This wasn't the first time Graham and his team had come across a planet and decided to take it over. They had done a few planet takeovers in the past, facing challenges along the way, but they'd always found a way to fight through those obstacles. However, none of those missions had been like the one they were in right now.
Of course, they'd faced tough situations before. They'd encountered strange landscapes, fierce creatures, and unpredictable forces, but they'd always been able to rely on their Qi and their weapons. Now, in this cloudy, mysterious planet, they found themselves at a disadvantage. They couldn't use their Qi. This meant they were unable to access their techniques and skills for fighting, leaving them without their usual strengths.
As if that wasn't enough, when they attempted to activate their weapons, they found those were disabled as well. It seemed that whatever was affecting their Qi also prevented their weapons from functioning. The mages among them tried different spells, each one hoping to break through the strange barrier, yet none of the spells worked. The spells fizzled out, like energy that had nowhere to go, and their attempts only fueled the growing tension among the group.
From this unsettling development, panic was beginning to spread among them. Members exchanged worried glances, their faces growing more tense as they realized just how limited they were. For the first time, they felt trapped, as if something on this planet was suppressing their very abilities. Stan's expression was hard as he watched his team struggle to make sense of the situation.
This strange suppression was causing him a lot of headaches. Thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to understand what was happening. 'Could this be because of the peace energy? Is someone—or something—able to suppress everyone's power using this energy?' he wondered, his mind struggling to make sense of it all.
It was the only explanation he could think of at the moment. But if it was true, then whoever or whatever was behind this suppression was far more powerful than anything they had encountered before.
Everyone had given a report on what they saw in their sea of consciousness, and it was all the same—a thick mist covering every part of their inner vision, blocking their access to their Qi.
"Enough...!" Graham shouted, his voice cutting through the rising noise as the group started to panic.
"So be it! What if we can't use our Qi? What if we can't use our weapons?" he yelled, his gaze fierce as he looked around at each member. "In the end, we're all the best of the Dragon Roar Faction. We're all high-stage Paragons. Although we might not be able to use our Qi, we still have our evolution power. And with that, I believe we can still take down this horde!"
To emphasize his point, Graham clenched his fist and threw a punch to the ground. The impact shook the ground beneath them, blasting the earth open as though a bomb had exploded, sending dirt and rocks flying. Everyone stood in awe, watching the display of raw strength even without Qi.
"This is just the suppressed power of a stage 8 Paragon," he declared. "All of you are just one stage below. So suck it up and get ready for battle!"
Graham's display of power snapped everyone back to reality. They remembered who they were—high-stage Paragons. The lowest among them was Stan, a stage 6 Paragon. Even without their Qi, they were stronger than most. They took a deep breath, each one finding a new sense of determination.
"It will be best if we take this fight away from this area. The base has been contacted, and they're working on getting our portal back online to send reinforcements," a member reported.
Hearing this, everyone felt a bit more hopeful. With backups coming, they were confident they could handle the beasts.
"Call out the fighting bots. We'll need everything we have here," Graham commanded.
Whenever they came to a new planet, they brought along fighting robots that could be sent in first for reconnaissance. These bots, though mechanical, were equipped for battle and could withstand many kinds of threats.
Once everything was ready, Stan led the way, moving ahead into the distance, with Graham right behind him. The rest of the team followed closely, each one focused and prepared for battle.
Stan was the only one among them still able to use his Qi. However, he had noticed that he couldn't release it like he usually did. Whenever his Qi left his body, it faded into nothing. Luckily, there were still other ways he could use it.
Right now, he powered his legs and muscles with Qi, allowing him to be the first to reach the approaching horde of beasts.
The beasts in the horde were of different species. Some were unrecognizable, nothing like animals from Earth, while others looked similar to creatures that had long been extinct on Earth.
As he reached the horde, Stan swung his fist and struck a beast with a powerful blow, sending it flying back into two others, which were thrown backward from the impact. With one punch, Stan had killed three beasts using only his raw power and evolution level.
Meanwhile, Graham leaped from behind and landed with tremendous force in the center of the horde, as if he were an astronaut making a powerful landing. The impact created a large shockwave in a circular pattern. This wasn't Qi, but his sheer strength alone had taken out several beasts instantly.
