Is this really a Game?!

The cave shook as Wolf's greatsword connected with the centipede's body, to be more exact it connected with the end of the body which was lifted from the ground and flung up with great speed.

The centipede's body and Wolf's greatsword collided as flames burst out around them, even with the incredible boost from Wolf's ability, his flames were still unable to deal a lot of damage to the monster. That wasn't the only problem as Wolf's sword was unable to cut deep inside as the centipede's steel-like plates made it hard to do so.

Wolf was unfortunate enough to hit a plate right away, as that was the toughest part of the centipede's body, he was unable to deal a lot of damage with the attack, still, his sword was able to cut through the plate thanks to its sharpness and the powerful flames that melted a bit of it.

"Thanks for the help Tank." Reign said as a golden glow suddenly left his body, Tank had previously used his [ Guardian's Protection ] in order to help Reign out while he was stuck between the mandibles.

"Always bro." Tank said before jumping at the giant centipede who had pushed Wolf away. The monster's giant body quickly moved in order to attack Wolf who was flying through the air. Tank quickly approached and showed up near the centipede, with a loud roar he manages to stop the centipede and make it stare at him.

"Still works." Tank said with a smile as his roar skill managed to transfer the monster's agro from Wolf to him. Suddenly black mana started rising around Tank as he put his shield down and stared at the monster.

[ Abyss Shield ]

The black mana gathered and created multiple hexagonal shields around Tank before they all got fused together to form one big shield in front of him.

This was actually an evolved form of the [ Mana Shield ] that Tank had. After a fruitful encounter during the evolution challenge, Tank managed to get in touch with the power of the abyss, a place where monsters of incredible power stayed, it is said that the most powerful of demons also resided there.

The abyss power that Tank got a hold of was small, just a tiny amount that was the same size as a finger, and yet he almost died when touching it. The incredible power inside of the small item that was called [ Abyss Pebble ] was enough to make him almost fall unconscious, luckily he was able to take control of it and incorporate it into one skill of his own choice.

He lost the [ Mana shield ] and [ Mana Shield v2 ], but in turn, he got a skill that was more powerful and could be used the same way as both of the previous skills could.

The centipede crashed against the dark shield and pushed it back by about 2 meters before being forced to a stop. Tank, who was right behind the shield smirked a bit before the [ Abyss Shield ] started glowing.

[ Abyss Shield Rupture ]

With his own shield also glowing, Tank hit the [ Abyss Shield ] before the centipede shrieked loudly as it was pushed back, a couple of its plates broken by the powerful attack. Even though the centipede looked relatively fine on the outside, the skill had also damaged its insides and caused some internal bleeding.

Beast on the other hand was levitating in the air as he created a huge arrow made out of the wind. The biggest thing he had managed to get from the challenge wasn't a skill or items, it was the fact that he had managed to get another ability

[ Wind Manipulation ] – Rank B

Even though the ability itself was rank B, its level was still low and the power he could get from it was weak. Even if Beast was to get it to the same rank and level as Wolf's flame ability, it wouldn't be as powerful since it wasn't an inherent ability and he needed to use more mana to get the same power as an inherent one.

That was why most people choose to simply focus on their own ability during the leveling phase, no matter how talented or powerful you were, an inherent ability was always going to be more powerful than a learned one.

[ Wind Piercer ]

Beast notched the giant arrow on his bow which was also being coated by the wind before letting it loose. The arrow caused a gale of wind to erupt in the cave before it hit the centipede and smashed it against the ground.

[ Sun Smasher ]

Wolf suddenly appeared above the centipede with a giant flame hammer in his hand. He smashed the hammer down on the centipede as more of its steel plates got broken from the attack. Since the centipede had an incredible defense against swords and weapons that could cut, smashing it apart with blunt weapons was the best choice.

"Me next!" Shouted Greenie as he jumped on the centipede.

[ Inferno Eruption, Gravity Strike ]

The final skill that Greenie had gotten and finally managed to comprehend was another one that used no weapons. He joined his hands together as a formless ball of energy appeared around them, with a grunt, Greenie smashed his hands down at the centipede.

Boom!

His hands never even touched the centipede as the ball of energy connected with its steel plates, immediately a change occurred as the air itself was drawn over to it.

The steel plates around Greenie deformed before being smashed to pieces, the centipede's flesh was no better as Greenies arms went inside its body, the gravity ball wreaking havoc inside.

"Screeee!" The centipede screamed in agony as it started thrashing around and hitting Tank, Wolf, and Greenie who were all sent flying back. Red mana suddenly appeared around the centipede as its huge body got smaller.

The steel plates were dyed in a blood-red color while its mandibles and legs turned black. They elongated and were now even bigger than before, the cold glint coming from them showed that they were probably much sharper and tougher than before as well.

Even though a part of its body had been smashed apart and it had a huge gaping hole from Laura's attack, the centipede could still fight, and it wasn't going down without a battle. The ability it just used made its body tougher, smaller, and faster than before.

Its mandibles and legs could now easily cut apart or pierce through the rocks of the cave as each step the centipede took made holes in the cave.

Wolf, Tank, and Greenie all smashed against the walls of the cave before the centipede charged at Greenie. He had caused some big damage to it and the centipede wanted to get revenge. Before it could do so, however.

Bzzzzzzzzz

Swosh

A lightning-clad Reign appeared on top of its head while Shadow suddenly teleported in front of it

[ Darkness Implosion ]

[ Lightning Stab ]

Reign stabbed the centipede's head with full force with his rank S sword. The incredible defense the centipede now had made it hard for him to even stab through as lightning exploded around him, the lightning lance that covered his sword and arm staying in one place, unable to penetrate through the head.

A ball of darkness appeared in front of the centipede as the latter was focused on Reign who was stabbing its head with his lightning lance. The ball of darkness immediately started to work, the incredible gravitational force breaking the centipede's steel plates as if they were made out of paper while any leg that got in touch with it was deformed and ripped out of the centipede's body.

[ Shadow swords ]

Shadow wasted no time and immediately went to work, with his daggers being fully coated in the darkness he stabbed them deep inside the centipede at the spot where his ball of darkness that hit.

[ Shadow Burst ]

[ Shadow Sword Explosion ]

Shadow quickly used two skills as his swords entered, shadow burst was first and it delivered some decent damage inside of the centipede's body, while a new skill of his was next.

[ Shadow Sword Explosion ] was a simple skill that would do one thing, make his shadow swords explode and deal incredible damage. The shadow swords were created with the help of a decent chunk of mana and the concentrated power inside of them was nothing to scoff at, after exploding the damage they would inflict was incredible.

Boom!

Even Shadow was sent flying from the explosion while the front part of the raised centipede blew up and a gaping hole was left. Flesh and blood poured out as the centipede screamed in pain as Reign had managed to pierce through with his lance, albeit barely.

The lance was gone and only a shallow wound was left on the centipede's head, but Reign smiled wildly as he suddenly opened his mouth and aimed at the hole. A great amount of mana was suddenly channeled to his throat as lightning flickered inside of it.

[ Lightning Roar ]