Aftereffects

"You go ahead. We'll hold them off."

Guen was in high spirits. The human fighters trapped by the sea beast horde had all been rescued—though some had been left behind forever, over a hundred still lived.

This group knew how rare the chance was. They muttered their thanks and hurried toward Dinghai City.

Among the crowd, a few wounded fighters bowed gratefully to Guen and Cal before turning around. They found the bald man standing motionless, eyes closed, a faint smile on his face. Alarmed, they wondered—could Big Brother be...?

They rushed to pull at him, but the moment their hands touched him, a powerful force flung them back.

The wounded were stunned. If that force hadn't been gentle, it would have killed them in their injured state.

"Big Brother?!"

Suddenly, the bald man's eyes snapped open. A peculiar aura radiated from him. His wounds visibly closed—though not fully healed, every gash scabbed over. His spirit and energy surged to a new level, and his feet slowly lifted off the ground.

"Big Brother!" The wounded fighters stared, a possibility dawning on them—shock and joy mingling.

The bald man stood midair. He threw a punch, and the mere force of it blasted a distant sea beast to pieces. He burst into laughter: "I never thought I'd turn misfortune into fortune—finally stepped into the Super Tier!"

Suddenly, his heart stirred. He looked down at the blood and flesh on the ground, his eyes dimming. "Third Brother, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother..."

But then his expression hardened into fierce resolve. "Second Brother, you go first. I'll make these beasts pay for Third, Fifth, and Sixth!"

"Good, Big Brother! We'll wait for you in Dinghai City." The wounded didn't linger. They knew their Big Brother had broken through to Super Tier Warrior—no need to worry about him. In their hearts, they hoped he would slaughter many sea beasts and avenge them.

"Two seniors, let me lend you a hand." The bald man flew toward Guen and Cal.

Guen and Cal were at the very front, tearing through and driving back the sea beast horde. Seeing the bald man approach, Cal frowned. "Go after the stragglers. Don't let them catch up to the wounded again."

The bald man's face flushed red. He said stubbornly, "I'm grateful for your livesaving grace, seniors, but don't look down on me. I'm a Super Tier Warrior now too. What you can do, I can do."

Cal glanced at him, then looked into the distance. "Can you do that, too?"

In the distance, three enormous sea beasts floated through the air, flying toward them. Clearly, the terrifying slaughter here had caught the attention of these Planetary Level sea beasts.

The bald man's face went pale, but he quickly steadied himself. "All Super Tier—I can handle it."

Cal gave a cold laugh. Flame God Armor covered her arm. Before the bald man could react, she snatched his Diamond Level weapon, scraped it across the armor, and left not even a scratch.

The bald man's eyes nearly popped out. He knew exactly how sharp that Diamond Level weapon was. And he hadn't even seen Cal's movement. His earlier excitement was doused cold.

"You've just stepped into this realm. This isn't something you can face yet. Do as I say. We'll handle this." Cal's tone was cold and commanding.

This time, the bald man didn't argue. He obediently flew back, but couldn't help glancing at Guen. Even the fearsome Cal seemed to defer to him. Just what kind of strength did this young-looking Super Tier Warrior possess?

"Three Planetary Level sea beasts." Guen's heart was utterly calm. The largest of the three was barely over thirty meters tall. Even with three of them, Guen didn't consider them a threat.

"Kill!"

Guen let out a low shout and flew straight at the three beasts. Cal followed close behind.

But the sea beast horde on the ground, for once, didn't chase the wounded. Instead, they moved slowly, eyes fixed on the sky.

"Sss—shasha sha—"

The three beasts roared in fury.

These two humans dared to fly openly toward them—utterly disrespectful. They also knew that sea beasts fought at full strength in the water, while humans entering the sea lost fifty to sixty percent of their combat power.

Thus, battles usually happened at the shoreline. Sea beasts could maintain seventy to eighty percent of their strength there. Humans, though at full power, couldn't pursue freely with seawater around. Sea beasts that pushed deep inland were left with only thirty to forty percent of their strength, but they relied on their tough vitality. With three of them, they could tie down Guen and Cal, and with the swarm of ordinary beasts, even an ordinary Planetary Level fighter would beg for mercy.

Guen had enraged them completely.

Roaring, they charged madly at Guen.

"Looking for death!"

Guen took a shallow breath. Flame God Armor wrapped his entire body, leaving only his eyes exposed. The Meteor Light Blade let out a clear, resonant hum, turning into a bolt of lightning. A massive blade-light blazed across the sky.

Tanhuo!

