Chapter 18: Chapter Eighteen: The Hidden Mastermind (2)

Chapter Eighteen: The Hidden Mastermind (2)

The Black Ruin Castle wasn’t that huge. It was mainly built from black rocks, and its structure didn’t look stable.

When the cloaked individual revealed himself at the stone castle top, Valen curiously glanced at him, his eyes reflecting only mild surprise.

He had always guessed that there must’ve been a mastermind behind the Amberfiends’ uprising. He just hadn’t thought that they were human — a dark worshipper to be exact.

As for how the bronze throne could float? In this age of advanced technology, was such a thing abnormal?

The cloaked individual’s chuckle spread throughout the ruins and his words were even more chilling.

"You are all finally where I want you to be. Although only fifteen of you came into the Hero’s Section, coupled with my army of Amberfiends, it should be enough to lure those things out."

He pointed a finger from within his cloak while muttering: "Absolute Bronze Field!"

The bronze throne beneath the cloaked individual glowed as it released a bronze beam into the sky.

Bang!

It was as though a bomb had gone off as a bronze light scattered in every direction. The moment the light swept past Valen, he felt the change.

The lustre of his obsidian Power Suit was gone, and Silver Edge, which had always been in his right hand, felt spiritless.

He immediately checked its Percentage Bar and sure enough, it displayed 0% from its initial 97%. This meant the special effect could be used no more. He would have to charge it.

Valen also summoned the profile of the obsidian suit, and saw a warning stating his Singularity Reactor’s energy was exactly 20%. Also, the electric guns couldn’t be used.

This led him to release a sigh of relief — albeit an angry one. With the 20% energy, he would be able to activate the Singularity Mini Cannon of the Reactor at least thrice.

Although he didn’t know how destructive that would be, as a cannon, it shouldn’t be too lacklustre.

He glanced up at the bronze throne, feeling grim.

’Just what is he planning?’

Even after realising there was a mastermind behind all of this, he hadn’t been afraid, because how strong could a dark worshipper in such a low-level beast haven be?

But the power of the bronze throne exceeded his imagination by a large margin.

With the abilities of his Power Suit and Silver Edge gone, he would have a tough time fending off the attacks of hundreds of Amberfiends. If the Dark Worshipper decided to join the fray, then he would have to beat a hasty retreat.

Just as he was entertaining ideas of fleeing, his ears picked up a faint tremor from the ground. It felt like the sound a rat would make while running on a table.

Valen’s eyes flashed as realisation formed on why the Dark Worshipper had said ’lure them out’.

’Could it be?’

Suddenly, a crack appeared on the ground below the Amberfiends and a massive beast burst forth with a boom.

Dozens of Amberfiends were sent flying, crashing heavily on the ground like broken toys.

Its body stretched over ten metres long, with armour thick enough to deflect bullets. Hundreds of hooked legs scraped violently against the ground, producing a metallic screech that made everyone shiver.

Its head was nearly the size of a transport vehicle, with mandibles that curved outward, dripping with strands of corrosive saliva.

A grown human could easily lose an arm — or even half their body — to that mouth in a single bite. Every movement also carried immense weight, and the sound it made was worse than its appearance.

"KRRRRRREEEEEEEE—!"

A shrill screech erupted from deep within its body, mixed with the wet clicking of mandibles.

[Ironfang Centipede || Vitality: 10,000/10,000]

Level: 10%

Class: Normal

Type: Beast

Every Evolver below sucked in a sharp breath once they inspected the information of the centipede. They never thought something like this would be hiding underneath the Beast Haven.

Valen’s expression suddenly changed drastically when he picked up on another faint sound. This time, it was coming from right below them!

"Retreat!" He roared as he gritted his teeth and dashed backwards.

Immediately, all the energy in his body was drained, and he had to lean on Silver Edge for support.

Valen’s party members also made a run for it upon hearing his command.

The heavyweight mech pilots, who had disembarked their now broken mechs and had retreated beside them in horror of the Level 10 Centipede, wore confused expressions, not knowing whether to follow Valen or not.

However, it mattered no more as with another boom, a different Centipede burst forth from the ground, blasting the pilots away.

The next instant, another one burst forth from within the hundreds of Amberfiends, killing over a dozen in an instant.

Inspecting them would reveal their status as all Level 10.

Everyone’s heart turned cold at this sight. One Level 10 Centipede was already enough to leave them in despair. But three? Wasn’t that an overkill?

Sadly, these Evolvers thought too lightly of the situation. Not a second after those thoughts formed, the ground beneath the Black Ruin Castle trembled violently.

This tremor surpassed all previous ones by threefold.

"KRRRRRREEEEEEEE~"

With an ear-piercing screech, a gigantic, almost fifteen-metre-long centipede shot from the ground, collapsing almost half the castle. Its blood-red eyes scanned everyone present, drenching their backs in cold sweat.

[Ironfang Centipede || Vitality: 16,000/16,000]

Level: 10%

Class: Feral

Type: Beast

’A Feral class monster?’ Valen stared at the centipede in shock.

Like humans, monsters also had their own hierarchy. Humans classified this hierarchy as ’Classes’ of beasts.

A Feral Class monster was the lowest in the hierarchy, only at class 1, slightly above normal. But it could still command beasts of lower or higher level to do its bidding.

Naturally, they were also much stronger. When Valen had asked for reinforcement in the White Star City Forum, someone named Deep Sigh had stated that the Grey Land’s checkpoint was under attack by a Level 30 Feral Amberfiend and several hundred of its minions.

Although that Amberfiend was already Level 30, so commanding several hundred Amberfiends was justified, he still knew for a fact that among the four centipedes before him, every one of them could deal with him in a matter of seconds.

