The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

Boom!

Manduk dashed out of the smoke. 'This guy is strong.' He said inwardly as Souta chased after him.

Swoosh!

[Crimson Moon]!

He clenched his fist and he gathered a huge amount of mana. He then punched the red energy blade in front of him.

Bang!

Manduk saw Souta continue to attack him. He simply blocked and dodged Souta's attack without fighting back.

He could deal with Souta using his strength but that's not the point of this examination. In this examination, he had to see the combat prowess of the people that wanted to join the Athen's Champion to know if they were really qualified to serve the Goddess Athena.

'I can deal with him since I'm at One Shackle Realm but if I'm still at S-rank then this guy would be able to defeat me.' Manduk thought.

Souta was the strongest third evolution monster he had seen so far. He guessed that no S-rank would be able to defeat Souta. A monster was really a different breed compared to humans and demis. That's why a party was necessary when they need to subjugate one.

Boom!

A dark aura covered Souta's body and his strength had increased several times once again.

[Element Drive: Dark Force]!

'Hmm... He could even use [Element Drive]. That's an insane mastery over dark attribute. This guy... He is qualified.'

With that in Manduk's mind, he quickly parried Souta's sword and delivered a blow on his stomach.

Bang!

"Ugh!"

Souta spat a mouthful of blood and felt a huge energy brewing in front of him. A big attack. Manduk was finally going to attack him.

It was a huge problem. Although he had fought with Shackled Realm before, the situation back then was different right now. At that time, he teamed up against a Shackled Realm yet at this moment he was fighting alone and the opponent right now was stronger than Rowan.

Although he got stronger, the difference in battle power was still huge.

"You are doing good," Manduk said with a smile as he appeared in front of Souta.

He stretched out his hand and grabbed Souta's face before the energy in his hand exploded.

Boom!

Then, he smashed Souta to the ground before launching a series of punches.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He then kicked Souta on the side before saying, "Let's stop this. I know that you can still fight but in the end, you still didn't have enough power to defeat. Ah, that's not the point. What I want to say is your performance is extremely good. Simply amazing."

"Damn! That hurts!"

Souta slowly stood up and he returned to his normal form. The bruises that he received had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Manduk approached him with a smile and he raised his hand. "Congratulations, you're terrific and I will say this to you. You will pass the examination without a doubt. I guess that you and I will be comrades soon."

"Oh, thanks." Souta shook Manduk's hand and said.

"Although you still had to wait for the result of the examination, I'm sure that you will pass it so I'm congratulating you in advance," Manduk said to him.

"Then, I don't need to worry about it," Souta said.

"Yeah, you're performance is extraordinary."

"Thanks, I'll go now," Souta said politely before he excused himself.

Manduk simply stared at Souta's back. After a while, he said, "It's my first time seeing a monster like him. He's incredibly familiar with human and demi's culture."

Souta's combat prowess shook the entire stadium. A lot of people were talking about him and even the S-rank experts were wondering whether they could defeat Souta in a one-on-one fight or not. They even doubt if he was really a third evolution monster.

After all, the battle strength that he had shown was above the third evolution stage but weaker than the fourth evolution stage.

What they don't know was that Souta hasn't even reached the limit of third evolution so he still could improve his strength.

...

"What a magnificent show of power, boss!" Eztein said when Souta returned.

"It's nothing." Souta looked around and asked, "Where is Alice?"

"Her? The interviewer called her just now." Eztein answered.

"Hm..." Souta hummed and he sat down. He crossed his arms in front of his chest before he closed his eyes.

He recalled his battle against Manduk. No, he shouldn't call it battle as Manduk wasn't even serious in fighting him. It would be over in just a minute if Instructor Manduk fought him seriously.

His strength right now was above S-rank and he could even fight several S-rank experts at the same time if he used his equipment skills.

Hmm... The limit should be eight, no, maybe ten S-rank. Right, ten S-rank was his limit but it was still not enough if he wanted to fight ten S-rank. Eilish even fought more than ten S-rank while still injured from her battle against Rowan.

He should know that Eilish's strength was average in the level of One Shackle Realm. Clan Leader Rowan and Instructor Manduk were stronger than her.

'I gained light elemental affinity from eating the High Phaseless Fruit. It means that I should begin training to learn another [Element Drive].'

People that mastered their respective elemental affinity only could use the [Element Drive]. Since he had two elemental affinities, he could learn [Dual Element Drive]. It was several times stronger than the normal [Element Drive].

Mastering the [Dual Element Drive] would greatly increase his battle power. If he could master this skill then he could probably fight ten S-rank with half of them being at the peak stage. No, he will be probably stronger than that.

Souta opened his eyes. Eztein left and Alice began her examination. He focused his attention on her.

'It will be easy for her to pass this without revealing her demon form.' He said inwardly.

'It's not a problem for her and Eztein. The one you should be worried about is that girl Eilish. Although she's a Shackled Realm, her combat prowess is really low.' Saya said.

'Well, you are right.' Souta couldn't help but nod at her.

After a few minutes, Alice finished her examination. Eztein also finished his examination. Both of them showed their potential.

Eilish examination was different. She had to fight an instructor at Four Shackles Realm. The people that set up the barrier were all at Shackled Realm. After all, a barrier made by several Solidifying Realms was useless against someone at Shackled Realm.

The examiner tested Eilish's physical strength and speed. The result was normal as her physical strength and speed were just average in her power level. Then, her energy level. This time was different. Eilish had a huge amount of mana in her mana pool.

After that, they proceeded to combat test. Eilish starts the battle by casting several attack spells and creating a barrier around her. She showed a textbook mage and showed everyone her powerful offensive spell.

A bombardment occurred inside the barrier and the ground kept shaking. If the barrier disappeared then there's no doubt that this whole area would be flattened by her attacks.

After a few minutes, the instructor declared that the examination was over. No one knows if Eilish passed or not.

A lot of people watched her battle as they rarely saw someone at Shackled Realm fight seriously. Out of thousands of people that wanted to join the Athen's Champion at this moment, only six of them were at Shackled Realm.

Although they were Shackles Realm, the Athen's Champion wouldn't easily accept them in their legion. They still had to meet the required strength. Being at the top 10 legions, the Athen's Champion had the right to decline people at Shackled Realm. They didn't lack Shackled Realm experts and most of their members were exceptional among their peers.

"Sigh... It's harder than I thought. I never imagined that I would have to fight someone that strong before."

Eilish said after she returned.

"It's fine. Your performance is not bad. If I were the instructor then you would barely pass the exam." Souta said to her.

"I'm not optimistic with my chances. I realized how hard it is to join a god's legion." Eilish said.

"It's fine," Souta said to her. In the game, he was a member of Athen's Champion so he climbed through the ranks before becoming Athena's favored hero.

It means that he experienced being an examiner. He guessed that Eilish would pass the examination but her status among Shackled Realm would be low.

Hmm...

Now that they've completed their examination, Souta was confident that all of them had passed. Especially him, since he showed a very exciting performance.

His status would be high and if he wasn't a monster the Athen's Champion would give him his own team. They would nurture him and dispatched him to several sub-world to complete a mission.

First, he would complete several missions, then he would be given the right to travel through the Goddess' sub-worlds.

Okay, I'm itching to get my hands on those artifacts.