Free Web NovelChapter 108: The Entire Continent Shakes
A feminine voice rang out, and Evangeline appeared, catching Luna in her arms.
Luna felt her mind spinning while a painful headache assaulted her, making it difficult to think. But the moment Evangeline held her, a familiar warmth entered her body, and almost immediately, the headache began to ease.
As soon as the pain faded, her body finally relaxed. The relief that followed was enough to pull her under, and she fell asleep.
Evangeline, holding the unconscious girl in her arms, said nothing. Instead, she turned toward what remained of the hill, now gone, and the enormous gap torn through the city wall, beyond which a section of the forest lay completely destroyed.
Her expression was calm, but her eyes seemed to reach far past what was visible. The longer her gaze lingered in that direction, the more something shifted in her face.
Her black pupils had narrowed into slits like those of a reptile, and the violet of her eyes had begun to shine as she sensed something strange in that direction.
’Now this is interesting. To think that something like this could be found in such a remote place,’ she thought before disappearing from her position.
In the forest near Ravenhold, the academy group wasn’t having an easy time of it.
The moment the instructor told them to stay alert, everyone became serious, and they soon understood why he had given that warning.
Beasts began appearing in numbers. At first glance it seemed like they were targeting the group, but it quickly became clear that most of them were simply in a panic, barely registering the humans in their path. That said, not all of them ignored the group, several turned and attacked directly.
Being in an area populated mostly by E-Rank and D-Rank beasts, they got the full hunting experience against such creatures.
The zone that had been struck by that strange attack from nowhere was now in complete disarray, the sounds of battle echoing from every direction.
The instructor’s voice cut through the chaos.
"Fall back. Now."
No one argued.
The initial plan had been to head toward the city walls and seek refuge there, but the beasts seemed to be heading in that direction as well. The only viable path was the opposite way, deeper into the western edge of the forest where the area seemed safer and the numbers of beasts fewer.
As they did, the ground beneath them slowly began to vibrate, as though an earthquake were occurring. But no one paid much attention to it as they were still in danger.
"How many are following us?" Lirien called out.
"Too many," Arnold answered, already weaving roots across the path behind them to buy seconds.
Percival didn’t say anything. For once.
They pushed further in, past the point where the trees grew older and the canopy thickened until the sky above was barely visible. The noise of the fleeing beasts grew distant, those still close enough to matter were being cut down one by one by the stronger members of the group: Selena, Vincent, and the instructor.
Eventually they reached an area where sunlight struggled to break through the dense canopy overhead. It was quiet enough that no trace of beasts remained.
Everyone finally exhaled.
"J-just... what the hell just happened?" Lirien managed between breaths, having spent most of her reserves between providing ranged support and running. "Why did all those beasts go crazy all of a sudden?"
No one answered. Because no one knew for sure.
The instructor wore a complicated expression as he thought about the black lightning strike from earlier. He could tell it wasn’t a normal attack, nor was it a random phenomenon. It had been imbued with a strange energy that made his blood run cold just by sensing it.
’What in the wolrd was that?’ he wondered, asking himself if that had been the reason the beasts had gone mad.
But his train of thought was interrupted when he noticed something.
He looked down.
The ground was still trembling. And it was stronger than before.
There were no more beasts in the vicinity. So why was it still happening?
A bad feeling settled over him immediately, and he decided that it was no longer safe to remain here.
"Don’t relax yet. We’re not out of danger. We need to move—"
He didn’t get to finish.
A loud sound rang out from somewhere deeper in the forest, and the earth shook violently beneath them, violently enough that staying upright became nearly impossible. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"What is happening?!" Percival shouted, alarmed.
Before anyone could answer, the ground began cracking in every direction. Seeing it, the instructor didn’t waste another second. In a single swift motion he grabbed Lirien and Percival and shouted,
"We need to leave. Now!"
He shot forward. Selena, Vincent, and Arnold followed immediately behind him, the three of them strong enough to need no assistance and fast enough to keep pace.
But it was already too late.
In a nearby section of the forest, half-hidden beneath the dense canopy, a tall pyramidal structure stood among the trees.
It was ancient stone. Its contours were buried under moss and overgrowth, nearly indistinguishable from the forest floor, but it was trembling, and a deep golden-yellow radiance was slowly consuming it from within, spreading outward until the entire structure was swallowed by the glow.
The moment it was fully engulfed, the structure began to rise.
Stone that had been half-sunken into the earth for what may have been centuries pulled itself free, its full form revealing itself as it climbed, taller than it had appeared, larger than the trees surrounding it.
A column of golden-yellow energy shot upward from that corner of the forest and struck the sky above, and immediately a deep, resonant roar spread across the entire surrounding area.
But it didn’t stop there.
Across the whole continent, in dozens of other locations, other pillars of energy rose in the same instant, all of them directed skyward.
All of them created such a disturbance in the surrounding mana that the entire continent descended into chaos.
