Under Gistella's command, the assault team returned back to the safe area.
Fortunately, nothing wrong came to strike them.
It seemed like the mutated birds Rex was talking about were not in the area—or maybe they were chased away due to the aura—emanating from the powerful, mutated eels. Either way, it's a good thing that nothing bad happened.
Knowing that the Emperor was an extremely tough one to kill, they decided to go back.
As opposed to him, the assault team might be the one being in danger outside.
Patiently waiting for Rex would make them a sitting duck, so continuing their task is best.
On the other hand, oblivious to what the others were doing, Rex continued his fight.
Boom!
Sliding through the body of the mutated eel on the left—Rex made his claws bigger with the help of the attire he was wearing right now, the Robe of the Dark Lunirich. He then flexed his claws before stabbing them into the mutated eel's skin.
But instead of piercing the skin, his claws only made sparks from the friction.
He tried repeatedly but his attacks ended up the same, no effect.
It's too hard, there's no way I could pierce its skin.
Just from the skin alone, it was obvious that the stats panel didn't lie about its endurance.
Even though it was slow for a tenth-rank realm, it excelled in everything else.
Maneuvering over its body, taking advantage of the fact that it was massive he steered away from its eyes. Activating his Extreme State and Berserker's Curse skill, Rex leaped behind the mutated eel, soaring into the sky.
As he reached a high enough point, he kicked the air behind him using kingly energy.
Swoosh!
Rex launched himself at the mutated eel he was targeting—and as he descent like a meteor, he charged his fist as he prepared himself to use Brutal Impulse skill. However, since he was in the Banished Dark Moon Persona form, he realized that he couldn't cast Brutal Impulse.
Its base energy couldn't be replaced by the Banished Dark Moon kingly energy.
All of the gathered kingly energy dispersed in an instant.
Having no other choice, he decided to use his Unholy Claws of the Reaper skill instead.
His claws burned with blazing dark energy before he landed a vicious strike.
Boom!
Roar!!
Knowing that he had no chance of piercing the mutated eel's skin, Rex decided to aim for its eyes instead—the exposed soft tissue. At that successful strike—his eyes widened when he saw a number appearing above its head.
A number one written in ancient font, gleaming with dark kingly energy.
Only Rex could see this number as per the description earlier.
Dazed by the sight of the number finally appearing, the other mutated eel punished his slight mistake severely. Rex was dazed only for less than a second—but the other mutated eel had already used its massive tail as a whip.
"Kahhrgkk!" Rex could feel the air forced out of his lungs.
He was squeezed by the forceful impact.
It came from behind, and he got sandwiched between the two mutated eels.
Clearly—the attacking mutated eel didn't care whether it would hit the other mutated eel just to hit Rex. Once again—Rex got plunged into the water—he couldn't even take a deep breath properly before being drowned in the water again.
Under the strength of these two massive creatures, he was rag-dolled left and right.
Rex could feel his entire body spinning in water.
As he began to regain balance, he opened his eyes but was greeted by the attacked mutated eel, already slithering towards him quickly. Its slender and elongated body moved in rhyme, it made the mutated eel move fast in water.
Pointing both hands forward, he tried to summon the banishing shield.
But unluckily for him, nothing came out.
Wait, what happened? I got one counter, I should be able to summon one banishing shield!
<Notice: The effect from achieving a counter could only be used on the target—the counter appeared on, it couldn't be used on other targets. In this instance, the user could not create a banishing shield to block the incoming mutated eel's attack>
"Just two more! I need to deal more damage!" Rex was hopeful, seeing the notification.
Glancing over his shoulders—he could already see the digestive acid, beginning to seep from the roof of the mutated eel's stomach, preparing a welcoming party for him. A last welcoming party, of course.
Seeing this, Rex decided to pour everything he had into his claws.
"Hhhaargghh...!!"
Blitz!
SWOOSH!!
With a grunt of sheer determination, Rex charged himself like a powerful torpedo, harnessing every ounce of energy within him. Red force—kingly energy, spirit energy, and different kinds of elemental energy erupted from within him—blasting the Time Draugars, and the tendrils of the mutated eel away from him in a powerful surge.
Becoming more feral, he pulled his claws, ripping the mutated eel's tongue open.
Under the effort, he managed to reach the threshold.
<Five counters have been achieved!>
<Banished Field could be deployed whenever the user desires>
Nodding his head firmly—as he knew that hurting the target, would have a chance of raising the counter, Rex managed to reach the five counters threshold. It would allow him to use the Banished Field, which would be very useful right now.
Using nothing but his thoughts, the King Mark on his forehead glowed blindingly.
It was activating the Banished Field.
Contrary to what Rex was expecting—his King Mark, began to pour out an intense amount of black kingly energy and gathered it onto his right hand. Rex could see that his right hand was losing color, turning monochromatic of black and white.
Even then, he could feel the amount of power that was gathered.
Following his instinct, he used his right hand to touch the surface of the mutated eel's palate.
Swoosh!
Almost instantly, the gathered energy shot into the mutated eel's flesh—causing it to flinch a bit feeling the sting from this process. Only then that Rex could feel—that his King Mark, was beginning to be overloaded with energy.
He couldn't control the kingly energy inside of it, regardless of strong energy control.
It felt like something inside of him was about to burst through his King Mark.
Until eventually—Rex could not hold the kingly energy anymore and all of it burst out from his King Mark, in the form of a black light laser. His kingly energy—flushed into the mutated eel's system, and encompassed its entire body from the inside.
Splash!
Roar!!
Rex observed the changes and realized that the pulling effect disappeared.
Moreover, he could also hear the mutated eel roaring in pain before it evidently slowed down.
Since the Banished Field, was stated to be able to nullify all abilities—the mutated eel lost its pulling effect, allowing Rex to hold on way easier than seconds ago. He also realized that the Banished Field was more powerful than he anticipated.
"Not only the pulling effect but its energy and aura also disappeared!" Rex exclaimed.
He scanned the mutated eel again and found a surprising sight.
Its status turned into weakened, and all of its stats were reduced by more than 50%.
To think that the Banished Field could even banish the aura and energy of a tenth-rank realm mutated anima,l was beyond what Rex expected—and at that realization, he couldn't hide his smile as this power is extremely strong and useful.
Not wasting a single second, Rex propelled himself to the side forcefully.
Splat!
Because of the mutated eel's weakened state, he managed to tear through its skin and came out of its inside with a little bit of struggle. He was excited, when the cold water hit him once more and quickly swam up to the surface.
"Phuaah!!" Rex emerged on the surface again, he managed to survive the ordeal. "I'm out!"
Since one mutated eel lost its abilities, going out of the water was possible.
Rex could feel the pulling effect was not that strong anymore.
Earlier—he had planned to return to land and devise another strategy to reach the Lotus of Lunar Heart. However, after battling the two mutated eels, he resolved to go straight to the Lotus of Lunar Heart out of sheer spite.
"I already fought very hard against them, I'm not going back now!"