Planet Talandra.
In the Monteferro, due to Raiyaglen having taken a few punches from Orsaga here…
As innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, ninety percent of the region had already been reduced to rubble.
Forget skyscrapers—there weren't even a few single-story houses left standing.
It was only because both sides regarded this place as their personal vegetable garden and didn't want to ruin it entirely that they held back a little during the fight.
Most of the destruction had landed on the other side.
Otherwise, not just this area—other nations might've been wiped off the map too.
In the border mountains.
Bloodied and crouched among the ruins, Silas stared at the shattered remains of the base around him, which now looked like it had just been through dozens of bombing runs. His heart was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions.
During the earthquake just now, because the base was located inside the mountains, a rain of rocks came crashing down from above. The freshly constructed interstellar teleportation gate was immediately smashed to pieces.
Naturally, the people inside didn't fare any better. Many were crushed to death in a daze, not even realizing what hit them.
Boulders several meters tall had fallen like a torrential downpour.
Forget ordinary people—even Silas himself hadn't gotten out unscathed.
As he watched his assistant bandaging his wounds, Silas asked solemnly, "Still no connection on the comms?"
His assistant, also covered in injuries, shook his head and replied:
"Still nothing. No matter who we try to contact, there's no signal. Professor Ellen said it's due to geomagnetic interference. It'll take a while before communications return to normal."
Hearing that, Silas could only sigh helplessly.
"Alright then…"
He looked toward the nearby rescue teams and the workers digging through the collapsed entry tunnel and gave instructions:
"In that case, once the tunnel is cleared, prioritize evacuating the wounded and transporting any critical data. I have a bad feeling the rocks above us were just loosened, not settled. More could fall at any time. Also, earthquakes often come with aftershocks, so let's not stay here longer than we have to…"
Up until now, they still believed everything that had just occurred was a natural disaster—an unavoidable act of God.
No one even considered that there might be another explanation.
Like ants getting stepped on by a passing human, they assumed it was just a matter of chance.
To the humans, it was nothing more than the underside of a shoe. But to the ants, it was the end of the world.
---
After crossing light-years through the Blood Mist Gate and returning to the heart of the Sun…
Orsaga felt absolutely nothing.
These so-called aliens held no special meaning for him.
As a demon who traversed countless worlds, he couldn't care less which rock in space they crawled out of.
To him, they were exactly what he had said before—just extra spoils of war.
If their strength had been even slightly better—enough to resist Orsaga's mark—then, without a clear set of coordinates, they might have escaped with their lives.
But they were far too weak.
The moment they gazed upon Orsaga's true form, their bodies and souls were instantly branded.
With a single thought, he twisted their corpses into "Deathblossoms"—sacrificial anchors to facilitate his descent.
Standing in the center of the Sun, Orsaga absorbed fire energy through his affinity with flame demons to restore some of his spent power.
Then he casually sliced open space in front of him, revealing a portal leading back to Planet Talandra.
He stepped through in an instant.
Orsaga's figure reappeared in what was once Nasa City, now nothing more than a lifeless wasteland.
He looked around, utterly unmoved by the devastation.
No matter the world, the weak are always the ones caught in the crossfire—whether it's in the Abyss or in the so-called modern world.
Only the form of the tragedy changes.
The only reason Orsaga had returned here was because of the souls he had casually harvested earlier.
After instinctively scanning their memories…
He discovered something unexpectedly interesting.
[Interstellar Teleportation Gate]
According to the brains of those aliens, this was considered highly advanced technology.
But where had this backwater planet gotten the know-how and materials to build such a thing?
As far as Orsaga knew, while there were some alien ruins on this world, the aliens who left them behind were more like refugees than pioneers.
Trash like them couldn't have left behind anything of true value.
That was precisely why those "gods" had lingered on such a primitive planet—just wasting time pretending to be divine.
So, the origins of that technology and those materials… likely weren't simple.
Ever since learning about this, Orsaga's sixth sense had been flashing red.
Following the memories he had plundered, Orsaga found the Silas Grey family estate, now leveled beyond recognition.
A single glance at the flattened ruins confirmed there were no survivors.
No sign of Silas' soul among the wandering spirits nearby either.
So, Orsaga shifted his attention to another location Silas frequented.
---
Perched atop a towering peak, Orsaga gazed down at the recently collapsed and landslide-ridden mountain range.
His golden eyes pierced through the terrain, instantly locking onto his target among the thousands below.
Sitting on a step with his head hung low, Silas looked completely defeated.
His face was a mixture of relief at having survived and despair at all his efforts going to waste.
Once Orsaga confirmed his identity, his body turned intangible, slipping through solid rock as he descended from the mountaintop like a feather on the wind.
Without a sound, he landed lightly in front of Silas.
Orsaga looked down at him, sensing a strange, murky soul—one he couldn't entirely decipher.
With a calm expression, he said:
"A peculiar soul… You're not from this planet, are you?"
Startled by the sudden voice, Silas jerked upright.
Everyone had a unique voice, and this one carried a strange quality—calm and cold, yet radiating an undeniable air of supremacy and authority.
The moment he heard it, Silas knew he had never met this being before.
And what the other had just said made his heart skip a beat and sent terror flooding through him.
It felt as though his greatest secret had just been laid bare.
He immediately raised his head to look at Orsaga, who had appeared out of nowhere.
And the instant his eyes met those golden vertical pupils—before he could even register Orsaga's full appearance—a familiar ding echoed in his ears.
A mission prompt—visible only to him—flashed before his eyes.
But this time… the mission frame wasn't the usual gray and translucent.
It was rainbow-colored.
[Detected Mythical-Grade Mission: Terror from the Abyss!]
[Mission brief: Abyssal demons are entities that dwell within the lowest depths of the multiverse—the Abyss, where all sin and corruption converge. They possess power far beyond mortal comprehension. They know no morality, no mercy, no kindness. All life, all civilization, and all existence are their prey. Destruction is their nature. And the being before you… is one of the finest among them.]
[Mission Objective: As a resident of this world, for the sake of its peace and survival, you must use any means necessary to repel or eliminate the being before you!!!]
[Mission Rewards:
Repel target — 2,875,800,000 System Points.
Eliminate target — 37,550,000,000 System Points.]
Staring at the mission description… and that dazzling string of zeroes…
Silas' brain completely shut down.
'System… what the fuck! You're basically sending me to my death…'
____
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