The rift in the sky was like a festering wound, with wildly proliferating flesh and veins coalescing into a colossal, grotesque, yet vaguely humanoid outline.
It was not a concrete biological form, but rather a rough amalgamation of concepts like 'female,' 'nurturing,' 'decay,' and 'plunder,' imbued with the volume of a mountain range and suffocating malice.
Its face had no distinct features, only constantly writhing, opening, and closing hollows, and occasional flashes of dark red light, like an abyss.
Its arrival seemed to freeze time itself.
The Korya survivors couldn't even let out screams of fear, only trembling like insects pinned to the ground, their consciousness almost crushed by the sheer pressure of its existence.
Even Mark was momentarily stunned by this unprecedented embodiment of evil, his brain experiencing a brief pause as it processed the terrifying information at high speed.
It was this momentary pause that caused the optimal window to prevent its full descent to be missed.
The flesh avatar slightly lowered its head, its gaze sweeping over the ravaged land and the tiny beings upon it, finally locking onto the sole figure below that was still standing and contained a power that even it found slightly surprising.
A voice, a mixture of billions of roars and whispers, yet strangely clear, resonated directly in the deepest consciousness of Mark and all Koryans, carrying a sense of lazy and aloof scrutiny.
"Oh? An… unexpected little pebble."
"Such dimensional brute force in a fragile shell?"
"Interesting… truly interesting."
The voice seemed to be savoring something.
"Did it escape from that idiot Taviel's toy city, or is it a block of erroneous information accidentally pieced together by Yog-Sothoth's endlessly foolish avatars? Doesn't seem like it…"
The avatar moved slightly, as if shrugging, but this simple action caused the sky to warp and the atmosphere to groan in agony.
"Never mind, it's just another unstable factor; eliminate it."
Its tone was dismissive, like deciding to swat a fly.
"How boring, one after another awakening, yet only thinking of playing those meaningless games… devouring, dominating, all too inefficient, too uninteresting."
"Only by freeing more of our brethren from their eternal prison, and allowing this decaying universe to embrace a pure reboot in complete annihilation, is the only salvation."
Mark's heart sank sharply!
Although the opponent's words were chaotic and arrogant, the information content was immense!
It claimed to be awakening, and mentioned freeing its brethren and rebooting the universe. The Great Old Ones' goal was far from simple devouring and destruction; they intended to unseal their entire race and reset everything that currently existed!
And the one before him was merely an avatar!
Its power… Mark's superhuman perception was screaming warnings; though far from the unimaginable vastness of its true form, it absolutely surpassed any previous enemy!
This was a truly cosmic-level clash of powers!
"So, little pebble."
The avatar's voice took on a hint of playfulness, and its massive, temporarily coalesced flesh arm slowly rose, pointing at Mark.
"Will you shatter yourself, or shall I… put in a little effort to crush you… and the little bugs on this planet, together into fertilizer for new life?"
Its extreme disregard for life, that dismissive attitude of viewing an entire civilization as fertilizer, instantly ignited all the pent-up fury in Mark's chest!
"Fertilizer?!"
Mark's voice boomed like rolling thunder, overpowering the sky's strange noises.
He no longer needed words; all answers, all anger, would be expressed in the most direct way possible!
"Bang!"
The ground beneath his feet couldn't withstand the sudden burst of recoil, instantly collapsing into a giant crater over a hundred meters in diameter!
And Mark's figure had already vanished from his spot!
The next instant, he appeared in front of the giant avatar's face.
His entire body's muscles tightened like dragons, every fiber erupting with star-shattering power. A simple, direct right cross, imbued with his full strength, tore through the air, carrying terrifying kinetic energy capable of smashing through continental plates, and slammed into the writhing flesh!
The third Great Old Ones avatar seemed slightly surprised that this 'bug' dared to attack, but its reaction was incredibly fast!
The raised arm moved back to defend with an eerie speed that defied the laws of physics. A massive hand, temporarily pieced together from decaying flesh and pale bones, suddenly opened and blocked Mark's incoming fist!
"Boom!!!!!!!!"
It wasn't an explosion, but a dull, terrifying roar generated by the collision of two ultimate forces!
The sound transformed into a tangible shockwave that spread wildly in a ring. Within tens of kilometers below, whether it was the remnants of buildings, the fungal growth left by the Great Old Ones, or rugged mountains, all collapsed, shattered, and turned to dust like building blocks struck by an invisible giant hammer!
Mark's fist was deeply embedded in the flesh of the giant palm, feeling not softness, but a terrifying toughness comparable to the density of a neutron star!
And the Great Old Ones avatar's arm was also momentarily pushed back by this infinitely powerful punch. The flesh in the palm area clearly showed a huge indentation and spiderweb-like lacerations, and dark red, foul-smelling blood poured down like a waterfall!
"Tsk… quite a bit of brute force."
The avatar's voice carried a hint of imperceptible gravity, but more of it was still that condescending evaluation.
"Too bad, it's crude."
Before its words finished, its injured hand suddenly closed, attempting to clench Mark in its grasp!
Mark reacted with lightning speed, using his extreme strength to forcefully propel himself backward an instant before being closed in, his body darting back as if teleporting, narrowly avoiding the grasp that could crush an asteroid!
But as soon as he landed on a piece of flying mountain rock, the Great Old Ones avatar's other arm swept across like a twisted mountain range!
Its speed was immense, its power fierce, distorting space in ripples wherever it passed!
Mark's pupils contracted. He didn't dodge, crossing his arms to brace himself!
"Boom!!!"
He was like a pebble struck head-on by a full-speed interstellar battleship, his entire being instantly turning into a straight golden streak and being smashed away!
