Chapter 182: About to Burst from the Tentacles

Whoosh!

The enormously distended void rift trembled incessantly, its purple hue wavering unstably.

A powerful aura gushed outward violently, accompanied by intense magical power. The fierce winds kicked up dust clouds reaching heights of over 120 feet.

The originally gloomy sky now churned with dust storms, making the outside world seem even more oppressive.

The adventurers waiting outside the rift clearly felt the tremendous power emanating from within that purple haze.

They trembled, seemingly still unable to recover from the dragon's overwhelming pressure.

"A... dragon appeared above the Monster Rift?"

"What kind of aura is this!?"

"This is definitely not something humans can fight against! I can't... I can't stay here anymore!"

Their faces were filled with terror as they clutched their cheeks with shaking hands.

Even the blonde warrior who was nearly fourth-tier felt her legs go weak as her worldview nearly collapsed.

She leaned against the rock wall, dragging her weakened body as she tried to leave.

As the storm approached, news of the Monster Rift's anomaly spread throughout Godinlima.

While many adventurers were panic-stricken, they also eagerly prepared themselves.

For these adventurers who lived their lives on the edge, the Rift's unusual activity represented both opportunity and risk.

At the Empire's southern Second Battle Line.

Steel walls towered into the clouds, the black metal forged into an enormous beast crouching on the dust-swept ground.

Behind the beast-like walls, massive artillery pieces were mounted atop black, sharp towers.

They swayed continuously, as if searching for potential threats.

Huge crossbows also lined the walls in a circle, loaded with arrows ready to fire.

Behind the battle line, a massive cannon reaching into the clouds was being loaded with a giant arrow tipped with a sharp head, slowly descending as it aimed forward.

The soldiers inside the city stood at attention, their faces extremely serious.

The Second Battle Line was a crucial component of the Empire's southern defense.

As the main battlefield, it was essential to ensure no monster-related disturbances occurred in the entire southern region.

This was the strongest guarantee for the entire southern battle line.

Crown Prince Albanie Saul stood atop the high tower, wearing golden armor with sharp gleams in his eyes.

Several silver-armored officers surrounded him.

He quietly gazed at the churning Monster Rift in the distance, his brows furrowed.

The sky, covered by dark clouds, now pulsed with thick purple light, undulating like an ocean.

Due to Doragon's intrusion, the Monster Rift had grown enormously large, with intense waves from the abyss continuously spilling outward.

The small garrison troops deployed there had already retreated before danger arrived, relaying all information to the battle lines behind them.

Getting advance notice meant having more time to prepare and ensure security.

However...

The Crown Prince briefly closed his eyes.

Under these terrifying phenomena, it wouldn't be surprising if some world-devouring monster emerged from the Monster Rift.

The Crown Prince descended from the tower, leading his officers to stand before the city gate.

In front of him were tens of thousands of soldiers already deployed in various positions.

They wore armor with long blades at their waists, their eyes showing no fear as they stared intently at the surging purple sky in the distance.

On this yellow earth, those patches of black iron seemed inlaid into the ground, appearing incredibly resolute.

Warrior Corps, Knight Corps, Mage Corps.

Mages were the fewest in number - unless they were high-tier mages, they could only serve as cannon fodder in such battles.

They were responsible for logistics preparation.

Warriors slowly pushed massive artillery carts, moving batches of steel beasts into the ranks.

Those powerful guns charged with various magical powers were mounted on wooden carts, slowly moving forward.

The troops quickly assembled, and an officer behind the Crown Prince saluted him.

"Report, Your Highness! The army has fully assembled, and all weapons are completely ready!"

Hearing his report, the Crown Prince nodded slowly and said:

"This is an anomalous situation, I've already heard about it."

"That monster didn't actually emerge from the Monster Rift."

The Crown Prince had never entered the Monster Rift, but he had some understanding of the abyss.

In the areas that had already been explored, it was impossible for such a powerful monster to exist.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Because the rift itself wasn't worthy.

A being that could ride the wind without wings, with an overwhelming presence that completely crushed fourth-tier monsters.

Moreover, according to the intelligence the Crown Prince had received.

That huge black dragon had appeared in the Far North, completely defeating the Second Prince's army.

That was an army led by a prince.

Yet it couldn't withstand a single strike from that terrifying monster.

In just three days, it had traveled from the Empire's Far North to the South.

This speed of movement... combined with its enormous body.

Unfathomable.

This was the Crown Prince's only thought about that black dragon.

Then, squinting his eyes, he continued:

"My Imperial Father has learned of that monster's existence, and... its species has been classified as - Dragon."

Dragon?

It was hard to imagine that narrow, elongated creature being comparable to those mighty dragons.

However, just from the terrifying strength described verbally, it certainly deserved the title 'Dragon'.

The Crown Prince took a breath and issued orders to the officers behind him.

"Keep the black dragon's appearance above Godinlima hidden as much as possible, absolutely do not let Father Emperor know about this prematurely!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

He slowly raised his head, looking toward the mysterious, quiet purple sky.

