Ascension of the Nephilim

The Shadow creatures began to retreat and were careful not to step on the ground that Mezal landed in.

The Captain-ranked shadows raced to the front and carefully surrounded Mezal.

"Attack together! Now!" One of the Captains roared.

The three rushed forward to attack Mezal.

Kyros laughed as he saw it.

"The differences in strength are too great."

Mezal harnessed his sword, and it grew with great energy, and he slashed out.

The force energy did not even contain the power of Holy, but when it struck the shadows, they were all severed into two.

The sword slash even moved outwards, hitting more Shadow creatures at the back.

"Ahhhh!" The shouts of the shadows creatures resounded.

"Ho-how?!" A shadow creature had charged ahead, and when he was sliced, his upper torso reached Mezal. The shadow that looked like human but with long-pointed ears was clinging to Mezal.

Mezal was curious at the dying shadow and began to try to touch him.

But his hands would slip through.

"Impressive! An intangible creature of pure darkness. It seems most of my men would not be able to hurt you unless they use fire arrows." Mezal observed and communicated what he learned.

Kyros sent a shadow familiar next to the Emberdon champions and sent his ghouls moved around the Temple.

"Everyone. Observe. I captured and tamed these Shadow Ghouls and the Shadow familiar to the dark artifact I found. These creatures are weaker forms than those. But as you can see, these creatures are not susceptible to physical attack. These paper-thin ghouls have a small number of physical traits, so it's still possible to kill them if you try hard enough. But those creatures that grandfather is fighting are made of dark energy that can condense at its choosing. So the best to attack it is right before it decides to attack you when they materialize the darkness to attack. As Grandfather points out, the fire element and some of the other intangible elements like lightning also work. Water can hurt them, but it's weaker since water is slowly developing form. Ice only works if you freeze them." Kyros began to explain.

The Champions began to swipe and hit the shadow familiar that was floating before them and were amazed.

"I have read of these creatures in the library! They are known to be harbingers of destruction! When one is spotted, it's assumed that a powerful calamity is nearby. Wait... Haven't there been reports of dark shadow creatures attacking Airom?"

"Yes. I saw some of these creatures attack the night that vampire-turned Stonefist attacked the base. So it seems that the army before us has something to do with the attacks we experienced before Mezal arrived!" Faye exclaimed.

The Coven was secretly hiding their faces in embarrassment. They know that Kyros and they raided the main fortress of Airom Logat that night, but Faye seemed to have shifted the blame to the army before them.

SLASH!

One of the Shadow ghouls died as Aron sliced it.

"What the fragment?! Uncle! What the hell!?"

"You said it can resist physical attacks! I was just testing it!"

"Didn't you see grandfather massacre Captain-level shadow creatures? You have True Cut! Of course, it will die on an attack with True Cut!"

"Eh? But I just tried cutting them like normal!" Aron defended.

Kyros was enraged. Even without trying, his uncle could perform True Cut as if it was just his normal slicing.

"Is this uncle's real monstrous talent?" Kyros wondered.

"Aron. That didn't consume Force energy?" Branze inquired.

"What? Why would it consume Force energy?"

"..." Branze frowned and began to grumble at the insane actions his brother did.

"You killed a shadow ghoul! Those are souls locked in my sword! And you killed one soul! It's like you killed one of my men!" Kyros shouted.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" Aron apologized.

"Now I only have some nine thousand nine hundred something..." Kyros complained.

"..." Aron wanted to argue, but he simply decided to shut up. Although Kyros did have nine thousand souls left, he still did kill one of Kyros's 'men'.

"Eh? Why is there ten thousand two hundred?" Kyros was amazed.

"Oh right! Soul trapper! This sword can trap souls." Kyros then turned his attention back to his grandfather.

The Champion of the Emberdon family was silent at the discussion. But then they felt a powerful fluctuation approaching Mezal.

The nearby darkness that was the dead shadows that Mezal killed were all suddenly being drawn.

"No! My liege! I yet live!" One of the Captains that managed to evade and only lost his two legs was being siphoned by approaching darkness.

But the darkness did not stop and devoured every one. Some who survived the attack of Mezal were killed.

