Chapter 327 - 322: Battle of the Full Moon (4)

Chapter 327: Chapter 322: Battle of the Full Moon (4)

"ROAR?"

The Deep Dweller’s Bane was confused. It tried to retract the unresponsive appendage, but the tentacle merely twitched feebly.

High above, Velin surveyed the results of the battle.

A Dragon Eagle Knight reported over the psychic channel.

[Sir Velin, its resistance is weaker than expected. Shall we continue the attack as planned?]

[Continue.]

[Yes, sir!]

The circling Dragon Eagle Knight Order transformed into a merciless whirlwind of death.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

Twenty Knights, their coordination flawless, took turns diving, firing, and pulling up.

Following their prior experience, specially-made, poison-laced harpoons rained down from the sky, unceremoniously pinning themselves into the massive beast’s body!

"SQUELCH!"

"SQUELCH!"

The harpoon heads tore through skin and buried themselves in flesh.

The Deep Dweller’s Bane’s frantic struggles visibly slowed. The tentacles it swung moved slower and slower, their movements less like furious attacks and more like feeble convulsions as its massive body gradually went numb.

Standing on the reef below, Unas’s heart sank inch by inch, a chill spreading through him.

’This recent string of battles must have depleted its reserves of Magical Beast flesh! That’s why its resistance to the poison has plummeted!’

On the shallow battlefield, more and more people stopped fighting and looked up at the bizarre "hunt" unfolding above.

Ola climbed out of the muddy water. He helped the injured Sir Finley to his feet, and the two stared at the sky, speechless for a long time.

They had just paid the price of wounded comrades to sever a mere three tentacles, yet the unit in the sky was putting on a performance that looked more like an aerial strike drill.

Sir Finley watched the coordination of the Dragon Eagle Knights, watched their perfectly executed attack patterns. The powerful cognitive dissonance almost made him forget the pain of his injuries.

’In past wars, the main role of flying cavalry was to deliver messages, scout enemy positions, and intercept enemy aerial Knights.’

’Some have tried to use them in concentrated formations, but it always ended in failure. They were difficult to coordinate and prone to falling into disarray. A mid-air collision between two riders would be catastrophic, so they usually could only operate alone or in pairs.’

’So how did Velin get them to coordinate so flawlessly?’

The thought flashed through his mind, and he suddenly remembered the hive terminal on the back of his own neck. In an instant, everything became clear!

’I can’t believe it can be used like this!’

’Is... Is this the true way to utilize an aerial cavalry unit?’

「On the tidal flats.」

With a final, unwilling cry, the Deep Dweller’s Bane could no longer support its own immense weight.

Under the moonlight, its massive body slowly, heavily collapsed, like a great tent whose supports had been pulled away.

Its enormous head was the first thing to slam into the shallows, kicking up a towering, turbid wave of blood and mud that spread out in all directions.

A dead silence fell over the battlefield for several seconds.

All the Warriors of the Bonebreak Clan stared blankly at the fallen Magical Beast, then looked up at the circling dark shapes in the sky.

The last shred of confidence in their hearts crumbled in that moment.

After the brief silence, the human soldiers snapped out of their post-disaster stupor and erupted into a deafening cheer.

As the massive beast went limp, one of its tentacles rolled forward, finally coming to rest at Unas’s feet.

The moonlight illuminated the mix of shock, shame, and disbelief on his face.

A voice drifted down from the sky.

"Unas." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Velin descended slowly, riding his gray-black Pegasus.

"Is this the despair you were talking about?"

Unas snapped his head up, glaring at the figure high in the sky.

An irrepressible venom grew in his eyes.

"Land-dwelling mongrel..."

He roared, "You think this is over?"

"CRACK—"

With a crisp snap, the hard, symbiotic shell on Unas’s body cracked open without warning.

A second crack appeared, then a third...

A spiderweb of fissures spread across his entire body.

He began to convulse, his body swelling and twisting.

