Chapter 27: Chaotic Battle Against Demonic Beast 1
The cultivators had arrived.
At the heart of the cursed basin, a vast clearing spread like a battlefield carved by fate itself. Jagged cliffs circled the land while crooked, dead trees leaned inward as though drawn toward the darkness. The air was unnaturally still, silent to the point of suffocation. Not a bird chirped. Not a single insect stirred. The entire forest seemed to hold its breath.
Every step toward the colossal cave at the center felt like a march toward death. Sect flags swayed in the stale wind. Rogues gripped their weapons with shaking hands. Some muttered hurried prayers to gods who had never listened. A low hum leaked from the cavern mouth, a sound too deep to be natural. It was as though the cave itself breathed, exhaling darkness with every pulse.
Silver-Tier 5 disciples and sect elites stood like generals surveying a warfront. Lower-tier disciples shifted nervously, their Ki trembling, their fear barely contained.
The cave rumbled.
A thunderous roar erupted from the abyss, shaking the cliffs to their roots. Then the darkness surged.
A tidal wave of black smog swept outward, rolling across the basin in mere seconds. It swallowed cliffs, trees, and disciples alike.
Screams erupted first from the weakest—Bronze-Tier warriors in rogue ranks, followed by Silver-Tier 1 and even a few fragile Silver-Tier 2 disciples. The smog seared their skin and clawed into their lungs. Energy itself resisted, fraying within anyone too weak to resist.
"Formations, now!"
"Seal your Ki pathways!"
"Cut the smoke with fire!"
Flames burst across the clearing. Wind cultivators sliced through the air, dispersing pockets of poison with desperate swings. Spiritual shields flared like sparks in the storm. The smog thinned slightly, yet refused to vanish. It lingered like a predator waiting to strike.
The smog had only been the prelude.
From the mouth of the cavern poured the nightmare.
Dozens, then hundreds, of demonic beasts surged forth. Their flesh was warped, their eyes burning with sickly red light. Foam dripped from jaws that snapped with ceaseless hunger. Some slithered with glistening scales. Others galloped on too many legs. A few beat wings that scattered black feathers heavy with corruption.
Their ranks seemed endless. Bronze-Tier creatures led the front lines, rabid and mindless. Behind them stalked Silver-Tier beasts, stronger, smarter, deadlier. And from the shadows of the cave, fourteen hulking Silver-Tier 5 monsters emerged.
Each radiated a violent aura that warped the air. One bore scales black as obsidian. Another had two twisted heads that whispered constantly, words no mortal could understand. Wings, claws, fangs, and madness defined them. Yet none charged blindly. They stood waiting eyes glowing brighter while gathering energy.
And then the true terror stepped forward.
A Gold-Tier 1 beast emerged. Twice the size of the rest, its horns jagged, its fur a dark crimson that seemed to drink the light. Black smoke poured off its hide like blood boiling into vapor.
It spoke.
"Foolish intruders…" Its voice was guttural, broken, like a thousand throats trying to speak as one. "Your blood shall feed our evolution. This is our domain. Your end has come."
The basin trembled under its words. The temperature dropped. Disciples froze mid-step. The aura it exuded was suffocating. Yet no one fled.
The lieutenants did not move. The fourteen Silver-Tier 5 monsters stood as silent pillars, their bodies glowing faintly, their energy pulsing in rhythm. They were not wild animals. They were soldiers. They were preparing something.
The ground split as the first wave of Bronze-Tier beasts surged forward, a flood of teeth and claws. Silver-Tier 2 and 3 cultivators rushed to meet them, the clash immediate and deafening.
"Brace the line!"
"Don't let them break through!"
"Kill everything that charges!"
Steel struck flesh. Firestorms engulfed swarms. Ice spears shattered into dozens of shards. Wind blades howled across the clearing. Explosions rattled the cliffs as spells detonated in the mass.
