Chapter 359 - 359: Fifth Strongest Mode

"What just happened?"

Elen muttered, her mind completely going blank in what seemed like an instant as she stared at the scene before her.

Only moments ago, she had been completely convinced that it was over for the blonde hero.

He had been severely injured and weakened.

Yet he had simply grinned and swung his claw, releasing a massive silver strike that had cut down the Ashen warrior without much trouble.

Aiden, seeing this, only smiled.

Although the battle had been difficult, he would have been able to win without getting this badly injured.

But the main reason he had allowed himself to become this wounded was because he wanted to test the ultimate skill of his Dark Mane Tyrant Mode.

When enough damage had been accumulated and the silver glow around his body was fully charged, he could unleash a massive burst of attack at once, wiping out a large swarm of enemies with a single strike.

Usually, he would have used it to deal with multiple enemies.

But he had simply been tempted to try it out on the Ashen warrior.

If anything, Aiden had to admit that he was shocked by the Ashen warrior's strength.

It was easily as powerful as many S-Rank beasts.

Although, if he had to classify him, Aiden would place him at low S-Rank.

Mid at best.

Still, it was undoubtedly powerful and would have posed a great threat if this monster had managed to break free and enter Earth.

The repercussions of that would have been massive.

Aiden reverted back to his human form.

Several large gashes still covered his body, blood dripping from the wounds.

He had to admit that it had been quite a while since he had been this badly hurt.

He hardly ever got injured whenever he entered a Red Portal.

Only when he was dealing with the boss did he usually get marked like this.

And if there was one thing Aiden was certain about, it was that the portal boss was not the one he had just killed.

Speaking of the portal boss...

If its minions were already this powerful, then Aiden was genuinely curious about just how powerful the portal boss itself was.

Meanwhile, back at the Ashen Palace of the Ashen King, the red eyes of the Ashen King darkened as he felt the mark he had left on Naki vanish in an instant.

A human hero capable of killing one of his warriors?

He hadn't even known that someone like that existed.

"It seems your men weren't as powerful as one would have expected."

The Ice Elf spoke smoothly, her gaze calm and composed, but the disdain in her voice was as clear as ever.

"He died in less than twenty minutes."

She paused.

"If this is the combat power of the Ashen Race, then I don't think you are really worthy of being included in the Lord's plan."

The Ashen King's expression changed slightly.

He called out two names.

"Rail."

"Shai."

Two figures dressed in Ashen robes appeared.

Their robes were dark and ashen, while their skin was completely black.

Red lines ran along their bodies.

The moment they appeared, both bent their knees and lowered their heads in deep respect.

"You two."

The Ashen King's voice was cold.

"Go and bring me the heads of the invaders."

The two warriors nodded once.

Then they vanished.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, Aiden found somewhere to sit, and Elen came over to meet him.

He turned toward her calmly.

His gaze was composed, but the triumphant smile still lingered on his face.

Elen seemed to have finally broken out of her shock.

She stared at Aiden with a mixture of awe, fear, and several other emotions she couldn't quite identify.

Looking directly at his face suddenly felt rude, so she lowered her head.

Her gaze shifted toward the injuries covering his body.

"You need a healer."

She spoke with concern as she searched through her pouch for something that could at least stop the bleeding.

But she couldn't find anything useful.

Aiden shook his head.

"Don't worry. I'm alright."

He glanced down at his wounds.

"I just want to see how long it takes my body to heal itself."

Elen paused.

She blinked.

Then she looked at him with one eyebrow raised, her expression practically asking, What did you just say?

"I mean, you shouldn't worry. My body will heal itself."

Ever since Aiden's body had been enhanced to the superhuman level, his recovery speed had increased by about four times.

A deep wound on his body would normally require only a few seconds or, at most, a few minutes to heal.

Of course, it depended on what, or who, had caused the injury in the first place.

If someone extremely powerful injured him, the wounds would naturally take longer to heal.

So Aiden wanted to know exactly how long it would take for his body to recover from the Ashen creature's attack.

Ten minutes or so?

He was pretty curious to find out.

If necessary, he still had two Restoration Pills that could instantly restore him.

But he was choosing not to use either of them.

Elen opened her mouth to say something.

Then she closed it.

She opened it again.

And after a while, she closed it once more.

Sincerely, she shouldn't judge this hero before her using common sense.

So she simply shut her brain down and decided to go with the flow, wherever that flow was heading.

No matter what Aiden said, she wouldn't argue.

She would simply accept it as the truth.

"Let's head back now. We are done here."

Elen spoke as she tried to help Aiden up.

Not that he needed her help.

Still, she wanted to at least help him in whatever way she could.

She had been completely useless during the battle, so she wanted to remedy that by doing something.

It was then that Aiden looked at her.

His expression was completely amused.

Elen looked at him with a slight frown.

