
How can someone so weak possess such power? he thought.
I wonder what his class ability is.
Bang!
Miyato was stunned once again.
After the loud bang rang out, silence followed.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then the runic text on the pillar shifted, transforming into numbers that both of them could understand.
The numbers began counting upward.
[1, 2, 3… 20, 21… 40… 50]
Before they realized it, the count paused at 69.
It stayed there for about five seconds.
Just when they thought it had ended—
the number changed.
70
Then a new line of text appeared.
[Contestant is Evaluated at Half Absolute Rank]
A white beam of light shot out from the pillar and engulfed Ren.
Another screen appeared on the pillar, displaying a countdown.
[Teleportation Begins In]
Five—
Four—
Three—
Two—
One—
As the countdown continued, the light shone brighter and brighter until Ren could no longer be seen.
Then, just as the countdown reached its end, the light pulsed violently.
Flash.
Zero.
Ren was gone.
Just before the light swallowed him completely, another notification appeared in Ren's vision.
[Crab Warrior Destroyed]
"Huh… how?" Ren muttered in confusion.
Behind him, Miyato's lips slowly curled into a grin.
"Now it's my turn," he said, licking his lips as he rubbed his hands together and stepped toward the now silent pillar.