The second wave followed. Silver-Tier 1 through 4 beasts lunged into the fray. They fought with precision, slamming through formations, tearing into unguarded flanks. Silver-Tier 4 disciples entered fully, their arts resembling natural disasters. Lightning rivers tore open the sky. Oceans of flame consumed entire clusters of monsters. Stone erupted beneath the soil like the fists of giants.
The sects fought side by side, yet trust never existed. Wide-range attacks slaughtered friend and foe alike. Firestorms engulfed ally and enemy without hesitation. Ice barriers spiked beneath rival feet. The battlefield was chaos, where survival outweighed loyalty.
And above it all, the Gold-Tier beast watched like a cruel king. The lieutenants remained still, their eyes glowing brighter.
Then new madness arrived.
From the forest's edge, a crimson and black explosion lit the sky.
Dozens of demonic cultivators stormed the battlefield. Ragged robes bore insignias of sects long forgotten. Some wore bone-white masks. Others cloaked themselves in shadows so thick their faces were unseen.
They chanted curses and unleashed forbidden arts. Dark flames ignited, warped spirits howled, and twisted spells crackled across the battlefield. They cut into beasts and humans alike, madness dripping from their movements.
One heretic shattered a Silver-Tier 3 beast's limbs with his cursed blade—only to be torn apart seconds later by a larger monster that lunged from behind. The beasts slaughtered indiscriminately. They cared nothing for allegiances. Blood was blood.
The field dissolved into a hellscape. Screams and roars blended into a single symphony of death.
Far away, along a broken slope lined with dead vines, Elton Solman and his companions stopped in their tracks. The ground trembled beneath their feet. The air quaked with distant shockwaves.
Zoro turned his head slightly, his gaze cutting through the trees. "Those are no small rumblings. A war is erupting."
Christy narrowed her eyes, sensing the surges. "The sects must already be clashing. That pressure could only come from a battle that involves everyone."
Elton clenched his fists. Even from here, the echo of the battlefield reached him. The inner pull inside him sharpened, almost throbbing with anticipation.
Then they saw it.
From the trees ahead, demonic beasts stampeded. Their eyes glowed crimson, but their direction was strange. They weren't hunting Elton's group—they were fleeing.
"They're retreating?" Christy asked sharply.
Cedric's voice dropped. "No. They're regrouping. They're being pulled toward the main battlefield."
Before another word could be spoken, the forest split.
A skeletal lizard, Silver-Tier 4, burst through the trees. Its frame was massive, its body leaking green flames from its joints. It crushed soil and stone under its talons, its skeletal form wreathed in unnatural fire.
It smashed into the brush, exposing three figures hiding within.
The 4 Night's Light Devouring Church disciples who had stalked Elton's group for days were revealed at last. The beast roared, its bony tail lashing like a whip.
"Damn it," Zoro hissed, his twin katanas gleaming with dark Ki.
Christy's palms lit with chaotic essence, her expression firm. "We don't have a choice. We're in this now."
The beast's fiery gaze locked onto them. The fight had come whether they were ready or not.
Meanwhile, back in the clearing, the battle escalated. Silver-Tier 4 beasts surged fully into the fray, their monstrous bodies breaking through stone defenses and scattering squads with brutal strikes. Sect disciples answered in kind, unleashing techniques that ripped the battlefield apart.
Head disciples shouted commands, rallying their forces. Named geniuses like Ramius of the Bright Blade Sect and Kaien of the Fighting Brawlman Sect cut through beast after beast, their techniques like storms of steel and flame. Yet even they faltered beneath the unending tide.
Blood painted the ground. Corpses piled in heaps. Explosions shook the cliffs until rockslides tumbled into the fray.
Then the pressure spiked.
The fourteen Silver-Tier 5 beasts moved at last.
Their hulking forms glowed with energy, their auras pulsing in unison. They spread wide across the battlefield, forming a ring that encircled disciples, rogues, and demonic cultivators alike.
The wind stilled.
The earth trembled.
A sinister hum echoed across the basin.
The true battle was about to begin.