Free Web NovelChapter 180: Chapter 180: The Apex Descent
Chapter 180: The Apex Descent
The Blood Plateau was the sacred heart of the Beastman Continent. It was a massive, perfectly flat mesa of red rock suspended thousands of feet in the air, completely surrounded by jagged, impassable mountains.
For the past week, the plateau had been a slaughterhouse.
Millions of beastmen from every corner of the wild had gathered along the treacherous mountain ridges. They pounded heavy war drums and roared until their throats bled.
They were gathered to witness the final hours of the Great Hunt. The tournament was designed to crown a single, undisputed Beast King. The winner would command the entire continent.
Down in the center of the massive red arena, the final two Alphas circled each other. The ground was heavily soaked with the blood of dozens of defeated warlords.
Kael, the Apex Lion, was a Level 75 monstrosity.
Unlike the lower-tier beasts, Kael did not walk on four legs. He had mastered the ancient, high-tier technique of form compression.
He stood on two legs in a towering, heavily muscled humanoid form.
Thick golden armor plates covered his chest, and his massive mane flowed like liquid fire in the wind. He gripped a heavy, double-bladed battleaxe that sparked with fierce lightning magic.
His opponent was a Level 74 Dire-Bear Warlord named Ursa.
The bear had also compressed his form, fighting as a hulking, nine-foot-tall humanoid brute wrapped in thick gray fur and scarred leather. Ursa was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, gasping for air.
"Yield, Ursa," Kael roared. His deep, resonant voice easily carried over the deafening war drums. The Apex Lion casually rested his heavy lightning axe on his golden shoulder. He projected an aura of absolute, arrogant supremacy.
"You are too slow. Your bones are already breaking. Submit to the Apex, and I will let your tribe live as my vanguard."
Ursa snarled. He spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the red stone. "I yield to the strong, Lion. Not to a coward who fights with magic sparks."
The Dire-Bear abandoned his humanoid compression. He let out a deafening roar and violently expanded his physical mass. His muscles tore through his leather armor. His spine elongated.
In a fraction of a second, Ursa shifted into his true form: a colossal, four-story-tall Dire-Bear. His massive claws tore deep trenches into the red stone as he charged directly at the Lion.
Kael did not flinch. The Apex Lion smiled a jagged, arrogant smile.
"Primitive," Kael scoffed.
The Lion gripped his battleaxe with both hands. He channeled his Level 75 core, preparing to unleash a devastating horizontal strike of compressed lightning to completely decapitate the charging beast.
The millions of spectators held their breath. The crowning blow was mere seconds away.
But the blow never fell.
The sky above the Blood Plateau was perpetually covered in a thick layer of dark, heavy storm clouds.
Suddenly, the clouds violently parted. A deafening, mechanical roar shattered the silence of the heavens.
The millions of beasts looked up in absolute horror. Plunging directly through the cloud cover was a colossal, pitch-black iron dreadnought.
The massive ship was kept airborne by thousands of high-pressure atmospheric thrusters.
The sheer, unnatural presence of a flying iron mountain completely paralyzed the primitive horde. The war drums instantly stopped.
Kael looked up, his golden eyes widening in shock. Ursa skidded to a halt, looking at the sky in confusion.
The iron dreadnought hovered directly over the center of the plateau. The massive loading bay doors on the underside of the ship slowly ground open.
I stood at the edge of the open bay doors, looking down at the arena from three thousand feet in the air.
Rolf stood directly beside me. The freezing, high-altitude wind howled against my S-Grade Hive Chitin armor.
"They wanted a Beast King," I rumbled, my glowing red visor locking onto the two Alphas far below.
"Let us show them the true Apex, Sovereign," Rolf grinned savagely.
I did not use a parachute. I did not cast a levitation spell. I simply stepped off the edge of the iron ship. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Rolf jumped right beside me.
