Shi Ming had no intention of retreating completely.

He had spotted the perfect opportunity!

Another S-rank Awakened, a Beast Fighter, was helping him wear down the Dusk Whale. With nearly twenty minutes remaining in the Divine Hall of Time, an opportunity like this might not come again for a very long time.

The chance to kill the Dusk Whale!

If he missed his chance today, the next time he would have to face the sea beast’s wrath alone. Even if he managed to use the rules to roll the 2% chance for the Divine Hall of Time again, there was no guarantee he’d have a fighter of the same caliber to draw its fire. By then, even if his life-saving abilities were off cooldown, they would be meaningless against this giant sea beast that could reduce his maximum stats.

To refuse a gift from the heavens is to invite calamity.

To fail to act when the time is right is to court disaster.

He stood aboard the *Sun-Shooter*, ten nautical miles away.

The *Sun-Shooter*’s flight and stealth modes were both activated, hiding it high in the sky as he looked down upon the distant battle.

A General-class drifter ship that could fly—this was probably the only one in existence.

He could feel that the moment they first met, the Dusk Whale had marked him—no, it had marked every living creature present at the time!

But that didn’t matter. He wasn’t planning on running away.

...

...

...

The range of the Dusk Whale’s Twilight of the Gods expanded over time, now covering an area of about 3.1 nautical miles.

This stretch of ocean had become a crucible of life and flesh. Countless marine organisms perished, withering into sludge—including, but not limited to, sea beasts, common fish, deep-sea plants, plankton, and even bacteria invisible to the naked eye...

The only truly living creature left was Quert.

Even the initial state of Invincible War God gave Quert a significant buff.

And with four self-inflicted wounds, the power of Invincible War God had skyrocketed his stats by nearly half. This pushed all five of his core attributes past 120. His Attack Power and Endurance were even slightly higher than Shi Ming’s in his normal state, enough for him to fight the Dusk Whale for a considerable amount of time.

However, the Dusk Whale was thick-skinned and had few weaknesses. It was already in a rotten, battle-damaged state and didn’t care about a few more wounds inflicted by a human. With Quert’s current Attack Power, it was difficult to truly harm the colossal sea beast.

If he came into contact with the slime from its rotten side during the fight, his skin would be corroded!

But the Dusk Whale was stuck to him, and he wasn’t fast enough to outrun it. There was no escape!

’Damn it!’

Quert’s temper flared as he fought!

’This is infuriating! So damn infuriating!’

With the power of the Magma Giant, he could easily handle human Awakened and smaller sea beasts. But against this 200-meter-long rotten whale—an S-rank sea beast about which he had zero intelligence—he felt utterly powerless.

He let out a furious roar!

He tossed aside the dilapidated weapon that had completely rusted after less than three minutes of fighting. His power surged, and gritting his teeth, he tore open three more magma wounds on his body.

’Today, I’ll teach you sea beasts a painful lesson!’

’When I return to the Twelve Stars, I’ll definitely rally the strongest experts to hunt you down together!’

Having activated Sevenfold Invincible War God, Quert’s lava-covered body resembled Ares, the god who held dominion over battle. His bones clanged like metal as his muscles twisted, and the physical force of his fists alone was enough to obliterate an ordinary A-rank sea beast.

He no longer needed a weapon; his body was the weapon. Muscles shrouded in flowing lava, he rained blows upon the un-rotted right side of the Dusk Whale’s body, locked in a fierce struggle with the colossal beast.

ROAR!

The Dusk Whale spewed a massive amount of yellow mucus from its body.

What was once a faint illusion of a battlefield of fallen gods solidified, the Illusion Realm and reality intertwining. The ocean was no longer the ocean but a divine battleground at the end of days. Corpses and flesh filled every corner, piling up into islands of gore. A giant World Tree took root upon them, its yellow leaves slowly decaying, as if afflicted by an incurable, long-standing disease.

Quert’s brows furrowed as he dodged back and forth between the jets of yellow liquid.

When faced with an unavoidable stream of mucus, he would throw a punch, using the resulting sonic boom to blast the yellow liquid apart.