"Paladin. It seems that you are strong enough for us to fight." A loud, deep, and reverberating voice spoke.

A dark, towering shadow manifested outside of Mezal's Hallowed Grounds.

The earth below them began to tremble.

Strange dark energy began to corrupt the Hallowed Grounds of Mezal, and small creeping darkness was pushing forward.

Dark Force energy appeared and began to condense, making the shadow of the towering creature even more clear.

The nearby shadows began to retreat and move away as their Champion appeared.

"A giant? Oh my. These guys have had Commander potential since birth. His stats ought to be stronger than a regular champion. Not to mention he would have powers that could kill a Lowland Commander." Kyros nodded.

"Commander potential?" Triona asked curiously.

"You guys probably haven't heard about that. You know that the Midlands and the Highlands produce Champions that are vastly superior to what we can produce in the Lowlands, right? And Potential is a way to calculate and gauge what a person can reach based on his stats and his level range. If we see a Champion with a stat that is larger than the stats of what most Champions should have, we can guess that this Champion's training, knowledge, and even wealth can easily allow him to reach higher cultivation levels." Kyros explained. This was knowledge he had learned in the Midlands. But he was certain that this calculation is different for those in the Highlands.

"Let's use that Shadow Giant as an example. Can you perform [Gague] on it?"

The Giant shadow was standing still and had fully formed. He was twelve meters high and carried a large club.

Faye used [Gauge] to observe the stats.

"Amazing..." Stellya flew closer to Kyros.

"He should be around level 32. His stats are Strength- 192, Magic- 82, Dexterity- 155, and Vitality... 207!"

"What?! That Vitality is too high!"

"No. Giants naturally have high vitality. A bit stat of 207 is normal for them. It's the strength and dexterity that show his potential. It reveals that he has a Cardinal's potential."

"A Cardinal!?!" The five echoed out. A Cardinal was someone who reached level fifty and performed a secondary Class change. The Lowlands have yet to birth one after the great war.

"This is bad! Mezal is but a Captain and has the strength similar to a level 31 Champion!" Faye recalled the power that Mezal displayed.

The Giant looked at Mezal with great intrigue. The darkness of the ground has destroyed the effects of Hallowed Ground, and the Giant took a step forward into the circle where many died.

Mezal remained unmoved.

"Attack him again." The Giant ordered.

The shadow creatures hesitated, but then the Giant struck his club on the ground.

BOOM!

The fear that came from that movement caused the shadows to move out and attack Mezal.

Another team of Captains rushed and led the attack.

SLASH!

Mezal made another slashing motion.

The force energy cut once more and sliced those who were in the circle.

The Captains managed to evade, but the weaker ones were too slow, and many perished.

BOOM!

The Giant blocked the incoming force slash with his club, and the Captains reached Mezal and were about to attack him.

"[Hallowed Cross]!" Mezal shouted as he stabbed the ground with his sword.

BOOM!

A powerful Force of energy erupted on the ground in the shape of a cross.

"AHHH!"

The force erupted upwards and eradicated the Shadows that were within Mezal's circle.

"Impressive strength, human. Despite being a Champion, you possess the Force Energy similar to those that would later become Commanders in my country. My Captains will naturally stand no chance. But what is interesting is your Force attack. How can you cut us?"

"With Love and Justice!" Mezal mocked.

"Hmm. It seems the Gods have done well to prepare for the day we break the seal. It has prepared formidable Champions like you. But your arrogance ends here." The Giant lifted his club.

"Goodbye, Paladin." The Giant smashed his club down.

"Hmm. Wall!" Mezal raised the shield to meet the giant club.

"No!" Faye shouted in fear.

BOOM!

The strike connected, and a loud, explosive sound was heard. The attack produced a powerful shockwave that blew the dust nearby.

Faye rode her vacuum cleaner and flew ahead. But suddenly, a lightning cord wrapped her and prevented her from flying.

"Brother!" Faye shouted in anger.

"Sister! Look at the Steele family! Are they worried?!" Demerus pointed out.

"What are you saying? Didn't you see that attack! There was..." It was then Faye realized that his brother was right. None of the Steele family reacted.

Faye turned and saw that Kyros and the rest had nonchalant reactions.