Chapter 59: Ten Plagues, Part One: Heavenly Fire
Facing the fierce, earth-shaking battle outside the city, the elves within the city felt not only a profound fear but also a deep-seated hatred and helplessness in their hearts.
This was their world, their kingdom. By all rights, they should be the ones personally defending their city, their homeland. Even if they died in battle, it would be a worthy end.
But now, they were shamefully huddled in underground shelters, trembling as they waited for the unfamiliar outsiders to return victorious, or for the stone giants' feet to crush them down—whether it was fighting, fleeing, or dying, the choice and the right to decide were not in their hands.
In the city center, inside a spacious room within the town hall, countless elves stared intently at a massive light screen suspended in midair, holding their breath as they watched the blurry images upon it.
Under the gaze of the many elves, the mist within the light screen was being peeled away layer by layer by some force. Even the dark clouds were thinning. Thunder, heavy rain, and gloom vanished within seconds, revealing the brilliant starry sky and night behind them.
But they were not focused on that. Their attention was on the center of the light screen—the 'mountain peak' that bore a faint metallic sheen.
This 'mountain peak' was hundreds of meters tall, its form immensely vast. Its entire surface was covered in eerie, ferocious light eyes, its body wrapped in cyan lightning, and its slopes were filled with twisted, distorted runes. Just looking at it filled one with a deep sense of malice and unease.
Now, this mountain peak was trembling incessantly, releasing faint streaks of lightning and shockwaves from its body. It was this very force that had scattered the clouds, revealing the night sky.
Watching this scene, a middle-aged elf sitting in the front row trembled all over. Even through the light screen, he felt a profound chill. Closing his eyes, he muttered softly and despairingly, "Merging together... So the stone demons had this ability all along... Were all our past battles with them just child's play?"
Had the soldiers who fought desperately to defend their homeland, staking their lives and souls, only won because the enemy simply hadn't cared?
Because of the earlier mist, the elves had not seen the scene of the rock giants merging together. But based on the commotion, anyone could guess the gist of it. However, due to the angle of observation, they also hadn't seen the warrior charge into the mountain peak. They assumed Joshua had either fled or simply died.
Even such a powerful being could not prevail. At this thought, an invisible fear spread through the room. A tremendous pressure, like a stubborn stone, lodged in the throats of everyone present, making it impossible for them to speak. A younger-looking elf laughed bitterly, pulling a gun from his waist, preparing to give himself a quick and clean death. Although his action was immediately stopped by a companion beside him, an even heavier pressure settled upon them all.
"What in the world is this thing?!"
Someone struggled, roaring in a voice so low it was barely audible, "Why—why has such a monster appeared in our world?!"
He was asking.
But no one answered.
Desperate silence drowned everything.
Until light blazed once more at the edge of the sky.
The night sky was illuminated by red light, darkness torn apart by it. But what it brought was not the radiance of hope, but the poisonous fire of hell. Under the numb gazes of all the elves, a formation of ten rings appeared once again in the sky of this world, as if a colossal entity projected from beyond the world was bringing a relentless barrage of meteorites.
And this time, their landing point was no longer the desolate outskirts and forests, but the center of Babel Province's capital.
The Black Dragon detected the anomaly in the sky. The half-dragon let out a long roar, forcefully spraying out beams of light from its chest core, destroying meteorites. But its power had limits, and the number of meteorites seemed endless. After several minutes of the half-dragon's desperate interception, the first successful meteorite finally crashed into the eastern side of the provincial capital.
A flaming boulder, dragging a long tail of fire, spun and slammed into a tall building. In an instant, the towering structure turned into flying debris, countless clouds of dust billowing up. The shockwave it unleashed swept through the city like a tornado-force gale, blowing away everything on the streets.
A great fire spread rapidly. Carried by the wind, it engulfed half the city in moments. And the terrifying tremors endangered the underground shelters. The lights underground all dimmed and went out instantly. In the darkness, with debris constantly falling from above, the cramped shelters became a hell of wails and screams. Countless people panicked, desperate to flee this dangerous place that could collapse at any moment. But they despairingly discovered that all the entrances and exits to the shelters had caved in. Although the vast underground space was extremely sturdy and hadn't collapsed even so, they had no way out.
Where there was one, there was a second, a third, a fourth. Even if the Black Dragon gave its all, it could only shatter a few dozen meteorites at most. But how many stone demons were falling from the sky now? Loranda stood by its side, wanting to help this half-dragon. But he was just a paladin. Even Joshua couldn't stop so many meteorites, let alone him.
And so, under the helpless and furious gaze of the one dragon and one man, meteorites struck the city one after another. The great fire spread rapidly, turning the entire city into a sea of flames in an instant.
The city was destroyed.
And this scene was not happening in just one place.
In every major city of the Federation's nine provinces, wherever life gathered, meteorites fell like divine punishment, striking precisely at the most densely populated areas. Only the Federation's central district, using an advanced experimental technology—a mana barrier with deflection capabilities—could withstand such a fierce assault.
Within just a few minutes, the death toll in the Bay Federation exceeded a million, perhaps more. The rest could only barely survive in the shelters. The number of dead had become a mere statistic under such terrifying numbers, enough to numb the mind. And even more terrifying was that the stone demons continued to descend endlessly, as if they would not stop until every life was utterly extinguished.
