Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener

"Being able to withstand three hits from Phantom Purgatory... with my current regeneration speed, that would take about ten seconds. So... is your plan to finish me off within ten seconds?" Sterl said calmly, as though he were greeting an old friend.

Truthfully, he had anticipated such a scenario. After all, in this world, there was no truly invincible ability—at least not one that he had mastered yet. While Soul Prison's Eerie Eyes was indeed powerful, the forces behind these invaders were undoubtedly vast, and finding a countermeasure against Soul Prison's Eerie Eyes wasn't surprising.

However, their intentions made Sterl's heart sink slightly.

Clearly, they aimed to take him down in this narrow window of opportunity. If they succeeded, his Soul Prison's Eerie Eyes ability would be rendered useless, falling apart on its own.

"Though, who gave you the confidence to think you could eliminate me in that time frame, just based on these two weaklings?"

His expression grew colder, his gaze sharpening as he looked at the two mother bodies now in their combat forms.

One of them resembled the mother body from the Thorn Cage Hell—standing at ten meters tall, its massive and powerful frame almost like a finely crafted sculpture. Its entire body was pitch-black, shimmering with a metallic sheen, lacking both facial features and hair. Eight arms extended from its back, resembling a pair of wings made entirely of limbs, radiating a terrifying aura of raw power.

The other, in contrast, appeared much more slender. However, what was particularly unsettling were the extra pair of eyes on its face. These eyes flickered with a faint gray-black light, sending ripples of disorientation through anyone who gazed into them, as if the soul itself was being rattled.

The two mother bodies exuded completely different kinds of pressure. The first one, with its resemblance to the Eight-Armed Demon God, was purely a powerhouse of brute strength, while the other was clearly more attuned to the manipulation of souls.

Seeing this, Sterl's expression grew slightly more serious, though he still wore a look of disdain on the surface.

While the enemies before him appeared formidable, so what? Sterl wasn't someone to be intimidated.

Moreover, his current strength was leagues beyond what it had once been. He feared no opponent. If they wanted to kill him, he would show them who the true victor would be!

At that moment, the souls of the two mother bodies returned to their respective forms. After a brief stillness, they erupted with terrifying energy.

The aura emanating from the two mother bodies had nothing to do with divine authority or divine power. Instead, it was a pure and overwhelming strength, something that radiated sheer might!

Boom!

In the blink of an eye!

The Eight-Armed Demon God suddenly vanished from its original position, and in the same instant, so did Sterl.

Two afterimages flashed by, so fast that they seemed like beams of light, reaching the theoretical limit of speed!

The next moment, the very fabric of space in the center collapsed, and Sterl threw a punch, while the Eight-Armed Demon God-like mother body unleashed eight fists in response.

The two raw forces of strength collided, akin to two continents or two meteorites slamming into one another with immense weight!

There was no sound—every noise was consumed by the overwhelming forces entwined in the collision. All that could be seen was the space collapsing, the land eroded and flattened by the shockwaves, and the remnants of the sky turning to ash in an instant.

The two forces collided wildly, one punch after another.

The Eight-Armed Demon God's body was terrifyingly strong. Each punch that struck Sterl's body left his organs shattered, his muscles liquefied.

But Sterl's horrific regeneration kicked in almost immediately. Just as one wound formed, the next moment, it was healed, and his strength surged like an endless solar force, tirelessly pounding at the mother body.

One second passed, and they had exchanged at least a thousand blows!

The space was in a constant state of destruction and healing, creating an eerie balance. A void appeared in mid-air, one that could not recover, continually devouring the materials of this layer of Hell.

"Annihilation Fist! Get the hell out of my way!" Sterl roared.

With that, the power within his body quickly underwent Fission, and in an instant, Sterl unleashed a punch that sent the Eight-Armed Demon God mother body flying.

This was a smaller version of his Annihilation Realm King's Fist. Its power was far less than the full version, but it surpassed the Iridescent-Level ability Destructive Light. The key difference was that the Annihilation Fist could be activated in an instant without needing prolonged preparation.

Finally, this punch broke through the mother body's defenses. A visible crack appeared on its thick, metallic-like chest.

But what surprised Sterl was that the crack did not heal after it appeared!

"So that's how it is... no wonder this thing is so hard to kill," he muttered to himself.

He took a deep breath. The strength of this mother body was far superior to the one from the sixth layer. The most critical difference was its extraordinary body strength. Despite his own resilience, his body, which was already remarkably tough, felt like soft tofu when compared to it—shattered with a single touch.

If it weren't for his incredible regeneration abilities, he likely would have been shattered long ago.

