Chapter 145 - 147: Tier 6

Alix folds his arms, thinking for a moment. "Ashlight is the second strongest city in the Ordeya Kingdom... bold of him." Alix's gaze shifts to the window, where the muffled sounds of Ordeya's streets still bleed in. "The sudden appearance of Asdri was unexpected," he murmurs. "But since he's here... I have the means to make him stay." Alix nods slowly. "This operation was meant to expose whatever the Ordeya Kingdom's been hiding. But..." He trails off for a moment, letting the thought settle, then continues. "Knowing just how powerful Asdri's party is—that's a worthwhile trade." Alix's hand lifts slightly, palm facing upward—and with a subtle shimmer of light and distortion, an item materializes. It floats above his hand for a moment before solidifying: a black crystal orb, no larger than a clenched fist. Veins of deep crimson pulse faintly beneath its surface, like blood flowing through stone. The energy it emits is palpable—heavy, ancient, almost feral. A Tier 6 summoning core. A relic of unspeakable value and devastating consequence. Alix holds it out without fanfare. Vaelith steps forward with the reverence of someone being handed a sacred weapon. He takes the orb carefully with both hands, the red glow painting thin shadows across his sharp features. "You already know what to do," Alix says, his voice calm but absolute. Vaelith meets his gaze, the barest flicker of anticipation in his eyes. "I do, Your Majesty." No further words are needed. Vaelith tucks the orb into a small void-pouch beneath his cloak, the fabric swallowing the light whole. Then, like mist touched by wind, he vanishes. No footsteps. No rustle of movement. Just silence—and the faint ripple in the air where he stood. Night falls. Ordeya's sky bleeds into violet and deep blue, the last strands of sunlight fading behind the rooftops. Lanterns flicker to life across the city, casting long shadows that stretch and shiver with every passing breeze. Market stalls begin to shutter, and voices quiet to a tired hum. The noble district glows with golden lights and laughter. Down in the poorer quarters, the streets are quieter, rougher, alive with the smells of roasted maize, smoke, and wet stone. Everything seems... normal. But in the heart of the city—near a crowded square lined with taverns and traders—a sudden, deafening explosion tears through the night. BOOM. A ripple of crimson light pulses through the air, followed by an ear-splitting blast that shatters windows in a three-block radius. The ground trembles. Flames roar skyward from a collapsed section of the square, sending splinters of wood and shards of stone into the night sky. Screams erupt. People run, stumbling over one another, some bloodied, some too shocked to move. A child wails for her mother. A horse bolts through the smoke, dragging an empty cart. From the nearby barracks, Ordeya's soldiers flood into the streets, steel drawn. "MOVE! Get out of the way!" "Make a path—guards, with me!" A squad led by a grim-faced captain rushes toward the epicenter. As they break through the veil of smoke, the lead soldier skids to a halt—eyes widening. "What... the hell..." The monster stands in the center of the destruction. It's humanoid—but barely. Seven feet tall, its skin is a shifting shade of ash and obsidian, like living stone cracked by molten veins. Glowing red fissures pulse across its body with every slow breath. Its face is mostly featureless—no eyes, no mouth—just a smooth, angular mask of hardened flesh, marked with a single vertical slit down the center, leaking faint steam. Its arms hang low, clawed and armored, with fingers too long, tipped in barbed black bone. Its presence is unnatural—suffocating. Not a beast. Not a demon. Something else. Something ancient. One of the soldiers stumbles backward, breath caught in his throat. "W-What is that!" The captain swears under his breath. "Get reinforcements—now! Sound the horns!" As if hearing them, the creature tilts its head slowly... and vanishes. It reappears an instant later, in the middle of the squad. A sickening crunch echoes through the street as its claw rips through a man's chestplate like paper. Blood sprays across the cobblestones. The others barely react in time. Blades clash against its hide, sparking but doing nothing. "Form up! Hold the line!" But fear is already setting in. One soldier swings—only to be caught mid-strike and thrown through a wall. The creature lets out a sound—not a roar, but a low, grinding hum, like stone on stone, vibrating in their bones. From a rooftop, unseen in the shadows, Vaelith watches. Cloaked in shadow, eyes gleaming faintly red. His voice is low, whispered through a communication glyph. "The beast has been released." In a different part of the city, Alix leans against a rooftop balcony, arms crossed, gazing toward the rising smoke in the distance. Behind him, the city's bells begin to ring in alarm. Draya steps up beside him. "It's started." Alix