Four new, even thicker tentacles tore through the shell on his back, bursting from his body in a spray of blood and gore.

He had sacrificed the last of his sanity in exchange for the most primal power of his clan’s heritage.

"ROAR!"

With a beast-like roar, Unas’s body nearly doubled in size within seconds, transforming him into a hideous monster made of bone spurs, carapace, and twisted tentacles.

He felt the surging power within him, ready to tear everything in his sight to shreds.

However, before he could even take his first step...

High above, Velin simply raised his hand and dropped a crystal vial.

"POP."

Following the crisp shattering sound, countless small spheres scattered across the ground.

Many of the spheres rolled to a stop at Unas’s feet.

Before he could react, in almost the same instant, the spheres sprouted tender shoots.

"FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!"

Immediately followed by the eruption of countless dark red vines!

The vines snaked toward Unas as if they were sentient.

The moment the vines touched his skin, the thorns at their tips immediately dug in, sending waves of stinging pain through him.

Unas was startled, but then he realized that while the vines were numerous, they were extremely brittle and seemed as though they would snap with a single pull.

He had just raised a tentacle, preparing to rip these annoying plants to shreds—

"Now!"

Ola roared.

He and Diana’s Knights didn’t charge in for a direct confrontation. Instead, they spread out with perfect coordination, like experienced Hunters, using grappling hooks and long spears to constantly attack and restrain Unas’s other flailing tentacles, preventing him from breaking free of the vines.

In less than a minute, Unas was encased in a cocoon of vines.

Unas’s sacrifice, his final trump card, had become a complete and utter joke in the face of the Molten Blood-sucking Vines.

He was trapped on the spot without even managing to pose a threat to his enemies.

The surging power rampaged within his body, but all it did was make him roar in agony.

Friend and foe alike could only stare as the monster who had just completed its magnificent transformation—who should have brought endless slaughter—now raged impotently like an insect caught in a spider’s web.

The shock of this scene was far more profound than any bloody victory could have been.

Velin, riding Nefarian, slowly descended and came to a stop a short distance from Unas.

He dismounted and walked step by step toward the monster ensnared by vines and grappling hooks. His pace was unhurried, as if he weren’t on a battlefield at all.

Unas raised his head, his bloodshot, beast-like eyes fixed on Velin. After half a month of fighting, the leaders of the two forces were finally face to face.

His chest heaved violently, and a guttural rattle emanated from his throat, as if he were still trying to force out some defiant words.

"You..."

He only managed to get out a single word.

Velin simply raised a hand in Unas’s direction and made a soft clenching gesture.

The Molten Blood-sucking Vines wrapped around Unas suddenly tightened, and their countless needle-like thorns plunged in unison into his flesh!

"Guh... Aaargh..."

Unas could no longer speak, his throat only able to force out agonized moans.

He could clearly feel his blood, his life force, and the surging power he had just obtained being siphoned away through the vines!

His body shriveled at a visible rate.

His carapace turned a deathly gray, his muscles rapidly atrophied, and his skin clung tightly to his bones.

In just over ten seconds.

The hideous, raging monster became a shrunken, desiccated corpse, as if it had been air-dried for centuries.

The vines, now engorged with energy, developed a translucent, crystalline cuticle. They began to faintly glow red and, unexpectedly, bloomed once more with thick clusters of flowers.

The desiccated corpse lost its support and fell with a SPLASH into the mud.

Petals scattered through the air—a scene both cruel and beautiful.

Ola’s mouth hung open, any words he might have said stuck in his throat.

Diana and her Knights also tightened their grip on their weapons, their faces a mixture of shock and... fear.

They had been prepared for a brutal siege, a life-or-death battle against the final monster.

But Velin, in an almost uncanny way, had just declared the war’s end.

The remaining Warriors of the Multi-Armed Race stared blankly at the scene, their weapons slipping from their hands with a CLANG.

Their king, their last hope, had sacrificed his sanity and life to assume his strongest form, only to be sucked into a desiccated husk without even leaving behind a complete final word.