As they walked home, Senkoku carried the unconscious woman on his back, the weight of their recent encounter still heavy in the air. His mind raced with questions, and he finally turned to Dante, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Sir, what level are you? Are you a contractor?" Senkoku asked, his tone a mix of wonder and caution.
Dante paused for a moment, glancing at Senkoku with a slight smirk. "Yes, I am," he answered simply. "Once you hit level 100, a god will take an interest in you. They want you to form a contract with them." He looked ahead, his expression turning serious for a moment. "But there's a difference between us. They're not offering you a contract, Senkoku. You're just being helped along the way, nothing more. You're not their target. But for me, it's different. They want me because of my strength. They're offering me power, but I'm not taking it. Not yet."
Senkoku blinked in surprise, his mind trying to process the implications of what Dante was saying. "So... you're saying that gods want you because you're strong?"
Dante nodded, his voice calm but laced with an underlying confidence. "Exactly. They don't care about you like that yet. But when you reach level 100, you'll see for yourself what I mean. They'll come for you. And when that happens... you'll need to be ready."
Senkoku absorbed the words, understanding now that Dante's path was far more dangerous, but also more complicated. There was power, but it came at a price. He wasn't sure how he felt about it yet, but one thing was clear: he had a long way to go before reaching that level, and Dante was there to guide him—just for now.
As they continued walking, Senkoku noticed a shift in Dante's demeanor. His relaxed posture instantly stiffened, and his usual smirk was replaced with a deep scowl. There was a noticeable tension in the air as Dante's eyes narrowed, scanning the surroundings.
"Something's wrong," Senkoku muttered under his breath, his instincts kicking in. He felt it, too — that unsettling pressure in the atmosphere, the feeling of being watched.
Dante stopped in his tracks, his face turning stone-cold serious. "I sense a monster. It's close. Near the base," he said through gritted teeth, his tone darkening with anger. The intensity in his eyes was palpable, a silent promise of the violence that would soon unfold.
Before Senkoku could respond, Dante took off, his body blurring with speed as he sprinted toward the base without a second thought. Senkoku hesitated for a moment, torn between following or securing the woman on his back. But he knew Dante could handle himself.
Still, a growing sense of urgency gnawed at him. The monsters in this world were no joke, and if something dangerous was near the base, it would be bad news. Senkoku followed after Dante, pushing himself to move faster, trusting the experienced fighter would need his backup sooner rather than later.
Bodies littered the battlefield outside the base—scorched, broken, unmoving.
The players had tried. Blades, spells, skills—it hadn't mattered.
Now only a handful remained, scrambling back, bloodied and terrified, dragging the wounded as two towering monsters stepped forward. Their steps cracked the earth. Lightning flickered in the sky above, mimicking their rage.
A small kid stood frozen, eyes wide as one of the monsters raised its leg for a finishing kick.
CRACK!
A thunderous fist collided mid-strike.
The monster's leg halted.
Dante stood there, cloak flicking from the shockwave, knuckles dug into the beast's limb. He didn't say a word. Just turned, grabbed the kid, and dashed to the base—faster than anyone could follow.
Once the child was safe inside, he stepped back onto the blood-soaked field, walking alone toward the chaos.
The world paused.
Then—
System Notification — DANGER: Unique Rare Class Monster Identified
Designation: The Thunderclash Twins
Classification: Unique Rare Class – Tier 0
Category: Lethality Ranked – Catastrophic
Warning to All Active Players:
Engagement is not recommended. Survivability chance: Less than 3%.
Zhuraka – the Storm Stallion
Type: Kickmaster
Agility-focused predator. Attacks cover wide radius. Lightning-infused long-range strikes.
Kaldir – the Storm Fist
Type: Fistbringer
Close-quarters tank. Punches capable of shattering magical and physical barriers.
Traits:
Tier 0
Unique Bonded Pair
Lightning Adaptation
Crowd-Crushing Patterns
The remaining players ran.
Some screamed. Others cried. A few crawled. None stayed.
Only Dante remained.
The beasts stepped forward, lightning dancing around their fur.
Dante cracked his knuckles. "Let's see if Tier 0 bleeds."
The battlefield lit up with flickers of lightning—cries of fallen players echoing behind the front line.
Then came the storm.
Zhuraka, the agile Storm Stallion, twisted mid-air, a glowing hook kick sparking with raw electricity.
Kaldir, the brute Storm Fist, charged with a thunderous hook punch, fists crackling like rolling thunderclouds.
