According to any normal logic, Himeko and Dan Heng should have charged in to help Caelus take down the Doomsday Beast.
But they were rooted to the spot, unable to take a single step. The scene unfolding before them was simply too bizarre.
The battle between Caelus and the Doomsday Beast was completely devoid of the rhythm one would expect from a proper fight—there was no dodging, no positioning, no feinting or probing!
Caelus would swing his bat, and the Doomsday Beast would swipe its claw. Then Caelus would swing his bat again, and the Doomsday Beast would swipe its claw again.
Back and forth. Back and forth. And back and forth again.
The exchange was so perfectly ordered, so meticulously paced, it looked like two people playing some kind of turn-based game.
The corner of Himeko's mouth twitched. She had been in many battles, but she had never seen anyone fight a Doomsday Beast like this. What was even more absurd was Caelus's condition. Every time the beast's claw struck him, the impact was so great that the metal platform beneath his feet trembled. Yet Caelus just stood there, taking hit after hit, without so much as a scratch on him.
His clothes were clean, his skin was flawless, and not a single hair was out of place.
Dan Heng stood beside Himeko, gripping his spear. He remained silent for a long moment, his gaze shifting back and forth between Caelus and the beast, his brow furrowing ever tighter. He glanced at Himeko, who happened to look over at the same time. Their eyes met, and they saw the same utter bewilderment reflected in each other's expressions.
Should they go help?
Help who? For all intents and purposes, it looked like some unknown master was toying with the Doomsday Beast.
---o---
In contrast, March 7th, standing behind them, was starting to panic. She was on the verge of being drained dry by Caelus!
"Himeko! Dan Heng! Why are you two just standing there watching?!"
Himeko jolted, snapping back to reality.
Right. No matter how ridiculous this looks, the Doomsday Beast still needs to be dealt with quickly. What am I doing standing here watching a show with Dan Heng?
"Dan Heng, let's go."
Himeko immediately moved, cutting in towards the beast's flank. Dan Heng charged forward at nearly the same time, the tip of his spear tracing a silver arc through the air as he circled around to the Doomsday Beast's rear.
With the two of them joining the fray, Caelus immediately felt the pressure ease. In his vision, the Doomsday Beast's health bar began to shrink at a visible rate, red chunks dropping off one after another. The speed was more than double what it was before.
The fight was much easier for Himeko and Dan Heng, too. The Doomsday Beast was completely ignoring them!
Even when Dan Heng attacked it from behind, the beast didn't even bother to turn its head. It remained entirely focused on pummeling the one person in front of it: Caelus.
Before long, the Doomsday Beast let out a pained howl. The antimatter core in its chest began to glow, the light expanding rapidly. In just a second or two, the brightness intensified to a point that was almost blinding.
It was obvious. It was going to self-destruct and take Caelus with it.
Just as Himeko was about to yell for everyone to fall back, Caelus did the opposite. He charged forward, lifted his baseball bat, and brought it down with one final, vicious swing on the beast's chest.
As Caelus's bat slammed into the beast's core, its body froze. The massive frame trembled once, then fell lifelessly onto the platform. The light from the antimatter core gradually faded until it was extinguished completely.
With the Doomsday Beast well and truly dead, a massive shower of experience orbs seeped out from its body. Caelus took a step forward and absorbed the rain-like shower of orbs into himself.
Himeko and Dan Heng, standing on the other side, noticed the strange green points of light. But before they had a chance to inspect what the substance was, it had all been absorbed by Caelus.
Himeko temporarily suppressed her curiosity about the experience orbs and walked over to Caelus, looking him over carefully. She was amazed to find that he was not only uninjured, but his clothes were still perfectly neat. The battle might as well have been a simple stroll for him.
"Caelus, are you really not hurt?" Himeko asked, finding it hard to believe.
Caelus chuckled and nodded. "Thanks to March 7th. Otherwise, I was prepared to dig a pit and go for its feet."
Go for its feet?
Himeko turned the strange phrase over in her mind but couldn't make sense of the tactic. She decided to shelve the question for now, but the doubt in her heart remained.
Even with March 7th's blessing, it shouldn't be possible to achieve complete immunity to damage, right?
Himeko and Dan Heng were familiar with March's abilities. Her blessing could indeed make its target much more durable, but its essence was to enhance their ability to take damage, not to make them truly invincible. They had both experienced its effects personally; it was very good, but not so good that one could stand in front of a Doomsday Beast, take its attacks head-on, and emerge completely unscathed.
The two of them turned in unison to look at March 7th.
They had been about to ask if she had recently gotten stronger, but the words died on their lips the moment their eyes landed on her.
March 7th was staggering towards them, her steps unsteady. The color had drained from her face, leaving it deathly pale. Her body swayed once, then twice, looking as if she might collapse at any moment.
"March!"
Himeko rushed forward and caught March by the arm, letting her lean against her for support.
Once she was steady, March 7th didn't look at Himeko. Instead, she turned her head toward Caelus, her pink-and-blue eyes filled with resentment.
"I was almost drained dry by you!"
Her voice trembled with exhaustion. Her original intention had been to make the fight a little easier for Caelus. She never expected that the moment this guy got her buff, he would instantly turn into a berserker. He had been willing to parry an attack or two before, but after her buff, he didn't even bother to block anymore, choosing instead to trade damage for damage directly with the Doomsday Beast!
She had panicked at the time, spamming her buff on Caelus, terrified that if she were even a second too late, he would be flattened into a two-dimensional pancake.
Caelus scratched the back of his head, a slightly sheepish smile on his face.
He had gotten a bit carried away. But he couldn't help it. With the thick layer of temporary health from March 7th as a safety net, the feeling of standing his ground and trading blows with the Doomsday Beast was simply too exhilarating. There was no need to dodge, no need to think, just pure, unadulterated smashing—that kind of primal thrill was impossible to stop.
He looked at the pale-faced, resentful March 7th before him. She was clearly exhausted to the point of collapse, yet her cheeks were still puffed out as she scolded him.
And at that moment, Caelus's train of thought took a strange turn.
He looked at March 7th, and the more he looked, the more he liked what he saw.
A walking, talking Enchanted Golden Apple. One that even came with an auto-feed MOD. Throughout the entire fight, he never had to manually use a single recovery item. The moment his status showed any sign of weakening, March 7th would instantly replenish it. Fully automatic, zero lag.
You have to remember, before the addition of mods, Enchanted Golden Apples had no crafting recipe. You got one less every time you used one, and whether you could even find one in a loot chest was a whole other problem!
"Miss March 7th," Caelus said suddenly, his tone exceptionally serious.
"Just call me March," she corrected him, before looking at him with confusion. "What do you want?"
"I have a presumptuous request."
"What kind of presumptuous request?"
"Join my team for a lifetime!"
March 7th's expression froze.
"???"