The power of the man before them is so immense that they felt as if he could sunder the heavens and rip apart the very earth at will. Even the walls of this dungeon itself, seemed to quiver at his imposing presence.

The first thing that immediately came across Kairos' mind is to run, but knowing that they are very likely to die, a calmness that he never expected rose within him and his thoughts flowed rapidly to think of a solution.

Things quickly became clear to him, when it was muddy before, that they have no chance of survival even if they ran. Their only option left is to fight, but if they clashed directly with Syriong, it is instantly their demise.

If they pooled together their energies using the formation they are in, it would amount to the strength of Mid, or probably even Peak A rank. The group after the infusion of their Origin Energy are only at Peak B individually, while Kairos is the only Entry A ranker and his father Vouno only Entry B. Even if they include the power of the sword Ki that they now have that will allow them to handle an Entry S ranker, it will still be far from enough.

All these thoughts kept running through his mind in a speed that could be said to be almost instantaneous, until finally, he found it. The way to win.

"Contract beasts" He called out, ignoring the foe before him, hoping that their enemy would allow them the time to prepare. And time proved that his bet won, as Syriong looked curiously at what kind of beasts they could summon that would turn the tides. To Kairos this is a grave mistake that Syriong made. Almost instantly, the 4 beasts of his brothers appeared on their shoulders.

The contract beasts immediately throw in their power to the formation, strengthening their strength to above Peak A. And for a short moment, thanks to the 4 beasts, they reached Entry S rank.

It was only at this moment that Syriong finally decided to strike.

He truly regretted satisfying his curiosity and allowed the 4 beasts to be summoned. When they appeared together, he felt a terrifying feeling, even though they are so much weaker that they shouldn't be able to affect the battle.

It was an instinct that called him to carry out his attack. With him being so many ranks above them, there were plenty of chances for him to interrupt them. And at first, it wasn't anything too shocking as the first, when the tyrant among beasts, the Wind Wyvern, appeared. Then a cute kitten that he couldn't recognize, and a black turtle, and then a crystal bird. Though he couldn't recognise most of them, the odd thing is, he felt threatened by every one of them. Even the turtle.

No doubt, all of them are top tier contract beasts!

Syriong hesitated for a split second, as he was assaulted by several strong desires. His foremost intention was to take the 4 beasts for his own, but breaking a contract beast's bond with its master is an extremely dangerous act. It is no different from attempting to split up two souls without damaging them, a surgical move that is beyond even his skill.

His second thought is to quickly destroy the contract beasts before him. He has a fear that stemmed rightfully, even if he is a triple S ranker facing opponents that are nowhere close to his level. And that is because, if the contract beasts fused with their masters, it would instantly grant the humans a greater power along with the bloodline techniques of the beasts. Additionally, the more unique that contract beast is, the more dangerous is the effect and

It is fortunate that his foes did not seem to know how to truly make use of their contract beast's power. If that happens, even if Kairos' group are all considerable weaker than Syriong, it might become possible for them to wound or even kill him. Just like giving a sword to a child.

The guardian of the realm charged at them, he did not want to give them a chance to figure out how to fuse, and his body flickered as the air surrounding him rippled because of the great amount of power from his presence. Crystal shards started surfacing from the ground beneath them, with every step he took. The gems flew upwards and rotated around him with great velocity. If even one of those crystals struck any of them, it would instantly pierce a bloody hole through their body.

His sword, that he just drew, also gained several satellite gems that circled around his wrist guards as he wielded the weapon.

Then he held it with both hands and brought it to his waist with its edge behind him. As he ran forward, a ring of beautiful yellow ring of runic letters danced around his sword edge as he prepared his strike.

All these happened in the blink of an eye, and to Kairos' group, it looked as though Syriong who was standing a distance away is suddenly before their faces and about to unleash his attack.

"Father!" Kairos called out, and at once all their powers generated in the Northern Swords Variation 3 is pooled within Vouno.

His body is instantly encased by the fearsome Sword Ki, summation of all the energies their group has, and he quickly switched positions, placing himself right at the front.

