Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Battle Begins
In the ruins of Star City it was a common occurrence for monsters to be seen on the streets.
However, the situation today was clearly different as there was not a single creature that could be seen wandering the streets of Star City.
Most of them had gone into hiding as if they could sense the approaching disaster.
On the streets of Star City a large black mass made up of hundreds of spiders could be seen sweeping through the ruined streets, moving on the walls and ground like a demented horde.
The horde was moving extremely quickly and viciously destroyed anything that stood in their way as they rushed towards a certain area of the city.
Lake, who stood at the front of this horde, was running freely over any obstacles, creating a decent distance between himself and the ferocious spider horde behind him. Lake had a feeling that if he were to move any slower, those spiders would trample him without a second thought.
A couple of minutes ago, Lake and the entire army had set out towards the center of the city. Lake knew that this was where the Wolf King's army was currently located and what exactly they were doing from the Empress' fate.
The Central Area.
This was a term used by the creatures of Star City to describe the center of the city, where a massive rift had formed around a few months ago. The rift had formed deep underground and was the reason why no hunters had discovered it till now.
Lake knew that both the Wolf King and the Empress have been trying to get inside the central area for a while now but to no avail. It seems that whenever they tried to enter the rift, they were blocked by an invisible wall.
The Empress' never mentioned why she or the Wolf King wanted to get inside the rift so badly before so Lake wasn't able to find out the reason through her fate, but he was able to make some guesses based on what he knew about them.
Rifts, a disturbance in the space time continuum, portals to another world, pocket dimensions, gates and so on. They have been called many things ever since they first appeared around a hundred years ago. Inside these rifts lived numerous monsters and creatures, forming small ecosystems. Thanks to the dense mana that normally inhabits these rifts, all of these monsters didn't have to worry about food or water as the mana itself provided them with the nourishment they needed.
Under these conditions, the reproductivity of these creatures became incredibly strong and they started to reproduce extremely quickly. Once the number of creatures reached a certain limit, depending on the size of the rift, monsters would begin to spill out from inside the rift. This phenomenon is known as a rift break, where the rift tears open and countless monsters begin to flood into the surrounding area.
It was mainly because of these rift breaks that humanity faced extinction a hundred years ago when they first appeared.
After a while and through the efforts of the new Martial Artists that appeared due to the new presence of mana, humanity eventually subdued the monsters outside of the rifts and started to explore inside them.
It was then that humanity found out the magical wonders of these strange portals. Inside these rifts, aside from the monsters that inhabited it, numerous raw resources and treasures could be found, some of which humanity had never seen before.
Thanks to these new resources, humanity's development experienced an insane growth speed as new forms of technology and equipment began to be created as the profession of hunters and martial artists who explored these rifts were born in this era.
It was also thanks to these hunters that the conditions for closing these rifts were found.
Once all of the creatures in the rift were killed, the mana inside would begin to pour out into the world. Once the rift was completely devoid of mana, the rift would slowly begin to crumble before eventually closing.
Lake wasn't sure exactly what the Spider Empress and the Wolf King wanted to get from the rift so badly or why they couldn't enter, but Lake assumed that it was related to whatever was inside the rift.
With these thoughts in mind, Lake turned around to take a glance at the Spider Empress before continuing to run forward.
…
At the central area, a large group of creatures could be seen idling around. There were a variety of races among these creatures with some forming small or large groups. Among these creatures, the ones that stood out the most were the Rank Two creatures. There were a total of three of them and they each occupied an area to themselves.
There was a deer whose antlers glowed with a fiery red light. Its fur was a grayish color, resembling volcanic ash as it sat under the shade of a tall tree. Surrounding the deer were various creatures from different races. There were cats, dogs, rats and birds with a few other creatures, looking like a myriad of beasts.
There also was a large python around 15 meters long that coiled itself up inside the rubble of a dilapidated building. Around the large python was a large variety of snakes of different sizes coiled up around the building. These snakes were mostly rank one creatures with a few low rank among them.
The last one was a large brown grizzly bear that lay down next to the entrance of a subway station. The bear was around 5 meters tall and had stone-like minerals growing out of its back. The creature was by itself and seemed to be resting with its eyes closed.
These creatures were resting peacefully when all of a sudden the ground started to tremble. The sleeping bear's ears twitched as it opened its black eyes, slowly getting up from the ground.
The rest of the creatures reacted the same as they got up from their resting positions and made their way towards the open area, creating a large barricade of hundreds of creatures.
