CHAPTER 562: MELTDOWN COLLISION

"Eat this! Die, all of you!" Efan shouted, eyes blazing with manic thrill.

This was his element—the battlefield, where explosions sang and enemies dropped like flies. He laughed as he unleashed round after round, the rifles recharging automatically with seamless rhythm. His figure darted from one point to another in the sky, firing without pause, like a dancing reaper of war.

With every giant red serpent he killed, a stream of EXP notifications popped up.

And Efan wasn’t about to let the loot go to waste.

Unlike Laras or Lein, who focused purely on combat, Efan swooped down after each kill to scavenge what he could—crystals, rare alloys, or even fragments of fallen weapons.

"Nice. This’ll sell for a good price," he muttered, yanking a glowing crystal core from a fresh corpse.

But the fun didn’t last.

A massive shadow moved through the clouds ahead. Efan froze mid-air, squinting at the hulking figure of a red-skinned gorilla slowly emerging from the icy haze.

"...What the hell is that thing?" he murmured, narrowing his eyes.

He opened fire. The golden plasma rounds struck the creature’s chest—only to fizzle harmlessly against a glowing energy shield.

His brow furrowed. "You’ve gotta be kidding me..."

Then came the change. The monster’s body began to swell, its crimson skin darkening into a deeper shade, more saturated. A powerful energy began to gather at the center of its chest—dense, volatile, terrifying.

"Oh crap... It’s absorbing energy!?"

Every nerve in Efan’s body screamed danger.

"MOVE!!"

Without hesitation, he activated his vortex boost—rocketing sideways across the sky, tearing through the air at breakneck speed.

DUARRR!!!

A massive red blast erupted from where he’d just been, shaking the very sky. A mushroom cloud of black smoke and searing energy scattered outward, painting the clouds in red and gray.

Efan skidded to a stop mid-air and turned back, eyes narrowing.

"Damn... that was too close," he muttered, watching the dark plume drift upward. "That thing’s nothing like the rest..."

His expression hardened. He stored the plasma rifles into his spatial ring with a flick of his wrist.

Then, he reached out his right hand.

A streak of blue light formed in the air—coalescing into a massive battle-axe. Heavy, brutal, and etched with glowing blue runes that shimmered with power.

"...Now this is a real weapon."

Grinning, Efan hefted the axe onto his shoulder. "You like punching, huh? Good. I brought something perfect for that."

His eyes locked onto the red gorilla in the distance—a musclebound beast whose natural armor glowed faintly across its chest. The two stared at each other across the battlefield, like warriors sizing up their prey.

"Let’s see who hits harder," Efan muttered, eyes sharp as blades.

Without warning, he launched forward like a missile. The vortex plates beneath his feet blasted energy downward, propelling him straight at the gorilla. As he closed the distance, he raised the axe high.

Electric energy crackled around him—violet and blue lightning arcs spiraling into the air. The head of the axe shimmered, humming violently as it gathered raw elemental force.

But just as Efan prepared to strike—

DUUM—DUUM—

The gorilla beat its chest with both fists, creating a sonic shockwave that pulsed outward in all directions. The air rippled. Even the floating landmasses below trembled from the force.

Efan’s body froze mid-flight.

His heart pounded. His eyes went wide.

"What the—why can’t I move?!"

A system warning blinked into his vision:

[You have been hit by a Mental Shockwave: Immobilized for 2 seconds]

"Damn it!" Efan cursed under his breath, his face tightening.

"Mental attacks... I hate these things."

His strength relied entirely on external gear—power suits, weapon systems, tech enhancements. But none of that meant anything if he couldn’t move.

The gorilla had stopped beating its chest. Now, its burning red eyes locked onto Efan with murderous intent.

It raised both massive arms to the sides—then swung them inward with terrifying force.

"Shit—he’s gonna clap me to death!" Efan’s mind screamed in panic.

He couldn’t move. Couldn’t raise his hands. Couldn’t even brace for impact.

Time slowed.

Two titanic palms closed in, aiming to crush Efan between them—

DUAARR!!

The sky erupted with sound.

A shockwave blasted outward from the impact point. The gorilla’s hands collided, shattering the air and sending debris scattering in every direction.

It breathed heavily, eyes narrowing as it stared at its palms with satisfied malice.

But then—

Its expression twisted.

The beast recoiled suddenly, as if scalded. Smoke curled up from between its fingers.

A fiery orange light flared from the gaps in its palms.

And then—

Efan emerged.

No longer in his standard combat gear.

His entire body was now encased in magma-colored armor, glowing with volcanic heat. Steam hissed from his joints. The very air around him shimmered from the temperature—and even the clouds below began to melt from the heat radiating off him.

"Ha! Try clapping this!" Efan shouted from inside the suit, voice echoing with distorted mirth.

From beneath his helmet, he sneered. "I’m not some mosquito you can squash that easy, you damn overgrown chimp."

The armor shifted—expanding, morphing. It grew taller, broader, swelling until Efan stood at nearly three meters tall—eye level with the beast. His shoulder plates expanded, energy blades flickered across his arms, and the heat rising off him became almost unbearable.

He stood firm, massive and menacing.

Through the transparent visor of his helmet, his eyes burned with a fierce, unrelenting intensity. Every movement was calculated, every breath steady. Inside his HUD, dozens of tactical readouts streamed in real time across the screen—enemy motion analysis, heat signatures, armor weak points, and a constantly shifting structural map of the battlefield.

A slow, dangerous grin tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath, voice thick with anticipation. "Let’s try something... fun."

Flames roared to life along his right arm.

Magma energy surged through his veins, channeling directly into the axe clenched in his fist. The weapon’s head began to glow an ominous red, like the molten heart of an erupting volcano. The very air between them shimmered and boiled, distorting the space with unbearable heat and pressure.

Efan raised his axe slowly—like a judge preparing to deliver the final sentence.

"Let’s see if you can take this."