He wasn't going to say anything crazy again, was he?

She wondered as she prepared to ask why he was looking at her like that.

But before she could even open her mouth, Aiden spoke.

His words landed on her like a bomb.

"Actually, we haven't faced the portal boss yet."

He smiled.

"So our mission here is still far from being done."

"What?!"

Elen almost shouted.

She stared at Aiden with wide eyes, wanting to say with all her might that he had to be joking.

But before she could ask, a loud boom suddenly crashed several meters away from where they stood.

Elen froze.

This kind of scene was becoming far too familiar.

Her breath caught.

Her heartbeat rose instantly as she slowly turned around.

And then she froze completely.

Two monsters stood there.

They weren't like the typical Ashen creatures.

Their auras were deep and suffocating.

Even Elen felt as if she were drowning beneath their presence.

Their skin was black instead of the typical ashen color.

Their eyes were red, with red lines running along their bodies.

The two monsters stared at the pair with cold, deathly gazes.

Then they opened their mouths.

Both spoke at the exact same time.

"Prepare to die, intruders."

Elen's body remained frozen.

Then she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

Aiden stepped beside her.

His body was already healing.

White wisps of smoke emerged from his wounds as his flesh rapidly recovered.

Aiden had been forced to recover using one of his Restoration Pills.

There was no way he was going into another battle in that badly injured state.

But now that he had recovered, he was going to take these two down without allowing himself to become as injured as he had been during the battle with the Ashen warrior he killed only a few minutes ago.

"Hey, you."

Aiden turned his head slightly, one eye locking onto the frozen Elen.

"You know what to do if you want to live, right?"

Elen stared blankly for a few seconds.

Then her brain finally caught up.

She nodded rapidly.

She knew exactly what to do if she wanted to live.

Run.

And run she did.

The two Ashen monsters turned their gazes toward Elen as she hurried away from the battlefield.

Aiden half expected them to chase after her and try to kill her.

But they didn't.

Instead, they simply turned their gazes back toward him.

The way the two moved was strange.

It was as if they were robots controlled by the same person.

Everything they did happened at exactly the same time.

Such cute twins.

Sadly, they were going to die.

But Aiden would do them a favor.

He would kill them at the same time.

The reason the previous Ashen monster had been able to hurt him and greatly wound him was because he had been holding back.

He had wanted to test something.

But now?

He wasn't going to hold himself back.

And since he didn't want to get injured again and wanted to end this as quickly as possible, he was going to use the beast that granted him insane defense and mighty strength.

"Ding."

"Would you like to activate Beast Mode: Horn Titan?"

"Yes/No."

"Yes."

Aiden answered.

Another message immediately rang inside his mind.

"Ding."

"Horn Titan Mode has been activated."

At the same time, the transformation began.

Aiden's body suddenly expanded.

His muscles swelled beneath his skin, his entire frame growing larger and heavier with every passing second.

His once fragile, soft-looking skin thickened.

Then it became tougher.

Denser.

His arms expanded until they looked capable of tearing apart steel with their bare hands.

His shoulders widened.

His chest bulged outward.

His back expanded, layer after layer of monstrous muscle forming beneath his skin.

His legs thickened until they resembled the pillars of some ancient beast.

His fingers twisted.

His nails sharpened.

His feet transformed.

Bones shifted beneath his flesh with a series of deep cracking sounds as his human feet stretched and reshaped themselves into massive hooves.

BOOM!

The ground beneath him shattered.

A crater formed beneath his newly transformed feet.

His neck thickened as his head began to change.

His jaw extended.

His face pushed forward.

His features became more monstrous.

Then two massive horns erupted from his skull.

They curved upward, dark and imposing, growing larger with every passing second.

His entire body continued expanding until the human figure that had stood there moments ago was completely gone.

In his place stood a monstrous humanoid beast.

A towering Minotaur.

His body was covered in thick, powerful muscle.

His arms were enormous.

His legs were built like pillars.

His hooves dug into the ground.

And those two massive horns rose from his head like weapons forged by nature itself.

Aiden slowly lowered his head.

Then he opened his mouth.

"ROOOOOOOAR!"

A terrifying roar exploded across the battlefield.

The air trembled.

Dust and debris were thrown outward.

The two Ashen monsters exchanged a glance.

For the first time since they had appeared...

They felt something.

Weariness.

They couldn't understand why.

Why did they suddenly feel so threatened?

Why did their instincts scream at them to be careful?

The reason was simple.

Aiden was serious now.

He was no longer playing around.

And he was now using one of his strongest Beast Modes.

Horn Titan.

The fifth strongest Beast Mode in his arsenal.

If the people of Earth who had grown up reading about mythical creatures were here...

They wouldn't be able to contain their shock.

They would have stared at the monster before them and shouted in disbelief.

A true...

Real...

Minotaur.