The Extra Can't be A Hero

Chapter 306: The New Pantheon (2)

By devouring the blood and essence of countless beasts, Knodalon reforged itself in an instant, propelling its body to the absolute peak of what was physically possible.

Outwardly, nothing appeared to change.

Its form remained the same… ragged fur, hulking frame, those unsettling yellow eyes.

Yet both Amon and Yue could feel it. Something was wrong. An oppressive, distorted energy churned beneath the Beast Titan's skin, as though its flesh could barely contain the power compressing within.

Then, without warning, Knodalon threw a punch.

It was slow.

So slow that, at first glance, it looked almost harmless… an attack that would never reach Yue, let alone threaten her spirits.

But the moment its arm was fully extended, the world shatters. A thunderous boom erupted as space itself warped and collapsed around the strike. The frozen forest cracked apart, reality screaming as a shockwave tore through the battlefield. Every one of Yue's spirits was forced to the ground, their formations obliterated in an instant.

A hurricane of compressed force slammed into Yue's body. The protective barrier she had woven around herself fractured with a sharp, crystalline snap… and the girl who had seemed untouchable only moments ago was hurled through the air like a falling star.

Gasps of horror rippled through the onlookers.

No one had expected Yue, the invincible goddess, to be hurt. Amon reacted instantly, divinity surging as he moved to rescue his lover… but before he could take a single step, a mental transmission reached him, sharp and unmistakable.

'Don't interfere! I'm fine!'

'Yue, are you sure?'

'Yeah, I was just caught off guard, that's all.'

Yue emerged from the rubble while wiping off the trail of blood that trickled down her lips to her chin. Rather than a fallen warrior, she looked more like an insatiable valkyrie that wouldn't stop until the battle was won.

'Yue, you don't have to be stubborn. Now that he's absorbed all the beasts, there's no need for an army. Single-target combat is more suited for me.'

Amon had a point. Against a force of thousands, Yue was the better fighter. Her control over her spirits placed her at the top of all mages, and there was no one more suited than her to change the tide of the battlefield. On the other hand, Amon was a single-target specialist.

Not to mention, it didn't matter who killed the Titan. As long as they could extract the divinity core safely, Amon could kill Knodalon and give the divinity core to Yue for absorption.

Alas, Yue didn't feel the same way.

'Amon… Don't you trust me?'

'T-That… Of course, I do.'

'Then leave it to me.'

Yue smiled warmly, knowing that Amon's resistance was merely because of his worry for her. But…

'I know that I'm being irrational but… If I don't slay a Titan on my own, I can't mentally place myself on the same level as you. It's an emotional hurdle I want to cross on my own.'

'Yue…'

'Haha, stupid, isn't it? But I must do this, Amon. Of course, if you find that I'm about to lose, feel free to step in. But until then… trust in your wife.'

Amon paused as he locked eyes with Yue. He stared into those familiar ruby eyes before letting out a heavy sigh:

'Alright, so be it.'

The judicator of the planet withdrew his mana, allowing Yue to stand toe-to-toe with the Titan once more. Knodalon also sensed the moment of hesitation, and the Titan sneered:

"So you aren't going to fight me at the same time?"

"Just me is enough, doggy."

"How insolent."

The Beast Titan gathered vast quantities of mana around its fist once more, the air screaming as power condensed into a single point. When it struck, it felt as though the sky itself was collapsing. A single swipe of its claw unleashed pressure so immense that the heavens seemed to crash downward, gravity turning hostile as the world was forced to yield.

Yue was crushed beneath the overwhelming force, pinned by impossible weight and violent compression, yet she did not break. She even smiled.

Even as the pressure bore down on her, she lifted her gaze toward the Beast Titan, her expression calm, almost amused, as though daring it to show her more.

In response, the ethereal spiritualist raised a hand and summoned Yaru.

At her command, a veil of dense, rolling mist poured across the battlefield, swallowing the frozen forest whole. Yue's intent was clear: sever Knodalon's senses, buy time, recover her balance, and reassert control.

But Knodalon was not going to give Yue a moment to breathe.

With a violent tear of flesh and mana, two massive feathered wings erupted from its back. When they beat, the world roared. Cataclysmic gusts of wind tore through the mist, scattering it in seconds and stripping the battlefield bare.

Yue's eyes widened at the sudden adaptation.

The Beast Titan surged skyward, its massive frame defying gravity. As it moved, its tail twisted and elongated, flesh reshaping grotesquely until it became the head of a colossal serpent. Venom dripped from gleaming fangs as it lunged, jaws opening wide enough to swallow Yue whole.

Yue reacted instantly as she stretched her arm forward and channelled mana.

