Unrivaled in another world

[: 3rd POV :]

[: Congratulations. The Host's Level Limit has increased from 100 to 200. :]

[: As the Host has ranked up from E to D, all EXP gained from Rank D monsters will now decrease by 10 times. :]

Daniel blinked at the message, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Decrease, huh?" he murmured. "Well… I guess it makes sense."

He stood in silence for a moment longer, the fading glow of the White Mana Vein casting soft reflections against his skin.

The cold shimmer of it, the quiet energy still pulsing below the earth, felt like a farewell.

He placed a hand gently on the vein again, not to absorb, but to thank it.

"Thanks," he whispered under his breath. "You helped me take the next step."

"And now, it's time to move."

Without hesitation, he summoned the power of his gaze once more.

[: Eyes of Calamity: Far Sight + Status View :]

His vision widened—his perception shattered boundaries once again, soaring across the vast expanse of the Forbidden Continent.

He saw hundreds of nests nestled within jagged cliffs and poisoned valleys.

Plains stretching far and wide, stalked by monsters of every shape—beasts wreathed in shadow, fur, or flame.

Their numbers were countless, their bloodlust palpable even from afar.

But it wasn't just rage or hunger—it was the ecosystem of a world ruled by chaos.

An ecosystem, Daniel had been thrown into.

Then, his gaze shifted to lands that twisted the imagination.

A corrupted wasteland, dark and trembling, where the very ground festered and pulsed like a diseased heart.

A frozen world, silent and deadly, home to towering beasts carved from living ice and armored in eternal frost.

An ocean of black water, so vast and still, yet teeming with nightmarish leviathans whose eyes alone could fill entire horizons.

He saw creatures whose very presence defied logic—SS-Rank… no, SSS-Rank…

Some of their levels soared into the thousands.

Their auras distorted the land itself.

Even Daniel, with all his confidence and power, exhaled slowly.

"…It's terrifying," he admitted. "To think… that in this one continent, there could be trillions of monsters."

He didn't say it in fear but in awe.

Then, his expression changed with his fist tightening and gaze sharpening.

"I don't know how many I can kill in a day…" he whispered, "but I will get out of here. Even if it takes all five years."

There was no hesitation and no uncertainty.

For someone else, this would've sounded like madness.

A delusion.

But Daniel… was something else.

He was a walking anomaly and calamity shaped by suffering.

Maybe it was the trauma of what he had been through that had shaped what he was. 

"Eyes of Calamity… let's keep going," he murmured.

Far Sight and Status View surged again, overlapping. Layers of reality peeled back.

Then...he saw it.

It was a towering and overgrown forest that was cloaked in green mist.

Normally, one would associate nature with peace, but it wasn't peaceful.

It was alive with motion—tens of thousands of signatures.

The forest trembled, not with wind, but the weight of predators.

It was inhabited by creatures known as…

[Verdant Maw Striders]

- Rank: D

- Level Range: 110-180

- Trait: Regenerative Core (Rapidly heals unless hit by elemental weakness)

- Bloodline: Lesser World Vinebeast

- Innate: Verdant Entanglement (Roots erupt from the ground to ensnare prey and drain life)

Daniel's lips curved into a grin.

"Guess the forest wants to play."

[: Void Step :]

And with a single step, he vanished—his next hunt already in motion.

The moment Daniel appeared within the heart of the Verdant Wastes—where trees towered like ancient titans and moss blanketed the earth like velvet—the monsters felt it.

A presence that didn't belong.

A ripple in the balance.

They emerged, crawling from vines, descending from trees, rising from the very earth like guardians of a sacred land.

The Verdant Maw Striders surrounded him, and there were roughly 150 of them.

Their moss-covered bodies undulating, bristling with thorned tendrils and glowing green maws.

Their eyes filled with emerald rage.

From all directions, they closed in, with the ground trembled with each step.

One, larger than the rest—its form cloaked in twisting vines that pulsed with green mana—hissed.

"An intruder… dares to enter the Grove?"

Another hissed in response, its voice more like a breath carried through dead leaves.

"He doesn't belong here!"

The first Strider screeched—an ear-piercing cry that sent tremors through the roots beneath.

And then came chaos.

All of a sudden, vines erupted from the ground where massive trees bent forward, hurling spears of bark.

Rocks rose from the soil, moulded by Earth magic into jagged lances.

Thorns the size of swords flew like arrows, cutting through the air.

A tidal wave of elemental wrath surged toward Daniel.

But he didn't move.

He was calm, unbothered and unfazed. 

[: Void Matter :]

The world seemed to still as every attack, every vine, spear, and stone had passed through him.

There was no resistance and no impact.

It was thought that if he wasn't there.

Watching their attacks pass through, it left the Striders in confusion.

"What… was that?"

"Did we miss?"

But they didn't stop attacking Daniel. 

Instead, dozens of roots coiled together into a massive tree fist and slammed into Daniel.

It passed through and was harmless.

"He's not... real?" one whispered.

"No… he *is.* But we can't touch him."

They roared and launched more.

Again and again, wood, earth, and thorn met only air.

Daniel's eyes opened slowly.

"...Are you done?" He said calmly yet with a hint of coldness. 

With his patience meeting its end, he lifted his hand.

And with it, the sky began to dim. 

[: Void Singularity :]

From his palm, a black orb emerged, and it was tiny at first.

A single pinprick of shadow, like a dying star.

Then it pulsed.

