Chapter 26: The Second Monster Tide, Cleared in 36 Seconds!

Buzz.

A low hum echoed across the territory.

The protective barrier suddenly flared to life!

The villagers had barely begun to breathe a sigh of relief when—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Countless red points of light suddenly appeared within the mist.

In the blink of an eye, they tore through the night sky and slammed mercilessly into the territory barrier.

BOOM!

The entire territory shook violently.

The villagers lost their footing and fell to the ground.

"AAAH—!"

[Territory Barrier Durability: 82%!]

[Area-of-effect fire bombardment detected. Barrier durability is continuing to decrease...]

"The monsters... the monsters are here!"

One sharp-eyed villager had not even gotten back to his feet when he spotted flashes of green through the fog beyond the fence.

He screamed in despair.

BOOM!

[Territory Barrier Durability: 58%!]

[Warning: Defensive structure severely damaged. Barrier collapse imminent!]

"Look! It’s those green-skinned runts!"

A short, stocky villager with his little finger missing pointed ahead, trembling violently.

"Goblins! It’s a goblin siege force with catapults and fire-oil jars!"

The flames burned a hole through the mist.

The monsters outside were finally revealed.

More than a hundred green-skinned goblin warriors stood in formation, each wearing a rusted iron helmet and carrying curved blades and burning fuses.

Behind them—

stood nearly a hundred wooden siege catapults.

Their status panels immediately appeared.

[Wild Monster: Goblin Sapper — Siege Vanguard]

[Faction: Goblin Legion]

[Tier: Two-Star]

[Level: Lv10]

[HP: 1,800]

[Attack: 260]

[Defense: 110]

[Skills: Mechanical Stone Launch, Fire-Oil Bombardment, Wild Blade Thrust]

[Description: Cunning goblins skilled at operating crude machinery. With fire oil and siege catapults, they possess extremely high destructive power against stationary defensive structures.]

The catapults were wound up for a second volley.

Creak—

The Goblin Sappers shrieked as they loaded boulders soaked in black oil into the launching slings.

[Skill Activated: Mechanical Stone Launch!]

[Skill Activated: Fire-Oil Bombardment!]

A violent whistling sound tore through the air again.

More than a hundred flaming boulders rose into the sky and hurtled toward the already unstable territory barrier.

"It’s over... We’re finished."

One of the villagers collapsed onto the ground.

"What if His Lordship doesn’t come back? Once the barrier breaks, those green-skinned monsters will eat us..."

Despair quickly spread through the crowd.

And then—

ROOOOAR!

A deep, ancient, majestic dragon roar suddenly thundered from within the clouds.

The lead-gray night sky was instantly dyed purple.

WHOOSH!

A massive pillar of deep-purple flame descended from a thousand meters above like an inverted waterfall.

BOOM!

The dragonflame struck the ground.

Every trace of mist within a hundred meters outside the territory was instantly blasted away.

Scorching heat swept across the area, carrying the smell of charred stone and flesh.

More than a dozen flaming boulders still flying toward the barrier entered the purple flames—

and before the stone could endure the heat for even a second, they carbonized, shattered, and disintegrated into black ash in midair.

Then the torrent of dragonfire swept across the goblin formation.

-5,450!

-6,202!

-5,840!

Dense white damage numbers erupted along the edge of the mist.

The hundred-plus Goblin Sappers didn’t even have time to scream.

They were incinerated into ash.

The battlefield that had been filled with shrill cries and roaring siege engines only seconds ago—

fell completely silent.

BOOM!

The air churned again.

A gigantic purple crystal dragon with a wingspan approaching one hundred meters tore through the remaining fire and mist overhead.

Its enormous shadow covered the entire territory.

The soul flames burning inside the eye sockets of the Undead Spearmen and Undead Sentinels flickered slightly.

As if receiving a command—

the formations simultaneously shifted aside.

A wide, open space immediately appeared in the center of the territory.

THUD!

Dragon claws struck the earth.

Soil erupted upward.

A violent gust of wind swept through the settlement, making the wooden fences creak and groan.

The villagers huddled together behind them turned deathly pale.

They scrambled backward in panic.

"A dragon...!"

"A giant dragon!"

The villager with the missing finger went weak at the knees.

He pointed toward the enormous creature covered in purple crystal-like scales and spines.

"Isn’t that an Ancient Dragon?!"

"The ancient scriptures said the Primordial Ancient Dragons went extinct ages ago! Why is one here?! And how did it get through the territory barrier?!"

"Help!"

Compared to the Goblin Sappers—

a dragon was clearly far more terrifying.

But then—

a slender figure stepped to the edge of the dragon’s back.

A black-haired young man lightly jumped down from the scales more than ten meters above the ground.

Tap.

Every native stopped breathing.

They stared blankly at the young man who had just descended from the Ancient Dragon.

Gru’s wooden staff slipped from his hand and fell into the mud.

His knees gave way.

"Lord... Lord John!"

"It’s you!"

"You’re back!"

"His Lordship is back!"

The dozens of refugees behind him finally realized what was happening.

One after another, they dropped to their knees.

That entire night had nearly scared them to death.

At the same moment—

another announcement appeared before every Lord in Godfall Battlefield.

[Global Announcement: Day-Two Monster Siege Speed Rankings have been finalized!]

[Congratulations to Lord "Tyrant" for achieving the World-First Clear with a time of 36 seconds!]

The announcement sounded three times.

World Chat was undoubtedly about to explode again.

But John had no time to look.

He simply turned his head toward the enormous purple crystal dragon and gave a slight nod.

"Ophelia. Transform."

"Yes, my Lord."

A clear, cold voice came from the dragon’s massive jaws.

Immediately afterward, deep-purple flames began contracting inward around her enormous body.

Her massive skeletal frame and wings rapidly disappeared within the flames.

A few seconds later—

the purple fire faded.

A tall dragon woman stood in its place.

She wore fitted light armor.

Silver hair fell across her shoulders.

The sword Dragon Fang hung at her waist.

Her expression was cold and proud.

Her dark golden vertical pupils swept indifferently across the refugees kneeling on the ground.

Then she quietly walked to John’s side and stopped half a step behind him.

The villagers hardly dared to breathe.

Who could possibly believe—

that a being capable of transforming into a world-destroying Ancient Dragon would behave so obediently before their Lord?

John looked down at the kneeling crowd and raised one hand.

"Her name is Ophelia."

His voice was calm.

"Stand up."

"She’s one of us. There’s nothing to be afraid of."

The villagers slowly rose to their feet.

Every one of them stared straight at John.

It was obvious that they had countless questions they desperately wanted to ask.

But John had no intention of explaining anything.

"I know you have a lot of questions."

"We’ll talk about them later."

His gaze swept across the crowd as he quickly made arrangements.

"For now, all elderly people, women, and children return to the wooden houses and rest."

"All able-bodied adult men stay behind."

Then he looked toward Gru at the front of the crowd.

"Gru. Come with me."

"Yes, my Lord!"

Gru hurriedly bowed and followed closely behind John.

The two entered the wooden house at the center of the territory.

Several wooden planks had been shaken loose from the recent bombardment, but John ignored them.

He found a chair that was still usable and sat down.

Then he looked at Gru.

"Gru."

"Other than your surviving settlement..."

"are there any other native human settlements somewhere in this wasteland?"