# Chapter 27: Absolute Shelter
The exploration center, built on solid rock foundations along a narrow fissure, was now filled with instruments. The five members of the squad moved back and forth among the various devices, occasionally stepping outside to retrieve sample materials for testing.
Most of the instruments had actually been crafted on-site in the alien world by the alchemist using alchemy, using locally available materials. Only some high-precision core components were carried by the team leader. Since World One happened to be a metal-rich world, the group simply created a full set of experimental tools and set up a small temporary laboratory.
"Hey, the mana concentration is off. Mage, take a look at this reading."
At that moment, the alchemist, who had been monitoring the surrounding energy and elemental concentration changes, suddenly exclaimed softly, speaking to the mage beside him. As he spoke, the knight, the clergy, and even Priest turned their heads, joining the mage in looking at the spinning gauge.
"Wait, this isn't just 'off'!" The moment he saw the gauge, the knight was startled. He shouted loudly: "How did it suddenly spike to over thirty times the baseline value?! Is your instrument broken?!"
"I think it might be broken too, which is why I called the mage over to check." The alchemist nodded calmly: "Don't panic yet. Let me and the mage analyze whether it's an instrument issue."
But soon, they didn't need to analyze any instrument issues, because everyone present could sense it—the surrounding mana concentration was skyrocketing at a visibly observable rate. Elemental particles began spontaneously condensing in the air. Even the knight, who knew nothing about magic, could see the radiance of the six elements within the laboratory. This immediately threw the exploration team into a brief state of panic.
But what came next would erase even that brief moment of calm.
Because from the sky above, accompanied by rumbling thunder, black mist officially descended upon the earth, falling like black rain.
Whoosh—
One could see a black line falling vertically from the vacuum beyond the sky, plunging into the dense metallic clouds. Along its path, it continuously spread and split, like ink dripping into clear water, constantly contaminating the surrounding matter. In the blink of an eye, this mass of black mist had swallowed all the metallic clouds within dozens of kilometers, transforming those gray-white metal particles into a shimmering, dark, watery surface.
The next moment, the surface collapsed, turning into a surging torrent that rushed toward the deep crustal fissures.
Across the entire sky of World One, there were over forty tributaries of black mist. They simultaneously entered over forty crustal fissures, penetrating deep into the planet's core. As the black mist delved deeper, the world's turbulent crustal movements immediately began to calm. The scorching lava vents gradually fell silent. The tranquil lava lakes started cooling. The fissures that had been releasing large amounts of metallic black smoke and high-heat steam ceased their activity, as if dead. The continuous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had long since stopped.
One could even see that deep within the mantle, the orange-red magma seas were turning black in vast patches, as if all vitality had been plundered... It was certain that the black mist was using the crustal fissures as entry points, wantonly absorbing the planet's energy.
This planet was merely a refueling station for it.
And the elite squad members, located in the laboratory near the crustal fissure, were 'fortunate' enough to witness this scene firsthand.
The mage, who had originally intended to check the mana concentration, stared in shock at the images transmitted from the observation array deep within the fissure. Together with his companions, he witnessed the black mist invading the planet's interior and absorbing the magma's energy. Everyone remained utterly silent, afraid of attracting its attention.
"What in the world is this thing... Penetrating into the planet's core, absorbing magma, and capable of self-replication?"
The clergy whispered: "This thing... at the very least, it's at the Ultimate Peak level, right?"
"No..."
Priest stared at the screen, watching the black mist greedily devour the mantle magma, swallowing all the energy within the entire fissure clean. He swallowed hard: "It's Legendary."
"We've encountered a Legendary-rank alien existence—what are you all standing around for? Run!"
The moment he finished speaking, the entire laboratory erupted into panicked preparations. Within a few seconds, everyone had packed the most important data and materials onto their persons. As for the equipment in the lab—let it be lost. Even if they had dozens of times more equipment, it couldn't compare to the value of discovering information about a Legendary alien existence. Their most important task now was to flee as far as possible from this terrifying entity, then send a message back to Mycroft, requesting reinforcements or ordering the termination of the exploration and an immediate return.