"This will be my military achievement."

...

Within the rift, the giant eye behind the void gate continued to writhe.

Countless pupils on it trembled continuously.

Like insect eggs, they squeezed out from those pupils, growing larger and larger.

The initial red gradually became covered with purple blood vessels, about to burst.

Those swollen eggs began to crack, black-purple essence seeping out.

The eggshells instantly shattered, and several insects with five sharp legs fell into mid-air.

Their narrow heads seemed to have human-like mouths, while their eyes were compound eyes flickering with countless yellow lights.

They stood up shakily, instinctively letting out piercing shrieks at the black dragon before them.

Soon, the giant eye behind the gate began to turn, seemingly revealing another side.

Similarly, several horrifying insects burst out from behind the other side.

When one eye completely closed, another eye appeared behind the gate, continuing to spit out small magical insects toward the outside.

Purple creatures densely packed the entire arena, piling up, treading on void space, stepping on their companions' bodies, beginning to climb endlessly in the huge space.

Almost in the blink of an eye, they crawled all over Doragon's body at an incomprehensible speed, patches of dull purple continuously biting at Doragon's black scales.

Accompanied by sharp tearing sounds, the insect eggs finally stopped breaking.

But just when everyone thought these terrifying magical insects were the limit.

That gate suddenly expanded even larger!

More shocking wails rose from within the gate.

The void seemed to fall into boundless silence.

Only Viktor knew that the final horror had barely revealed the tip of the iceberg.

A dark body suddenly darted out from the darkness, nearly half the size of the dragon's body.

It extended an upper body like a human's, but without hands, only a weak head.

On its forehead and face, dozens of holes like empty eye sockets protruded, with purple essence continuously gushing out.

The weak yet gigantic skeletal body suddenly kept pulling itself from between the gates, its human-like giant mouth instantly opening, unleashing waves of terrifying and chaotic crying sounds.

The skeletal body seemed to still be writhing behind the gate, and soon, the other half of its body was painfully pulled out.

Its lower body was like an octopus, floating with eight dark tentacles, each tentacle completely covered with broken eyes, continuously dripping purple-red blood.

On each eye, there were clearly insect eggs that had just burst!

This incredibly horrifying scene was completely exposed before everyone.

That decaying and terrifying aura instantly devoured everything.

Making all the adventurers feel their sanity crumbling.

It was as if space itself was trembling, continuously crying and begging for mercy.

Even Doragon seemed to pause for a moment when seeing that horrifying creature that suddenly burst out.

At this time, that monster that seemed to emerge from the void made a move.

The countless broken giant eyes beneath its body, at this moment, all focused on Doragon's body.

Terrifying magical insects were still continuously devouring the dragon's body.

Whirlwinds spiraled around Doragon's body in waves, the storms merely attached to its body grinding those scale-devouring magical insects into powder.

But the next second, those purple powders began to recombine with each other, forming into insects again, fearlessly climbing back onto the dragon's body.

The dragon's form turned, and an intense airflow suddenly burst up between its scales, black metal colliding with each other, erupting in heavy echoes.

Those magical insects' bodies froze, blown away by the airflow, violently smashing into the flesh-covered ground, twitching twice before showing no more response.

Those ordinary monsters, no matter how strong.

Before a Calamity, they were nothing more than cannon fodder.

The adventurers watched the chaotic arena, their bodies forgetting to tremble, their eyes becoming completely dazed, as if taking in a horrifying war.

Even though they were in the spectator seats, they could still feel that sense of terror as if they were there.

Although that swarm of black insects couldn't harm that monster.

If they, as fourth-tier beings, were thrown into that insect tide.

They would probably be devoured into messy meat paste in the blink of an eye.

Under this level of battle, they... didn't even have any chance to intervene.

The gap... was too great.

Similarly at fourth-tier, that man gave them a feeling of being too powerful to be human.

If it weren't for the obvious fourth-tier aura emanating from his body, no one would have considered Viktor a fourth-tier mage.

Fourth-tier? How could that be possible.

At this moment, Viktor slowly raised his staff, his other hand gradually lifting.

Vega understood immediately, a golden light flashing within its single eye.

Soon, that golden light completely covered every eyeball on the tentacles floating in the sky.

And following Viktor's movement, the magic array behind him suddenly rose.

The heterochromatic light all over his body actually burst out along the staff, transmitting toward the eyeballs in the sky.

A line connected to his body, transmitting along those airborne eyeballs.

A subtle feeling arose in his heart.

[Buff Share]

This was an ability that could share any of his own buff effects with an allied unit.

And at this moment, almost all those buffs he had previously applied were copied to that void creature in the sky.

Colorful light gradually spread across the entire horrifying creature's body.

Countless attribute enhancements began to surge, quickly reaching a level that made people tremble.

The golden light in Vega's eye slowly emerged, bestowing itself onto the giant creature's body.

In an instant, powerful aura accompanied by sharp crying swept across the entire arena.

Ability - [Level Up]

"Are you ready?"

"We're about to get serious."