BANG!
The rat's claw struck Carlos, but the boy used his small body to dodge the sharp parts of the claw.
He was only hit, not pierced. As a result, his body was flung high into the air.
Observing this, Liam thought, This rat can turn its body into shadow, making it untouchable. But when it attacks, it needs to return to its physical form.
It wasn't hard to conclude, as the changes between its shadow and physical forms were quite clear.
While in shadow form, it was nearly impossible to attack it, although Liam believed there might be ways — either by attacking its shadow directly or using light, the greatest weakness of shadows.
As Carlos was flung into the air, the rat lunged at him again, returning to its shadow form, but this time its mouth opened wide, clearly ready to swallow him whole.
It would naturally return to its physical form once Carlos entered its mouth — otherwise, Carlos would simply fall through, as the shadow form had no substance.
"Rat! The man behind you will attack once you swallow me!" Carlos suddenly shouted.
"It doesn't matter, as long as I kill you," the rat replied, surprising Liam.
Carlos's expression darkened upon hearing this, glaring at Liam in frustration, realizing that Liam was trying to take advantage of his predicament.
"If you swallow me, your body will explode. I'll attack you from inside!" he threatened.
"Don't underestimate my body, boy. You will surely die," the rat replied.
At that moment, it reached him and began swallowing him.
At nearly four meters tall, its head and mouth were naturally huge, making it easy to swallow Carlos.
In an instant, the boy was inside its mouth, and the rat immediately shifted back to its physical form.
'This rat is underestimating me,' Liam thought.
Carlos had clearly warned it that he would attack from inside, but it didn't care — likely thinking he couldn't seriously harm it.
'Maybe one attack isn't enough to kill it.'
Liam was well aware that the difference in levels made things difficult.
In terms of defense, monsters were stronger than zombies, which were much easier to kill.
Liam wondered what kind of attack would be truly fatal to the rat.
Perhaps one physical strike combined with sharp attacks from others, he thought.
He wasn't alone, of course.
Alice and Paul were nearby, ready to assist him, but the rat didn't consider them threats since they hadn't shown their power yet.
With their help, a killing blow was possible, but Liam couldn't be certain, as he hadn't yet seen the rat's durability.
In a flash, his hand transformed into a stone dragon hand.
He chose a physical attack, hoping to crush the rat's bones, while the others inflicted additional wounds.
Whoosh!
With a single leap, he landed on the rat's back, along with Alice and Paul.
The rat glanced back, surprised to see the two zombies jumping toward it.
However, its intelligence seemed too low to recognize them as threats. It remained focused on swallowing Carlos completely.
Swallowing Carlos was clearly not easy. The rat struggled, as if trying to swallow a large seed, making it difficult to turn back.
BANG!
Liam's fist struck first, slamming into the center of its back.
The blow was so powerful that the rat's massive body was smashed down into the ground, bending like a plank stomped under heavy force.
Alice landed beside its neck, slashing it open to the throat, revealing Carlos inside.
The boy was shocked to see the rat's throat torn open.
He instinctively jumped into the air, just in time to see Liam and his zombies attacking in unison.
Paul struck last. His four large blood blades slashed at the rat's long but narrow tail.
With four simultaneous strikes, the rat's tail was severed from its body.
Its eyes widened, and sensing danger, it quickly turned back into its shadow form — merging even further into the flooded ground, becoming like a true shadow.
However, its shadow body was now full of gaping tears — the wounds from earlier.
Vital energy seeped out from these tears.
"You damn bastard!" its voice echoed, cursing Liam.
"That's your bad luck," Liam replied calmly.
He had jumped onto a rooftop, and his right hand transformed once more.
This time, he didn't turn it into another dragon hand, but into an angel hand.
He had thought of the strongest light-wielding creature. While there might be light dragons, clearly, angels were superior in terms of light power.
Since his ability wasn't limited to beast hands but could mimic any kind of creature's hand, he tried it — and his right hand transformed completely.
It looked similar to a human hand, but was dazzlingly white — so white that it radiated an intense glare, as though staring directly at a source of light, even though it wasn't actively emitting light.
The fingernails were perfectly clean, with golden lines resembling veins.
Liam was stunned as he examined his new hand.
By channeling Mana into it, he could produce immense light and shape it however he wished.
Light gathered above his palm, growing so bright that it illuminated an area hundreds of meters wide. It was perhaps the brightest light he had ever created — even brighter than a nuclear explosion.
The light formed into a long spear, aimed directly at the rat's shadowy form.
The rat's eyes widened, trembling uncontrollably in fear.
Whoosh!
Liam threw the light spear at it.
They were very close. In an instant, the spear pierced into the shadow body.
Buzz!
The spear exploded, spreading and erasing the darkness.
The rat's shadow body was completely obliterated, even erasing the shadows of everyone nearby.
For a moment, as their shadows vanished, everyone felt as though their very souls had been violently shaken, leaving them disoriented.
'This is definitely the strongest hand I've ever used,' Liam thought.
He realized that the angel hand was at least one tier stronger than any of the dragon hands he had used before.
He couldn't help but wonder if there were other hands as powerful as this angel hand, or whether certain dragon hands might rival it, given that dragons were often regarded as supreme creatures.
However, due to its incredible power, the hand had drained his Mana completely in a single use.
This was clearly a form that consumed massive amounts of Mana.
DING!
(You have killed a Level 6 Boss Monster. You gain 120 Battle Points and 120 System Points!)
(Because you killed a monster two levels above you, you gain an extra 120 Battle Points!)
(Level: 4)
(Battle Points: 410/500)
(System Points: 430)