However, even with that advantage, the mysterious gray energy carried by the mother body was still causing him considerable discomfort, draining a significant amount of his vitality and energy.

Although everything could be restored, Sterl felt something unsettling—his lifespan seemed to have decreased by a small amount, roughly around ten years!

This discovery shocked him to his core. He had initially thought the energy was just incredibly troublesome, but he hadn't expected it to actually devour the lifespan of living beings. That was a level of perversity he hadn't anticipated.

Fortunately, his lifespan was already in a state of abundance, bolstered by the enhancement of his soul power, so a mere ten years meant little to him. But still, the fact that his lifespan had been shortened weighed on his mind.

The cause of all this was clear: not only had the mother body evolved into its battle form, but it had also channeled all of its accumulated energy into strengthening its own physical body.

This had resulted in a terrifyingly high physical strength, as if the body had been compressed and condensed under the immense pressure of the Earth's core.

However, because its physical strength had been pushed to the limit, it no longer had the excess energy to heal its wounds. This meant that once its body was destroyed, the mother body would essentially be finished.

Sterl had intended to press the advantage, continually using his Annihilation Fist to wear it down. However, in an instant, he felt an impending threat.

Without even needing to think, he knew the other mother body was watching him closely, waiting for its opportunity.

At that moment, the second mother body's attack had already been fully charged. He could feel its gaze—those eyes, glowing with a faint gray-black light, locked onto him with unyielding precision. Before Sterl could even make a move to counter, a sudden impact from deep within his soul slammed into him!

Despite his formidable soul strength and massive soul capacity, Sterl couldn't help but feel dizzy. The peak of his soul, which had been transformed into a solid mountain, trembled slightly in response to the impact.

This soul shock was not like the usual soul-based abilities. It was continuous, like a soundwave, building in intensity with every passing moment!

Moreover, wisps of gray energy flowed from the shock, worming their way into his soul, gradually beginning to erode him.

Sterl's heart sank. With his Soul Prison's Eerie Eyes talent, he knew just how difficult it was to defend against soul-related attacks.

When facing the Eight-Armed Demon God-like mother body, he could remain unshaken, but the other mother body, which specialized in soul attacks, instantly made him wary and serious.

He quickly called upon his soul power, attempting to eliminate the gray energy. However, these faint gray wisps proved to be as elusive as maggots, constantly dodging his efforts while attempting to burrow into the mountain that represented the core of his soul.

"Get away from me! Destroy them, all of them!" Sterl growled, his fury rising. He immediately opened the Purgatory Space and released the soul puppets he had stored inside. These soul puppets flooded into his soul and began frantically erasing the gray energy.

Although these gray energies were incredibly powerful, their numbers were too few and too weak. Faced with the self-destructive onslaught of countless soul puppets, they began to burn away at a visibly accelerated pace.

Seeing this, Sterl let out a slight breath of relief. Fortunately, the soul puppets were able to harm these strange energies. Otherwise, it would have been a real problem—he certainly didn't want these things to burrow into his soul.

However, just as he thought the situation was under control, the soul shock suddenly intensified several times over. Even with his soul strength and mental willpower, he was momentarily stunned.

In that fleeting moment, the Eight-Armed Demon God mother body, which Sterl had just sent flying with a punch, rocketed back toward him. Eight massive fists rained down upon him with terrifying speed!

By the time Sterl regained his focus, it was already too late. He suddenly felt as though he had become a lion trapped among a herd of frenzied elephants. Even though he had razor-sharp tusks and claws, he was utterly powerless to fight back, trampled and slammed by the relentless charge of the elephants.

He could only summon every ounce of his strength to protect his head, but in under a second, Sterl was struck at least ten thousand times.

With the eight massive fists landing simultaneously on his body, he felt himself plummeting to the ground like a meteor, smashing into the shattered earth, sending hot magma spewing in all directions.

"Cough… cough…"

Amidst the lava, Sterl couldn't stop himself from coughing, blood pouring from the corners of his mouth.

Now, he was barely recognizable. His body was little more than a pile of wreckage. Aside from his head, which still appeared somewhat intact, his limbs and torso had completely vanished, leaving only a fragment of his spine attached to his head, utterly devoid of any human resemblance.

Such severe injuries would have been the end for even a god.

But despite the devastation, there was no trace of fear on Sterl's face. Instead, he looked pensive, almost regretful.

"How long has it been... since I've taken such a severe beating?" he muttered to himself, a flicker of nostalgia in his eyes. Whether he was mocking himself or reflecting on the past, it was hard to tell.