Stone-Devouring Beast

"It's finally here!" Andres's eyes lit up as he looked toward the arriving Saint Realm experts.

There were three Saint Realm experts in total. Andres recognized one of them—it was Trevor, who had brought him to the Holy Alliance.

Beside Trevor stood another human.

The man was handsome, tall, and well-proportioned, with short black hair standing upright like steel needles.

"Andres, that's Patur," Inori introduced from beside him.

It was Andres's first time seeing Patur, and he could not help studying him a little more closely.

Patur stood beside Trevor, calmly and confidently surveying the spectator stands. Once upon a time, he had merely been one of the students sitting among the audience. Now, he had become a Saint Realm expert with an unlimited lifespan.

A tremendous sense of satisfaction rose within Patur.

Beside the two Human Saint Realm experts stood a Bearded Dwarf.

The Bearded Dwarf stood in front of Trevor and Patur, clearly holding a higher status than the two.

"That is Lord Bart, a Saint Realm Peak expert of the Dwarf Race," Matos introduced to Andres and the other two. "Yulian and Richard are a Druid Elf and a Centaur respectively. According to Holy Alliance rules, Saint Realm experts from those two races cannot preside over the match."

As he listened, Andres watched the Dwarf Saint Realm expert, Bart.

There was no reaction in his mind. The system had not triggered.

He sighed inwardly.

As the three Saint Realm experts appeared, the spectator stands gradually fell silent. Everyone knew the battle was about to begin, and they waited quietly.

"Everyone, I won't spend much time introducing the two sides in this match..."

After Bart gave a brief opening speech in a booming voice, he flew down beneath the arena with Trevor and Patur.

Then he announced the official start of the battle.

Yulian and Richard moved almost simultaneously.

Richard flipped his hand and drew out a longbow. As he nocked an arrow and pulled the bowstring, an invisible current of air coiled around the shaft.

Yulian let out a roar as his body began to swell rapidly. His clothes burst apart in an instant, his skin turned grayish white, and patches of gray-white stone covered his body. He transformed into a stone monster several meters tall.

Three black holes marked the stone that served as its head—its eyes and mouth.

"So this is a Ninth Rank Stone-Devouring Beast?" It was Andres's first time witnessing a Druid's fighting style.

Just as the rumors said, Yulian now looked no different from a magical beast.

Whoosh!

Richard's arrow tore through the air and pierced straight through Yulian's head.

Shattered stone flew everywhere. A hole appeared in Yulian's head, through which the spectator stands and sky behind him could be seen directly.

Yet Yulian did not collapse. Gray-white light flowed across his body, and the stones seemed to be drawn by some force, converging toward his head. In the blink of an eye, it was restored to normal.

"This Stone-Devouring Beast is rather different from other magical beasts," Inori said in surprise.

Matos said, "The Stone-Devouring Beast's true body is actually a fist-sized core. Everything on the outside is not its real body and can be reshaped with power."

Hearing that, Andres could not help thinking of beings from the original novel such as Volcano Giants and Earth Giants. Those beings also possessed a core.

However, this Stone-Devouring Beast was not nearly as powerful as a Volcano Giant or Earth Giant.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

On the arena, Richard kept firing arrows. He clearly understood the Stone-Devouring Beast's traits very well, so he was not surprised that the first arrow had failed to achieve anything. Instead, he continued his relentless assault.

There were two ways to defeat a Stone-Devouring Beast. One was to destroy its core.

But the fist-sized core was hidden within a stone body several meters tall, making it difficult to locate.

The other method was to exhaust the opponent's power.

Forming the stones covering its body consumed power. Once that power was depleted, it naturally could no longer condense stone.

This was the method Richard was using now.

He attacked without pause, arrow after arrow piercing through Yulian's body.

Roar!

Yulian bellowed and charged toward Richard with his massive body.

His body was so huge and heavy that every step he took seemed to make the arena tremble.

Yulian also knew that dragging things out would only harm him, so he had to close the distance and make use of his advantage.

Naturally, Richard would not let Yulian have his way. He had clearly formulated his battle plan long ago. Moving his four hooves, he ran and shifted continuously across the arena, always maintaining a safe distance from Yulian.

Centaurs were naturally skilled in speed, and Richard cultivated Wind Element Battle Qi, making speed even more his specialty.

He moved as he fired, leaving one penetrating wound after another in Yulian's body and steadily wearing down Yulian's power.

"Looks like Yulian is going to lose."

"His strength hasn't changed at all. Why did he suddenly challenge Richard?"

"I thought Yulian had made some kind of breakthrough this time."

Andres heard the discussions around him. The other Holy Alliance Trainees had all witnessed Yulian and Richard's strength before.

Now, seeing Yulian utterly unable to counter Richard's assault, they were all somewhat disappointed.

Andres also felt that if this continued, Yulian would undoubtedly lose.

But at that moment, the situation on the arena suddenly changed.

A layer of silver light surged over Yulian's body, and his originally grayish-white stone body seemed to have been plated with silver.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Richard's arrows struck Yulian's stone body, but this time, they could no longer pierce through it.

The arrows seemed to have hit a wall of bronze and iron, snapping one after another as they fell to the ground.

"What is that?"

A wave of startled cries erupted from the spectators' stands.

Everyone was shocked by Yulian's sudden outburst.

"Yulian's physical strength has risen by an entire level!" Teresa stared intently at Yulian, as though trying to see straight through him.

Andres looked at the goblin beside him. "Matos, do you know what Yulian did?"

Matos's expression turned grave. "My guess is that Yulian has begun absorbing Mithril."

"Mithril?"

"Yes. If a Stone-Devouring Beast wants to grow stronger, it must absorb hard ores. To become a Saint Realm expert, it must absorb ores of Mithril's grade, or even Black Jade. I think Yulian has already obtained Mithril and is currently absorbing it, which is why his physical strength has improved so greatly. Once he completely absorbs the Mithril, he should become a Saint Realm expert," Matos said solemnly.

"But a Stone-Devouring Beast needs a considerable amount of Mithril to advance to the Saint Realm. Even Saint Realm experts might not be able to obtain that much Mithril. How could Yulian possess it? Could the Druid Elf Race's Saint Realm experts have helped him?" Inori asked.

"No. If the Druid Elf Race's Saint Realm experts had that much Mithril, they would have given it to Yulian long ago. I suspect Borg was the one who helped him gather the Mithril," Matos said.

Matos briefly explained the competition between Ivan and Borg.

Only then did Andres learn about the internal rivalry within the Goblin Merchant Guild, and he finally understood why Ivan valued him so highly and had even specifically sent Matos to serve at his disposal.