novelraw Chapter 376: How can you still be alive?
Chapter 376: How can you still be alive?
As Sofia appeared, countless soldiers in military uniforms emerged on the battlefield behind her, effortlessly wiping away the sky full of blade lights.
These individuals, mostly former residents of the graveyard community, ranged from the elderly to the very young, even including what appeared to be baby. Initially indistinguishable from ordinary residents, they now displayed unimaginable strength, or rather, abilities.
White Clothes, facing this development, didn’t panic but laughed loudly, focusing on Sofia at the forefront.
"You’ve finally appeared! My father has waited so many years for this. Did you think I didn’t know that the Mist system and the Horror Instances were your little tricks?"
She looked towards Alexander’s body. "So, he was the chess piece you chose? All your planning, and yet, it’s all in vain."
"In vain? Maybe not!" a voice responded, not from Sofia below, but from behind. A sound of a blade piercing flesh was heard, and the long knife that had gone through Alexander now protruded from White Clothes’ chest.
"You!" White Clothes turned in disbelief to see Lucy smiling. "I was surprised to be chosen as a Guardian too. Let me reintroduce myself: Chess Player, Lucy!"
"You’re a Chess Player?" disbelief filled White Clothes’ eyes.
"Each of us is a Chess Player," Lucy said with a smile. At this moment, the trillion-strong ghost army simultaneously smiled, creating an eerie scene.
"So, everyone was acting!" Realization dawned on White Clothes, her face filled with astonishment.
But soon she regained her composure, speaking calmly. "So what? The reason you’ve survived so long was only to uncover the force behind you, the Chess Players beyond our control. Now that you’ve revealed yourselves, your end is near!"
Her voice, weak yet confident, rose: "It’s time for my father to descend and show you how truly weak you are!"
As she spoke, the surrounding Mist churned again, and the buzzing sound of countless rapidly flapping beetle wings filled the air. From the sky, the ground, and all directions, swarms of black beetles converged, seemingly engulfing the world in endless darkness.
"My task is complete. This world, all of this, will be my father’s feast," White Clothes said, her eyes dilating with fanaticism as she looked towards the swarm of black beetles.
"That remains to be seen!" another voice interjected. White Clothes’ pupils contracted sharply, her gaze turning towards where Alexander’s body lay. There, suspended in mid-air, were nine bottles of Emperor wine.
With the appearance of the nine bottles of Emperor wine, they suddenly shattered, and the mist they released formed a vast water screen in the air.
Reflected within this water screen was a galaxy, and within it, a vibrant blue planet. Above this planet, Alexander sat behind a massive chessboard, positioned amidst the stars, with nine white chess pieces floating in front of him.
In the water screen, Alexander’s gaze shifted from White Clothes to the depths of the Mist, speaking calmly, "To the being from the distant stars, I, Alexander, Marshal of the Galactic Earth Federation’s Nine-Star Army and Commander of the Space Forces, hereby invite you to a game of chess, with the galaxy as the board and the trillion federal citizens as the pieces."
White Clothes, gravely injured, was shocked at the sight of Alexander still alive. "How can you still be alive? Your consciousness should have been completely eradicated by the demonic energy!"
Inside her, a destructive force was rampaging, of the same origin as her own power, yet utterly uncontrollable. Struggling to maintain her collapsing body, she noticed the ghost army below, filled with a chilling sense of dread.
The ghost soldiers, for the most part, were calm, with smiles of pride and excitement, showing no signs of surprise. It was as if they had all anticipated this moment. The rest appeared stunned and motionless, like lifeless dolls.
"What is happening?" White Clothes wondered, her gaze returning to the immense water screen that now covered half the battlefield.
"Demonic energy? Is that what you or your father call these indigestible emotional energies?" Alexander’s voice resonated from the sky. "Twenty-five years in the real world, tens of thousands in the Horror World, with the stars as the board and a trillion federal citizens as pieces, it’s time to end this game. To the being from the distant cosmos, whom we call the Underworld River, I have nine pieces to play."
As Alexander gestured, a chess piece moved towards the board in the water screen. The screen rippled, and in the dark expanse of space, a terrifying black river, spanning millions of miles, appeared.
Flowing between the white mists and surging through countless galaxies, this dark river seemed to originate from the depths of the universe, its path unknown, its destination a mystery.
As it flowed, countless creatures and planets were devoured, swept away, torn apart, and consumed as if mere grains of sand on a beach.
...
On a massive space station at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, sharp alarm bells echoed through the dark void, with signals rapidly transmitting back to the headquarters on a blue planet.
"Alert, alert! Galactic Guard Station reports an unidentified extraterrestrial entity. Three experimental primitive civilization planets have been destroyed."
"Alert! The strength of the unidentified entity far exceeds all interstellar creatures previously observed. Star Destroyer Beast, codenamed s003, has been devoured by the unidentified entity without resistance. The Star Devourer, codenamed s001, is in frantic flight."
"The Star Devourer has been enveloped by the unidentified entity’s white mist, ceased its flight, and appears to have lost consciousness!"
"The Third Space-Air Fleet’s attack has failed. Current technological means are incapable of threatening the unidentified entity."
"The Fourth and Sixth Space-Air Fleets have been completely annihilated! Seven-Star Admiral Akali, in her last moments, activated the Melody Engine, bringing back thirteen corpses of the unidentified entity!"
...
In a laboratory resembling one on Earth, bustling with numerous researchers, Marshal Alexander, the top military genius and Commander of the Space-Air Forces, entered the lab accompanied by an elder.
Sophia, the youngest head of the military research department and Alexander’s disciple, reported the grave situation. "The unknown entity, which we’ve named the Underworld River, spans millions of miles and is composed of these black beetles, made entirely of pure mental energy.
They feed on mental energy, which is abundant in sentient beings. Our race, being highly intelligent, is their preferred source of nourishment. In three years, the Underworld River will reach the Milky Way, and our entire galaxy will become its feast, with our federation’s trillion citizens as the main course."