Chapter 382 (1/2)
A loud noise came from the Gnarled Grove. It was like a roar, a rolling thunder, and it tore the earth. The sound was travelling in a way as if it was chasing after them. Even the most seasoned elite soldiers would have lost their courage, hearing the angry roar. All they could do was keep moving through the mountain pass.
Everyone had descended from their horses and hustled through the narrow mountain pass on foot. They hurried the war horses in front them, and at times, they even let the animals go when they came to a forked road. They did that for the safety of the group because once frightened, the horses could behave hysterically, posing a threat to everyone on the narrow path. And considering the loud sound coming from behind, the horses could very well get frightened.
Despite leaving the Gnarled Grove’s field of influence and its root system, the group could still feel the earth trembling under their feet. As Beinz was built right on top of the mammoth subterrainean world, when the underground world crumbled the destruction brought everything down along with it, and that almost tore Dragonspine Ridge apart. Hearing the cracking and sound of falling rocks on the mountain, Ophra knew they were still not out of the danger zone. So, she wielded her sword and brought the spirit of her soldiers up. “Keep moving! Don’t stop! We’ll be safe once we pass the ridge!”
Elson was running ahead of the group. With his sharp eyes, he was constantly aware of the possibility of rocks falling overhead. Every rock could be a rock monster. In the depths of the mountain, a rock monster was not going to differentiate who was its enemy and who was its friend. They were just as dangerous as the dinobeasts and tentacles.
Many of the soldiers were hurt. Almost all of the magi were drained. Some of the people were even exposed to the poisonous blood and noxious gases from the dinobeasts. Any energy left was just enough to let them escape to safety, figthing was out of the question. Those who still possessed the ability to fight were Hao Ren and his company as well as Ophra and the five-plus-one giant wolves. Nevertheless, they had to avoid getting into any battle again.
Despite all their setbacks, Ohpra still looked determined. Her ash-covered face could not hide her heroic aura. She knew the rest of the king’s knights were just at the foothill on the east side. As soon as they reached, they would have adequate medicine and food, then the exhausted magi could regain their strength. When fighting a supernatural creature like the First Born, the magi seemed more suited for the job than the warriors.
But deep down inside, she also knew full well that the disparity between mortals and the ancient being was just too great. She could not possibly believe that any ordinary magi could have done any real damage to the thousand-year-old subterrainean monster entrenched underneath the Beinz Diocese.
Hao Ren glanced at Ohpra on one side, then turned to Y’zaks on the other and said, “Is your meteoroid ready?”
“Contact has been established. It’s within the upper limit of my ability. Ferromanganese core. Nasty stuff.” Y’zaks grinned as his eyes glowed with a greenish, evil flame. “I’ll summon it when we reach the ridge.The energy released will almost be enough to level the area from Beinz Blood Lake to the land leading up to Dragonspine Ridge… Six Tunguskas¹ in size.”
Hao Ren ran some calculations in his mind and discovered that it would be more powerful than any nuclear weapon ever made in human history. He felt a little at ease now, thinking it would be enough to finish off the First Born this time.
“Be careful of the blast range.” Suddenly, Vivian thought of something. “To the west of Beinz Blood Lake, over the Virulent Flatlands is Werewolf Kingdom. Don’t affect them.”
Y’zaks nodded. “I’ve done the Math. I’ll set up a demonic barrier where the blast wave will be stopped in the middle of the Virulent Flatlands. The sacred mountain on Werewolf Kingdom’s side may experience a little shock. But, we don’t know what their reaction to this disaster will be. They must have noticed the changes in the Gnarled Grove by now…”
Hao Ren was particularly worried about this as Elson, the lonewolf general and his elite wolf pack were probably concerned about their hometown too. Under the current situation however, no one, no matter how capable, was going to bring the message over or scout out the sacred mountain. So, they had to put their worries on the back burner for the moment. As soon as Y’zaks brought down his meteoroid and finished off the First Born, Werewolf Kingdom would not be a concern anymore.
“What if the meteoroid doesn’t work? Will the First Born also destroy the sacred mountain? Or places even farther?” All of a sudden, Y’zaks’ knitted his brows tightly together. He was expecting the worst. “We don’t know what other capabilities are up its sleeve. So far, all we know is that it’s capable of causing massive geological disasters, and I think that’s not all.”
Nangong Wuyue could not imagine the First Born to be so powerful. “Really? As powerful as it is, it’s just a tree, isn’t it?”
Y’zaks shook his head and did not say a word.
They stumped up the mountain and were finally about to arrived at the highest point of the ridge. Then, they heard loud crashing sounds from the nearby mountain peaks. Lily looked up instinctively before crying out in fear. “Arf—”
Shortly after, Elson’s voice could be heard. “The northern peak has collapsed! The northern and southern peaks have all collapsed!”