In Babel Province, countless rock puppets slowly rose from the fire-burning craters. The light in their eye sockets flickered uncertainly, as if judging the situation through the formations within their minds. Above their heads, golden threads fell to the earth, generating endless tremors and dust.
Building a house takes months. Constructing a city takes years. Founding a nation relies on the efforts of several generations. Forming a civilization requires hundreds or thousands of years.
Destroying them—takes only seconds.
In the sky, the mysterious ring of light rotated slowly. No one knew its origin, nor the secrets behind it. Other than raining down stone demons and destroying all life, no one could discern any other purpose.
Perhaps it was simply pure destruction.
Beneath the radiance of the ring, the puppet-like stone demon army swept everything flat. They marched in unison, advancing shoulder to shoulder. The earth trembled under the feet of these monsters, and from time to time, groups of stone demons would recombine into even larger stone giants.
In less than ten minutes, the once-peaceful elven city had transformed into a scene from another world.
At the top of a hill near the Thunder Mountain, the half-dragon and the paladin gritted their teeth as they watched the scene unfold in the city. Their eyes blazed with fury, their fists clenched so tightly that their knuckles turned white. If not for their worry about Joshua's safety and the need to guard against the rock giants around the Thunder Mountain, they might have already returned to the city to wipe out the newly descended stone demons that were rampaging and slaughtering.
In truth, the life or death of the elves of this world had nothing to do with them. Whether they lived or died was not important. There were no friends of the half-dragon or the paladin among them. As beings from another world, strictly speaking, it was even questionable whether these elves could be considered 'people.'
They should not have been so angry—that would have been the logical response.
But anger knows no logic.
The Black Dragon roared, its voice filled with fury. Golden flames seemed to burn in its pupils. Though the half-dragon hadn't spent much time with these elves, it found them quite interesting. They respected it greatly and had provided it with many delicacies it had never tasted before.
Moreover, it remembered the elven child who wasn't afraid of it, and the white-haired old man who spoke in strange tongues—but now, they were all dead or alive, unknown. The city was ablaze, stone demons rampaging, destroying everything.
The paladin, surprisingly, remained calm. He had already vented his anger earlier, during his conversation with Joshua. Now, though filled with rage, he knew what he should do.
This civilization, with elves as its primary race, was now being invaded by an unknown evil god. Besides the known [Famine Evil God], [Plague Evil God], and [Abyss], this was the fourth chaotic force to actually appear, not just recorded in history. They knew nothing about this terrifying existence, yet were forced to face its army head-on due to the sealed space-time passage—their situation was far more dangerous than imagined.
"Now, it all depends on Joshua."
Clenching his fists, Loranda stared at the trembling Thunder Mountain. He said in a low voice, "If he can take down this big one, then everything will be fine."
Otherwise, no one would be able to escape from that terrifying web of fire.
Inside the mountain peak.
The Joshua being discussed by others was weaving through enormous blood vessels made of rock.
Better to call them conduits than blood vessels. Inside this slightly metallic mountain peak were vast caves and tunnels, through which immense amounts of magical power flowed at high speed. Joshua moved swiftly along the flow of magic, advancing toward the core of the Thunder Mountain.
Along the way, he saw countless intricate magical runes flashing on the cave walls in mysterious patterns. With just a glance, the warrior recognized extremely rare high-level runes, including [Animated Life], [Thunder Divine Pattern], [Assimilation], and [Indestructible Fortress]—some of which were considered secret arts even on the Mycroft Continent.
The more he saw, the heavier Joshua's heart became.
The Famine Evil God was born from the remnants of the crystal insect Yhormades' swarm, gathering the resentment of a world devoured bare. Though incredible, it was easy to understand. Most evil gods and chaotic monsters were born this way—they emerged from the remnants of order, from the realm of death, monsters absolutely rejected by the world.
But—looking ahead, more and more magical patterns, nearly endless, covered the interior of the Thunder Mountain. The hazy glow of magical power even created tiny streaks of lightning in the air. These lightning bolts, like nerves, transmitted vast amounts of information at the speed of light, allowing the core to control such a massive body as the Thunder Mountain.
What kind of chaos was this?! The technology contained within it might surpass even the highest standards of the Mycroft Continent!
Sensing the concentration of magical power around him, Joshua's expression was grim. He was now only seconds away from the core of the Thunder Mountain. But the journey had been too smooth, putting the warrior on high alert. The enemy's power and technology far exceeded his expectations. Joshua didn't believe that an enemy of this level would have no defenses.
Turning a corner, there was no more path. But the warrior could sense that behind the stone wall ahead lay his target—the energy core of the Thunder Mountain.
But an infinite amount of magical power, accompanied by lightning, converged to form a dazzling mass of light. This mass had a roughly humanoid shape, with liquid plasma flowing over its body. The moment it formed, it lunged at the warrior at incredible speed. This lightning humanoid possessed the power of Gold High-rank and had no physical form, moving almost instantaneously. By the time Joshua noticed its formation, a fist crackling with lightning was already flying toward his face.