Ascension of the Nephilim

The sudden punch of Hunter shocked everyone, including the Champions around them.

The five Emberdons could only sigh as they saw it.

"Lord Kyros really values his Coven. Especially with all that HR thing, he thought us..." Faye chuckled.

"Right. He won't allow Hunter, who is now part of the Steele family, to be insulted like that." Ressi shook her head.

The Barbarian Champion was thrown back from Hunter's sudden cheap shot.

"Champion!" The Viscounts saw the attack and shouted and rushed to attack.

"Stop!"

The Champion recovered from the punch and landed on his feet. He was clutching his jaw, and blood was trickling down his mouth.

Various expressions were seen as they saw the Champion wounded!

"Champion Bastark is wounded? That punch..." The Champion lancer that approached was shocked.

"A Captain Force User? Impressive! But not good enough! Champion Mezal... It seems your soldier is the one first to draw blood. This insult will not be taken lightly. I wish to fight him, here and now!" The Champion roared.

"Alright. Hunter, don't hurt him too much. Remember that we are to be all allies in this war." Mezal warned.

"Yes, Lord Mezal."

"What did you say?! You dare-"

CLANG!

Hunter pounced and slashed his sword, and the Barbarian quickly guarded.

The Force skill that all Barbarians studied quickly increased his defenses.

A Barbarian would have at least twice the muscle mass that knights of the same level would have. The thick muscles would help them produce a larger volume of Force energy. If knights needed armor to defend and block, Barbarians focused all their Force on wielding their weapons, so their armors were lighter and more mobile. For defense, they relied on their own Force.

"[Stone Skin]! A skill that a country bumpkin like you could never understand. My Force Energy is too strong that I can take your attacks and your swords at full Force!" The Champion mocked Hunter and went on the assault.

"RAAAA!" The Barbarian brought out his massive sword and slashed and attacked.

But among the Coven, Hunter was the fastest next to Martha. And in terms of perception alone, Hunter was even faster. This was how he was able to play the game against Kyros during the Pronto training in the Temple.

Hunter evaded all the attacks. But, the more Hunter evaded, the more his expression grew sadder.

"This is sad..." Hunter sighed.

The rest of the Steele family watched on and had the same thought.

"This was the Champion rank I used to suspect? How weak are the Lowlands?" Hunter sighed.

The Barbarian began to make massive attacks after massive attacks, but Hunter could keep on evading.

"Lord Kyros. Why haven't you thought us to be like Barbarians?"

"Are you insane? These buffs are useless unless you have a body and Force energy like Shellcross. Even if you have [Stone Skin], our enemies back them were so strong that they could easily kill you anyway. We were all like glass cannons back there. That's why I made everyone focus on offense and dexterity. Anything we lacked to defend was compensated through strategy and command. It was the only way to survive. Right now, if you wish to study the buffs, you may. It will be a great boost to your power."

"Ah... That makes sense."

"You little-"

At that moment, Hunter finally found his opening. The Path of Combat allowed him to identify how to defeat the enemy easily, and he rushed in.

As the Barbarian slashed his massive sword, Hunter dashed in and made a simple stab.

The sword was imbued with Force energy. It allowed Hunter to bring out the strongest attack.

STAB!

The sword stabbed on the chin of the Barbarian. [Stone Skin] took in the damage, and only a small wound appeared with strange cracks appearing at the side of his chin as if the Barbarian was wearing a clay mask.

But as Hunter stabbed, his quick dexterity allowed him to immediately release the sword just as the stab struck in its maximum. And his fist continued to slide just over the sword, and he formed a fast that struck the jaw of the Barbarian once more.

POW!

The punch struck once more, and it followed the stab so quickly that the enemy's defenses were lost.

But even before the punch of Hunter reached its maximum point, Hunter's fist immediately moved and grabbed on the fur coat made of monster hide and pulled the Champion as his left hand rose to make another punch.

POW!

POW!

POW!

A series of punches were made as Hunter kept pulling the Champion, and soon, Hunter moved to issue a combo of punches and kicks.