Space itself locked around the serpent's head, freezing it mid-strike as though reality had seized its throat. But Knodalon did not relent. Before Yue could even draw a breath, the Beast Titan attacked again—this time unleashing flames of a primordial origin.

Fire erupted across the sky, brilliant and merciless, burning with a will of its own. These were not ordinary flames; they regenerated endlessly, reborn from their own ashes, no matter how Yue attempted to suppress them.

Phoenix flames.

Ancient, undying fire that refused to be extinguished.

And that was just the beginning.

Its arms were now sheathed in indestructible draconic scales, each plate dense and ancient, rivalling even those of the most dominant Dragon Progenitors. Every movement carried the weight of primordial might, as though its limbs had been reforged by dragonfire itself.

Its legs reshaped into the powerful hooves of a Qilin, granting it terrifying speed and flawless balance, along with an innate command over the surrounding elements with every step it took. From its back unfurled wings of a Kun Peng—vast, feathered, and monumental.

A single beat of those wings birthed hurricanes, bending the skies to its will and tearing the battlefield apart with unrestrained wind pressure.

And this was only the beginning.

Fragments of countless mythical and historical beasts were embedded throughout the Beast Titan's body—horns, fangs, hides, and skeletal structures that whispered of legends long thought extinct.

Each addition was seamless, as though the Titan had been born with them rather than forged through consumption.

To an outside observer, it resembled a chimaera.

But it was not a malformed amalgamation teetering on the edge of collapse.

This was perfection.

Every absorbed trait functioned in absolute harmony, wielded with complete mastery.

The Beast Titan did not merely possess these aspects… it embodied them. It could transition between powers without hesitation, combining them with terrifying efficiency. Even demonic mana flowed through its body without resistance, the result of devouring innumerable demonic beasts and integrating their corrupted essence as easily as any other.

In that moment, Knodalon stood at the apex of its existence… Its absolute strongest state.

"That monster… it's using powers from every beast on record…"

"It really is the progenitor of every beast…"

Amon and Leon commented as their faces turned grim. Not only could the Beast Titan polymorph into anything it wished, it could also even channel the powers of the greatest beasts in history. Against an absolute being like that, only few could stand in its way.

Amon was one, as for the other…

"Heh, so that's your true form?" Yue laughed as she shrugged off the pressure mounting on her body. "But, that's still not enough, doggy."

In pure defiance, Yue rose into the skies, forcing herself upward against the crushing pressure radiating from the Beast Titan's very existence.

The air screamed in protest, gravity itself resisting her ascent—but she did not yield. She had already taken a step into the divine, and now… She no longer intended to hold back.

One by one, all eight of her mana rings emerged, materialising around her in radiant arcs as they revolved in perfect harmony. Each ring was inscribed with law, authority woven directly into its structure, and as they spun, her mana surged violently—swelling, compressing, straining against its limits as though on the verge of shattering into something greater.

The battlefield fell silent.

Yue hovered above the world like a descending god, her presence eclipsing even the chaos below. When she spoke, her voice did not shout… it rang. Each word chimed through the air like a tolling church bell, resonating with divine authority and echoing across heaven and earth:

"Magicians who have been chasing the ninth ring have it all wrong… the peak of magic isn't nine rings… but just one."

As Yue spoke, the eight rings she had painstakingly forged over the course of a decade shattered all at once.

There was no explosion or violent backlash.

Instead, fragments of mana and law spilt into the battlefield like scattered starlight. Yet they did not disperse. They lingered, trembling with life, before swarming back toward Yue like jubilant children gathering before their mother.

Yue spat a mouthful of blood. And still, her smile only deepened.

The shattered particles drifted inward, drawn by an unseen authority, compressing and aligning until countless fragments converged into a single, unified existence.

A Möbius strip… the embodiment of infinity.

The air grew heavy as law itself bent toward her will.

The Beast Titan did nothing to stop her. No—it could not.

The mere outflow of pure law from the broken rings was enough to stun Knodalon into stillness. Worse, Yue's authority was actively enforcing its will upon him, locking his vast form in place as though the world itself had passed judgment.

For the first time since his awakening, the Beast Titan was restrained not by force… but by inevitability.

And in that frozen moment, Knodalon finally understood the truth.

From the very beginning, this had never been an equal battle. He was not the sovereign here.

Knodalon was the prey. And the woman standing before him… the predator.

Yue's one ring now hummed with delight, blessed with arcane knowledge and an infinite loop of mana. It was absorbed into Yue's soul. Power flowed through her veins as she felt her body morph into something different… something Transcendent.

But the final piece of the puzzle was still missing.

The divine core within the Beast Titan's body.

"Time for the ending, doggy."