Chapter 1218: Quelling the Calamity in Nature Zone City I

Angus did not answer right away.

Instead, he lifted his head and stared into the roiling dark clouds, as if gazing at the source of the nightmare itself. Only after a long moment did he look back down.

"There is a creature at the center of all this," Angus said slowly. "The calamity exists because it exists. If we want to stop it... then that creature must be killed."

Souta nodded.

His suspicion had been confirmed.

There was a creature here, one capable of effortlessly tearing apart the branches of this colossal tree. Its presence alone exuded a suffocating, tyrannical aura, vastly surpassing the beasts the patrol guards and nobles had been struggling against.

This was far too similar to the horrors of the ancient city in the Hall Plains.

Whether it was as difficult to kill as those abominations... he wouldn’t know until blood was spilled.

Souta lowered his gaze.

Bang!!

The tree convulsed violently, as if struck by a god’s hammer.

Entire structures shattered apart. Stone, wood, and screaming bodies rained downward. Ordinary people clawed desperately at the air, their fingers snapping against bark and rubble before they vanished into the horrors below.

This tree rose nearly a kilometer into the sky.

Falling from here meant obliteration as bones, flesh, and screams erased before they could reach the ground.

KIEEEEEEKH!!

A shrill, inhuman screech ripped through the air, burrowing into the ears like jagged metal.

From within the choking clouds of dust and smoke, something climbed out.

A dark, misshapen monstrosity.

Its arms ended in massive, serrated claws that gouged deep scars into the tree as it ascended at terrifying speed. Five long, blade-like tentacles erupted from its back, writhing with malicious intent. They lashed outward in a blur, piercing, slicing, and tearing through bodies.

Limbs were severed. Torsos split apart. Blood sprayed across the bark like paint.

Dozens died in the span of a single breath.

Experts froze when they saw it.

The creature stood nearly ten meters tall. Its elongated face was grotesquely smooth with no eyes and no features save for a pair of twitching antennae that swept the surroundings as if tasting fear itself. Its mouth gaped unnaturally wide, leaking thick, black, viscous fluid that dripped down its body like rotting oil.

Where the liquid fell, the bark hissed and corroded.

The monster climbed higher, leaving behind nothing but shattered structures, mangled corpses, and the echo of dying screams.

Whooosh!!

The creature zigzagged through the air like a living blade, arriving before one of the experts in the blink of an eye. One of the tentacle-like appendages on its back flashed and punched straight through the man’s torso.

"N–No...!!!"

His eyes bulged as blood poured from his mouth. His body convulsed violently as he was lifted off the ground, impaled like a broken doll. Trembling, he lowered his gaze and what he saw shattered the last of his resistance.

Below him, the tree was swarming.

More than a thousand smaller creatures, lesser versions of the monster that had pierced him, were crawling upward in a black tide. Their claws tore into the bark as they climbed, shrieking with manic hunger.

Every single one of them was heading for the living.

Kawrrkhh!!

Kiekkkkhh!!

The air filled with warped, inhuman screeches, overlapping into a deafening chorus of madness.

It was a flood of monsters that existed for no other purpose than slaughter and destruction.

Those who witnessed the scene felt a cold terror seep into their bones. Their hands trembled. Their breaths grew ragged. No one knew if this tide could be stopped at all.

Everything happened too fast.

They didn’t even know what these creatures were. Where they came from, or how to kill them.

There was no time to think.

No time to understand.

There was only the instinct to survive.

Near the upper reaches of the colossal tree, Souta, Angus, and Emiline watched the unfolding massacre in silence.

And for the first time since arriving here, the battlefield felt truly hopeless.

"What should we do, Your Highness?" Emiline asked, her voice tight with fear.

"We have no choice," Angus replied grimly. "We fight."

Souta nodded.

Without another word, he bent his knees and hurled himself downward.

Swoosh!!

Angus turned briefly to Emiline. "I’ll join him. Gather our people. Organize them and lead them into the fight."

Before she could respond, Angus launched himself from the branch, chasing after Souta.

...

The middle section of the colossal tree had become a slaughterhouse.

Tens of thousands were already dead. Those who remained clung desperately to life, fending off relentless assaults from the dark creatures swarming every surface.

