Destroyer

Adam's heart sped up, adrenaline flooding through him while his breathing slowly came back to normal.

'Are you okay?' Silvana asked, trying to remain calm.

Adam glanced at the few scratches on his legs and arms before nodding.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to be in that situation again." Adam nodded.

'Stone Goliaths can only perform this attack once every few minutes. You and everyone else are safe for the moment, but you need to kill them as soon as possible!'

Adam nodded and rushed forward without further ado.

Aron, Cody, and Layla did the same. Together, they could quickly kill one or two Stone Goliaths and then proceed to the next one.

One by one, the Stone Goliaths fell to the ground, without their cannons, they weren't as formidable. Their strikes were powerful but slow, it wasn't difficult for the Phantoms to dodge.

"Alright! There's still a little more to go!" Cody exclaimed joyfully. 

Over the next few minutes, the Rust Squad dealt with most of the Stone Goliaths. With the help of Felix and Verna, Adam killed another one.

"Hahaha, look! More help is coming!" Aron pointed to the east.

More than ten trucks were moving from that direction. It was a squad, with a significant number of Phantoms.

Adam smiled relaxedly.

'There are only four Stone Goliaths left... When that squad gets here, it will be over. Hah, the first mission was harder than I thought.'

Adam swung the needle, choosing his next target, he wasn't going to relax just because help was approaching them. He had to make the most of it. 

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Suddenly the ground shook as the sand in the distance began to rise upwards, as if a mountain was coming out of the earth.

A huge creature over ten meters tall and the size of an entire mansion rose up. It seemed to be a Stone Goliath, but it was much larger, with a frightening aura and seemingly unbreakable armor.

Magma flowed from its two cannons, seeping into the grooves in its armor and back into a body that looked as if it had emerged from the mouth of a volcano.

As soon as Silvana saw this monster she immediately exclaimed.

'Adam! It's Prime Stone Goliath! Green Threat Level, Red Book!'

A chill ran down Adam's back. The waves of goosebumps did not want to let him go. The realization of how strong the enemy in front of him was affected him.

Four-Legged Living String was also a monster of the Green Threat Level, Red Book. However, it took him 74 attempts to win, and after 70 attempts, he already knew everything about the monster, its every move and attack.

The regular Stone Goliath was stronger than Living String, so the same was true for Prime One. Moreover, in the virtual zone, Adam was just fighting a rare subspecies of the Living String, not the Prime version.

'Damn, there's no way I can handle him alone, but there's a lot of us, right?' Adam pondered as he looked away.

Before the trucks stopped, the Phantoms climbed on top of them and attacked with everything they had. Multiple projectiles, lightning bolts, and fireballs destroyed the Stone Goliath's armor.

Then, the Rust Squad entered the battle, dealing with the last of the Stone Goliaths with the help of the other squad's fire support.

Adam smiled.

He was impressed by what the Phantoms could achieve working together.

'Yeah, even armored giants won't be a problem for us. We just need a little caution, and that's it.' Adam mused while the squad approached them.

'DODGE!!!'

Silvana's voice broke like a clap of thunder in his ear. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw something red and bright, but extremely hot. It seemed as if the sun itself was coming at him.

Without hesitation, Adam jumped backward, rolling down the deserted slope.

He lifted his head only to see a huge magma blob flying above him, going somewhere far away.

Then, Adam saw another flash that, like a meteor falling from the heavens, rained down on the rushing squad.

Before the Phantoms could do anything, the magma clot reached the ground, exploding and unleashing its full power outward.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The ground shuddered as streams of sand rushed upward like tsunami waves. Everything within a radius of hundreds of meters was destroyed. The sand turned to scorched earth, covered in glowing embers and corpses falling to ash.

Adam's heart began to beat faster, and a slight panic gripped him.

He had seen many dead monsters, many people had died before him already, especially from Prime Lizard, but it wasn't like this... it was different then. He was surrounded by experienced Phantoms from Fire Fox Squad, and a warplane was rushing to their aid, but now he was almost alone.

'In one attack it wiped out an entire squad... No fucking way...' Adam muttered inwardly, while his fingertips trembled.

Cody, Aron, and Layla were in about the same state, however, this was far from their first mission, and they realized that they had to act.

"Let's go! Even if it's Prime One, it should be a while before the next shot is fired!" Aron exclaimed, giving orders.

Layla nodded, creating a flaming bow, being ready to launch a fiery arrow at a seemingly invincible opponent.

"Agh...?" Layla's eyes went wide when Prime Stone Goliath bent down and picked up a huge boulder from the ground, clutching it between its hands and turning it into rocks.

"No..." Aron muttered in a disbelief.

Cody stood in front of them, creating an ice barrier when Prime Stone Goliath bent back hard and threw the rocks at them with all its might.

With a whistle of wind, the rocks broke through the ice, making fist-sized holes in the remaining members of the Rust Squad. Some were left headless, while others were torn apart, becoming chunks of flesh.

"Adam! Look out!" Felix shouted as the rocks headed towards Adam.

Whoooooooooooooooooooosh.

Rocks whizzed by him, leaving streaks in the sand and miraculously not hitting him. One of the rocks hit their truck, splitting it in two, leaving it completely unusable.

Felix and Verna jumped aside at the last moment, pinning their heads to the ground and hiding behind the sand hill.

'ADAM!!!' One of Silvana's many screams finally reached his mind, bringing him out of his stasis.

"I... I'm here!" Adam hastily replied.

'Run! There's no way you can handle Prime Stone Goliath. I've already reported it to the defense department! In ten minutes, help will arrive here!' Silvana quickly said.

"Ten minutes...? I... I'll try to hold out!" Adam uttered before running in the opposite direction of Felix and Verna. However, he couldn't believe his words.

'Running away from that monster?! THIS IS FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!' Adam internally exclaimed, glaring at the Prime Stone Goliath, who was breaking another stone, turning it into rocks.

'Run... I have to just run... Otherwise, I'll end up like them!'

Adam looked at the scorched earth and the Rust Squad, or rather, what was left of them - just soulless corpses.

He was pushing himself to the limit, his legs were already aching, but he had hope that with each step, his chances of survival were increasing.

Then, Prime Stone Goliath bent down again, about to throw the stones. Adam saw every movement of the monster, and then something changed in his gaze, for he realized that here it was - death. 

'Run? Hahahahahahahahaha! You know it's impossible!'

Suddenly, Adam heard a voice, and the world seemed to stop, everything slowed down a dozen times.

The unknown voice seemed to come from the depths of his being as if his genes and DNA were transmitting its intentions directly into his mind.

'Fight! Just like you did earlier! Just as you will do now!' A thunderous roar, like a call that could inspire an army, traveled through his entire body, reaching even the farthest corners.

Then, Adam's Evolution Tree shuddered, as his Initial Gene and False Orb sparked like a cascade of lightning.

Adam's eyes filled with blood, his veins swelled, and electric shocks ran through his pupils when the rocks were already in front of him.