CHAPTER 414: HE IS A MONSTER WITH MORE MONSTERS

[Cassian’s PoV]

The moment I sensed the strike coming, I slammed my hands together, then pulled them apart, forming a solid solar shield around me. The golden barrier shimmered with heat, Essence crackling along its surface.

I barely had time to brace before a massive shadow fell over me.

A giant tail came crashing down.

BOOM!

The impact shook my bones. The shield held for a single heartbeat, glowing brighter under the strain... and then it shattered. The tail smashed into my chest like a battering ram.

I was groundborne before I even realized it.

The world blurred—green, brown, gray—as I slammed through trees, snapping trunks like twigs. I bounced off boulders, tore through undergrowth, and finally came to a stop rolling across the forest floor.

The ground dug into my back. My ribs ached. My head rang.

I groaned and pushed myself upright, swaying slightly. My uniform was ripped in multiple places, the fabric hanging loose. Bruises throbbed across my arms and ribs.

"Fucking hell," I muttered under my breath.

I was fighting three abominations. Not one. Not two. Three. All because Billion had somehow pissed them off enough to target me together.

The first was a massive serpent, level 244, its body covered in black scales that shimmered like polished obsidian. It was the one that had just sent me flying with that tail strike.

The second was a plated rhino, level 249, its armored hide bristling with jagged ridges.

And the third... was a rodent half my size, level 264, with beady red eyes and a smell that could knock a grown man unconscious.

I took a deep breath and shot upward, hovering above the treetops. From here, I scanned the battlefield.

The soldiers were holding the line. The masters were pushing back against the swarm. We had the numbers advantage now, and thanks to Billion’s earlier slaughter of the master abominations, the situation didn’t look too bad.

But I knew how quickly that could change. If the butterfly joined in... or if even one of the grandmasters turned their focus on the soldiers... it would turn into a bloodbath.

A deep rumble cut through the air. I turned my head just in time to see the rhino crashing through the forest, splintering trees in its path as it charged straight for me.

I raised my hand over my head, Essence flaring hot and bright. "[Solar Judgement]," I called.

Five golden swords formed above me, trembling as they filled with infused Essence. The air shimmered around them, and then—

I released them.

They split apart and dove, streaking downward like falling stars. Each blade slammed into the rhino’s front legs in rapid succession. The first two pierced completely through. The beast bellowed in pain, stumbling forward before its weight carried it into the dirt, crashing hard enough to make the ground shake.

I allowed myself a small grin, too soon.

The stench hit first.

"Gross," I muttered, already knowing what was coming.

The rodent appeared right in front of me, its small body rippling with tension. It bared jagged yellow teeth and screamed, unleashing a cloud of thousands of black spikes, each barely six inches long but moving fast enough to whistle in the air.

I clenched my fist. Essence surged into my arm as I punched forward. The air compressed into a single point and then burst, thousands of thin light beams shot outward, intercepting the spikes with sharp, rapid cracks.

I was about to follow through when every instinct in me screamed. Essence swelled behind me like a tidal wave.

I twisted midair just in time to see the serpent lunging, its mouth opening wide enough to swallow me and a few dozen soldiers in one gulp. Rows of glistening fangs dripped venom that hissed when it hit the air.

I flared my Essence, body snapping out of its path in a burst of light and heat. The serpent’s jaws closed where I had been a heartbeat earlier, the sound like stone grinding on stone.

"Give me a break," I muttered under my breath, already bracing myself for the next wave.

But then, without warning, all four of us froze. Almost in sync, our heads turned toward the chaos near the base.

I instantly understood why.

The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck shot straight up.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me about the danger. I could feel it from here, as if it was a weight pressing against my chest. That pressure came from a creature that had appeared out of nowhere, a massive black panther. I recognized it immediately. It was one of Billion’s summons.

Before I could fully process that, a sharp boom ripped through the air.

The sound wasn’t just loud, it was deep, heavy, and carried through the ground. The very air around us trembled. Far above, cutting through the clouds, a silver hawk descended, its wings flashing like steel in the light. Billion was on its back, the elf girl right behind him. They landed near the panther.

And that’s when the threat I felt spiked into something unbearable.

My eyes locked onto Billion, and it was like staring into the sun. A faint halo shimmered around him. Every bit of Essence around us, the same force I had trained with my entire life, seemed to bow to him, submitting without question.

Even the rhino beside me groaned and took an uneasy step back. I glanced at the rodent in front of me and every single hair on its furred body was standing in attention.

My heart pounded hard in my chest. This wasn’t just strength. This was authority. And from the look on his face, he wasn’t even paying attention to us.

Then his gaze shifted.

It was like a knife sliding against my spine. I felt his eyes meet mine, and my body screamed at me to run. My legs tensed, ready to bolt. I had to clench my fists just to keep myself from turning and fleeing like a coward.

And then, as if that moment had never happened, his summons moved.

The panther darted forward into the fight, and that’s when I realized something insane, they had all ranked up to Grandmaster.

What happened next shattered everything I thought I knew about a fresh Grandmaster’s power.

The elf girl summoned massive constructs. They crashed through the abominations like they were made of paper. Limbs and bodies crumpled under their blows, reduced to paste. And when the abominations died, they didn’t just fall, they exploded, wiping out even more.

The panther was worse. Its control over shadows was sharper than Edgar’s, yet it also bent space to its will, folding reality itself to trap and crush its prey. Watching it was like seeing Edgar and Dante fused into one nightmare.

And the bird... the bird used sound itself as a weapon. I could feel the vibrations tearing through the battlefield—sharp, invisible blades of resonance. Sound laws were rare, difficult to master, and here it was, wielded like a toy.

Within minutes, the chaos was gone. The screams faded. The dust settled.

The battlefield was silent.

My soldiers stood there, weapons in hand, useless. They were unemployed. Our work was done for us, in minutes by them.

I turned my head slowly, my eyes finding Billion again. He was smiling.

I felt my lips part and heard my own voice before I even thought about it.

"A monster with monsters as pets." I whispered.