After three weeks of carnage, Kent and his beast companions had managed to kill all the Forbidden Beasts, their bodies stored for later use in creating new undead and upgrading the others.

Aside from that, Kent had also managed to work his way from the 23rd Forbidden Beast he shared destiny with all the way to the top 5.

He had made them all his beast companions, and over 15 of them had already awakened their Innate Bodies and bloodlines, finally becoming True Forbidden Beasts.

Some submitted willingly when Kent and his people arrived in their domains. However, some tried to resist, which ended in a beatdown none of them saw coming.

He now only had five more to go, but from what he had learned about them, he knew it would be a struggle unlike anything he was prepared for.

He had already asked Tower to create detailed profiles on the top 5 Forbidden Beasts based on what the Forbidden Beasts he had subdued knew about them.

The 5th on his list was a monstrous tyrant known as the Flame Warden. He learned that this monster had the highest control over flames in all of the Tormented Layer.

Some even said he had killed a few Gods before, while others claimed he had already stepped into the ranks of the Gods 100,000 years ago.

Kent had no plans to back down, so after forming the contract with the 6th-ranked Forbidden Beast, he left for the domain of the Flame Warden. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He is confident that winning would be easy for him.

The Forbidden Beasts sent from the Chaos Layer had yet to arrive, so he wanted to end this battle before they arrived.

This was so he could have enough time to face them. Aside from that, he now has to wait three more weeks for the Evil Queen to awaken.

Once she returned, he would leave and return to the Star Realm, where he would make his way to Elina’s galaxy.

When Kent and his Forbidden Beasts arrived in the Flame Warden’s domain, they were met with a scorching-hot mountain range filled with lava.

[Master, I can sense a Primordial Flame Source hidden somewhere in this place. We can use it to form the 3rd Flame Core once the third Blood Gate awakens.]

’An added bonus, huh?’

Kent smiled, then amplified his voice and issued a command.

"I know you can sense my arrival, so let’s not make this hard. Come and submit to me, or we will duel it out, and if I defeat you, you will become my subordinate."

He wasn’t even done speaking when the heat surrounding him suddenly intensified.

Those who couldn’t withstand it retreated. However, Kent remained standing, his expression calm as he regarded the monster that had appeared 2 km away.

It was a colossal beast wrapped in black volcanic armour, molten cracks, and burning orange-gold veins. Its body resembled a demonic flame titan with horned shoulders, a crown of ember-like spikes, and eyes like two miniature suns.

Its ragged back constantly released flames that formed wings of fire and smoke. Every step it took turned the ground into black glass.

Kent furrowed his brow upon seeing this.

’Looks like the others didn’t exaggerate when they said it wasn’t a normal monster like the ones I had faced before.’

Kent smirked, then said, "Are you here to surrender, or should we fight it out?"

He wasn’t even done speaking when the giant monster moved and appeared before him, its clawed fist moving toward his chest. Its speed was simply too fast to track easily.

However, after adding over 20 beasts to his legion, Kent had become even stronger than he could comprehend.

He moved his hand forward, and a triangular shield formed from the Chaos Scale Shield manifested before him.

BANG

The clawed fist landed on it. To the Flame Warden’s utter shock, the shield didn’t even budge. Rather, its body was pushed back several hundred meters.

"You will need more than a punch to break my defence, Mr. Flame Warden."

Kent sneered, watching the beast retreat back and regard him for a second before lunging forward again.

This time, as it moved, flames gathered around its clawed fist.

With the Omniscient Jade Eye, Kent saw the force behind the punch, but he knew he had nothing to worry about.

The fist came crashing down, and, just like before, the shield didn’t even budge. It was the same shield that had trembled under Crimson’s sword rain.

Right now, Kent had become several times stronger, to the point that even a punch capable of cracking holes through planets failed to leave a single crack on it.

The Forbidden Beast was stunned, and for a beast with monstrous potential, it felt as though today was the day it would die.

However, Kent spoke, and it realized death wasn’t what this dragon was after.

"Well then, should I beat you up, or will you accept my proposal to become my subordinate? In return, I will turn you into a True Forbidden Beast and awaken your Innate Body and bloodline."

The Flame Warden stood there for a few minutes before nodding.

"I only used 20% of my strength since I had no plans to fight you seriously. None of us did. However, managing to defend against my punch, I have to say, Dragon, you are the first to do that."

Kent smiled and was about to brag when the void shattered in four different places. Through the portals that formed, four deadly beasts appeared, each one exuding so much power that Kent trembled in sheer terror.

’Tower, if I fight all five of them, would I survive?’

[I am not sure. All five of them are among the most terrifying Demigod Beasts I have ever seen. Individually, you can survive against some of them, but together, Master stands no chance, not even with the Soul Universe abilities.]

The Flame Warden spoke.

"We have received a command from our creator to kill you. However, after observing you defy him by slaughtering the other weaklings and making the others your subordinates, and seeing that they had all become more powerful, we five decided to submit rather than continue living as incomplete beings.

But you must understand, when it comes to us Forbidden Beasts, we crave strength, so you must promise not to restrict us. We remained Demigods not because we could not become Gods. We remained this way so we could maximise our potential as Demigods before becoming gods.

Now, with you, we believe we can do that. So we will follow you and hope that following you won’t be boring or a mistake."

Kent smirked.

"Personally, I hate weaklings. They bore me to death. So rest assured, I will make sure you all have more than enough fun. I am from a place where there is always something to kill."

"Then, Dragon, proceed to form the contract with us. The reinforcements will arrive soon, so we should prepare for them."

Kent nodded and proceeded to form the contracts.

While doing so, his gaze never left a purple orb-like beast. It looked round, with no hands or eyes. However, Kent could tell it was the strongest and perhaps the most terrifying beast he would ever meet in this Banished Zone.

He proceeded to form the contracts, and two days later, he finally saw the kind of monsters he now had under his command.

With Yggzrael and the others succeeding in their mission, Kent now had 44 Demigod-level Beasts under his command.

But he planned to add four more: the Abominations.

However, before any of that, he planned to awaken the first Grand Shaman.