Michael felt the energy getting denser in the atmosphere. When Michael looked over his shoulder, he noticed a sliver of pure white energy enveloping her body. Gaya's power shot through the roof. Meanwhile, countless mutated beings of all shapes leaped to the ground from higher ground. They were surrounded. The only silver lining was this first wave only contained mutated beings at the Core Formation stage. But Michael sensed more powerful mutated beings approaching them.

Nightmare flapped his wings, reaching the sky. He opened his mouth, breathing a crimson red stream of fire onto the mutated beings. His dragon breath turned everything into ash. In a few seconds, Nightmare killed almost half of the mutated beings. After burning them to ashes, Nightmare landed near Gaya to protect her in case a mutated being sneaked past Michael and him.

On the other hand, Michael did not move. Golden bolts of lightning crackled around his wrist. The buzzing sound from the bolts sounded louder and louder. Without moving an inch, Michael raised his sword as the bolts of lightning shot out from his words. The thick golden lightning bolt penetrated a couple of mutated beings at once. Their heads exploded as they hit the ground with a sickening thud. The light on Gaya's body glowed brighter, fighting the death range cast by Michael. The place almost looked black and fought due to the light conflict.

At the same time, he cast the ring of fire. The pulsating fire was dark instead of crimson red. Michael did not hold back from using the dark flames. Even Nightmare's dragon breath took a couple of seconds to turn the mutated beings to ash, but the dark flames did the same in an instant. Michael's experience points rapidly climbed up.

Finally, the first wave of mutated beings were all killed by Nightmare and Michael. Silence fell over them. Except for a howling wind and the shuddering sound of the waterfall, they heard nothing. For a few minutes, everything seemed calm. But Michael knew it was just the calm before the storm.

"Be ready," Michael looked at Nightmare.

"They are coming," said Michael. Nightmare nodded. He slowly ascended to the sky to get a good look at the mutated beings. When he reached the sky, he furrowed. There were at least a hundred mutated beings swarming from every direction. Nightmare didn't fly toward them. Instead, Nightmare hovered over Gaya, waiting for the mutated beings to get closer. This time, Michael started the battle with the wind blast. He saw mutated humanoid beings running and some crawling toward him. They reached their hands out as though they wanted to rip out Michael's head. Most of the mutated beings were at the Core Strengthening stage, and some were at the Soul Refining stage.

Michael immediately targeted the Soul Refining stage mutated beings. They weren't humanoid beats. All the Soul Refining stage beings were some kind of four-legged beasts. They resembled Rhinoceros on earth, except these were taller than a typical man. The ground trembled as the army of mutated beings moved forward.

"Lightning Dash," Michael disappeared from the place. He dashed at them, leaving streaks of golden lightning on his trail. Michael leaped into the air and brought down his fists. Michael used all his strength to punch the ground. The ground split open as his punch created a crater. The shock wave sent several mutated beings flying back. The Soul Refining stage beasts collapsed onto the crater formed by Michael's punch. He immediately followed up his attack with the ring of fire. Wave after wave, the dark flames shot out of Michael. The mutated beings stood no chance against the most powerful Primordial Flame. They all turned to ashes, including the Soul Refining stage beasts.

[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Soul Refining stage, level 6 mutated beast. The reward is 300000 experience points as well as 20000 Badass points]

[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Soul Refining stage, level 7 mutated beast. The reward is 300000 experience points as well as 20000 Badass points]

[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Soul Refining stage, level 3 mutated beast. The reward is 300000 experience points as well as 20000 Badass points]

[Maximum Experience points reached]

[The host has enough experience points to start the heavenly tribulation]

[Additional points will be stored in the system temporarily to be consumed after wreaking through to the Half Immortal stage]

[The system recommends the host find a safe place to start the tribulation. The tribulation must not be stopped for any reason]

The system sounded in his head. But he ignored it because he was in the middle of a battle. Whether the battle was small or big, he always gave his full focus. Otherwise, a simple mistake could result in a catastrophe. On the side, Nightmare breathed fire in a circle. He kept the mutated beings at bay. Michael fully immersed himself in the battle. The more he fought, the darker the area became. Michael let his suppressed powers out, reaching his full potential. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the golden bolts of lightning gradually turned black. His speed increased to the point even Nightmare could only see the afterimages left behind by Michael.

Dark ooze-like blood spurted out as limbs and heads flew on the battlefield. Powerful crescent-shaped fire blades cut through the mutated beings like a hot knife through butter. Michael combined his spells to form new powerful spells. For instance, the fire blades were created by combining the ring of fire and wind blast.