Explosions erupted without warning. Blood misted the air, staining bark and armor alike. Screams echoed endlessly as people fought not for victory, but for a single chance to survive.

No one was retreating.

They couldn’t.

Whoosh!!

Souta and Angus descended at terrifying speed.

"The ancient people who once protected our land from the great calamity called these beings Dark Apparitions," Angus said through clenched teeth. "They are notoriously difficult to kill."

Souta gave a short nod.

He drew his vajra sword. Energy surged along the blade, crackling violently as it gathered, warping the air around it.

In the next instant, the two plunged straight into the heart of the battlefield.

Souta moved first.

His sword flashed, cleaving through several Dark Apparitions in a single sweeping arc. The creatures shrieked as their bodies were split apart and then, grotesquely, the severed flesh twisted and knitted itself back together in the span of a heartbeat.

Souta didn’t slow.

Spinning on his heel, he drove a brutal kick into the nearest creature, crushing its torso and sending it hurtling through the swarm.

The battle had begun.

Bang!!

The creatures’ bodies were sent hurtling tens of meters downward, smashing into branches and other combatants as they fell.

Souta opened his palm.

Shadows bled outward beneath his feet, swallowing the bark in unnatural darkness. From within the spreading gloom, jagged black spikes erupted violently, impaling the bodies of the Dark Apparitions and pinning them in midair.

He clenched his hand.

Light descended from above like a falling judgment.

Bang! Bang!

The apparitions were blasted backward, their forms torn apart and scattered across the battlefield.

But Souta’s expression didn’t change.

He knew this wasn’t enough.

These creatures would return. They always did.

Unless they were erased down to the last trace.

’I have to wipe them out completely,’ Souta muttered inwardly, his gaze turning cold.

On the other side of the battlefield, Angus moved like a white blur, weaving through the chaos. His sword was coated in brilliant white light, each swing cleaving through flesh and bone with terrifying precision.

He spared Souta a brief glance before resuming his assault.

A Sixth Shackle Realm expert was unquestionably powerful. A single Dark Apparition was no match for him but there were too many of them. Their endless numbers turned even overwhelming strength into a war of attrition.

A Dark Apparition lunged.

Angus stepped aside at the last moment, twisting his body fluidly. His sword thrust forward, piercing straight through the creature’s head.

Bang!!

A concentrated beam of white light erupted from the blade, annihilating the apparition’s skull completely.

The head vanished leaving nothing behind but drifting ash.

And still, more monsters crawled upward from below.

The other experts battling the Dark Apparitions couldn’t help but turn their heads. They didn’t recognize Souta but they recognized Angus immediately.

"The Crown Prince is here?!!"

"It’s the Crown Prince!!"

Shock rippled through the battlefield. No one had expected the Crown Prince to appear in this city, much less in the middle of a catastrophe of this scale. If not for the disaster unfolding before them, they might never have known he was here at all.

Not everyone was pleased.

Several nobles who opposed the Crown Prince narrowed their eyes, their expressions darkening.

BOOM!!

A thunderous explosion tore through the battlefield, shaking the entire tree violently.

A massive Dark Apparition burst forth from the trunk itself. Its colossal form clawing its way out of the bark. The monster stood nearly fifty meters tall, its presence blotting out the light as it loomed over the battlefield.

Angus and the surrounding experts went pale.

"It’s going to sever the tree!!"

"Stop that monster! Now!!"

The giant apparition’s claws tore into the trunk, gouging out a massive pit nearly a hundred meters deep. Despite being long dead, the world-tree’s trunk was unimaginably sturdy yet under the monster’s onslaught, it looked disturbingly fragile.

If the tree fell...

Everyone still clinging to it would be wiped out in an instant.

No escape.

No survivors.

They could fly but...

The colossal Dark Apparition raised its claw, preparing to strike again.

Before it could,

Souta burst forward.

BOOM!!

A chilling cold flashed across his face. He leveled the vajra sword ahead of him, and his immense energy erupted like a raging tide. Dark and radiant light fused together as his body transformed into a streak of annihilation, tearing through the air toward the towering monster.

By the time he reached it, Souta was already in his released form.

Spells flared to life. Combat arts roared through his body. Beside him, the [Orb of Arcane Seal] spun violently, layers of runes unfolding as it amplified his power.

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