Between them, calm and unshaken—
Dante.
His dark gi clung tight to his frame, loose sleeves rippling from the pressure. The black belt around his waist looked more like a seal than a rank—a warning.
He didn't move.
Not until the last millisecond.
CRACK!
With one fluid motion, he caught Zhuraka's shin with his left arm and stopped Kaldir's punch with his right, the thunderclap deafening.
Lightning surged through both limbs—but Dante didn't flinch.
His face was dead serious. Eyes cold.
The two monsters froze, muscles straining against him.
Dante's voice broke the silence, low and heavy:
"You call this power?"
Then—he shifted.
His legs rooted, his hips twisted, and with a perfectly timed pivot, he threw both beasts off-balance in a sweeping motion, using their own force against them.
Zhuraka crashed into a boulder. Kaldir staggered, stunned.
Dante stood up straight.
He slowly exhaled, breath steady. Sparks flickered around his body, dancing across the fibers of his dark gi.
"Come at me again," he muttered, raising his fists in a clean, brutal stance.
"And I'll show you why gods offer me contracts."
Kaldir roared, lightning sparking wildly across his body as he charged straight at Dante, arms pulled back like hammers ready to strike.
Dante, dressed in his dark gi, stood perfectly still.
Calm. Unshaken.
At the last second, he shifted his footing — firm, grounded — and with no wasted motion, he threw a straight punch.
BAM.
The impact sounded like a cannon going off.
Kaldir's massive body was sent flying backward, feet tearing through the ground, leaving deep trenches in the dirt as he crashed hard several meters away, stirring up a thick cloud of dust.
The players watching from the base stared in disbelief.
One normal punch — and a Tier 0 monster got blown back like a ragdoll.
Dante lowered his fist slowly, the ground beneath him cracked and broken, but he didn't move an inch.
His cold, focused eyes stayed locked on Kaldir.
The fight wasn't over.
Zhuraka, seeing Kaldir thrown like nothing, let out a furious snarl.
Lightning laced his powerful legs as he dashed at Dante, faster than before, twisting mid-air — aiming a brutal hook kick straight toward the side of Dante's face.
But Dante didn't flinch.
His right hand snapped upward, catching the kick effortlessly.
For a moment, everything froze.
Dante's grip tightened, veins pulsing in his arm.
His cold eyes locked onto Zhuraka — no mercy, no hesitation.
Without a word, he ripped Zhuraka downward — slamming him savagely into the ground with a sickening boom that shook the battlefield.
Cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact.
Dust burst upward in a violent wave.
The players inside the base gasped, some stepping back in shock.
Zhuraka — the Storm Stallion — had been pinned like a rag doll.
And Dante still hadn't broken his stance.
Kaldir roared again, his massive arms swinging back as he dashed toward Dante with brutal force. His whole body coiled, crackling with lightning as he prepared to land a devastating blow.
But Dante was already two steps ahead.
He rotated swiftly while still holding onto the helpless Zhuraka, his eyes locked on Kaldir's advancing form. In one fluid motion, Dante used Zhuraka as a weapon — slamming the downed Thunderstrike Beast straight into Kaldir.
The impact was catastrophic.
Zhuraka's body collided with Kaldir's chest like a battering ram, knocking the breath from both of them. The ground beneath them shuddered violently as the two beasts were sent sprawling in opposite directions.
Dust and debris exploded around them, the force of the impact leaving a deep crater in the earth.
As Zhuraka and Kaldir staggered to their feet, both monsters pulled out potions, strangely familiar in their hands. With a swift motion, they drank the vials in unison. In mere seconds, their wounds healed, the gashes and bruises vanishing, their bodies returning to peak condition.
Dante watched, his eyes narrowing, shocked by the sight. He gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath, "It's my first time seeing a monster use a potion…"
The monsters now stood tall again, fully revived, with crackling energy surging around them.
Just as the tension thickened, Senkoku arrived, carrying the unconscious woman on his back. He approached Dante, his expression worried. "Do you need help?" he asked, eyes darting between the beasts and Dante.
Dante's response was cold, his voice as deep and emotionless as ever. "No. Let me do this alone."
His stance shifted, his dark gi rippling slightly in the wind as he prepared for the next round. The air seemed to grow heavier around him, charged with intensity. He had no intention of letting these beasts take another step.
Dante moved with lightning speed, taking the initiative. His body flowed seamlessly into motion, delivering a hook arc kick straight to Zhuraka's side. The beast grunted in pain as the kick landed, but it didn't falter. As Dante rotated, he swung his leg back, connecting with Kaldir's chest in a powerful back kick. The impact shook the air, but Kaldir blocked it with his massive arms, the force still pushing him back.
