The Invincible Full-Moon System - Chapter 1704: Breakthrough (5)
Chapter 1704: Breakthrough (5)
A high priestess appeared beside Kei Xun’s astral body.
Alana’s expression softened, seeing the face Kei Xun was wearing right now as she bowed.
“Divine Saintess,” Alana greeted respectfully, still bowing. “Why must you torture yourself like this?”
“…”
No answer.
Looking down at Rex—who was currently preparing for the next trial, Alana sighed, “It doesn’t matter how he fares right now. It doesn’t matter how monstrous his talent was. A dead man will—and always will be forgotten.”
Just then, Kei Xun’s hand shot and choked Alana by her neck.
“Are you looking down on me?” Kei Xun asked; slowly turning to look at Alana in the eyes. “Are you implying—he has more talent than me, and that is why he will succeed if he’s not dead? High Priestess Alana, is that how you see me?”
“N-No! Divine Saintess, I don’t mean an—”
Alana’s words were cut as the grip around her neck tightened.
“Are you blaming me for not being strong enough to protect the sanctuary?”
“N—grrgh…!”
Seeing Alana’s eyes roll back as she was passing out, Kei Xun let go and shoved her away.
Alana held her neck and coughed badly, inhaling deep breaths to recover.
“Forgive me for overstepping…” She apologized, not daring to lift up her head. “I didn’t mean to.”
Kei Xun didn’t care.
Her focus was fixated on Rex, which was beyond rigorous, even after going through multiple trials—from the world. “How is this possible…?” Her body trembled from barely constrained rage. “Where did I make a mistake? I’ve seen his past. I’ve prepared accordingly. I’ve planted the seeds subtly. So why…? Why is his mind not breaking yet?!”
It wasn’t supposed to end this way.
She was expecting this situation to go a lot differently, but reality slapped her head.
At that moment, her gaze landed on the three figures around a mile away from Rex and the fissure.
Specifically, she was looking at the two figures as she clenched her fists hard.
Boom!
Another explosion resounded as the next trial started, expanding the suppression across the area.
Rex sensed the worldly energy level rising around him to the point that it felt like there was a slumbering titan awakening nearby. Even though his legs were shaking and his senses were flaring to the maximum, he wasn’t worried.
Nothing can stop his momentum.
Suppressing his new Lone Alpha skill didn’t come without consequences.
It’s a passive skill.
It didn’t need Rex’s conscious mind for it to activate.
Due to that, suppressing it would work the opposite way, as he needed to maintain focus on it.
Since it was a new passive skill, he didn’t know exactly how it worked.
Rex was afraid that there would be a cooldown or perhaps there’s only one chance for him to gain the very immunity that the passive skill could provide. And thus, he didn’t want to waste that chance on gaining the immunity to the worldly energy that would only appear during trials like this.
Suppressing the passive skill hurts, but it doesn’t matter.
Pain is always a strange thing—cruel, yet honest.
In a scenario where someone was inflicted with pain beyond reason, even the most untrained body will forget the smaller wounds. A stab in the chest would make a cut on the skin meaningless. Every time a great pain arrives, the lesser ones will always fade.
Becoming silent, insignificant, and forgotten.
Currently, Rex’s entire body was marred with soreness and lingering pain from the trials.
Pain that could make even the strongest soldier squeal like a pig.
Naturally, the pain from the suppression was meaningless—his brain treated it as nothing.
As he waited for the trial to start, Rex noticed that the bottom fissure was now a lot wider.
He had been so focused on battling the trial that he failed to notice the change—the narrow fissure, once barely ten meters wide, had now stretched open. Or at least, the area around him had expanded, forming a vast circular chamber that granted him freedom to move as he wished.
Not that it matters.
Splash!
Above, the reddish moon seemed to glow brighter.
Just from that alone, Rex could already tell that starting from now, the difficulty had risen a level.
Now, the source of energy didn’t only come from the world, but also from the moon.
Perhaps, from Kaiser himself.
A crimson dome formed above and encroached on the vast sky as if it was trying to block Rex from going anywhere. Then, countless sparkles appeared across the entire dome like glowing stars. Each one was radiating with strength that alerted Rex’s senses.
Thrumm!!
One of the stars sparkled and glowed.
In the next instant, Rex was pressed down by a relentless force like the gravity was pulling him under.
He remained standing, gathering every ounce of strength to flex his entire body.
Underneath, the ground began to crack, and that crack quickly expanded to cover the entire chamber.
Like an unrestrained beast that refused to kneel before the Moon God, Rex bared his fangs and snarled, roaring at the sky as if he was telling the Gods that it would take a lot more to make him kneel or even bury him for good.
As if the Gods responded, four more stars glowed.
Crash!
Rex’s knees began to bend—the gravitational pull got stronger almost three times in an instant.
His back that could carry mountains was now showing signs of crumbling.
Blood was forced out of his mouth as his entire body was breaking, and so were his internal organs.
It might seem like a mere gravitational press from an outsider’s perspective, but this was more than that; it was way worse. The energy pressing down on him didn’t only weigh on his body—it invaded him, disrupting the flow of power within and even attacking his Soul Artifacts.
And the invading energy did it in the most excruciating way possible.
Even Rex would crumble as this pain, added with the Gradual Penalty, would overwhelm his willpower.