They all knew what was coming as their King had told them what to expect in the next few days. They knew that the Spider Empress had rejected all forms of negotiation and had chosen to go to war with their King. They knew that in the next few minutes, a battle of unimaginable proportions was going to commence.
They were starting to get nervous as they saw the large army of spiders approaching in the distance. The large mob of black covered the ground and buildings as they rushed towards the army of creatures blocking their way.
It was at that moment that the giant grizzly bear on the Wolf King's side walked in front of his army.
Facing the approaching spider army, the grizzly bear stood up on two feet before releasing a deafening roar.
"ROAR!!!!"
The spider army that was originally approaching at high speed suddenly stopped around 30 meters in front of him upon hearing the loud roar as they stood still, looking at the giant grizzly before them.
The grizzly who saw this made a scoffing noise before dropping back on all fours.
In the grizzly's mind, the spiders must have been intimidated by its powerful roar and no longer dared to approach. When it was about to call out to the group of spiders and instruct his own army to prepare for battle, the group of spiders in front of him all suddenly turned around.
This had left both the grizzly and the rest of the Wolf King's army momentarily stunned as they wondered what the spiders were doing. However, it didn't take long for them to figure it out as they suddenly saw the sun get blotted out by a layer of thick white web flying towards them.
When the grizzly saw this, he let out another roar in anger as he smashed his large paws into the ground, raising a piece of the road to make cover for himself. The large python who saw this also released a low hiss before curling up behind the bear, using his large body as cover.
The ash deer only released a small scoffing noise before a wave of heat began to emanate from its fiery horns.
Soon the large net of web came down, covering most of the army in its sticky fluid. Most creatures struggled underneath the sticky web while some managed to tear their way through.
The ash deer used its fiery horns to burn the web around it to get out fairly easily.
The grizzly who had reacted in time and tore a piece of the ground to use as a shield, threw it away as it looked furiously in the direction of the spider army.
However, it was soon surprised as its vision was blocked by another approaching object.
*Puhci!*
A long sword was quickly stabbed into and pulled out of the grizzly's right eye as it released a loud cry in agony as blood spurted from its bleeding eye.
Lake who was now in front of the grizzly didn't waste much time before quickly moving away from the bear. He knew that the initial attack he did on the bear wouldn't be that effective against a rank two monster, even if he hit it in a vital spot.
A few moments later, just as he predicted, the large bear soon turned its ferocious gaze towards him as it released another deafening roar before rushing towards him. Unfortunately for the bear, Lake had already blended in with the army of spiders who had rushed forward under the lead of Lake and in a few moments, the grizzly completely lost sight of Lake as it was surrounded by the large group of spiders who started to crawl all over his large body.
As the bear roared and dealt with the spiders covering its body, the python and the ash deer also started to make their moves as they rushed forward dealing with groups of spiders at a time by themselves.
The python used its large body to wrap around and crush groups of spiders in one go while the ash deer started to emit a fiery heat from its antlers before charging into the army of spiders, setting a group of spiders ablaze.
The rest of the creatures also slowly started to get out of the webbing but were soon ambushed and surrounded by a group of spiders who had bypassed the three rank two monsters guarding the frontlines.
Under these constant assaults and fights, Lake, who was watching it all go down, grinned as he walked by the corpses of both armies, merrily collecting the loose strands of fate scattered about.
Suddenly Lake could feel a terrifying gaze lock onto him from behind. Without having to think, Lake could tell that it was the Spider Empress who was watching him from behind.
"I guess it's about time that I do my part," Lake muttered to himself.
With his longsword in hand, Lake turned his gaze to look at the spider army that surrounded him before turning to look at the army of monsters in front of him.
With a sudden glint in his deep blue eyes, Lake released a low roar as he leaped off the back of a spider towards a large rank one monster that was giving a group of spiders some trouble to take down.
As he soared through the air, Lake started to circulate the King's Aura in his body like a madman. Lake could feel the unfathomable power flowing through his veins at that point as he locked his gaze on the creature before him.
With a swipe of his sword, Lake decapitated the creature in front of him causing a rain of blood to spray across his surroundings. As he landed , he felt that the King's Aura had circulated enough in his body before he released it with a loud boom, enveloping the spiders with his aura while subduing the enemies in front of him.
The spiders who had been enveloped in his aura felt as if they had been given a boost of strength and speed as they rushed ruthlessly into the crowd of monsters, engaging once more in fierce combat with the enemy.
Lake, who saw all this, didn't want the loose fate that was slowly starting to fill up the battlefield to go to waste and rushed into the fray without hesitation.
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