Volume 6 Chapter 167
by Golden DragonVolume 6 + Chapter 167: The Defensive Line Crumbles
“Ah, ah… what in the world is that monster?!”
Even Wallace, a veteran of countless battles, could not help but tremble at the sight of the gargantuan Calamity Beast.
In that brief moment, everyone was stunned, scarcely able to believe their own eyes. The Maginot Fortress, which they had all but deemed impregnable, now seemed so fragile before this colossal abomination.
“Why has the gargantuan Calamity Beast… awakened?”
Daisy immediately recognized it, the very beast that had been slumbering deep within the Yadan Plains. The elite reconnaissance squad had even taken photographs and brought them back for the fortress’s high command to see.
Yet according to intelligence, the gargantuan Calamity Beast had been in a state of deep slumber, without even the slightest sign of waking. So why had it now emerged, leading a Beast Tide straight for the Maginot Fortress?
The fortress had made little preparation for an assault of this magnitude.
Her mind was in disarray, the situation had spiraled far beyond initial expectations and was rapidly slipping out of control.
“ROOOOAR!!!”
The gargantuan Calamity Beast let out another earth-shaking roar. Above its head, wave after wave of calamitous energy began to coalesce once more, an orb thick with miasma steadily taking form. The dreadful monster was clearly gearing up for another strike.
“Daisy, order the Maginot Fortress to raise its defenses immediately!!” Xia Yi urgently called out through her communication device.
“…Right!”
Daisy was, after all, the army commander, her mental fortitude surpassed that of ordinary soldiers. She quickly pulled herself together and barked orders to the dazed mages.
“Activate the defensive magic arrays! Raise all fortifications! Deploy the magical barrier!”
“Yes, sir!!”
The mages sprang into action.
From within the Maginot Fortress, countless magical panels rose into the air, each engraved with arcane runes. Under the mages’ control, they all activated, blazing with light.
The panels flew above the fortress, linking together via magical signals to form a massive blue mana barrier that enveloped the entire stronghold.
Each panel was tied to its respective mage, and amplified by the enchanted runes, they projected a formidable magical defense shield, the strongest defense the fortress could swiftly mobilize under the current circumstances.
SHWOOM!
From atop the gargantuan Calamity Beast, another hyper-compressed beam of calamity was unleashed, hurtling toward the Maginot Fortress with even greater ferocity than before.
The mages collectively maneuvered the panels to converge over a single area, reinforcing the defense to withstand the monster’s attack.
But just as the beam was about to strike the concentrated panels, the pitch-black ray suddenly fragmented, like fireworks bursting apart, splintering into countless threads that scattered across the fortress’s magical barrier in a wide-area barrage.
“It’s over, !!”
Daisy’s face went pale, her expression frozen in horror.
The mages were equally dumbfounded.
They had underestimated the gargantuan Calamity Beast, instinctively assuming it was as mindless as the other monsters.
In the end, they had all been outmaneuvered.
The scattered beams of calamity struck the magical barrier, pierced through it with ease, and rained down upon the Maginot Fortress, detonating on impact.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…
Explosions rang out without end. In an instant, the fortress walls were riddled with dozens of gaping holes, large and small. The city within became a sea of flames, and countless lives were extinguished in an instant.
With the gargantuan Calamity Beast’s arrival, the ordinary Calamity Beasts received a significant boost. They howled skyward and launched a counteroffensive against the Maginot army.
Everything had spiraled out of control.
“I can’t hold these monsters back, requesting reinforcements, aaagh!!”
“Fall back, pull back now!”
“There’s no escape, how can we run in this, gyaaah!”
Soldiers were being slaughtered one after another. Some were infected on the spot, transformed into Calamity Beasts themselves, and joined the tide to attack their former comrades.
Boom, Boom, Boom…
After unleashing its second calamity beam, the gargantuan beast did not fire again. Instead, it resumed its slow, ponderous advance toward the Maginot Fortress.
Whether due to its colossal size or not, its movement was sluggish, it would still take some time before it reached the fortress walls.
More and more flying Calamity Beasts filled the sky, pouring out from the gargantuan beast like migrating flocks, blotting out the heavens. The Maginot Fortress had lost all air superiority.
The situation on the ground was even worse. The routed Maginot army had no effective means left to resist the Beast Tide. Before long, the swarming black sea of monsters would pour through the blasted holes in the walls and inundate the fortress entirely.
The battle had tilted overwhelmingly against the Maginot Fortress, the scales of victory now favored calamity.
“Xia Yi, Xia Yi, can you hear me?”
Suddenly, Xia Yi received a transmission from Yuren.
“Yuren, I can hear you. The situation outside is dire, the gargantuan Calamity Beast has appeared, the fortress’s defenses are shattered, and the Beast Tide is about to breach the walls!” Xia Yi relayed urgently.
“Xia Yi, I know. Hurry back to the underground city, we need you!”
“Is the mobile flying fortress ready to launch?”
“Not yet… it’s still… incomplete… but we have no choice… even if it’s… unfinished…”
Yuren’s words grew choppy and fragmented before cutting out entirely.
Xia Yi looked up and saw that the flying Calamity Beasts were emitting sonic waves, jamming all communications.
She frowned and summoned her Rose Staff. Time was short, no time for incantations. She tapped into her Silver Dragon Royal bloodline, expending a massive amount of mana at once to conjure a blazing wall of fire across the ground, buying precious time for the army’s retreat.
“Atiya, we’re heading back to the underground city now,” Xia Yi said. “Time is critical, every second counts!”
“Right!”
Atiya prepared to go full throttle and fly toward the Maginot Fortress.
But amid the howling wind, Xia Yi clearly heard a low, hollow voice, as if rising from a deep valley.
“You two, stay.”
From the ground erupted a column of green energy, laden with the wailing of vengeful spirits. It struck Atiya squarely, sending the blue dragon plummeting to the earth in an unexpected crash.
Xia Yi was thrown off as well, tumbling hard. But she hadn’t taken the brunt of the attack, her tough hide cushioned the blow, and she scrambled back to her feet quickly.
“Atiya, are you alright?!”
“Your Highness, I’m… not dead yet, just… ugh…” Atiya’s reply sounded strained, she was clearly injured. “Your Highness, be careful, this must be a dangerous foe, “
“No need to worry. No one gets away.”
An old man clad in black robes, wielding a scythe, strode step by step toward Xia Yi and Atiya.
“I will make you both understand… what death truly means.”
[Translator’s Note: Please join the Gravity Tales’ Discord Server, if you want to hang out.]
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