A low hum vibrated through the forest as the orb slowly floated into the air, growing larger and hungrier.

Wind spiralled around it, and the roots were pulled toward it.

Even their attacks were absorbed by it as the orb consumed everything. 

Even their passive effects, the Striders' regenerative auras, their camouflage, and their root-sensing instincts were devoured.

The ground itself began to twist toward the black mass like gravity was losing its mind.

"This… this is not of this world!" one shrieked in fear.

Another turned to flee—only to be caught in the pull and shredded into nothing.

The Striders panicked, but it was too late.

However, Daniel didn't stop; instead, his hand rose again. 

And then he clenched his fist.

[: Void Erasure :]

Far above, space had torn.

There was a silent hole opened in the sky, and from it, something had fallen.

It was, after all, a void of a meteor. 

A pulsing sphere of condensed oblivion, blacker than black, trailing streaks of violet and anti-light.

As the monsters looked up, they froze in dread.

And then it hit.

BOOM

Everything the meteor touched, earth, tree, root, Strider was erased.

It was simply... gone like they had never existed.

Eventually, when the light cleared, there was no forest.

Only a gaping crater with faint motes of Void essence swirling in the wind.

He had killed 150 monsters, but just as Daniel turned away, the air stilled unnaturally.

RUMBLE

The ground shook, deep and thunderous like the heartbeat of something primordial.

Cracks webbed beneath Daniel's feet, pulsing with golden-green light.

Trees bowed, and vines slithered back into the soil like servants awaiting their king.

From the centre of the forest, the earth erupted.

Roots—thicker than ancient pillars—burst upward, coiling and spiralling as if to make room for something… vast.

And then it rose.

A massive, towering figure—easily twenty meters tall—with a body of bark so ancient it had turned a deep, obsidian green.

Gilded vines adorned its limbs like royal chains.

Its face was gnarled, formed by roots twisted into the semblance of a grim, ancient visage.

Eyes like molten gold snapped open, burning with fury and wisdom.

[: Ancient Verdant Maw Strider — Level 200 :]

"You…" the creature growled, its voice layered with centuries of memory.

"You kill the children of my soil… and walk unpunished?"

Daniel's expression remained unchanged.

"Just doing a little clearing," he said coolly.

"You didn't mind, did you?"

The monster snarled.

"Insolent mortal. I am older than the forests of this continent. I am a seed of the Earth."

From its shoulders, golden vines uncoiled, tipped with gleaming thorns, humming with raw natural energy.

"And you are nothing but rot in my garden!"

With a thunderous crack, the vines lashed forward, moving faster than most eyes could follow, cutting through air and stone like divine whips.

[: Void Step :]

In a flicker, Daniel vanished.

The golden vines slammed into where he stood, but struck only air and fractured stone.

High above, Daniel appeared mid-leap, hair and coat whipping through the wind.

He glanced back, and his eyes narrowed.

The golden vines had changed direction, following him.

They were sentient and Relentless.

"Oh? You track."

Daniel flipped backwards midair and thrust his palm forward.

[: Void Singularity :]

A single black orb burst to life, hanging in the air like a dying star.

WHOOOOOM

The golden vines twisted toward it, but the moment they touched the void sphere, they began to wither and collapse into themselves.

The ancient essence was being sucked in, eaten alive by the nothingness.

The Ancient Strider paused, vines halting as it observed its golden weapons—centuries old—vanish into dust.

"Impossible…" it muttered, voice lower now. "No attack touches you. And those that do—are unmade."

Daniel landed softly on a broken branch, staring calmly at the beast.

"You're starting to get it," he said. Then, lifting his hand—

[: Conqueror of Authority: Air Element Manipulation :]

The skies howled.

Air twisted violently around Daniel's form, forming into spears of compressed atmosphere—hundreds of them, sharpened to a molecular edge.

With a snap of his fingers—

SHHHHHK

The air spears rained down like divine punishment, tearing through the Ancient Strider's wooden armour.

It exploded and erupted on impact.

The colossus howled inagonyy but the pain didn't last long.

Roots burst from the ground and wrapped around its wounds, glowing with vibrant energy. 

"Regeneration." Daniel's eyes narrowed.

The Ancient Strider exhaled heavily, its massive form shifting.

"You are no mere human. I see it now… You are a calamity given form." The monster declared with a sense of urgency, and it decided to use a skill where the wind around it twisted. 

[: Bloodline Transformation: Verdant Titan of Renewal :]

The monster's body cracked open like a seed.

Golden sap spilt as new bark hardened over its limbs—no longer dark and withered, but luminous, with veins of green crystal and bark etched in sacred sigils.

Its arms now ended in branch-blades, each layered with interwoven vines burning with golden flame.

Its back sprouted six vine wings, fluttering and humming like sacred leaves.

From its chest emerged a glowing Verdant Core, pulsating with pure Earth mana.

[: Root Rebirth: Instantly regrows lost limbs or sections by sacrificing ambient life energy :]

[: Thorn Cataclysm: Launches hundreds of explosive golden thorns across a wide area :]

[: Eternal Grove Domain: Creates a temporary field where all enemies suffer reduced healing, and regeneration is increased for allies, strength will be amplified, and all enemies were cursed with withering life force and slow decay.:]

[: Verdant Wrath: Every second, gains stacking power the longer the battle lasts :]

Life bent toward the Verdant Titan like it had returned to its god.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Daniel observed calmly, his lips sporting a faint smirk.