Is this really a Game?!

The battle raged on, each member of the Tier V team unleashing their most potent attacks against the corrupted behemoth. Fluffy charged forward, his bladed devil horns slashing through the corrupted flesh, leaving deep wounds that oozed with dark energy. Blackie danced around the monster, using its lightning-imbued attacks to disrupt its movements.

The behemoth stood on two legs and had a human figure, the main difference being the fact that it was completely black and had no features at all. It was slow, but each strike would destroy the ground, the trees, and anything that was in its way.

Beast, standing a bit away from the frontline, observed the battle carefully. He knew that this corrupted behemoth was no ordinary foe. Its connection to the core beneath the ground granted it regenerative abilities, healing the wounds inflicted by the Tier V team.

The problem with the core was that it wasn't easy to attack it, it had risen, but it was still about 1 meter below the ground, and thick, almost metallic vines that were reinforced by the corruption had made their way to the core, creating a defensive perimeter around it, making it difficult for one's attacks to even land on the ground.

Reign, Wolf, Elijah, Tord, and Greenie coordinated their attacks, aiming for the corrupted behemoth's vital spots. Tank's generals engaged the monster in a synchronized assault, their combined strength creating shockwaves that echoed through the corrupted jungle.

However, the corrupted behemoth wasn't the only threat. The core beneath the ground was amplifying its powers, causing the jungle itself to attack the intruders. Enormous vines shot up from the ground, attempting to ensnare the Tier V combatants. Poisonous spores filled the air, making it difficult to breathe.

Beast and Laura did their best to attack the core from a distance, as did Elijah from time to time, sending his spears zooming past the behemoth to strike the vines. Even though their attacks did little to the seemingly indestructible vines, they were chipping away at them, and it quickly became evident that the core could not summon more of them quickly, nor could it regenerate them faster than they inflicted damage on them.

That was to be expected as the vines were truly difficult to deal with, and if the core could simply regenerate them immediately or get more, this battle would be impossible for them to win.

Elijah's poison started working as well, slowly inflicting the vines with it and causing more damage to slowly pile up. Laura's demonic energy was also a good counter to the corruption, but it was only slightly better than mana was.

From time to time, Reign and the others would launch an attack at the vines too, Wolf's flames unfortunately were not effective while Reign's lightning also was not good against them. He also used his light and darkness, which gave better results.

The light would purify the corruption, damaging the vines more and even somewhat countering the regeneration while the darkness was able to eat away at the corruption as it was pure destruction in the form of energy.

Shadow's darkness, however, did not work as well as it acted more akin to poison, as decay, and the corruption was similar, allowing it to block the power of his darkness to an extent.

"Seems like the power of that core is at the peak of Tier V, huh?" Reign asked calmly as he dodged an attack from the behemoth before slashing with his swords, almost severing the hand completely, only to see it regenerate right away.

"Yeah, we have to find a way to get through those vines, I don't know how long it can continue healing this thing, but even if we manage to destroy it, the poison, the vines, everything else that the core is sending our way is still enough to endanger us," Shadow added from the side as he quickly swung his daggers, sending a ray of darkness at the behemoth that blocked it with his arms, only to have two large gashes appear that once again quickly closed and healed.

"Laura, start casting a spell, the rest, attack the behemoth, and make sure nothing gets close to Laura!" Reign suddenly yelled out as the others all nodded while Laura took out the tome.

She hadn't slacked off with the tome, but recently, she didn't really use the spells that she learned from it. The main reason was that although they were powerful, they still took some time to be cast, even the first spell she had learned there, the [ Black Flame ], which was the spell she could cast the fastest, still took a couple of seconds.

In battles between Tier V individuals, even a second was enough for a battle to change, let alone several. Another reason was that it was not worth it. With her skills, she could attack multiple times at the same time it took her to cast one spell, and even though the spells were powerful, they were not as powerful as a couple of her attacks together.

But the spell she was casting now was one that was much more powerful, but she needed a full minute to cast it.

As soon as she began casting, the core had sensed it, it sensed danger coming from Laura. Reign and the others could utilize their skills to attack with the same power as the spell Laura was casting, but her demonic energy was effective against the vines, and the dark magic that the tome specialized in should also be enough to at least counter the corruption.

Reign could use his light, but it would slowly deal damage as he couldn't utilize it to its fullest without his Nephilim form, as for the others, none of their attacks would be as efficient at dealing as much damage to the vines as the spell Laura was casting, thus their job now was to make sure she finished casting and attacked the vines.

The jungle seemingly woke up as Laura started casting the spell, the trees suddenly started moving, the grass turned into small blades, the ground itself shook and moved, and every single part of the area they were in became dangerous. The very environment was their enemy now, and together with the behemoth, it was enough to pressure them immensely.

A minute was not long, but in such a dangerous environment, it was almost an eternity, especially to Tier V beings that moved many times faster than normal humans and could even think faster than normal humans.

For them, it was as if hours were ticking away as they did their best to defend Laura and make sure the behemoth couldn't get close to her. Each second that passed was fought for by the group, and slowly but surely, 50 seconds passed and Laura was close to finishing the spell that had already taken form in front of her.

It was a sword.

A large sword that was about 8 meters long and 3 meters wide stood in front of Laura. Each moment that passed made the sword more corporeal, the black and purple energies swirling around it and becoming almost physical as they fused with the sword.

Runes could be seen on the sword, inscriptions that none of them could decipher. A powerful and dangerous aura, one that made all that looked at it feel dread was sensed from the sword. The core was able to sense it as well, and it became more and more enraged, sending more and more corruption and mana to the surroundings, doing its best to disrupt Laura.

Just as only 2 seconds were left for Laura to finish the spell, two vines suddenly sprouted about 2.5 meters away from her. The group had made sure to be alert and had dealt with similar attacks during this time, but this time, they weren't able to even sense the vines that had appeared.

The moment the vines appeared, they attacked, shooting straight at Laura.

The vines hit.

They penetrated through the body, and blood splashed around as Laura finished her casting and sent the sword forward, seemingly unaware of the two beasts that had appeared behind her to receive the attacks in her stead.

The spell she had finished was the sixth spell in the tome, the [ Sword of Obliteration ].

The sword flashed, appearing above the vines immediately before crashing down.

It penetrated the vines slightly before it shone purple and black. Suddenly, the sword seemingly dissipated as an immense power crashed down on the vines. A ray of purple and black appeared where the sword was, seemingly going all the way to the sky as it blasted the ground beneath.

The behemoth suddenly stopped moving before it fell down and broke to pieces.

As the corrupted behemoth fell, the corrupted jungle began to calm. The vines retreated, and the poisonous spores dispersed. The ground stopped trembling, and the ominous aura that hung in the air began to dissipate.

However, their victory was short-lived as a sudden surge of energy emanated from the ground. The main core, realizing its imminent defeat, unleashed a final desperate attack. The very ground beneath the Tier V team began to crack and split open.

A massive, grotesque form emerged from the depths—a monstrous entity composed of pure corruption. Its eyes glowed with a malevolent intelligence, and its form seemed to defy the laws of nature. This was the true form of the corrupted core, a Tier VI monstrosity.