Tower of Heaven

Sometime later, he finally made it to the back legs of the beast, pulling out his chain sickles and setting them ablaze.

But this fire was different than any of the ones he used before. Its heat almost melted the air itself, leaving a scorched smell in its wake. The grass under Atlas's feet burned to cinders before floating up into the atmosphere.

As for the flames themselves, rather than their original reddish-orange color, they were a mixture of blue and white.

Not wanting to get too close to the beast in case it decided to rampage, Atlas stayed around 10 meters away. If there was any time to train his maneuvers with the chains, it was now.

He threw his right sickle straight towards the beast's back right leg, the blade tearing through the air as it reached the beast's leathery skin. As for the left one, he didn't do anything with it quite yet.

When the sickle reached the beast, its blade charged through the thick hide before lodging itself in the beast's leg. The whiteish-blue flames that caked it spread over the area it had lodged into before slowly melting the beast's hide.

And as the flames spread, Atlas whipped his wrist, causing the chain to fluctuate like a thunderous ocean wave.

When the force of the whip reached the blade, it jerked upward. A large gash formed in the beast's skin, causing thick streams of blood to flow and its muscles to be revealed.

Seeing Atlas's success, the other Ascenders also felt empowered. They teamed up in pairs of two before attacking the points Atlas told them about.

Helia and Leon were at the front right leg of the beast, in line with Atlas, while 4 other Ascenders took the other two legs. Meanwhile, the last 3 were ranged combatants so they stayed at a distance and attempted to blind the beast.

Facing the assault from all sides, the beast furiously roared. Its eyes widened and its pupils dilated. Every single Ascender felt its gaze as if it had 360° vision. And without warning, a massive explosion rang out.

The sound naturally attracted everyone's attention, and what they saw…the two Ascenders who had taken the beast's back left leg were no more. In their place was the spiked ball at the end of the beast's tail, caked in blood and small chunks of their bodies.

Atlas froze for a second. He hadn't witnessed such a gory scene once in his life. Maybe if he wasn't blind it'd be different, but that's just how it was. With his fear of killing, how could he be prepared for such an event?

"Atlas!"

A voice suddenly boomed in his head, bringing his attention back to the battlefield. He didn't have time to question anything, returning his attention to the burning flesh of the beast.

He knew he needed to speed up before everyone died.

Atlas flung his second chain sickle, wrapping it around the beast's leg and slightly impeding its movements. And unlike the first one where only the blade was lit ablaze, the entire chain of his second weapon was burning.

A ring of fire enveloped the leg of the beast before slowly melting through it. Soon enough, its flesh was all but gone and its muscles were also being incinerated.

The beast roared in fury once again, and Atlas sensed immense danger from above him.

[Intrinsic Foresight]

Color vanished from the world as time slowed almost to a stop. When Atlas looked above him, his heart almost stopped beating entirely.

The same bloody tail mace was directly over his head, only 10 meters away. And judging by the speed it was inching forward even within the slowed time, Atlas knew he would die soon.

However, he wasn't resigned. He had only just started this journey, and he was just recently wondering about his true purpose. There was no way he would die here.

It was as if something clicked in his mind.

'Dammit! I am the Heavenly Emperor! No mere Core Formation Realm beast can kill me!'

His grey eyes swirled as stormy currents seemed to envelop his body. The atmosphere started to burn up as the heat coming off of Atlas's body became unbearable.

And in the next instant, he vanished.

Boom!

Wind resistance seemed to mean nothing to him as the flames burning under his feet propelled him forward. Even in the slowed time, he was moving fast enough for it to be considered a light jog.

When Intrinsic Foresight deactivated, multiple things happened at once.

The burning chains attached to the beast's hind leg successfully burned through all its muscles, the massive tail mace impacted the ground, and Atlas reappeared near Helia and Leon.

Multiple ear-shattering noises rang out. The earth around the tail mace cracked and shattered, but the beast could no longer hold a good portion of its weight, causing its back right side to collapse to the ground.

Anything that could have possibly been underneath the beast would have been crushed.

The beast roared in pain as its bones collapsed in on themselves, shattering its entire back-right leg. Finally, some real damage was done to the beast.

However, it wasn't like the others had been idle. Slowly but surely, the other legs of the beast were also being cleaved. Helia and Leon were almost done with this task.

And with its tendons and muscles slowly being severed, the beast wasn't able to raise its legs off the ground enough to produce a suitable impact. There was no way for it to damage those behind it.

Its tail's reach wasn't long enough to hit those at its front legs.

Meanwhile, the ranged fighters were also doing their jobs, nipping away at the defense that protected the beast's eyes. And after another 10 minutes…

Another roar of pain resounded through the surroundings as the beast was partially blinded. It didn't take long for it to become fully blind as well.

And at the same time, its front two legs were cleanly flayed, leaving only the sturdy bones of the beast in their wake.

But how could the bones alone support so much weight without muscles and tendons to mitigate the pressure? They were soon crushed into dust by the beast itself.

Collapsing on the ground, the beast realized it had no chance of survival. It howled and roared to the heavens as if expressing its unwillingness to die.

But to the Ascenders, it meant nothing. If they wanted to continue their path to strength, if they wanted to one day achieve Godhood, this beast had to die.

Blood gushed out of its 3 severed legs, forming large pools on the cracked earth. Its spine and sides which hadn't been touched yet were being torn to shreds by the 8 Ascenders left alive.

Two of the ranged attackers regained their confidence, striding forward as if to mock the beast, but it wasn't completely finished yet.

It opened its massive maw and snapped down with incredible speed, severing their bodies in two.

But in the end, this was all it could do. With the attacks of the other 6 continuing to rain down on its body, it lost too much blood to sustain itself.

The tail mace that had been whipping through the air as if hoping for a target fell limply to the ground along with the beast's head.

The light faded from its eyes and finally, the beast became nothing more than a lifeless corpse.