POW!

The last uppercut sent the Champion vaulting to the air and landed on his back.

He did not move or get up.

There was silence across the entire Golem City.

Everyone was shocked. An unknown warrior fought and easily defeated a Champion!

Ordeus's mouth was wide open.

It was one thing for Mezal to reveal a Champions might when they had the summit on Airom Logat's fortress. But this unknown Hunter instantly knocked out a Champion.

"I'm...possible!"

"Champion!" The nearby Viscounts immediately rushed to their Champion.

"Relax. He's not dead. Just unconscious." Demerus flew above them and used his powers to take away the Champion.

"Any other Champion wants to challenge this young man? The lizard hordes are approaching. I can already sense them." Demerus asked impatiently.

The nearby Champions, who all walked arrogantly to meet Reptilia, were now hesitating.

Champion fights weren't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be explosive and glorious. But the fight was too anti-climactic and had no show of the flashy bombastic attacks from both parties.

It was like a simple boxing match between two random fighters!

But the most unbelievable thing was that the Barbarian had fallen. Yet, they had the highest vitality and defense among all Champions! And [Stone Skin] was active!

The other Champions did not move but slowly looked up and retreated.

"It seems there is no time for any discussions or invitations..." The Champion Lancer retreated, as did the others.

"How envious." Triona sighed.

"Yes. To think that we who were Champions and gained enough power to challenge and defeat the Commanders of the Lowlands easily would be weakened, those like Hunter only grew a little bit weaker."

"The stronger you are, the greater the nerf we had from Fate. At least that's how Lord Calaminus put it." Stellya nodded.

Faye had activated [Gauge] to scan the stats of Hunter.

---

Temple Firewall v2.32c

Establishing connection...

Requesting access...

Allied party member [Faye Emberdon] detected.

Access allowed to Hunter Steele's real stats.

---

Hunter Steele

Race: Human

Age: 24

Level: 24

---

Strength- 121 (De-Might curse active)

Magic- 79 (De-Magic curse active)

Dexterity- 152 (De-Spacito curse active)

Vitality- 210 (De-Might curse active)

Intelligence- 154

Force- 83 (De-Might curse active)

----

Jobs:

Blade Master Level 2

Quick Blade – 2

Blitzer- 3

Magic Blade- 1

Knight Master Level 3

Defender Knight- Level 3

Ravager- Level 6

Magic Defender- Level 1

Fate Challenger Level 1

Path of Foresight- Level 7 Medium

Path of Combat- Level 9 Protester

Path of Molding- Level 1 Influencer

---

As Demerus led the unconscious Barbarian away, the Champions and Viscounts were having confused expressions as many of them tried to use [Gauge] just like Faye did.

"A Stat distorter?!" One of the Captains cursed as he looked at the ridiculous stats.

Ordeus still had a confused expression as Demerus flew back.

Demerus was rubbing his forehead as he approached. The plan was for them to secretly steal monsters to give to the Temple and keep it low profile. But now, the Steele was definitely going to be the center of attraction.

"Lord Kyros, do you want me to make up excuses?" Demerus asked. As a Skeleton, he had access to the Dark Link after Kyros installed the programs in their heads.

"Yup. Just make up some lies as to why we hid our powers all these years and why we are showing it now. Any excuses will do. It doesn't matter." Kyros confirmed.

Demerus sighed once more as he placed the unconscious Champion to the side.

"Champion Demerus, tell me. Was this why you allowed them to be the vanguard?" Ordeus asked him immediately.

"Why do you think? These men have strong warriors who are cunning and brave. I wanted to see their full capabilities. That's all. The Steele family hid their roots well and even made sure to hide their strength. As you know, they have a lot of enemies. And if their enemies knew their full strength, they would be persecuted greatly. So they hid it all. But we have a deal, and part of that deal was for them to show us their full potential."

"Show you? Is that why that man fought Bastark?"

"Yes. But you'll see greater things than this. The Steele Family will now show everyone that they have become a force to be feared."