Unexpected Metal

It was Echidna, who had been stuck in the ground before. After her magic power surged, her speed was significantly faster than before.

Caught off guard, even Yuri was caught off guard and fell victim to the attack.

Unfortunately...

"The speed is not bad, but the power... is still lacking!"

Suddenly, Echidna's mouth, which had been completely closed, was slowly pried open from the inside, and Yuri's voice came from within again. "Thank you for your enthusiastic invitation, but I really can't stand your bad breath, so let's forget about becoming one."

With that, his right arm, which was supporting him from above, suddenly tensed up, the Devil Bringer shone brightly, and the gaping maw full of serrated teeth was forced open.

The humanoid half-body, the true form, was completely exposed to Yuri.

Echidna was horrified and immediately waved the tentacles on her head, which flashed white light and transformed into sharp blades that swept towards Yuri.

Unexpectedly, Yuri swiftly severed the tentacle with a backhand strike, then plunged the Red Queen into her chest, repeatedly twisting the handle of the blade.

Two jets of blood spurted from Echidna's head, followed by a mouthful of green blood. Her chest wound was bleeding profusely from the piercing wound, causing her immense pain.

Echidna wanted to scream, but the next moment a tremor surged through her body, causing her blood to boil uncontrollably.

It's not about being excited, but rather boiling in a physical sense.

The Red Queen, igniting the entire arena and captivating hearts, instantly unleashed three fiery serpents, scorching Echidna's body from within.

A terrifying heatwave swept through her body, instantly igniting her entire being with a deafening roar. Echidna's human body burst into flames, and a piercing scream escaped her lips.

"It's so noisy."

Yuri grinned menacingly, and with one hand he pinned her cheek down, forcibly silencing her scream.

The Devil Bringer delivered a powerful punch to Yuri's abdomen, and a warm... scalding blood spurted onto Yuri's hand.

But he didn't stop. Heavy punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes... one vicious move after another landed on Echidna.

Finally, he stomped on her head repeatedly, forcing it towards the Red Queen's flame jets.

The scorching flames seared her cheeks, and Echidna struggled, leaning back.

Yuri moved his feet away, gripped the hilt of Red Queen's sword, and unleashed a spinning Rising Dragon Slash, causing a fiery dragon to rise from the blade.

Echidna was instantly torn apart from her chest to her shoulder, nearly cleaved in two.

Taking advantage of Yuri's ascent, Echidna frantically twisted her snake body in an attempt to escape, but was suddenly grabbed by the tail by a magical arm that extended outwards.

"Isn't it a bit too late to think about running away now?" Yuri said, forcefully pulling him into the air.

A giant, serpentine windmill spun in the air, whipping up a gust of wind that swept across the surroundings, before being slammed down, its massive body embedding itself deeply into the ground.

Yuri then concentrated his magic power into the magical arm extending from the Devil Bringer, and the magical arm immediately expanded several times its original size, like an inflated balloon.

Since it is a product formed by condensing magic power, increasing the output of magic power will naturally increase its power.

Whether it was the weakened version of the Fruit of Power he obtained in Caro Town more than a year ago, or his training over the past year, Yuri's strength is now vastly different from what it used to be. He's not just spending his days eating, drinking, and having fun.

"No... my forest... my child..."

Echidna lay on her back on the ground, covered in wounds, watching the azure light and shadow grow larger and larger in the air, and uttered her last words of despair.

"Boom!!"

The fist, seemingly large enough to blot out the sky, grew larger and larger in her eyes until it completely crushed her.

The ground cracked inch by inch from the punch, and the originally flat open space instantly turned into a basin. Echidna's 20-meter-long body was smashed into a specimen.

It transformed into a pool of thick water and merged with the forest and the earth...

"Huh? What's this...?"

Yuri clapped his hands and fell from the sky, landing in the crater. Just as he was about to leave, he was suddenly drawn to a flash of light in the corner.

Yuri picked the object up from the ground, but before he could even examine it, Griffon eagerly popped a head out from his chest. "Metal!"

"Nonsense, everyone knows it's metal," Yuri said irritably. "The key is, what kind of metal is this thing that survived my attack completely unscathed?"

Indeed, what Yuri was holding was a large, unidentified piece of silvery-white metal. He squeezed it tightly with his Devil Bringer, but still couldn't leave a single dent.

In fact, ever since Yuri realized that the Red Queen was gradually falling behind his growing strength, Yuri began to consciously inquire about information about metal materials.

[Devil Weapons] are indeed weapons made primarily from materials found on Devil, but that doesn't mean they don't require any auxiliary materials.

Yuri had been paying close attention during his missions over the past year, but still hadn't found any metal materials that met his requirements.

Unexpectedly, in this S-Class Exam...

"But why is this thing inside that snake's body?" Yuri quickly had a new question.

"Who knows? Maybe it was left behind by some human she ate before. After all, this stuff can't be digested, so it's just been left in there." Griffon was as unreliable as ever.

"Really?" Yuri frowned slightly; he still felt that such a speculation was somewhat unreliable.

"Oh well, just consider it that!" Griffon said impatiently, "Our priority is the S-Class Exam. Forget about all this nonsense, just take it."

"That's right, it's like a pillow delivered just when you're about to fall asleep." With the assessment imminent, Yuri didn't hesitate any longer and simply packed it up and took it with him.

There were no strange magical fluctuations on this thing. Perhaps, just as Griffon said, it was left behind after some unlucky guy was swallowed by that garland snake.

Having settled everything, Yuri once again headed in the direction he remembered.

Now that we've encountered an S-Class magical beast, we must not be too far from the central lake.

Meanwhile, Laxus on the other side also dealt with an S-Class monster, and then, following their unspoken understanding, headed to the battlefield where the two would duel.

Only the president, far away, sat there, tears welling up in his eyes.

It was rare for someone to pay such a high price to commission them to clear the magical beasts in the Lansala Rainforest. They thought it would be a win-win situation, and with the two boys' abilities, they could at least clear out most of them in a day, if not all of them.

To everyone's surprise, from the beginning until now, apart from those that came to their deaths on their own, the other marked monsters have hardly moved.

Looks like I'll have to do it myself, these old bones of mine...

"But those two kids should run into me soon, right?"

Makarov's lips curled into a smile, "Just you wait, kids, the real S-Class Exam is only just beginning!"

If clearing out World of Warcraft was just a fun activity devised to make money, then what followed was the real test.

A trial that combines strength, intellect, and belief!