Without hesitation, Dante shifted his stance mid-rotation, his left foot now lifting and crashing down onto Kaldir's broad shoulder. The impact was like a hammer smashing into stone, and Kaldir staggered under the weight of the blow.
Before Dante could follow through, Zhuraka was on him again, delivering another lightning-fast kick aimed at his head. But Dante anticipated it, his body moving almost instinctively. He blocked the kick with his forearm and then, with a growl of effort, delivered a devastating elbow directly to Zhuraka's ribs. The force was so intense, it left a crackling sound in the air as Zhuraka recoiled from the blow, his energy flickering with the impact.
As Kaldir roared, his massive fist crackling with electricity, he swung a powerful uppercut, aiming to smash Dante's face. The air around the strike shattered, and the force was enough to send shockwaves through the ground.
But Dante, with his incredible reflexes, dodged the attack at the last moment, performing a swift backflip to evade the punch. The lighting-infused uppercut whizzed past him, just inches from his body, as he flipped backward in mid-air.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, Dante's body was already in motion. Without skipping a beat, he launched a knee kick upward, his leg snapping with the force of a cannonball, catching Kaldir off-guard. The knee crashed into the beast's jaw, sending a sharp shockwave through the air, the impact reverberating with a thunderous sound.
Dante didn't pause for a second. His grip on Kaldir's head was immediate, and with a savage twist, he slammed his knee into the beast's face once more, a satisfying crack echoing through the battlefield.
As Kaldir staggered back from the brutal knee strikes, Dante moved without hesitation. He shifted his stance low, gathering energy, and then launched upward —
Inferno Shoryuken!
A pillar of searing fire erupted around him, swallowing his frame for a moment. His flaming fist crashed into Kaldir's chin, launching the massive beast high into the air, its body spinning and burning.
Zhuraka, seeing his twin in danger, swept in low, aiming a vicious lightning-charged low kick at Dante's legs.
Dante reacted instantly — he jumped, avoiding the sweep, and as he rose, he snapped a straight kick directly into Kaldir's midair body, knocking it further back with a thundering boom.
Still airborne, Dante rotated mid-spin, pulling his leg high — preparing a crushing downward heel kick aimed for Zhuraka.
But Zhuraka, gritting his teeth, twisted into a full-body spin of his own and unleashed a lightning-infused tornado kick upward to clash with Dante's descending attack.
The two kicks collided with a thunderous crack.
The result was instant —
Zhuraka's leg twisted unnaturally, bone and muscle snapping under the force.
A loud, sickening crack echoed across the battlefield as Zhuraka screamed in pain, collapsing awkwardly to the ground.
Zhuraka roared in agony, his broken foot dragging against the ground.
Dante didn't stop — he advanced calmly, each step heavy with pressure.
Suddenly, Kaldir rushed — not at Dante, but straight toward Zhuraka.
Sparks exploded around them as Kaldir grabbed Zhuraka's arm roughly.
In that instant —
A brilliant, searing light burst out between their bodies.
The air itself bent and twisted.
The sound of tearing flesh, snapping bones, and raw power merging echoed like a scream.
Their forms twisted and compressed, muscle tightening, bones reshaping, as if forced into a new vessel.
When the light faded...
Before Dante stood something monstrous — but unmistakably humanoid.
Around 2.5 meters tall, a heavily muscled figure, standing like a warrior.
Its skin was dark like storm clouds, crackling with living lightning.
It had long, braided hair of pure electric light, hanging behind its wide shoulders.
Eyes burned gold, and savage fangs flashed when it smirked — an almost human expression of madness.
Its fists were gauntleted with thunder-forged armor, each step radiating violent energy.
It tilted its head, cracking its knuckles with slow, deliberate menace.
Then the System Notification blared in Dante's mind:
> System Alert!
Fusion Complete: "Zhurakaldir, the Thunderstorm Tyrant"
Tier 0 (Catastrophe Class) — Humanoid Beast
Description: A fusion of pure speed, strength, and elemental fury. Its battle instincts are sharper than ever, and it now mimics human combat styles mixed with monstrous brutality.
The new beast grinned wickedly, stomping once —
A shockwave cracked the earth beneath both their feet.
Dante's gi fluttered from the force, but he didn't move.
His eyes sharpened.
"Now we're talking," Dante muttered, voice low and dangerous.