He consecutively crashed through three distant majestic mountain ranges, the mountains easily sliced open and collapsed like butter, stirring up a sky full of dust!
Yet before the dust settled, Mark's figure burst out from the collapsed mountains like a cannonball again!
He was covered in dust and rubble, but his body remained unharmed, with only minor abrasions on the arm guards of his battle suit!
His eyes grew sharper, his fighting spirit burned even fiercer!
"Is that all the strength you have?!"
He roared, charging forward again!
The Great Old Ones avatar let out a hiss mixed with annoyance and interest, its massive body moving to meet him!
The true fierce battle erupted completely!
The two instantly became entangled, moving so fast that the Koryans could only see two streaks of light wildly colliding, separating, and colliding again!
Every clash unleashed world-shattering shockwaves!
They fought from the shattered plains to the continuous mountain ranges, from the mountains to the sky, and from the sky to the ocean.
Mark's punch sent the avatar stumbling, its back colliding with a ten-thousand-meter peak, which instantly fractured, collapsed, and turned into countless rolling boulders!
The avatar backhanded, its giant palm scraping across the earth, leaving a bottomless, hundreds-of-kilometers-long grand canyon from which magma erupted!
Mark grabbed one of the avatar's twisted horns, his muscles bulging to their limit, and with a roar, he swung its massive body, like wielding a giant hammer, slamming it into the ground!
The avatar forcibly twisted its body in mid-air, kicking Mark in the chest. The two separated like two meteors, then instantly collided again!
The air pressure generated by the impact completely tore apart the clouds, even briefly revealing the starry sky!
Mark was smashed into the deep sea, the instantly evaporated bubbles resembling an underwater volcanic eruption. He stomped on the seabed, triggering a super tsunami that swept across the entire oceanic plate.
He shot up against the current, punching the pursuing avatar's chin upwards, the force of his punch splitting the sea in two, revealing a deep trench!
The avatar roared, countless tentacles erupting from the sea, coiling around Mark, but he used his hand as a blade, severing them all like a hot knife through butter!
This was the most primal, most barbaric, and most awe-inspiring clash of power!
Fist against fist! Foot against foot!
Every collision was solid, producing dull thuds that made heaven and earth pale!
No energy blasts, no magical illusions, only the purest display of force!
Every punch from Mark contained the power to shatter continents, while every counterattack from the Great Old Ones avatar carried the heavy and eerie force of warped space.
The earth beneath their feet continuously shattered and collapsed like fragile eggshells, the oceans were churned upside down by the aftermath of their battle, and the sky was filled with vacuum cracks and ionization trails generated by high-speed movement and power collisions!
The survivors of Korya had long since fled to the furthest possible observation points. They could not participate, nor could they even comprehend, this level of battle.
They could only kneel on the ground, gazing at the distant scene of destruction, like a reappearance of the mythical era, praying that the figure would ultimately triumph.
Every time a huge impact sound echoed, and the earth trembled violently in response, their hearts almost leaped out of their chests.
Mark had pushed his power to the limit!
His speed was faster, his strength greater, his reactions sharper. He could feel that this avatar's power level was indeed extremely high, almost on par with his own, and even more strangely difficult in some aspects.
But it was not invincible!
Its movements still seemed to carry a hint of sluggishness from its recent awakening, and its command of this immense power was not as fluid as Mark's.
"…Troublesome indeed!"
A thought flashed through Mark's mind, but his offensive grew even more ferocious!
He had to win!
Here, on this ravaged planet, he would defeat this so-called Great Old Ones avatar!
He dodged a space-tearing claw attack from the avatar, his body clinging to its chest like a fish, his fists like pile drivers wildly hammering the same spot at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye!
"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"
Like striking a giant, decaying war drum!
The Great Old Ones avatar let out a painful hiss, the flesh on its chest rapidly caving in, shattering, and splattering!
It suddenly opened its massive mouth, not in a roar, but in a silent, soul-rotting shriek!
Mark's movements suddenly paused, feeling as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer, his consciousness momentarily blurring.
It was in this momentary vulnerability!
The Great Old Ones avatar's massive bony tail-stinger, which had been lurking in the shadows beneath its body like a scorpion's tail, suddenly shot out with a speed beyond thought!
The tip gleamed with a dark luster that could annihilate all material structures, stabbing directly at Mark's heart!
A fatal sense of crisis instantly tensed Mark's nerves to the extreme. In the nick of time, he forcibly twisted his body!
"Rip!"
The bony tail-stinger missed his heart, but still grazed his ribs!
The tough battle suit and skin, strong enough to withstand planetary impacts, were torn like paper, revealing a bone-deep wound. Fresh red blood, for the first time, spilled onto this ravaged land!
Mark grunted, but the golden flames in his eyes burned even more furiously!
Being injured had completely ignited his ferocity!
"Break!"
He let out a sky-shattering roar, ignoring his wound, and violently grabbed the bony tail-stinger before it could retract!
His entire body's power erupted like a volcano, his knotted muscles swelled again, and his arms exerted a heaven-rending, earth-splitting force! He snapped it sharply!
"Crack!!!!!!!!"
A crisp, yet sky-shattering, snapping sound rang out!
That incredibly hard, terrifying tail-stinger, capable of piercing a star's core, was actually broken off by Mark with pure brute force!
Dark red, highly corrosive blood gushed from the break!
The Great Old Ones avatar let out the most piercing, most painful shriek since its arrival, its massive body writhing wildly in agony, making heaven and earth grow even paler!
Mark held the still-writhing giant tail-stinger like a fearsome war spear, his molten-gold pupils locked onto the Great Old Ones avatar, which was temporarily out of control due to extreme pain, his fighting spirit reaching its peak!
The battle entered an even more brutal phase!
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