The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family

The smaller Boulderback Behemoth's collapse sent a tremor through the plains. For a single, breathless second, the battlefield fell silent. The raid members, still airborne on their massive crows, stared down at the fallen giant, a collective sigh of relief caught in their throats because the beast had finally died.

But it didn't last.

The remaining Boulderback Behemoth stood motionless. Its massive head turned toward its fallen sibling. Stone plates ground together, creating a sound like mountains collapsing, like stone grinding.

Then it roared.

A sound ripped through the air, so deep and guttural it made their bones rattle despite them being several hundred meters into the sky. It was a sound that was likely heard across the entire valley, a roar of pure rage.

A notification flashed across every raid member's vision.

—[Twin Boulderback Behemoth has activated Berserk]—

—[All physical damage increased by 100%!]—

"It's going berserk! Be careful!"

The creature's spines flared bright red. Cracks spider-webbed across its stone hide, glowing from within as if molten fury burned beneath the surface. Its movements sped up, each step now explosive rather than ponderous.

But the creature didn't immediately attack; it didn't charge, with the bears still nipping at its heels. It also ignored the circling crows. Instead, it turned to its brother's corpse and lumbered forward with terrible purpose.

It turned and lumbered toward its fallen twin. It stood over the corpse, its massive head bowed for a moment, before it let out another ground-shaking roar.

The giant placed one massive foot on the fallen body. Then another notification appeared.

—[Twin Boulderback Behemoth has activated Molten Fusion]—

"What the—" Reidar started.

—[It's going to absorb its fallen kin to augment mass and power!]—

"It's eating it," a woman from Helga's faction choked out, her face pale.

It was a horrific sight considering they were not only of the same species but also twins. The dead Behemoth's stone hide cracked and crumbled, not into dust, but into a slurry of molten rock and glowing crystal fragments.

This slurry flowed like water, defying gravity as it streamed from the corpse and into the living giant.

The larger Behemoth's body began to swell, its mass visibly increasing. Its stone plates shifted, groaning as new, larger plates formed over them. The crystals on its back and shoulders grew, sharpening into jagged, mountain-like spikes that pulsed with angry red light.

"Stop it!" Aldric shouted. "Don't let it complete it!"

"Fire on it, you fools! Hit it with everything!" Helga roared from her crow.

The raid, recovering from their shock, unleashed another volley. Two hundred Aqua Cannons and Wind Barrages slammed into the transforming monster.

The raid unleashed everything. Wind blades struck the absorbing behemoth. Water cannons blasted its transforming body. Fire erupted across its surface. Lightning crackled through stone.

The attacks landed. They carved gouges. They cracked armor. But the absorption continued.

Then, a shimmering, brown-grey shield of dust and energy had formed around the Behemoth, deflecting the attacks. The spells splashed harmlessly against the barrier, dissipating into steam and light.

The behemoth's body swelled. Five stories became six. Six became seven. Its legs thickened into pillars that could support buildings. Its arms lengthened, each finger now the size of a tree trunk. The crystalline spines doubled in number, sprouting like a forest across its back.

Reidar watched the transformation. <I knew it wasn't going to be easy.> He stared at the shifting mass, a knot of apprehension tightening in his gut.

The absorption lasted thirty seconds. There was nothing the raid could do to bypass that barrier, and when the process ended, a new creature stood before them. It was no longer one of a pair. It was singular. Unified. Monstrous.

—[Merged Boulderback Titan—Level 118]—

"Level one hundred and eighteen…" a survivor said. That thing was almost as strong as Reidar.

The remaining summoned bears charged the new threat. The Merged titan turned, its new, larger eyes fixing on the swarm of bears.

It didn't just fight them. It slaughtered them.

The monster crashed into the line of bears, and the front rank vanished under its feet, crushed into motes of mana without slowing it.

It swung a building-sized arm, and a dozen bears were swatted from the air like insects. It grabbed one of the massive, elephant-sized bears in one hand, its stone fingers closing around the creature's torso. The bear roared and clawed, but the grip was absolute.

With a bellow that shook the plains, the Titan hurled the bear into the sky. The creature weighed over a ton, but the Titan lifted it as easily as a child lifting a toy.

The bear hurtled through the air like a missile. Most of the raid scattered, their crows banking hard. One woman wasn't fast enough.

The bear's corpse smashed directly into her crow. There was a sickening, wet crunch as bird and rider were obliterated. The crow dissolved, and the woman's body plummeted to the earth, limp and broken.

"Woman down!"

Two riders dove in for rescue. Luckily, one of them caught her arm, and they hauled her onto a crow's back just before she hit the ground. But it was too late. The woman was dead before they could take her.

"Higher!" Reidar shouted. "Everyone gain altitude!"

The crows climbed, flapping desperately. It made no difference. The Merged Boulderback Titan ripped an ancient, thirty-foot pine tree from the ground as if it were a weed. It launched the tree like a javelin.

The Titan watched them rise, then returned its attention to the bears still swarming around its feet. It moved with horrifying efficiency.

A sweep of its tail killed twelve bears. A stomp crushed five more. Its hands grabbed and crushed, grabbed and crushed. Within minutes, the eight hundred bears had been reduced to six hundred.

"Concentrate fire!" Reidar ordered. "Hit it with everything!"

The raid obeyed. Spells rained down. Wind. Water. Fire. Lightning. The elemental assault was relentless, but the Titan's regeneration matched it. Cracks sealed. Gouges filled. The creature healed almost as fast as they could damage it.

The bears kept fighting. They climbed the Titan's legs. They bit at joints. They clawed at weak points. But the Merged Boulderback Titan killed them fast. Five hundred bears. Four hundred. Three hundred.