Not just a technique—a way of fighting.

Beyond levels like Planetary and Star, a fighter's insight and skill were divided into four grades: Ordinary, Conception, Domain, World.

Guen had been stuck at Ordinary. Now, he had entered the Conception realm. If he could comprehend the fifth form of Flame Slash, he would reach the peak of Conception. Then, with luck, he might grasp Domain—and achieve the terrifying feat of a Planetary Level fighter battling a Star Level one.

But for now, Guen was only at Conception. Every move he made carried the fierce intent of burning coals, relentless until reduced to ash. With a single slash, the three sea beasts' hearts trembled. They wanted to flee.

"Shk!"

Two of the beasts' massive bodies were cleanly sliced in half. The last one fled in panic—a squid-like sea beast with beautiful blue-white speckled patterns on its skin. But now, a huge gash nearly split its body, and gushing blood rained down like a storm.

Guen half-closed his eyes, feeling the inadequacy of that strike.

Cal was stunned by the sight, but seeing Guen in that state, she didn't disturb him. Instead, she chased after the grievously wounded squid beast.

The ordinary sea beasts below were terrified!

Even Planetary Level beasts were two dead and one gravely wounded in a single blow. How could they stand a chance?

They only wished they had legs. Pushed from behind by the horde, they slowly retreated toward the sea.

Planetary Level sea beasts were kings of the ocean. Normally, if they found a dead Planetary Level carcass, these beasts would take a bite. But now, even a single drop of blood splashing on them made them want to bite off that spot and leave it behind, praying not to draw the attention of that human demon in the sky.

Four massive chunks of sea beast flesh lay abandoned at Guen's feet, as if telling the tale of that terrifying slash.

After a long moment, Guen opened his eyes, a satisfied look on his face. Though sea beasts deep inland suffered a severe drop in combat power due to unfamiliar terrain and restricted tactics, their physical toughness remained unchanged. That was their advantage. So even with greatly reduced strength, the three beasts hadn't feared Guen and Cal.

But Guen's single slash killed two sea beasts and heavily wounded a third. The power of that strike surpassed even ordinary Planetary Level 5 or 6 fighters. Unless they wielded a Force Weapon, none could stand against Guen—the sharpness of the Meteor Light Blade was enough to shatter all their resistance.

"Though my strength has skyrocketed, even without the Meteor Light Blade, I have the combat power of a Planetary Level 5 or 6. But the side effects are severe." Guen looked at his hands; tiny wounds were oozing droplets of blood.

The burden on his body was too great!

Consider this: an ordinary planetary-level fighter of the Aoyu Empire, at Level 1, has only about an eightfold Force Multiplier and a basic-level Conception. Their body can easily withstand the pressure of a full burst, let alone fully mobilize their strength.

At Apprentice Level, each rank increase roughly doubles one's power.

At Planetary Level, it's even more extreme—threefold is average, and at the limit, the difference can reach five or six times. For Guen, at Planetary Level 2, to unleash force comparable to Planetary Level 5 or 6, bridging such a vast gap in base power, the pressure his body endures is terrifying.

Why is the limit of Force Multiplier at Planetary Level thirtyfold?

Understand: the absolute limit of Force Multiplier is one hundredfold. The reason is that beyond thirtyfold, any lifeform's physical body would collapse under such pressure. At Star Level, one can withstand at least eightyfold Force Multiplier, because the body is stronger, the foundation is there—the fear isn't the load of the multiplier, but being unable to output that many times the power.

Thus, the limit at Planetary Level is thirtyfold. Perhaps some beings in the universe can endure higher multipliers at this stage, but most life in the cosmos must follow this rule. Even peak human bloodlines like the Manka Star People or the Sith Race are no exception.

Yet Guen, at Planetary Level 2, already has a twenty-fivefold Force Multiplier. Add in Conception, and the power he unleashes—even though the sea beasts had no chance to fight back—still injured him. He hurt himself. If he fought continuously, always bursting at full power, Guen might gravely wound himself.

A short burst, however, can be repaired by his planetary-level body on its own.

"I have to hurry and cultivate Star Body Forging. If my flesh isn't tough enough, I won't dare to go all out in the future—only brief bursts. It seems I'll still rely on the Meteor Light Blade's edge. To use my own strength, my body needs to be at least as strong as a Planetary Level 7 or above." Guen understood this well. He landed slowly and began collecting materials from the two sea beasts.

These were planetary-level sea beasts. Selling them to the empire would fetch tens of thousands of Gold Coins, but their greater use was to trade them to the Goddess Temple for contribution points.