The Dusk Whale’s immense size was its advantage, but it also made it clumsy. Thanks to his sevenfold ability, Quert appeared to have a slight upper hand against the beast. What he didn’t know was that the full effect of the Twilight of the Gods debuff had not yet set in. If he dragged this out, his own decay was only a matter of time.

His entropy value was rising rapidly!

In just over six minutes, it had already skyrocketed to 140!

!!!

...

Meanwhile, high in the sky, Shi Ming was rapidly recovering his strength while keeping a close eye on the battle, looking for the right moment to re-enter the fray and deliver a devastating blow using the power of the Divine Hall of Time.

Finally, he caught his chance.

Quert, his body covered in magma scars, slammed his fists and his entire body into the Dusk Whale’s right eye. A spray of fluid flew out, mixing with the lava.

The feedback from the successful attack sent a rush of dopamine through Quert, and his fighting spirit soared! Another wound burst open on his right chest, channeling a massive amount of magma power through his body and into the Dusk Whale. A huge gash, over ten meters long, appeared on the whale’s intact side, starting from its eye!

The Dusk Whale’s body writhed uncontrollably as chunks of rotten flesh sloughed off. The previous balance between its rotted and intact halves was now disrupted.

The rot began to spread along the wound, creeping onto its right side.

ROAR!

It was utterly enraged!

’This damned human had actually managed to injure it so severely, accelerating the spread of its decay!’

’Today, I will devour him!’

Having landed a successful blow, Quert’s sense of honor swelled. He had no desire to invest any more effort into this meaningless fight and was preparing to retreat while the Dusk Whale was in pain. Suddenly, he felt a piercing chill emanate from the surrounding sea. He looked up to see a thirty-meter-long Frost Greatsword descending from the heavens, plunging into the Dusk Whale’s back.

’That bastard,’

’he’s still here after all!’

Quert looked at the scars all over his body and was about to raise the stakes to teach both the man and the beast a lesson they would never forget. But then, he felt his own body begin to decay.

His entropy value had reached a critical point.

He didn’t know the Dusk Whale’s abilities, but he understood his own body’s condition. His expression changed. He quickly tore open another wound, using the burst of power from within to forcefully resist the spreading decay. Then, as if he had made a firm decision, he turned and left without a second glance.

"Kid! I’ll remember you!"

[Spartacus has acknowledged his defeat!]

[The Eye of the World has witnessed the defeat of the Invincible War God! It is quite pleased! As expected, no one can remain undefeated forever.]

[His departure is, perhaps, the best possible outcome?]

[After all, you wouldn’t want to face a two-front battle against both "Quert with 47 stacks of Invincible War God" and the "Dusk Whale," would you? Even if you could cast Black Tortoise Shield four more times, you’d hardly withstand an Invincible War God buffed with 108 times his normal power! And even if you barely won, how would you face the resurrected Magma Giant?]

[The Eye of the World is analyzing based on Quert’s personality.]

[He will most likely stir up some major trouble in the Twelve Stars!]

[Hurry up! This is the absolute best opportunity!]

CRACK!

The thirty-meter Frost Giant Sword, shaped like Frost’s Sorrow, stabbed viciously into the Dusk Whale’s spine. It then passed through the gaps between its bones and exploded violently inside the 200-meter-long behemoth. Shi Ming maneuvered in mid-air, landing on the corrupted whale’s head, a true Descent of the Titan!

The clock in the sky made another full circle.

This was the final round of the Divine Hall of Time!

Thirteenth second! Arm of Power!

BOOM!

Pushing his Spiritual Power to its absolute limit, he once again condensed a Frost Greatsword. He plunged it through the gash of the Dusk Whale’s torn right eye, driving it viciously through a gap in the whale’s skull and into its brain! This was one of the weaknesses he had learned from the hunting notes of the Dream of Salmon and his study of cetacean anatomy.

The Descent of the Titan’s Divine Hall of time began to collapse!

Within the Twilight of the Gods Illusion Realm,

the World Tree began to topple.