SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 98: Battle Of The gods! Pt 1

The shore of Yang Lake erupted into chaos.

The approaching horde of Awakened, easily twenty or more, emerged from the forest.

They were a motley crew, grim-faced and heavily armed, led by a new figure: a hulking brute with a massive hammer, his eyes burning with vengeful malice.

He remembered them from yesterday. "There they are!" he roared, pointing.

"The ones who cheated us! The ones who lured the Leviathan! Get them! Take their cards! Leave nothing!"

The horde surged forward. Their collective roar was a wave of raw aggression.

Ayra, however, simply stood her ground. Her Rock Pugilist class empowered her. She didn’t charge. She activated a new defensive skill, a fundamental ability of her chosen path. "[Rock Guardian]!"

"BOOM!"

The ground beneath her feet didn’t just tremble, it heaved and burst open.

A massive, jagged wall of solid, obsidian-black rock, easily ten meters wide and five meters tall, shot up from the earth, completely blocking the charging horde.

The force of its creation sent the front line of Awakened sprawling. It pulsed with an unyielding, unbreakable aura.

The twenty-plus Awakened, a ragged but determined mob, hurled everything they had at the thick stone wall Ayra had summoned with her new Rock Pugilist ability.

Fireballs sizzled against the rock, energy bolts cracked and sparked, and crude physical weapons clanged uselessly against its surface.

The wall, empowered by Ayra’s immense vitality and further bolstered by Lia’s [Knight’s Reinforcement] buff, held firm, shuddering under the onslaught but refusing to break.

"It’s... it’s not breaking!" one of the attackers screamed in frustration.

Ayra just laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that seemed to come from the very earth beneath her.

"Is that all you’ve got? My grandmother hits harder, and she’s been dead for fifty years!"

The sheer audacity of her taunt, combined with the impenetrable defense, began to fray their morale.

Daniel paid them no mind. The small-fry were a distraction, a sideshow. His focus was entirely on the vast, dark expanse of the lake.

The Abyssal Maw Leviathan, the true boss of this entire assessment phase, lay resting in its depths. It was time for a rude awakening.

He drew his S-Grade Flying Cloud Mystic Bow.

The weapon felt incredible in his hands, a perfect conduit for his immense power.

It hummed with contained energy, its golden frame glowing softly in the dim light.

He didn’t need to nock a physical arrow; the bow’s God’s Effect, [Elemental Condensation], allowed it to form its own projectiles from raw energy.

He pulled back the glowing bowstring, focusing his energy and will into the weapon.

He focused, calling upon the myriad elemental powers he had assimilated.

A swirling vortex of energy began to form where the arrow should be.

"Let’s make a splash," Daniel murmured, a cold fire in his eyes. He released the bowstring.

"TWANG-KRA-KA-THOOOOOOOM!"

The sound wasn’t just a release; it was a cataclysm.

A single, blindingly brilliant arrow of pure elemental chaos erupted from the bow.

The wind shrieked and howled as it tore through the air, leaving a trail of steam, frost, and ozone in its wake.

It slammed into the center of Yang Lake with the force of a meteor strike.

The subsequent explosion was biblical.

A massive column of water, steam, and shattered ice shot hundreds of feet into the air, raining down across the entire valley.

The shockwave blasted outwards, flattening the remaining trees at the lake’s edge and sending the entire mob of attacking Awakened, along with Ayra’s stone wall, tumbling backwards in a chaotic heap.

The ground trembled violently, and the entire lake began to churn and boil, its tranquil surface transformed into a furious, frothing maelstrom.

Deep beneath the surface, a pair of ancient, colossal eyes snapped open, blazing with an apocalyptic fury.

A roar, so deep and powerful it felt like a geological event, tore through the water, shaking the very foundations of the Taiji Basin.

The Abyssal Maw Leviathan had been angered!

The attacking Awakened scrambled to their feet, their earlier aggression forgotten, replaced by sheer, primal terror as the vast, dark shadow began to rise from the churning depths.

They turned and fled, screaming, cursing Daniel’s name, not even bothering to look back.

They wanted no part of what was coming.

Ayra and Lia stared, utterly speechless, as the colossal form of the Leviathan emerged from the boiling lake, its obsidian scales shimmering, its horns piercing the sky.

It was even larger and more terrifying up close.

"Vance!" Ayra managed to yell, her voice trembling slightly. "Are you absolutely sure about this?!"

Daniel ignored her. He stood his ground, a lone, defiant figure on the devastated shore.

He dismissed the bow, the S-Grade Blade of The Night appearing in his hand with a soft hiss.

The Leviathan’s immense, intelligent eyes, each the size of a small shuttle and burning with the fury of a slighted god, fixed on him.

It recognized him as the source of its rude awakening.

"Boom!"

It unleashed a deafening roar, a physical wave of force that cracked the very air, crushing stone and pulverizing trees.

Ayra and Lia were thrown back, but Daniel stood firm, his S-Grade [Earthquake Colossus Form] anchoring him to the spot, the pressure wave washing over him harmlessly.

He raised his Nexus Interface, his mind racing. He needed to confirm its status, its true power. He focused, pushing his [Omniscient Insight] to its absolute limit.

[Analyzing Target... High-tier suppression detected... Bypassing...]

[Target Identified: Abyssal Maw Leviathan]

[Grade: SS (Talent Potential)]

[Level: 30 (Suppressed). True Level: 60]

[Skills: Hydro Cannon, Abyssal Crush, Draconic Roar, Scale Armor (Passive)...]

Daniel frowned. SS-Grade, Level 30 suppressed to 60. Immensely powerful, but... "Why can I scan this thing, but not the Golden-Armored Blue Ape?" he wondered aloud.

The Ape’s info had been completely unknown, transcendent. This suggested that the Ape, even in its cursed, weakened state, was on an entirely different level of existence than this Leviathan.

The thought was both humbling and terrifying.

The Leviathan, infuriated by Daniel’s insolent stillness, lunged.

Its cavernous maw, large enough to swallow the cave they had rested in, snapped shut where he had been standing.

Daniel was already gone. He hadn’t even used his S-Grade speed skill. Just his raw, Level 7 Agility was enough to make him a blur.

He appeared on the beast’s massive, scaled snout, his S-Grade dagger held ready.

"You’re big," Daniel taunted, his voice calm and steady, a stark contrast to the apocalyptic scene around them.

"And you’re angry. But you made one mistake."

He met the Leviathan’s furious, house-sized eye.

"You let me get close."

The real battle was about to begin!