Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1619 - 1618 - Terror of the Great One

Lind was able to slow his descent into the depths of the Void Ocean but the current was too strong to completely resist. He was humbled once more that despite advancing his strength, he was still nothing in the eyes of the Divine Lands.

He was about to see if anyone was in range from the force he had summoned when a pale white blur slammed onto his face. An all too familiar screech followed by the glomping of tentacles around his head and shoulders made him smile.

[Good to see you too but did you sneak away to get here?] A snuggling followed his question that only made him roll his eyes.

The little kraken princess definitely snuck away!

Massive shadows appeared and an exhausted female voice entered his head.

[True Lord Lind Frey, I am glad you are safe. The demon fox tribes were collected just in time.] The fact he was in such an undignified position was just smoothly ignored. Everyone knew it was pointless.

It had been one of his contingency plans.

An artifact would be used to call for the collection of the freed demon fox tribes. It was only to be used in an emergency and he could not think of a greater one than the Bastard coming.

Master Tiers were usually restricted from moving from one point to another by their counterparts but the Glass Palace was on the coast of a peninsula and only a complete fool would claim any section of open ocean as theirs.

The beasts ruled there and no one else.

Thus, the Master Tiers of the krakens and leviathans came in an instant and gathered up the surviving demon fox tribes. From what Lind was relayed, the city had collapsed to complete chaos as many realized none of the restrictions were working properly.

When he reversed the slave and owner relationship for the demon foxes, they had turned on their former masters with gusto.

Massive fox beasts had run amok in the city as children were quickly freed from the recesses of the palace.

Just as the last few tribesmen were taken away, the Great One came. Lind was unable to see with his eyes at the moment but an image was relayed to his mind by the massive leviathan next to him.

Gone. It was all just gone down to the finest particle of dust.

Every piece of life was taken from millions of beings like they were nothing.

The news did not end there as the large beast placed him on their back. The little princess finally relented and moved to cozy up to his side while he held her.

Lind was told that every power everywhere lost elders and grand elders by droves.

[You mean they were assassinated?] The massive head moved side to side.

[Not as you are thinking. They were simply consumed. It has happened before, long ago, but none could trace why it happened until much much later. The Great One had become a Master Tier.] Lind's eyes narrowed.

He had that kind of power but did not use it? Why?

He then recalled his own exertions far beyond his location across realms. It was possible to do such a thing but not without a massive drain with little return for it.

It was simply far too inefficient for cultivation or everyday use. As a start reminder of power, however, it was incredibly efficient.

[According to our envoys, the Fiends have come out in the open in numbers unseen since epochs ago. They are not relying on proxies anymore.] The leviathan laid out all it knew as they rejoined the major force.

The dozen or so Master Tiers in front of him were incredibly powerful but he realized they were also far older than the royals he had met before.

The feeling of limitless vitality was not present in front of him.

Some felt like the Divine Realm fox that had faded back then. They were about to let go!

They all bowed to him as they could but he waved it off and bowed back sincerely.

[Junior greets the seniors. Thank you for coming.] Once again, no one commented on the happily screeching princess attached to his ribs.

Lind did want to ask why she was there but he suspected the little kraken had known people were sneaking away and slipped onto one of their bodies.

[You kept your word but the path ahead is long. The enemy moves once more. We may be returning to the land.] An ancient kraken spoke and his fellows seemed to squint their massive eyes at him.

Still, Lind bowed once more before sighing.

[Little One, I have to go and you cannot–] His face was suddenly back in darkness. A rumble of screeches and bubbly displacement told him the Master Tiers were laughing!

[I am going into danger, deadly danger. You are not strong enough. Even I am not strong enough, I must go.] His firm tone and gentle pats seemed to calm her down.

Eventually, she let him go and he placed her on the leviathan.

[Be safe and get stronger. Next time I see you, it had better be when you are strong enough to choose what you want to do.] He felt the approval of the crowd before she screeched lowly at him.

He smiled and patted her head before launching himself upward.

The surface greeted him and he confirmed with his own eyes what had happened.

It was not just destruction, the binding of all life was gone and the material with it. Lind truly felt a tremor in his heart at that.

The Bastard was not just taking live, but the very building blocks of everything! Nothing remained to hold even a corpse together!

Such efficiency was far beyond any Fiend he had encountered to date.

A slight pull to the north made him sigh in relief. They were safe.

Karu and Gaia had been supplied with various artifacts to keep them from prying eyes and even the senses of a Fiend.

He had worried the Bastard could bypass it but the Shard Generator was a simple but expensive artifact. It cut off a piece of space partially from everything.

No light, no sound, nothing could get in or out. It only lasted for a short time but in that time, they essentially did not exist.

In the Celestial Fields, it would have been sustained for as long as the user could supply power but in the Divine Lands, he had no doubt it had broken down. He would see if he could fix it or learn what he could from its remains.

He flew up the coast until he saw a distortion unique to a certain formation plate.

It recognized him. He was the owner of it, afterall. He landed hard as he was nearing the limit of his stamina.

The Void Ocean and the pressure of the Divine Lands drained him heavily.

The dark sand was kicked up before a little figure slammed into him and his face was covered in darkness once more.

The feeling of deja vu made him smile but he also felt the terror of Gaia. He comforted her as Karu emerged.

"They made it?" He nodded in confirmation and she smiled at last. She then became grim. "You saw?"

He nodded again and informed her of what the krakens and leviathans told him. She had zero surprise on her face. She did not even go pale.

"He has done this before?" Karu nodded emphatically.

"Worse, he will start to carve out entire areas like the Lost Mountains. The closer to his breakthrough, the worse it will get." They thought they had more time but it seemed more likely the Bastard was pushing himself hard to advance.

"How long?" She shrugged her shoulders at his question. There was no way to know for certain but hopefully, resistance would be rising. The offer to spare someone that brought him, however, was likely now increasing in value.

A being that could kill indiscriminately with such precision held all the cards.

Hope that his latest act would garner some allies was dashed in his heart at that moment. He was on his own.

"The Eastern Continent is lost to us for various reasons. The Southern Continent will start to actively hunt for us. The Northern Continent is too damned far away to get there in time for anything. Only 1 direction left then." Karu looked at him in shock.

"You can't be serious?! The Western Lament is not named lightly. The disaster that made it aside, many beings disappear there and are never heard from again!" They had discussed the area but dismissed it for lack of return on any investment due to the dangers.

Things had changed.

"Our options are few. The larger pieces are still in contact with the rest of the world. We start there and do what we can. Teleportation and tearing through space is restricted too." He knew he was right but Karu also knew the flip side of those advantages.

If they needed to escape, it would be almost impossible if they were outnumbered or over powered.

Monsters roamed freely in those islands. Monsters even consumed those islands whole! The krakens and leviathans would not go anywhere near them.

All of that made it relatively safe from their current situation but opened a whole canvas of others!

The trio recovered and began the long journey north and west. There was no choice. They needed opportunities to grow without being hunted and time was not on their side.