Chapter 328: The Red Sea
[On The Way To Staten Island.]
[On The Back Of The Red Dragon.]
The journey across the fractured skies of New York was a display of absolute dominance. The massive Red Dragon, whose wingspan cast a shadow over the ruined boroughs below, cut through the ash-choked clouds with ease. The heat radiating from its crimson scales created a localized pressure zone, repelling the lesser flying monsters that dared to look up.
"Hey, how come you are afraid of the Centipede, but not the gatekeeper?" Cupcake asked, casually turning her head to Vespina. Despite her small size, she sat near the front of the dragon’s broad neck, firmly holding her position as the eldest.
"I think that Gatekeeper is already a King Stage cultivator." She added, her eyes narrowing as she tried to calculate the massive power discrepancy they had just witnessed.
"No... The gatekeeper is a peak stage Great Celestial Cultivator." Vespina said, correcting the assumption, and turned to Cupcake. Her crimson hair whipped in the high-altitude wind:
"The reason I can fight that dragon is because my tentacles bypass all defenses, and directly attack vitality." She pointed a delicate, pale finger down at the Centipede; who Mirabella named Toxin. The creature was rapidly slithering across the ruined highways far below them, his massive chitinous legs tearing up the asphalt.
"I am not scared of Toxin down there. Although it’s one stage above me, if we fight, It won’t be able to kill me... But I will surely suffer from his toxic. As a demon who feeds on Vitality, such an enemy whose attack affects his and others vitality is my bane." She explained, her face twisting in genuine revulsion. Her evolution relied on the pure consumption of life force; corrupting that food source was the ultimate blasphemy to her.
"Oh, so you’re scared of this toxic." Cupcake asked, her ears twitching as she digested the matchup.
"Yes, Big Sister... I hate anything that taint vitality. It makes me disgusted." She added, shuddering slightly at the thought of consuming acidic, necrotic energy.
Cupcake slowly nodded her head, staring at the chaotic expanse of the Red Sea ahead. The water below them had been heavily contaminated by blood, turning a deep, violently churning crimson, acting as a treacherous natural border separating the two boroughs.
_
BOOOOM!!
The crimson waters trembled violently, splitting open like a geyser, as a gigantic eel rose from the depths. Its length was an imposing 60 meters long, heavily armored in slick, rubbery scales, with highly condensed purple lightning violently arcing around its serpentine form. The sheer voltage vaporized the surrounding water into thick steam.
"Another Realm Boss, how many are on earth?" Cupcake asked in surprised, realizing the integration was accelerating far beyond normal parameters. She looked over her shoulder at Mirabella, who sat cross-legged at the apex of the dragon’s head, entirely unbothered, her eyes closed in deep meditation.
"We don’t have to disturb, Master." Vespina said, seductively licking her lips, her demonic hunger instantly flaring at the sight of fresh prey.
"This thing is filled with Vitality, I can sense it from here." She added, as two massive, leathery bat wings violently burst out from her back.
"Huh? You have wings?" Cupcake was stunned, her fur puffing up slightly at the sudden anatomical shift.
"Hehehe, I can do a lot of things... But." She paused, placing a sharp claw on her jaw, her sadistic grin softening as she turned respectfully to Mirabella:
"Do you think Master want this Realm Boss? It’s still a Lv500 one and also powerful." She said, unwilling to accidentally slaughter a potential recruit for the Beast Empress’s growing army.
Mirabella slowly opened her eyes. The piercing blue irises held the weight of a supreme ruler. She stared directly down at the realm Boss, which was currently staring at them with heavy, territorial killing intent, and gently shook her head: "You can have it. This one is weak."
With that absolute judgment, she simply closed her eyes again, dismissing the catastrophe-level entity as nothing more than a passing insect.
"Master is indeed right!! Such a weak monster doesn’t deserve to join the Great Queen’s flag! The Queen only need worthy slaves! Not just any weakling." Toxin yelled from the ground below. The King Centipede’s voice vibrated through the air with deafening volume, his desperate need to secure his position in the hierarchy overriding his Fusion-stage pride.
"Wow, the Centipede knows how to flatter Master... A lot better than me." The small red Cobra said, rolling his eyes in unison.
"You should learn from him, Shesha." Cupcake stated, offering pragmatic advice from her position as the eldest.
"No way! I won’t learn from a centipede, I am the great fire hybrid, and also a guardian of one of Master’s core region, why would I bring myself down to his level." Shesha said, haughtily looking away, his pride flaring. To a dragon-descendant, a centipede was merely a glorified insect.
"Wow, if you’re so great, why don’t you help us take care of that worm." Vespina said, gesturing dismissively to the massive, lightning-wreathed eel thrashing in the water.
"No! Leave it to me!!" Toxin shot forward, refusing to let the others steal his chance to prove his worth. His huge legs struck deep holes into the ground, obliterating the concrete as it reached the edge of the ruined beach.
"Wow, this guy is something else." The red dragon spoke, his deep, rumbling voice vibrating beneath them as he watched the Centipede’s chaotic charge.
"Shut up, Reese!" Vespina yelled, abruptly kicking one out of the four pointy horns of the terrifying realm Boss dragon she was riding on.
"I am not stupid, besides... I am the only one worthy to be Master’s Mount, I am closest to her." Reese said, huffing a cloud of sulfurous smoke, attempting to assert his own unique value to the Empress.
"You are really stupid, if we’re comparing the one who Master have ridden, Big Sister should be Master’s favourite. Don’t forget she is our Big Sister." Vespina yelled, firmly defending the established pecking order.
"Yes. Yes! I mean I am the second." Reese quickly corrected himself, instantly cowed by the reminder of Cupcake’s supreme seniority.
"Good that you know your mistake." Cupcake said proudly. She puffed out her chest; she remains the eldest, and she was immensely proud of it.
Adira sat silently beside Mirabella, her delicate fairy wings shimmering, lightly shaking her head: ’These guys are too childish.’ She thought, analyzing the sheer absurdity of five catastrophic entities bickering like siblings in a sandbox.
"You guys are actually yapping like kids with an enemy right ahead of you... If it distracts Master’s concentration, I will teach you all a lesson." She snapped.
The moment she spoke, a terrifying, suffocating pressure spread all over the place. The playful atmosphere vanished instantly. No matter how physically massive or conceptually powerful the others were, Adira was still Mirabella’s strongest Subordinate—a being intricately tied to the very core of spiritual energy.
The rest quickly, obediently nodded their massive heads.
’Wow, second Big sister is so scary.’ Vespina thought, her bat wings twitching as she felt the absolute suppression in Adira’s voice.
BOOM!!!
The group raised their heads to the sky as the fabric of the atmosphere tore opened, and a massive, highly condensed bolt of purple lightning dropped directly on them, cast by the enraged eel below.
BOOOOM!!
The devastating electrical strike smashed violently into Vespina’s instantly deployed dark light barrier, dissipating into harmless sparks, not even leaving a single dent on it. The level of disrespect, however, was unforgivable.
Cupcake: "How dare you attack us?"
Vespina: "We are the ones who’s worthy to attack first."
Toxin: "You dare attack Master!!"
Reese: "I will burn all your fresh!!"
The giant eel froze in the boiling water below, completely paralyzed as countless, overwhelming waves of apex killing intent violently smashed into it from above. The realm Boss shook in absolute, primal fear, suddenly realizing the horrific truth: it hadn’t just attacked a flying monster, it had just smacked a den of supreme, highly volatile lions.
