Chapter 487: The monster (I)

On the border of the Astaroth continent, an army of almost ten million soldiers established a temporary stronghold formed around a massive Magic Tower.

White armored warriors formed a third of the army. They had different forms and sizes, but their behavior was identical, soulless killing machines who only knew how to carry out orders. 

A tadpole had fused into these creatures' brains, allowing the controller to manage them regardless of the distance as long the channel was open. 

Magi composed the rest of the army. Despite their overall level being inferior to that of the elite force that captured the Divinity Faith Army's headquarters in the Astaroth continent, they were still powerful.

The Magi's faction leader was a young man with a royal robe and the power of the laws vibrating around him. 

Surrounding the Royal were four Peak Rank 3 Magi with vibrant life force, each more than capable of entering Rank 4 whenever they desired. They were all great generals inside Gods' Tomb, representing the Aeternum Empire's Kings.

A Magi with a scholar aura flew out of the newly constructed Magic Tower and approached the group.

"Lord Kirkus, we have finished the central Magic Tower. Soon the protective force field will be working at total capacity. I will start with the construction of the secondary towers if that is fine with you."

Kirkus glanced at the man and nodded before signaling to leave.

Once they were alone, one of the great generals approached the young Royal. His body was four meters tall and covered in dragon armor.

"Lord Kirkus, why did you accept this mission? Not only are the rewards minimal and the risk too high, but it also gives others the impression that Samuel can command you as he sees fit." The general had an annoyed expression, and that grew as he turned to the white armored warriors. "Not to mention they gathered us with those suicide soldiers. The gall in that brat!"

Even if they did not know the true nature of the white armored warriors, every Magi already understood that their lives were unimportant in the eyes of the Daybreak Clan's generals.

Being part of the same team as disposable warriors could be considered an insult. 

"Uryk is right, Lord Kirkus. Why let Samuel treat us like that. Your honorable great grandfather will win the Champion Contest and lead the Aeternum Empire's forces in the next phase of the Divine Extermination War. There is no reason for us to comply with his whims." Another general also took a step forward and expressed his displeasure with the situation.

"Enough!" Kirkus roared to the generals, and his voice carried the power of the laws and a wisp of soul force! 

That feat alone proved the extraordinary talent of the young Royal and made the rest of the great general shut their mouths.

"Even if I look down on him, I can not defy a direct order of the Aeternum Empire's Champion, especially after he conquered an entire continent. If I did that, it would have affected Great Grandfather." In contrast with his previous outburst, Kirkus gave a perfectly reasonable and pragmatic reason for his actions. 

Kirkus' severe expression relaxed when he saw the great general adopting a respectful attitude. The young Royal knew that showing wisdom and a calm mind would be meaningless if he did not prove his superior power. 

The silent battle for the Aeternum Empire's throne had long since reached its peak. There were only two Kings left in the race, and all the others had already sided with one of them or disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As the representative of one of the strongest Kings, Kirkus knew that making any mistake could lead to fatal repercussions.

"Samuel indeed gave us this task to prove his superiority, but there is also an opportunity. If for some reason, these Magic Towers were to malfunction during a battle, it would lead to devastating casualties on the army protecting the border."

The great generals immediately understood the hidden meaning in Kirkus' words. Although harming members of the empire was betrayal, none of the great generals had a problem with it, as long as the truth remained hidden.

"We need to work very hard and be very careful as..."

"¡BOOOOMMMM!"

Kirkus did not finish his words due to an explosion happening right outside the temporary stronghold.

Something had fallen from the sky, and before any of the Magi could understand what it was, an aura full of madness and bloodlust engulfed everything.

Monstrous fear invaded the Magi's minds and souls, paralyzing everybody beneath Rank 3 due to the immense pressure in their consciousnesses. 

The young Royal and the four great generals slowly turned to the place of the explosion, only to see an enormous monster rise.

...

Numir, Shiyu, and Samuel discussed their following movements above the reconstructed and fully functional stronghold in the Astaroth continent's center. 

Suddenly, both Neo-Demon women's eyes widened, and an expression of utter shock filled their faces. 

Their behavior confused Samuel, but the same expression appeared on his face the next second when a message reached his mind through the space ring. 

"What! How could all of them have perished at the same time without a warning?" The news he just received altered Samuel so much, that he failed to control his emotions for a moment.

Displaying his powerful spirit, the young Royal regained control over his mind in a second and took a deep breath.

"Lady Numir, Lady Shiyu, we have seemed to run into a serious problem. All my spies within Kirkus' forces have perished. I don't know what could have happened, but we must immediately send trustful warriors to the border, as we can't let that man be unsupervised during the Magic Towers' construction."

Samuel planted many spies within the forces of his primary opponent within Gods' Tomb. Due to the danger they faced, the young Royal would receive a signal whenever one perished, and right now, they had all activated simultaneously. 

He did not understand how Kirkus could have learned of all his spies and much less end their lives simultaneously, but Samuel knew he needed to act fast.

However, the information he received next made him realize his previous hypothesis was wrong. 

"There are not just your spies, the ones dead. All of our white armored warriors on the border, the three million of them, perished together." Shiyu spoke to the young Royal with a solemn expression, and her aura only grew grimmer as she thought of the power needed to kill all of them before they could even send a signal.

As one of the two highest-ranking members of the Daybreak Army's in Gods' Tomb, her tadpole connected to all the drones. The expression of shock from before was because three million of those links vanished instantly.

"How could that be possible! Even if a powerful army overwhelmed them, there would still be a time gap between each of their dead. The only way for all of them to die together was if..."

Samuel did not finish his words, but the trio knew what he wanted to say.

Considering the sudden death of the spies, it fell to reason to believe that an existence powerful enough killed the eight million soldiers on the border with a single attack.

Such force should be impossible to appear inside Gods' Tomb. Although there were ways to display Rank 4 battle might inside the Transitional Plane like with Soul Origin Formations, they only reached the bottom of that level. They were not capable of massive destruction abilities like Law Avatars. 

"¡BOOM!"

Numir, Shiyu, and Samuel did not have time to figure out what happened to their people as they heard an explosion in the distance.

"¡BOOM!" 

Soon another explosion appeared, and all the Magi and Neo-Demons in the stronghold focused on the origin. Although they could not see it, everybody felt that something extremely heavy and powerful approached their location.

The creature was still too far for their eyes to see them, but its' malevolent aura reached the stronghold and began to suffocate all those inside. 

Before the fear could break the people's minds, they heard three mighty roars, one full of demonic strength, another with draconic's force, and the last with a lion's courage.

"ROAR!"

"ROAR!"

"ROAR!"

The trio in the sky unleashes their powerful auras and spirits to fight back the monster's aura, helping their people. The next second, the Magic Tower released a powerful force field that protected everybody.

"Daybreak Clan's warriors, activate your Spiritual Totem Formations and rise!"

"Aeternum Empire's Magi, adopt battle formations and be ready to unleash all you have!"

Samuel and Numir commanded their troops and proceeded to stimulate all their power, as their instincts told them that the greatest danger of their lives was coming.