Michael killed all the Soul Refining stage rhinos except one. When Michael burnt the rest, it was far away from the reach of the ring of fire. Hence, it escaped the wrath of dark flames. The rhino's roar echoed through the battlefield. Michael and the beast made eye contact. Without wasting a moment, the rhino kicked the floor and jogged toward Michael. Everything that stood in its way got either crushed or thrown away. Tiny bolts of lightning began to crackle around Michael's feet.

When Michael dashed forward, his speed created a sonic wave that blasted off everything around him. Nightmare could only see a streak of black lightning. Under Nightmare's gaze, the rhino and Michael clashed. Their collision created another shock wave. The ground around them formed several cracks. No one had seen Michael's fist meeting the rhino's face. Michael didn't hold back. His punch knocked down the mammoth of a rhino.

"Silenes," Michael cast the time-slowing spell for the first time. As soon as he cast the spell, everything in a 0.5-meter radius seemed to have been halted. The mutated beings, including the rhino, moved in slow motion. Michael used this momentary slowness to plunge his sword into the rhino's belly. His sword didn't go through easily. But Michael quickly covered his left fist with the dark flame and punched the rhino. The rhino's hide was strong but not strong enough to withstand the dark flames. His fist created a hole in the rhino's belly. Quickly, Michael plunged his sword, cutting its innards. Moreover, Michael sent a thick bolt of lightning through the hall.

Suddenly, the surroundings became normal. The rhino roared. It wasn't a roar of agony or pain, as the mutated beings felt neither. The roar contained pure hatred toward anything other than a mutated being. Michael cast the ring of fire without giving the rhino a chance to retaliate. Since Michael was standing close to the rhino, the dark flames didn't take much time, turning the rhino into a pile of hot ash. The dark flames swallowed the rhino and spat out nothing. Even the rhino's bones were turned to ashes. Any creature with a brain would have been terrified by Michael's kill. Unfortunately, the mutated beings lacked brain functionality. They kept coming at Michael as if nothing had happened.

The dark flames pulsed out from Michael. Every time it pulsated, a wave of dark flames shot out, turning everything around him to ashes. Considering Michael had used the death range, he stepped onto the Half Immortal Stage. To a Half Immortal, the Core Strengthening or Soul Refining stage mutated beings were as weak as ants.

Michael killed them all without breaking a sweat. The battle only lasted for another minute or two. In the second wave, Michael killed more mutated beings than Nightmare. Michael breathed heavily. He was covered entirely in dark ooze spurted out from the mutated beings. He slowly cleaned the sword blades on his elbow. Once the eerie silence had returned to the field, Michael landed just beside Gaya with a single leap.

"How long will it take?" asked Nightmare.

"Why? You have somewhere to be?" Michael raised his brow. He was in a good mood after accumulating enough points to reach the Half Immortal Stage. Moreover, the battle was far from over. So right out of the bat, he could reach level 2 or 3 of the Half Immortal Stage, depending on the Experience points cap.

Michael noticed Gaya reaching Soul Refining stage 8, and her power kept increasing. He wondered how the past Dark Lord, who was himself, managed to refine the First energy. The only guess Michael had was the system. The duo patiently waited beside Gaya, regaining their strength. Michael emptied several revitalizing potions down his throat and tossed some into Nightmare's mouth.

Feeling the powerful energy radiation, Michael was tempted to use the Energy devourer. However, he himself said he left this to Gaya. Hence, Michael withheld himself. Gaya must be as strong as him to face the foes ahead of them. Out of the blue, Nightmare and Michael heard a thunderous roar. Michael closed his eyes to sense how many mutated beings were on their way. To Michael's surprise, he sensed only one.

Judging by the mutated being's speed, it was walking at the speed of a typical human. Michael slowly turned around. He was surprised by the mutated being. It was neither a beast nor any normal humanoid mutated being. Instead, what stood several meters ahead of Michael was an eight feet tall orc with a six feet tall club. His skin was gentle green, with hollow eyes. The orc was muscular. He looked like he could break a tree in half just with his brute strength. Various armaments, such as a chain of fingers around his neck, decorated his body.

"Stay back," said Michael.

The Orc was at the Fusion stage level 7. Nightmare was no match for him. Sensing the power radiation from the Orc, Nightmare didn't argue. Instead, he stepped back, opening his wings to shield Gaya. Instead of mindlessly dashing at Michael like the others, the Orc stood on higher ground, staring at Michael. Michael felt as though the orc was studying him.

"What's he doing?" Nightmare mumbled.

Michael remained calm. He cracked his neck before taunting the orc to make his move.

"Come on,"