Chapter 611: 611:Paranoia
Among the endless horde were terrifying high-level monsters that had already reached A-rank, and several massive S-rank monsters personally led the tide while radiating overwhelming pressure that crushed the morale of ordinary soldiers completely.
One gigantic black-scaled beast smashed directly through a fortress gate while dozens of soldiers instantly exploded into blood mist beneath its claws, and the enormous gate collapsed violently while terrified troops immediately began retreating toward the inner defensive lines.
"Retreat!"
"We can’t hold them!"
"Fall back!"
Despair rapidly spread throughout the coalition army because they had never prepared for something this catastrophic, and the monsters attacked wildly without fear while tearing apart camps, defensive positions, supply routes, and communication lines one after another.
Inside one command tent far away from the frontline, a high-ranking commander continuously received emergency battlefield reports while his face gradually turned pale after hearing more and more devastating news arriving from every direction.
"Third fortress has fallen!"
"The eastern camps have been destroyed!"
"Monster hordes have appeared behind our supply lines!"
The commander’s hands trembled slightly while cold sweat rolled down his forehead, and after thinking for several moments, his eyes slowly widened in horror as he finally realized the truth behind everything.
"Arcadia must know about it..." he muttered hoarsely while clenching his fists tightly.
The officers around him immediately froze.
"They somehow discovered the large-scale dungeon outbreaks beforehand," he continued while his expression turned uglier and uglier.
Only now did the coalition forces finally understand why Arcadia had suddenly retreated earlier despite holding the advantage.
They had intentionally abandoned those territories.
They had deliberately lured the armies of the Four Great Empires directly into a disaster zone that was about to erupt.
The realization immediately sent chills running down everyone’s spine because by the time they finally understood the trap laid before them...
....
The news of the sudden dungeon outbreaks and the devastating losses suffered by the allied armies quickly spread throughout the entire Arcadia Empire, and almost every city, town, and noble territory fell into shock after hearing what had happened on the frontlines.
Some people were horrified after hearing that hundreds of dungeon gates had opened at once while endless monster tides swallowed entire battlefields, and others were left completely bewildered because no one understood how the Arcadia Empire had managed to retreat at the perfect time before the calamity erupted.
At the same time, another wave of rumors began spreading rapidly across the Empire.
Many people started praising Emperor Alaster while calling him a genius strategist who knew exactly when to retreat and when to strike back, and some even claimed that the Emperor had already foreseen the disaster long ago and intentionally baited the allied forces into the affected regions.
Inside the Blanks estate, Randall held several reports in his hands while reading through the latest rumors spreading around the Empire, and after hearing some of the absurd praises being thrown around, his expression immediately twisted strangely.
"Grand vision... Now what’s up with this bullshit..." he muttered while clicking his tongue in disbelief.
He shook the papers lightly before looking toward the others nearby.
"He might just have some artifact that allows him to see through certain things. Isn’t it, my Lord?" Randall asked while glancing toward Ethan.
Rathlos, who had been quietly sitting nearby while drinking tea, slowly shook his head after hearing that.
"Now what can I even say..." he muttered while leaning back slightly.
"It seems Arcadia still hasn’t fallen out of favor with fate completely."
His gaze slowly shifted toward the reports resting on the table.
"Luck seems to be on its side for now," he continued calmly.
"The dungeon outbreaks alone won’t be enough to completely destroy the allied armies, but it will definitely buy a lot of time for Arcadia."
Rathlos carefully assessed the entire situation in his mind while speaking, but as he turned toward Ethan afterward, his expression paused slightly.
A deep frown had already formed on Ethan’s face.His expression looked unusually dark.
"What happened?" Rathlos asked while narrowing his eyes slightly.
Ethan slowly snapped out of his thoughts after hearing the question, and his gaze lowered once again toward the reports spread across the table while he reread several sections repeatedly.
His fingers slowly tapped against the paper.
A strange sense of unease quietly spread inside his chest.A haunting memory from the past suddenly surfaced inside his mind.
For a brief moment, Ethan hesitated while wondering whether he should speak his thoughts aloud or not, but after silently thinking for a while, he finally raised his head slowly.
"Rathlos..." Ethan spoke carefully.
"Don’t you remember something similar happening before?"
The sudden question caught Rathlos completely off guard.
His brows furrowed deeply while he slowly began recalling old memories buried deep within his mind.
Dungeon outbreaks...
Large-scale outbreaks...
The number of dungeon breakouts during the past few decades had drastically reduced to the point that many people had almost forgotten how terrifying they once were, but Ethan’s words immediately caused Rathlos to remember something unpleasant from the past.
His expression slowly changed.
It was during the fall of Ruthiana...
Back then, the situation had also spiraled out of control while multiple dungeon outbreaks erupted across various regions one after another.
Rathlos’s face gradually turned grim as fragments of those ugly memories resurfaced.
"Are you trying to say..." he muttered slowly.
Ethan shrugged his shoulders lightly.
"Who knows?" he replied quietly.
The room became silent briefly.
Rathlos immediately shook his head afterward.
"There’s no way the Emperor could be involved with something like that," he said firmly.
"If he really did something like this... then it would truly put the final nail in Arcadia’s coffin."
His tone carried disbelief more than certainty.
"You’re being delusional."
Ethan pressed his lips together tightly for a few moments before finally letting out a long sigh.
"I hope this is just paranoia," he muttered while rubbing his forehead slowly.
"Otherwise... things are going to become really troublesome now."
...
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