We plummeted toward the Blood Plateau like twin meteors. My S-Grade armor hissed as we broke the sound barrier, a trail of superheated air forming behind my heavy brass boots.
I ignited my core. I pushed my Level 68 consolidated physical mass to its absolute maximum density.
I aimed my descent directly for the exact center of the arena, right between the Apex Lion and the colossal Dire-Bear.
BOOM.
The impact was apocalyptic.
When my heavy brass boots slammed into the sacred red stone, the kinetic shockwave triggered a localized earthquake.
The solid rock of the plateau violently buckled and shattered. A massive, perfect crater formed instantly beneath my feet.
The sheer concussive force sent a wall of shattered stone and dust expanding outward in a perfect circle.
The shockwave slammed into the colossal Dire-Bear, forcefully knocking the massive beast off his feet. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
The Apex Lion was thrown backward, his golden boots carving deep trenches into the stone as he desperately tried to maintain his balance.
The dust slowly began to clear.
I stood slowly from my crouch in the direct center of the massive crater. Rolf stood right behind me, completely unharmed, his silver claws fully extended.
The millions of beastmen surrounding the plateau stared down in total, terrified silence. They had never seen anything like it.
Two humanoid figures had just fallen from the sky, completely shattering their sacred arena without taking a single scratch.
I stood tall. I crossed my massive brass gauntlets over my heavily armored chest. I looked directly at the Apex Lion.
"Your tournament is officially cancelled," I declared. My deep, baritone voice echoed clearly off the surrounding mountains, amplified by the heavy weight of my Domination Aura.
Kael, the Apex Lion, recovered his footing. His arrogance was completely shattered, replaced by a sudden, intense fury. He pointed his lightning-charged battleaxe at my chest.
"Who are you to interrupt the Great Hunt?" Kael roared, his golden mane flaring with static electricity.
"This is sacred ground! Only beasts of the wild may stand on this plateau! You are a creature of iron. You have no right to challenge the throne!"
"I am the Sovereign of the Forge," I replied coldly.
"And I did not come here to respect your traditions. I came to claim your soldiers."
I uncrossed my arms. The Flame of Death violently ignited around my right fist, casting a dark, heavy shadow across the crater.
"I challenge the throne," I stated, my red visor glowing ominously. I did not point at the Lion. I pointed at both the Lion and the recovering Dire-Bear.
"Both of you. At the same time. If there are any other Alphas hiding in the crowd who think they deserve a crown, step into the pit now. I will crush all of you."
A collective gasp of absolute shock rippled through the millions of spectators.
In beastman culture, challenging the top two Alphas simultaneously was not just suicidal; it was the ultimate display of disrespect. It was a statement of absolute, unfiltered dominance.
Kael’s golden eyes narrowed into slits of pure hatred. He shifted his grip on his axe.
Beside him, Ursa the Dire-Bear let out a terrifying, guttural roar, fully committing to his massive, four-story beast form.
The bear and the lion, former enemies, suddenly shared a single, unified goal: completely obliterate the arrogant intruder.
While the Alphas prepared to charge, the dreadnought above us began to deploy its troops.
Hundreds of heavy iron ropes dropped from the open bay doors. The newly modernized Blackhorn battalion slid down the ropes, landing in perfect formation along the outer rim of the plateau.
Ten thousand Minotaurs, Centaurs, and Reptilians stood at attention. They did not cheer. They did not beat their chests.
They simply raised their Void Steel kinetic mana-rifles, aiming the heavy artillery directly at the millions of spectators lining the ridges.
The silent, disciplined threat was absolute. The Vanguard would ensure nobody interrupted the sacred duel.
I rolled my heavy shoulders. The clockwork mechanisms inside my spine clicked heavily into place.
My bloodline was secured, my empire was industrializing, and I had exactly ten minutes to beat the absolute prime examples of Beastman evolution into complete submission.
"Come," I growled, waving my heavy brass hand toward the Lion and the Bear.
"Show me the strength of the wild."