"Motherlode of the Earth, Gaia's Embrace!" Syriong growled and swung his weapon upwards. As he slashed in a great crescent, the rotating crystal shards around his weapon flew out like darts towards Vouno who have placed himself right in the front.

Everyone took on a grave expression as they felt the unnatural stillness surrounding the attack. It spoke of the efficiency of how Syriong used his power, wasting not even a drop to dissipate into the air.

In this critical junction, time seemed to stop for Kairos. He felt a familiarity to the sensation of this strike, and his thoughts were suddenly brought back to the time where he struck down rows after rows of Orcs in a trance, in the hill base back at the training grounds. At that time, everyone's focus was on the 16 spheres of energy he summoned, that turned itself into a prismatic gas cloud around him, but there was also an unnatural stillness about his attack that they did not paid attention to, and additionally a complete silence. That time, even light itself dimmed around him, until there was only a single tiny glow of light at the tip of his Swallow when he attacked. And he could somehow remember that his strikes back then were one of the most efficient methods to use his energy, similar to Syriong's attack.

When their soul perception touched Syriong's blade, they could all feel the tremendous energy that is perfectly contained within. It is a single strike that is herald to their utter annihilation.

Then, just before the attack connected, Vouno who has been infused with energy activated his skill stealing technique to the maximum.

Without amalgamating everyone's powers, and the addition of the contract beasts, he wouldn't have the strength to do so. But now that he has the strength of an entry S ranker, it allowed him to attempt stealing a single attack of Syriong's.

Back then, when he only held the power of Peak F rank, he already managed to contain and absorb the force of a Mid C rank attack. His technique, in fact, did not require much energy to bind the power he wish to absorb. Instead, only his body needs to be tough enough to hold the tremendous energy without it destroying him.

Vouno strained himself to his physical limits, as he coveted the triple S ranking attack for his own. It started with the crystal gems flying towards him disappearing, looking much like they are being vaporised in mid-air, and shocking even Syriong himself.

Then his weakened blade that was swung upwards was caught by the ranger's dagger. The hand and a half long blade forged to the ranks of the Immortal realms by a master blacksmith clashed against the guardian's treasured weapon.

Covered from hilt to tip with beautiful glowing runes, the dagger frantically absorbed the impact of Gaia's Embrace, like a sponge that laps up water, but the excessive energy continued to invade into Vouno's body threatening to overwhelm him by shattering his flesh.

But, still, the man held on.

It is certainly more than what he had expected to face. The full-forced blow of a triple S ranker is many times over Vouno's toughness even with his temporal improvements. And he found himself unable to estimate Syriong's grade for the exaggerated power behind the attack proved simply immeasurable.

It was only a split second later after the blades connected and he is already completely overwhelmed with energy, but at this time, Kairos from behind them suddenly sent out his twin dragonlings, which appeared like shadows beside Vouno and they gobbled up the powerful excess Ki like they are great nourishments.

Finally, the last bit of power behind Syriong's strike trickled away, absorbed into Vouno's flesh and blood. Then, finding himself unable to store the energy for much longer, he immediately released the attack, returning it back to its owner.

A giant apparition, made of glowing yellow Ki, materialised within the dungeon. Its head and feet limited by the height of the tunnel. A beautiful sword, much alike Syriong's weapon, materialised in its hand, next, the figure used Syriong's exact move and struck back. A replicated Gaia's Embrace.

This instant reflection of his own attack caught the guardian of the realm off guard. It was a retaliation done so magnificently that he could never have dreamt of it possible, even in his worst nightmare. He frantically threw up his barrier to defend against his own attack, but he soon realised that the force that struck him was not much weaker than what he sent out.

Vouno's blade glowed fiercely as it unleashed all the power it had previously stored along with Kairos' runes, while the twin dragonlings spit out dragonfire, one of intense flame and the other with an equally dangerous frost breath.

Hidden behind Vouno's large back, Kairos began to ready his ring. The very same divine artefact, the Thunder god's ring which he took from the dead body of the devil storm wolf.

He sent out a remarkable ripple of pressure as dark clouds gathered in rings around him.