Maximilian placed the duffle bag on the ground and opened it, revealing several incendiary rocket warheads. He swapped out the HE (High Explosive) rocket previously loaded on the launcher for an incendiary one.
—
As for the Trial Master, Shadow Thief is unaware of Maximilian's actions. That's waiting within his small underground hideout. Since the trial hadn't ended, he assumed Maximilian had survived the first wave of the stampede.
Shadow Thief, who was born in the Wildwalker Enclave but refused to undergo the ceremony to receive the enhanced tattoos, still possessed deep knowledge of the Wildland and the ambush tactics of the Wildwalkers. He was preparing several bait traps and special plants to initiate a second wave of the beast stampede to finish Maximilian off.
He guessed that Maximilian must've hidden in some durable building or gotten out of the way in time. Otherwise, Maximilian wouldn't have survived.
The mutated beasts were ferocious and hard to control. But this time, Shadow Thief planned to unleash the full fury of the forest's mutated wildlife… including its most dangerous creatures. It was a risky move... but a calculated one.
A sudden explosion interrupted him while he prepared the bait, plants, and compounds for the next stampede.
Boom!
Shadow Thief paused. A smirk crept onto his lips.
This guy is an idiot, he thought. Using explosives to randomly blast the forest in hopes of flushing me out? Or maybe trying to clear a path through the traps and poisonous plants I set up.
Whatever the reason, there was no way Maximilian would find him—he was safely hidden underground.
Still smirking, a few more explosions rang out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, the temperature underground began to rise. The smirk vanished from his face.
That bastard is using incendiary explosives!? Is he trying to roast me alive!? Shadow Thief panicked.
But no matter—it was still within his calculations—
!!
In just seconds, the temperature soared to terrifying levels. His skin began to blister as unbearable heat surged around him. The ingredients he had been working with quickly ignited.
"Aaaaaaaaaaargggggghhhh!" Shadow Thief screamed in agony as pain tore through his body from within. His insides were boiling, the searing pain overwhelming... until... darkness mercifully took him, releasing him from the torment.
—
Outside, Maximilian watched as the forest burned.
He had fired four experimental incendiary warheads found in Blood Mongoose's vault at the area where Shadow Thief was hiding.
These experimental warheads were designed specifically to kill large mutated beasts with thick carapaces by cooking their internal organs. The model hadn't yet been approved due to high production costs and the difficulty of mass production… but its effectiveness was unquestionable.
Capable of raising the temperature in the impact zone to over 5,000°C, the warhead released a sticky gel that burned even in oxygen-deprived environments. Once it latched onto a target, the only way to stop the burning was to cut off the affected area. Otherwise, the victim could do nothing but accept their fate... burned or cooked alive.
[Ding! Congratulations, you've passed the first round of the second Trial of the Soul! ヽ(〃＾▽＾〃)ﾉ ]
With the System's congratulation, Maximilian's view shifted from the trial ground back to the real world. The System UI then appeared, displaying the rewards he had earned from the trial.
-The Second Trial of Soul, First Round [Passed] -
Type: Trial by Combat
Trial Master Special Rule: -
Status: First round - Awaiting participant
–Trial Master–
Name: Sean Brown
Villain Name: Shadow Thief
EF (Evolution Factor): Shadow Sphere
Skills/Abilities:
- Security Systems Expertise
- Security System Bypassing Mastery
- Master Lockpicking
- Advanced Hacking Skills
- Mastery in Stealth
- Wildwalker's Wildland Knowledge
- Wildwalker's Bestiary Knowledge
[The reward for passing the first round of the trial will be randomly selected from half of the Trial Master's skills and abilities, rounded down.]
-Reward-
- EF (Evolution Factor): Shadow Sphere
- Security Systems Expertise
- Security System Bypassing Mastery
- Advanced Hacking Skills
With the reward display still on screen, Maximilian suddenly felt a surge of knowledge and experience rush into his mind. The influx and assimilation of the new skills and abilities didn't take long, nor did it cause any strain or discomfort like a headache. The process was smooth and seamless.
All the knowledge on how to infiltrate secure locations and bypass various security systems was now embedded in his mind, as if it had always been there. It felt as though every bit of that experience had been earned by him personally.