exhales once, slow and calm. "Let's see how the kingdom reacts to a threat they can't handle." His eyes narrow. "And let's see how the prince handles something he didn't expect." The monster lifts its head, steam hissing from the slit in its face. Then— It roars. The sound tears through the night like the sky itself is being ripped apart. A shockwave of pure force erupts from its core, bursting outward with invisible violence. The nearby soldiers are the first to fall. Their ears rupture. Blood spurts from noses, eyes, mouths. Some collapse instantly—limp and broken—while others stumble, clutching their heads, weapons clattering to the ground. The very stone beneath them cracks, spiderweb fractures radiating out in all directions. The roar reverberates across the entire city. Windows shatter miles away. Birds take flight in panicked flocks. The bells of Ordeya—once ringing in alarm—fall silent, as if the city itself holds its breath. A wave of oppressive aura follows in its wake. It blankets the city like a suffocating storm. Thick. Heavy. Alive. High in the noble district, Asdri's eyes snap open, his hand flying instinctively to the hilt of his blade. Ingra stumbles slightly, grabbing the edge of a balcony railing. "What... is that?" Pyke mutters, knuckles tightening around his greataxe. "Something that shouldn't be walking in this land." Famir's voice is tight. "That was definitely a Tier 6 aura. We're all too familiar with it." Valia gasps, eyes wide, sweat already beading her brow. "There are people dying down there." Asdri's jaw clenches. He looks out across the rooftops toward the pulsing red light in the distance, where the roar came from. His instincts scream move. "We're going," he says, his voice sharp. He flies, and the others follow suit. They take off, streaking through the air. As they get closer to the epicenter, the air becomes thicker, every breath laced with pressure, every heartbeat louder in their ears. Below them, the streets are chaos—civilians fleeing, buildings burning, and the mangled remains of soldiers strewn like ragdolls. "There!" Asdri shouts. The creature stands in the shattered square. But it's no longer alone. Circles of black flame swirl around its feet—six of them—like portals cut into the earth. From each one, a smaller creature begins to emerge. Four feet tall. Same cracked obsidian flesh. Same glowing red lines. Their eyes—unlike the original—are wide and hungry. Their movements are erratic, twitching, like predators tasting the air. One lets out a shrill screech and bounds forward, leaping on a fleeing man and tearing his throat open in a single strike. "They're spawning!" Ingra growls, forming a sigil in the air. "Focus the big one first!" Asdri commands. "Let the soldiers deal with the rest!" Asdri dives first, lightning trailing behind him in a crackling arc. His blade hums with electricity as he activates [Tier 4 – Volt Edge], the weapon splitting the air as he descends like a thunderbolt. He strikes the creature's shoulder—BOOM—a detonation of light and sound explodes on impact. The Tier 6 monster didn't even take a single step back, its skin hissing. Its arm lashes out faster than expected—unnatural speed. Asdri barely leans back, its claw grazing his chestplate, tearing through enchanted steel like parchment. Sparks fly. Ingra lands next, frost rising from her hands. She slams her palms into the stone, ice veins spreading outward—[Tier 4 – Glacial Constriction]. Spires of jagged ice erupt around the creature's legs, trapping it mid-step. "NOW!" she shouts. "EARTH BREACH!" Pyke crashes in, axe raised overhead. Earth erupts in his wake as he unleashes [Tier 4 – Seismic Rend]. The ground shatters beneath the creature's feet, sending it lurching off-balance. He follows up immediately, swinging his axe infused with [Tier 5 – Stonebreaker Might], slamming it against the monster's torso. CRACK. Flesh splits—part of the chest caved in—but the creature doesn't flinch. Instead, a pulse of crimson light ripples from the damage site, and the smaller spawn shriek in unison. "Be careful guys, this thing is very strong!" Valia warns from above, her eyes flaring gold as she casts [Tier 4 – Sacred Link], connecting the party with regenerative tethers. A blast of red flame erupts from the monster's body—[Tier 5 Skill – Infernal Pulse]—burning the ice away, sending Pyke skidding backward in a scorched crater. Famir doesn't wait. He's already in the air, bow drawn to full tension, wind swirling around him in furious spirals. His eyes narrow, locking onto the beast's exposed shoulder. "[Tier 4 – Cyclone Shot]!" The arrow looses with a high-pitched whine, spinning violently as it slices through the smoke. The projectile pierces the creature's side with a blast of wind pressure, kicking up debris in a wide radius. A dent. Nothing more. The creature turns its head slowly—too slowly—to look directly at Famir. That vertical slit in its face widens... just slightly. Like it's smiling.