But not now.
Rex’s muscles convulsed and honed themselves as his body broke down.
The Lone Alpha passive skill made him physically stronger and stronger the more hurt he became.
Swish!
Swish!
More stars glowed above, enhancing the gravitational pull, but Rex remained stubborn.
Everything around him was crumbling.
It also includes the Immortal Slugs that were also caught in the middle of this trial.
Of course, true to its name, it wouldn’t die—but being dragged into this mess because of Rex infuriated it internally. But under the crushing weight of the trial’s power, all the Immortal Slugs could do was to endure in silence and wait for it to end before making their move.
Even when three-quarters of the stars were glowing, enhancing the power output of the trial, Rex only fell to his knees—but was still fighting back against the pressure. Like the trial has an emotion, it sent more stars Rex’s way, but even when all of them were shining, Rex was still fighting back.
Despite everything, nothing seemed to break him.
ROAR!!
Rex’s aura exploded again, shattering the pressing energy.
Above, the soundwave that he created shattered the glowing stars and the dome like they were nothing.
<Notice: The Blood Moon Echo has passed the rank of Mausoleums of the Stars!>
Once the notification appeared, Rex’s body relaxed for a moment as he tried to catch his breath.
His breath came in ragged bursts, each inhale scraping against his throat like fire while his entire body convulsed violently—bones snapping back into place with sickening cracks, sinews twisting beneath torn flesh that bled freely from resisting the unbearably gravitational pull moments earlier.
Steam rose from his skin as his regeneration fought against the torment.
Unnaturally, his flesh knitted together faster than the blood could drip to the ground.
A mouthful of blood splattered from his lips, crimson against the earthy brown below, but as the glowing notification flashed before his eyes, he couldn’t help but grin. The pain dulled beneath the euphoria as every agony, every fracture, was worth it.
Now, one more trial before it was the real deal.
But trouble came before he could recover.
Before he could even draw another deep breath, something yanked at his arm.
His eyes darted to the side—nothing.
No visible force. No trace of energy he could sense. However, his arm was clearly held by something.
Rex’s instincts screamed, but he couldn’t pull his arm away.
Then, his other arm was seized, forcing him to stand.
And a few seconds after, his legs were seized.
Invisible hands held him fast and strong—their grip refused to buckle, no matter how much Rex tried.
Even with his monstrous strength, he was powerless against it.
A cold shiver crawled up his spine as another notification appeared.
<Crypt of Nature trial is commencing…>
ZRRT!
A surge of lightning coursed through his entire body.
Rex’s back arched violently, and his teeth clenched until blood seeped from his gums.
His nerves felt as if molten metal was flowing through them; every pulse tore through his core.
Back home, he is a Lightning Elementalist, and he has always been the one who does this to others.
But now, it was different.
He was on the receiving end, zapped by a lightning current that immobilized him completely.
His vision blurred into white streaks, and his mind was seared by the overload.
And then, as if some unseen hand grew satisfied, the current stopped.
Rex hung limply, trembling, his chest heaving up and down as smoke curled from his skin. Still, he was held up by the invisible hands—but before his mind could register relief, the ground fell away beneath him.
He was lifted out of the fissure, higher and higher, weightless yet bound.
It was as though the heavens themselves demanded his submission.
Above, the brilliant moon dominated his vision and all-consuming—its silvery glow reflected the red bloodshot in his eyes. Rex felt like he was being presented to the moon, and his lips cracked into a grin as he pictured how angry Kaiser was.
Just then, the world trembled and the air shattered.
A catastrophe began.
Under the watchful gaze of the others, Rex was swallowed by a vortex of colorful energy.
Contained inside this vortex was the wrath of nature.
“RAAGGHHKK!!”
Rex screamed at the top of his lungs when the vortex coughed out its wraths in different forms, mainly the wind, lava, lightning, and water. He was prepared to face everything. Endure anything. But the tip of the Crypt of Nature’s trial brought pain beyond what he was expecting.
His voice reverberated across the entire area, and his silhouette looked broken inside the vortex.
“What’s happening to him, Davina?!” Althea snapped her gaze to the side.
Even though there had been countless trials they’d faced to complete the mission earlier—most of which Rex had handled himself—she had never once heard him scream like that. It sounded wrong, unnatural. To hear him squeal in agony felt almost unreal—especially when, no matter how grievous his wounds usually were, Rex would endure them in silence, without so much as a flinch.
Just listening to his scream alone made her breathless.
“I… I’m not sure,” Princess Davina replied after a few seconds, also shocked.
Hearing Rex scream like that was surreal.
As a matter of fact, the scream caught her so off guard that she didn’t know how to react at first.
But when she realized that it was Rex’s voice, her heart felt like it was being stabbed.
Princess Davina knew the best how strong his pain tolerance was.
It was proven the moment he underwent the Nameless Dragon Arena.
Back then, no matter how many times his bones broke, Rex didn’t even let out an audible groan.
Holding back pain as much as he did was unheard of, so Princess Davina could only imagine how much pain Rex was feeling right now for him to scream that loud. “In the texts, the only people who can go through the Crypt of Nature’s trial are those who are no longer mortal. If he really survived this, then he’s… he’s a Demi-God. No—maybe surpassed that… Nearing Godhood.”