When this thought crossed his mind, an anomaly within the collapsed section of the Black Ruin Castle caught his eyes.

The commotion caused by the collapse gradually subsided. But there was no rubble at its centre.

Space itself had collapsed inward, a circular distortion hovering above the area.

Within the distortion, absolute darkness spiralled endlessly. At the sides of this distortion were black gates crafted from white gem that seemed to be suppressing the violent collapse of the distorted space.

’A wormhole stabilising device? It’s no wonder why there were so many Amberfiends. So, there was a wormhole hidden within the castle.’ Valen thought in realisation.

The mech pilots that had been thrown far away had gathered themselves and began to retreat. Valen’s teammates also retreated with looks of despair on their faces.

The wormhole was still active, so any creature could crawl out at any time. Then there were the massive centipedes and the unknown cloaked individual seated atop the bronze throne.

They had initially hoped that the fortified walls could deal with the centipedes — even if it had to collapse. But the other two variables wouldn’t be so easily dealt with.

It seemed like everyone in this beast haven was doomed to die. Even if reinforcements came in time, they might just add to the number of deaths and wouldn’t be of much help.

Valen stood in place with a helpless expression on his face. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to retreat. On the contrary, he would have been the first to order a retreat... if only he could.

He didn’t even have the energy to walk stably, with dizziness beginning to cloud his senses. Running in such a poor physical state wouldn’t yield much results, so he might as well remain still.

At least he should be able to use the Singularity Mini Cannon this way. He also found the name of these centipedes unusually familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard them from.

His eyes showed deep contemplation as he glanced at the spot where the centipedes had emerged. Something told him that things were not as simple as they seemed.

His attention was soon drawn away by the cloaked individual, who glanced at the creatures and said in a nonchalant manner: "I knew you’d show up so long as the bait was sufficient."

He shook his head with a laugh. "Sis, deal with those other pests while I handle the Class 1 bug."

After he was done speaking, the cloaked individual pointed a finger.

At the same time, a blue flash left the castle just as the cloaked individual uttered a word: "Destroy."

The bronze throne glowed brightly while a beam descended from it, striking the castle and engulfing the Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede.

The screech of the Ironfang Centipede was suppressed by the cataclysmic bang of the Black Ruin Castle exploding.

When the dust died down, a fully intact Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede came to sight.

In fact, it had only lost several points of vitality, causing everyone’s heart to sink.

The Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede let out a defeated cry as it spat out a white ball of liquid at the cloaked individual.

The cloaked individual stretched out an open hand. When it left the shielding of his cloak, everyone below saw a hand clad in a Blood Diamond Power Suit.

A flash occurred as a beam left his hand, blasting apart the white ball and striking one of the centipede’s eyes.

"KRRRREEEE-" The Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede screeched in agony as it recoiled.

The cloaked individual stepped off his bronze throne, descending slowly as crimson boosters flared beneath his feet.

He muttered softly: "Sure enough, I’ll have to deal with you personally."

His black cloak fell off his body when he hit the ground, revealing a figure clad in a glowing Blood Diamond Power Suit. He pointed a finger and several parts of the suit shifted, revealing sharp, pointed blades.

"Go!"

The diamond blades shot out at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede paid no heed to the sharp blades as it slithered towards the man at a quick pace.

The diamond blades quickly surrounded the centipede and pierced it, only to be bounced off by its hard carapace.

The centipede’s eyes shone with ferocity as it sped up. In a flash, it was before the man. But a punch from him sent it spiralling through the air as the battle between man and beast commenced.

Valen naturally didn’t have the luxury to continue observing the battle from a safe distance. Right now, he and the others were staring at the other Level 10 centipedes that slithered towards them at a speed so fast that in a second, they had crossed over 700 metres.

They would only need another second to appear before them.

However, those centipedes became the least of their worries once a woman clad in a Blue Power Suit with wings and dark blue flaming boosters appeared in the air before them.

Her face behind the dark helmet couldn’t be seen, so no one knew what expression she currently wore.

All Valen knew was that her Power Suit was a female model and it had to be at least a Level 10 D-Rank or even a C-Rank model.

She was the one addressed as ’sis’ by the Dark Worshipper battling the Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede, so she shouldn’t be much weaker than him. That was all Valen knew.

He could also guess that the lady didn’t have any good intentions. Although he was currently in a weakened state — not that being in a healthier condition would help him — he still wasn’t one to sit and wait for death.

So, he hid his left hand behind his back while his right hand held Silver Edge as he secretly began charging the Singularity Mini Cannon.

Sure enough, the lady hadn’t acted against expectations as she raised her left hand, which began to charge with energy, and pointed at the three Level 10 Centipedes that had just arrived before her.

Then, she pointed her right hand at Valen’s group of eighteen — adding the three pilots of the heavyweight mechs.

A fraction of a second was all it took for the gathered energy in the lady’s arm to become sufficient. Her arms glowed with bright aqua light as the cannon prepared to release.

However, just before she fired, Valen took a step forward with black particles spiralling violently around his left hand, condensing into a pulsing ball of darkness.

With a deafening blast, he launched the ball of darkness just as the woman fired hers. Their attacks left dazzling traces mid-air.

Two separate forces of energy struck one another. No explosion or fanfare, no combustion or violent surges of wind.

Just the silent, harrowing display of the ball of darkness devouring the lady’s attack and continuing forward like a black comet.

Ten metres away — right below the flying lady — space twisted inward.

The centipedes, already struck by the lady’s left-hand attack and grievously wounded, froze while retreating, their eyes shrinking in abject horror at the ball of darkness.

Then, the ball suddenly collapsed into itself before erupting outward in a wave of burning particles that melted through flesh and armour alike.