Hao Ren looked up in horror as he saw two of the highest peaks on Dragonspine Ridge covered in smoke and dust. He could still peek through the blurry clouds, and saw that the peaks were indeed slowly crumbling down. Vivian sent out a bat into the air to get a bird’s-eye view of the situation, and was shocked to find almost seven-tenth of Dragonspine Ridge in the west was collapsing!
She told what she saw to everyone. Ophra’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. “Could this whole mountain range be made from rock monsters?”
“I don’t think so. At least where I stand, the mountain hasn’t collapsed yet. Fortunately, not yet.” Hao Ren took a deep breath. “This mountain range must be a defense barrier against the First Born. Now, I’m starting to understand why the topography of the Beinz Diocese is so weird; mountains on both sides, ocean at the front while a gorge at the rear. This is likely not a natural phenomenon. Just like the legend, the terrains are creations of the ancient mage-emperors!”
Holding her sword shakily, Becky said, “They could create a world, but were unable to defeat the First Born…”
Right. The entire Beinz Diocese was created in the shape of a cage by some massively powerful forces. As powerful as the ancient mage-emperors were, the ancient civilisation was still destroyed by the First Born. Wasn’t it?
The army of rock monsters which rolled off Dragonspine Ridge had quickly formed into a sea of grey, rocky waves, rushing towards the Gnarled Grove. However, as gigantic as they were, they looked a little more like ants in the face of the massive monster. The Gnarled Grove had completely risen and formed into a bowl-like shape. Numerous massive tentacles attached to the main body of Gnarled Grove were waving frantically. Leaves had completely fallen off the trees, and their trunks and branches were sticking out like black thorns. More massive than a mountain, the First Born monster just scoffed at the rock monsters on its foot. With a slight shake of its body, the surrounding ground began to crumble and cave into a bottomless abyss. The rock monsters fell into the gap, and were trapped by the web of roots. They died in an instant before crumbling into piles of broken rocks.
But, more rock monsters charged at the First Born. It looked like they wanted to encage the First Born by forming a rock shell around it with their own bodies.
By now, the group had arrived at the ridge. They turned around and saw a horrific monster beyond their human imagination. It was capable of striking fear into their hearts and dismantling their will of resistance at once.
An entangled mass was standing between the heavens and Earth. It was something between a plant and animal, as huge as a mountain but devoid of any recognisable facial features or limbs, with only tentacles of strange shapes attached to its hundred-kilometre mass. The ground under its “feet” was entirely gone. It was unclear whether the ground had sunk to the bottom of the caverns or it was consumed by the roots. The only thing left was a tumor-like monster with its entangled roots a.k.a tentacles.
Hao Ren felt a sense of dizziness just from glancing at it: it was obvious that the psyhic tentacles were unleashing their psychic assault energy indiscriminately.
“Even if we do escape, will there be anyone out there who can fight this monster?” A sense of horror finally struck Ophra, who now looked visibly fearful. She realised, even if she could make the escape today, it was probably just a delayed death sentence at best. If the being known as the “First Born” was capable of destroying the ecology of the Second Sowing, it would not just stay in one place. It had to be capable of moving itself or spreading its influence to other parts of the world. In light of this, what use was there in escaping?
Hao Ren looked at the messy creature again, and allowed the MDT to explore a bit. After he determined that there was no way of communicating with the monster, he patted Y’zaks on the arm and said to him, “Let’s do it.”
Y’zaks nodded and walked away from the group before shapeshifting. Ophra glanced surprisingly at his strange “mercenary” and asked, “What are you guys going?”
“Helping you solve the thing you couldn’t.” Hao Ren exhaled. “You can stand aside and watch but, could you possibly please first let your soldiers leave?”
He was not worried about anything. It was just that the poisonous gases created during a meteoroid impact could possibly sicken them. They would be fine if they were far away from the ridge.
Ophra looked at Hao Ren, feeling confused. Suddenly, she felt a disturbing burst of energy in Biggie. As she came to her senses, she waved and ordered her soldiers to move. “Keep going, don’t look back!”
After the soldiers had gone, Y’zaks finally released his energy in full. Amid a pool of molten rock and stinking sulfur dioxide, a five-metre-tall demon stood, engulfed in flames.
“De—demon?” Ophra’s jaw dropped to the ground again. “Demons still exist in this age? Who are you people?”
Y’zaks pointed one of his hands towards the sky to guide his meteoroid as he spoke to Ophra, spewing out a mouthful of sparks in the process. “I’ll talk to you later, little girl. Hold your breath!”
A cloud of fire began to form in the sky as powerful magic converged in the centre of it. The monster, who stood on the ridge guiding the magic, the gnarled First Born, the warped sky, and everything below it, all had Ophra the heroine quaking in her boots. Becky also began to mumble to herself, “…Finally, I’m qualified to be hung on the wall, Grandpa. Are you seeing this? Your little granddaughter is going to complete her mission…”