Thirty seconds later, everyone was aboard the off-road vehicle driven by the knight. The next moment, as he stomped down hard on the mana pedal, the engine roared. The entire vehicle completed its transformation in an instant and flew into the air.
It was at this moment that the elite squad members truly saw the full scope of the horrifying event unfolding on World One.
"My god..."
Watching this scene, the knight's hands began to tremble as he drove. But soon, he regained his composure and gripped the steering wheel firmly. Even so, the entire flying car spun rapidly in the air for a full rotation, eliciting cries of alarm from everyone inside.
This wasn't his fault, because everyone in the squad had a similar reaction... After all, what they saw was enough to shake even an Ultimate-rank expert into a daze.
—It was a black sky.
The gray-white metallic clouds that had originally shrouded World One had completely vanished. They had all transformed into a smooth substance resembling a black water surface, reflecting ripples of energy. This black water-cloud covered most of the planet's surface, absorbing as much of the overflowing energy and heat as possible. Beyond this, the sky had extended over forty black needle-like appendages, like straws, plunging straight into various crustal fissures. One could see that, from time to time, a mass of golden-red energy would be transmitted from beneath the black needles up to the main body of the water-cloud above, causing faint traces of golden-red light to flow within its pitch-black form.
The scene was so magnificent that it surpassed some people's imagination. If one had to make an analogy, it was like a colossal insect covering the sky, bending down over a giant called 'world,' wantonly drinking its scorching blood.
The elite squad had no way to deal with this... What could they do? Encountering an existence of this level on their very first exploration mission—they were helpless. All they could do was urge the knight to accelerate, to leave the dangerous vicinity of the crustal fissure as quickly as possible, hoping not to attract its attention.
"We're just tiny bugs. Please ignore us like grains of sand..."
The alchemist frantically made various divine hand gestures, beginning to pray to someone unknown. The clergy closed his eyes and started muttering: "You can't see me, can't see me, can't see me..."
But Priest didn't have the luxury of ignoring reality. He was constantly checking the maps they had drawn during their recent exploration of the surrounding area, frantically giving directions to the knight who was stomping on the accelerator. The mage, for his part, was going all out, casting five consecutive Featherweight spells on the off-road vehicle. Everything was for the sake of better escape.
But it was all futile.
Boom, boom—accompanied by thunderous roars, the black sky seemed to have finished feeding. It retracted its forty-plus tentacles, merging them back into its body. Its massive, bowl-shaped main body began to rapidly transform, condensing into a perfectly spherical black orb floating in the sky. The radius of this orb alone exceeded fifty kilometers. Hovering above the earth like this, it brought a suffocating, terrifying pressure to every existence in the entire world.
And its next move made the elite squad's souls flee in terror.
The colossal black orb, whose form alone rivaled a city, condensed a geometric pattern of consciousness flow resembling an eye beneath its spherical body. It 'gazed' at the small flying car speeding away at two hundred kilometers per hour, as if judging something.
Then, it generated a tentacle and 'lightly' swung it in the direction of the flying car.
The moment the black orb 'looked' at them, the thoughts of everyone in the elite squad froze in an instant. They sensed that, both in spirit and in matter, an incredibly terrifying, incredibly vast existence was directly staring at them. In that instant, the world seemed to dim. All light and color became meaningless. They felt as if they would sink into darkness, until their will was destroyed, their bodies dissolved, and their lives dissipated into the void.
If they were ordinary people, that would certainly have been their end, with no chance of escape. But fortunately, they were not ordinary. Having at least undergone training from a certain lord, they had ample experience in resisting this type of attack.