Soon, more team members joined the fight, using their martial arts skills and unique fighting styles to battle the beasts, each move calculated and precise.
One team member delivered a series of swift kicks, knocking down beasts one after another. Another swung their arms with such force that beasts were hurled aside, crashing into others and creating space around them. Every action was focused, every blow intentional.
Soon, more beasts were being killed, and even more of them were getting injured. Surprisingly, Graham's men were holding their own quite well. After all, they were all stage 7 Paragons, an even higher stage than Stan.
Unfortunately, their advantage didn't last long. One of the team members had just torn off the arm of a humanoid beast. As he moved in to land another punch, the beast jumped back, dodging his blow. Then, something even more shocking happened.
The beast's arm began to grow back. In just seconds, it was as if the injury had never happened. Without wasting any time, the beast lunged forward, swinging its newly regrown, clawed arm at the team member. As the man raised his arm to block the attack, he was thrown backward, his body flung like a rag doll.
"Did... Did that beast just get stronger?" he thought, stunned.
Soon, everyone noticed this development. Many of the beasts, after suffering serious or life-threatening injuries, had their wounds heal almost instantly. And after each healing, they seemed to grow stronger.
"This fight… we can't win it at this rate. What's going on with this planet?" Graham said to Stan through their communication system.
"Don't give up yet," Stan replied. "Tell me, Graham, how does one end a beast horde?"
Graham, surprised that Stan would ask such a question during a battle, answered anyway.
"One way is a full-on confrontation, which we're already doing. The other way is to kill the beast that rallied the others to form the horde."
"I see," Stan responded.
"Hold your position a bit longer with your men. If it becomes too much, fall back to the ship and hover above," Stan instructed, making sure it sounded like a command to Graham.
"What are you planning to do?" Graham asked, but he didn't get a response from Stan.
Meanwhile, Stan had moved slightly away from the others to catch his breath. He had just cleared out the beasts around him, giving himself a brief moment to recover.
"At least the dead beasts aren't coming back to life," Stan muttered, breathing heavily.
"The beasts get stronger after being injured. That seems like it could be tied to peace energy. If all these beasts are affected by it, then this isn't a battle we can win head-on. I need to find the source of this power," Stan concluded to himself.
One of the bodies lying on the ground was a large winged lizard that looked a lot like a dragon. The creature was huge, but what Stan needed at that moment was its blood.
He approached the beast and scooped a small amount of its dark, black blood from one of its wounds. Without hesitation, he poured it into his mouth.
Almost instantly, a change began to take over Stan's body. His figure started to grow, becoming slightly taller and more muscular. His eyes turned hollow and yellow, glowing with an intense, beast-like gaze. Though he kept his human shape, two pairs of large, powerful wings suddenly burst out from his back, tearing through his suit.
[Wing utility has been mastered.]
"Just what I wanted," Stan muttered, glancing at his new wings.
With a powerful flap, Stan shot up into the sky, rising above the battlefield. From this height, everyone fighting below could finally see what he had become.
Stan cast a quick look down at the others, realizing they wouldn't be able to hold out much longer with the fierce pace of the battle. Without wasting a moment, he flapped his wings again, this time flying toward the direction from which the beast horde was coming.
As Stan soared over the beasts, he occasionally dipped lower, using his sharp wings to slice through the creatures below. His high speed made his wings deadly, cutting into the horde as he flew past.
However, as he was swooping in and out of the horde, a sudden force struck him from the side, sending him tumbling out of the sky and crashing into the ground.
Stan quickly scrambled to his feet, scanning around to see what had hit him. He hadn't caught sight of it; whatever struck him was incredibly fast—maybe even faster than he was.
Looking around, he noticed two things: no beasts were nearby, and he was now surrounded by thick fog on all sides.
Then, through the silence, Stan heard gentle footsteps approaching. The sound was soft but didn't seem human at all. At the same time, he heard the flap of wings coming closer.
Within moments, two figures emerged from the fog. One was a tall, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead. Beside it stood a black horse with massive, dark wings.
"A… Pegasus… and a Unicorn!" Stan exclaimed, eyes widening in shock.