Chapter 940 - 460: Omniscient and Omnipotent

RUMBLE!

As she swayed on her feet, the tremors outside continued. The violent quaking felt as if the gods were raining down their wrath. Rocks began to cascade from the walls of the mine shaft, crashing down at their feet.

"What’s happening? What’s going on!"

"Is it an earthquake?"

Everyone paled in sheer terror. If they were caught in a natural disaster of that magnitude, they would all be buried alive inside the subterranean mines. For now, of course, they had absolutely no idea what was causing the crisis. But one thing was certain: they had to escape as quickly as possible, or they might never make it out alive.

The entire tribe immediately sprang into action like a colony of ants. They roused their sleeping kin, hastily gathered essential clothing, gear, food, and wicker baskets, and formed a line heading toward the nearest exit.

"Dad, should we warn Lord Red Dragon?" Amidst the panicked crowd, Nira was still worried about the depths of the cavern.

"We need to get out first! A behemoth like that doesn’t need our worrying."

Scolded by her father, Nira quickly came to her senses. The Red Dragon, whose body was the size of a small mountain, was exponentially more powerful than mere mortals like them. If it was a danger they could escape from, how could it possibly trap a creature like that?

As they made their way out, the tremors intensified, sending even more rocks tumbling down from above. A few unfortunate souls were caught off guard and struck, their faces covered in blood as their fellow tribesmen supported them during the evacuation. To a human tribe, every single member was incredibly precious. In this territory teeming with Demons, their only allies were their kin. If they were to casually abandon their companions, it wouldn’t be long before they were completely wiped out.

Fortunately, light soon appeared ahead. They passed through the exit without any fatal mishaps, emerging onto the vast expanse of the open pit plains outside, where they finally saw the source of the disaster.

High above in the sky, the familiar yet awe-inspiring Red Dragon was circling. It was spewing magma-like breath attacks down below, and its enemies were a massive horde of Demons. The Demons surged forward from all directions, converging like river water flowing into a basin. Every so often, the Red Dragon would flap its wings and unleash a massive fireball brimming with a destructive aura. A single blast was enough to obliterate numerous Demons.

It was this relentless barrage of attacks that had caused the violent tremors inside their mine.

Nira looked around, searching for a certain pristine white figure, but to her disappointment, he was nowhere to be seen. As far as she could see—whether on the desolate ground, upon the dragon’s back, or within its claws—the man was not there. She wondered if he was still inside the depths of the cavern. Once all other possibilities were eliminated, whatever remained had to be the answer.

"Dad, where do we go now?"

Of course, this wasn’t the time to be dwelling on such things. No matter how her heart fluttered for him, it was irrelevant in the face of her tribe’s life-or-death crisis. The endless horde of approaching Demons was more than enough to crush their human tribe with ease. The cavern tunnels that had sheltered them had already collapsed.

The only saving grace was that, for whatever reason, all the Demons were swarming toward the Red Dragon’s location, seemingly paying no mind to insects like them. They were still quite a distance away from the Red Dragon’s battlefield; it was entirely possible to slip away in the chaos.

"Retreat in that direction." Zeke, the leader of the tribe, pointed toward a path with the fewest Demons.

To be able to take root and survive in this land, their tribe—despite having barely a hundred members—boasted several individuals who wielded Extraordinary Power. Combined with the other able-bodied warriors who possessed formidable combat prowess, they could fight their way out with a little luck, provided they hurried before things deteriorated to the absolute worst.

And just as Nira had guessed, at this moment Gauss was still sitting quietly in the depths of the cavern. The only one who had emerged to fight the enemies was the Red Dragon Hephaestus.

Of course, it wasn’t that Hephaestus was hot-headed or bloodthirsty, wanting to fight to the death with these Demons that had inexplicably besieged them. Nor was the dragon kind-hearted enough to buy time for the human tribe. In fact, upon its initial Detection that something was amiss, it had wanted to just grab Gauss and flee far away.

But it failed.

Since yesterday, the space-time around Gauss had entered a very bizarre state. It had tried several times but simply couldn’t take him away. A miraculous Power enveloping Gauss had deflected its claws. Left with no choice, it could only go out first to battle the swarming enemies. That strange aura radiating from Gauss was gradually fading, and it could guess that his slumber was nearing its end.

It just needed to buy a little more time.

Setting aside the battle on the Red Dragon’s end, Nira’s tribe had already plunged into a fierce, bloody melee. Although the Demons’ primary target was the Red Dragon in the distance, if they spotted a group of humans right beside them, they certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity for an easy buffet.

SLASH!

Tribe leader Zeke swung his greatsword, slicing open one of the Jackal-Wolf People lunging at his face. Warm, crimson blood drenched half his cheek. The entire formation was spearheaded by him and Nira, with the combat-ready young adults forming the outer ring, fiercely protecting the elderly, women, and children in the center.

"ARGHHH!"

A young man from the tribe made a careless misstep and had his thigh slashed by a cunning goblin executing a sliding tackle. Blood sprayed out like a geyser. He let out a hoarse, agonizing scream, wildly swinging his stone knife in a desperate bid to keep the other Demons at bay. But more fast-reacting Demons had already seized his leg, dragging him away from the human formation.

"Zeke!"

"Keep moving!"