So, after a brief period of sinking, Priest awoke from the dark illusion in a cold sweat. The knight immediately began to regain control of the flying car, which had nearly crashed due to loss of control. Almost everyone recovered at the same time. But before they could begin to celebrate their luck and the resistance brought by their training, they all saw that tentacle, swung from nearly a thousand kilometers away, seemingly 'lightly' lashing out.
Seemingly light, but in reality, this tentacle swung by the black orb was nearly a kilometer thick. As it swept through the atmosphere, it generated layers of sonic booms and shockwaves capable of leveling mountains. The tentacle grazed a metal mountain on World One, and that mountain was instantly snapped in half at its waist, the fracture turning into magma from the friction of high heat.
Seeing this, the elite squad members knew that even an Ultimate-rank expert would have to be extremely careful facing this strike, or they would be turned to dust in an instant. What chance did they, a group of young people who hadn't even reached Gold-rank, have? The knight, who had been furiously stomping on the accelerator, let his foot slip. The mage, who had been maintaining the shield, sighed and lay back in his seat. The alchemist held his information terminal, apparently writing his last words. The clergy took out a photograph, closed his eyes, and seemed to be muttering to the person in the picture.
Priest wasn't much better off. The first thought that flashed through his mind was, 'Would it hurt to be killed in one strike by a Legendary-rank existence?' But just as he was on the verge of utter despair, this gray-haired man from the south noticed the photograph in the clergy's hand.
It was a magical image of a young girl. The girl seemed to be taking a selfie, smiling happily and joyfully. She was probably the clergy's relative or girlfriend... And because of this image, Priest thought of his own sister. He remembered his responsibilities. He remembered the oath he had once made to her.
He remembered many things, including that afternoon at Ares Fortress, when he had learned from that master, or rather, barely grasped, an ultimate technique.
"What the hell are you spacing out for? Do you really think you're doomed to die?!"
Suddenly, inside the vehicle, Priest roared, jolting all his despairing teammates from their deathly silence. His eyes blazed as he looked around at his squad: "Even if we're going to die! We fight to the very last moment! No matter how strong the enemy is, we must dare to strike back, even charge forward!"
"Have you all forgotten who taught you? If you don't even dare to resist, you'll be too ashamed to go to hell even if you die!"
Before he finished speaking, he pulled out five mana potions, each gleaming with a different radiance. Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth, opened the injection slot on his arm guard, and inserted all the potions one by one.
—Gulp, gulp, gulp... Instantly, Dragon Strength Potion, Mana Burn Potion, Lightning Potion, Iron Armor Potion, and Holy Healing Potion—five high-grade magical potions were simultaneously injected into Priest's body. Wild mana and holy light power surged through the warrior's body. In that instant, accompanied by the sound of blood spraying, one could only see the transparent observation visor on Priest's helmet turn completely red. Yet he steadfastly pulled out a semi-transparent, crystal-like large shield from behind and placed it before him.
"Damn it, if the captain isn't afraid to die, then neither am I!"
"Death or not, I want to see if this alien monster's casual swipe can take me down!"
Seeing Priest's resolute actions, the other elite squad members also found courage in their hearts—after all, death was inevitable, so why not die gloriously, fighting with everything they had? The sound of potion injections rang out one after another. The off-road vehicle's speed increased even further, and the shield covering its exterior was reinforced layer upon layer in an almost unbelievable manner, even wrapping numerous holy light divine spells.
"Haha, that's the spirit!" Priest smashed the rear window of the off-road vehicle. Looking at his companions, who had now roused themselves and were at least fighting for their lives, a surge of curiosity welled up in his heart. He stepped out, standing at the rear of the vehicle. Priest placed the semi-transparent crystal great shield—the 'Gravity Shield' personally crafted by Joshua von Radcliffe—before him. His eyes and his entire body surged with wild white battle qi flames.
And before him, a tentacle, as massive as a mountain range, capable of shattering the crust and tearing apart continental plates, was slowly descending.
"Let me show you the 'Ultimate Technique' bestowed by my teacher!"