The sensations in his hands and the instincts etched into the very fiber of his being were so vivid, it was as if he had bypassed thousands upon thousands of security systems and safes with his own hands.
Greatest Super Villain System
Host Name: Maximilian Sterling Graham
System Level: 2
Energy Needed Till Next Level: 2/10
Accumulated Energy: 0
Villain Score: 0
Full Assimilation
- Blood Mongoose
Skills
- Security Systems Expertise: Familiar with all types of security systems and how to dismantle or disable them.
- Security System Bypassing Mastery: Knowledgeable and experienced in bypassing all kinds of digital security systems (excluding analog security such as traditional mechanical locks).
- Advanced Hacking Skills: Capable of easily hacking UEC-standard network security protocols, but unable to breach high-level security protocols—such as those used in secret lab servers—from the outside.
Abilities
Evolution Factor:
- A&*#@-Error__???
- Frenzy Trance: When injured, the body initiates enhanced regeneration to heal the injury. During this effect, the host experiences intense rage, which increases corresponding to the severity of the injury. While in a rage state, all physical capabilities—such as strength and reflexes—increase to three times their normal levels.
- Shadow Sphere: This ability has two functions:
- Darkness Emission: Emits darkness in a spherical radius of up to 50 meters.
- Dark Shield: Emits darkness in a spherical radius of up to 5 meters, which reduces incoming kinetic force by 25%.
Body/Physique
Peak Human Physique
Cool Down Till Next Trial: 23:58:35
Storage [50x50 cubic meters]
Glasses of Ordinarity x 1All kind of Weapons
Additional Feature
GPS Real-time Map [Detection Range 1000 meters]ShopLoyalty ScanningPower Sharing [25 Villain Points/hour for each ability or 1 Energy block per day]3D Map (Locked)More to come…
Maximilian focused on the new EF ability he had acquired—an ability that appeared to have no drawbacks. He immediately activated it to test it out.
Darkness quickly engulfed his body, obscuring his vision and eliminating all light within the first floor where he stood. At first, he switched to night vision using his visor, but it was useless—he still couldn't see anything. Then he switched to thermal vision, yet it remained pitch black. Finally, he changed to bioelectric vision, and at last, he could see within the darkness.
It seemed the ability emitted perfect darkness that absorbed all light but not electromagnetic fields or ferrous materials. Bioelectric vision was the only effective method for him to see through the darkness produced by this ability.
Still, the advantage of creating perfect darkness was undeniable. It was an ideal tool for stealth operations and would prove useful in many scenarios, especially during nighttime or in low-light environments.
Next, Maximilian tested the second function of the ability and confirmed that it reduced the impact of kinetic force within the darkness. For instance, when a stone was thrown at him or an apple was dropped, the objects visibly slowed upon entering the dark sphere, and the force was clearly diminished.
However, Maximilian knew that a 25% reduction in kinetic force wouldn't be enough against real bullets. Without armor to protect him at the edges of the shield, even with reduced impact, a bullet still carried enough power to kill.
After Maximilian had tested the new ability for an hour to get a feel for it, with growing confidence. He decided to travel to the IHB local branch to retrieve the data he needed.
— City Center – IHB (International Hero Bureau) Local Branch —
On the streets illuminated by neon lights in various shades and styles, people moved back and forth, still energetic from the city's vibrant nightlife.
Under the cover of darkness, Maximilian arrived on the rooftop of the IHB local branch, using the glider built into his cape and the mini jetpack on the back of his power suit for assistance.
Maximilian walked toward the junction box on the rooftop and began hacking into the security system to map out the building's blueprint, uploading the data directly into the suit's memory.
After a few minutes, the blueprint map was successfully memorized into the suit's databank and displayed on the visor UI. He now had a clear layout showing the most likely location of the data server in the local branch.
It was only 8 in the evening. Some officers and employees of the IHB were still moving around, but the crowd wasn't as dense as during office hours. Maximilian also used the system's GPS to track the movement of people inside.
After temporarily disabling the security cameras, he entered the IHB building from the rooftop and cautiously made his way through the corridors toward the main data room.
Several workers and employees passed by, but none of them noticed Maximilian, who was hiding in a dark corner or a nearby blind spot.