novelraw Chapter 105 - 24: Invasion
Chapter 105 - 24: Invasion
The Red Goblin King threw his head back and laughed, a sound filled with genuine joy at the prospect of slaughter to come.
Above the palace, across Valdris itself, the dimensional barriers that separated their world from Earth began to shatter like glass struck by a hammer.
CRACK!
The sound echoed across both planets simultaneously—a deep, resonant fracture that made reality itself shudder. The barriers the Shaman’s ritual had weakened for the past hour finally gave way completely, structural integrity collapsing as the hole punched through them spread beyond containment.
Through the throne room’s massive windows, the Red Goblin King could see the rifts opening wider and wider, the view of Earth beyond them becoming clearer as the dimensional separation dissolved.
He could see their cities. Their buildings. Their pathetic defensive positions being hastily assembled by hunters who thought they had time.
His smile widened.
"The portals are opening," he said quietly, though his voice still carried to every warrior present. "In moments, the barriers will be gone completely. The invasion begins."
He turned to face his elite vanguard once more.
"First wave—crush their nearest defensive positions. Show them no mercy. Make them understand what they face. Let their screams be the warning that echoes across their entire planet."
The warriors roared again, weapons raised, cultivation bases flaring as battle hunger consumed them.
The Red Goblin King walked back toward his throne, his harem following in perfect formation, and as he climbed the bone steps he looked out through the windows at Earth one final time.
"Thirty minutes," he said to himself, though his voice carried nonetheless. "Thirty minutes and the conquest begins."
He sat upon his throne of bones, crossed one leg over the other, and waited with the patience of a predator who knew the prey had nowhere left to run.
London. East End. Streets Leading to Safe Zone.
The traffic was absolute gridlock.
Cars sat bumper to bumper across every lane, drivers leaning on horns in futile frustration while pedestrians streamed between the vehicles in panicked masses. Aiden had abandoned any hope of driving fifteen minutes ago and instead led his family on foot through the chaos, their mother between him and Callum as they navigated the packed streets toward the Safe Zone.
[00:03:47... 00:03:46... 00:03:45...]
Three minutes left. The countdown had been stable at thirty minutes when they’d left the flat, but in the past twenty minutes something had changed and the timer had started accelerating. What should have been a slow, steady countdown toward the seventy-two hour mark had instead begun racing forward at an unpredictable pace, minutes vanishing in what felt like seconds.
Aiden’s qi swept outward automatically, his senses mapping the area around them with precision born from months of training in the cultivation world. He could feel the spiritual energy in the air growing denser, thicker, charged with something that made his combat instincts flare warning signals.
"How much further?" their mother asked, her voice tight with exhaustion.
"Half a kilometer," Aiden replied, though his eyes never stopped scanning their surroundings. "Maybe less."
The countdown flickered.
[00:03:45... 00:02:17... 00:02:16...]
Aiden’s blood went cold. "It’s accelerating faster. Move, now."
They pushed forward through the crowd, Aiden using his cultivation base to carve a path while Callum guarded their mother from behind. All around them, civilians ran in every direction with no clear destination, just the desperate animal instinct to flee from danger they couldn’t see.
[00:02:16... 00:01:33... 00:01:32...]
"Aiden, what’s happening?" Callum’s voice had gone sharp with fear.
"The ritual’s working faster than predicted," Aiden said, his mind racing through the implications. "They punched through early. The barriers are collapsing ahead of schedule."
The sky overhead had turned a sickly bruised-red color, and through the thickening mist Aiden could see shapes moving beyond the dimensional barriers. Massive shadows. Armies waiting.
[00:01:32... 00:00:47... 00:00:46...]
"Run," Aiden said quietly.
Then louder. "RUN!"
They broke into a full sprint, their mother gasping for breath but keeping pace through sheer determination while Callum stayed glued to her side. The crowd around them sensed the shift in urgency and the panic intensified, people shoving and trampling each other in their desperation to reach the Safe Zone before whatever was coming arrived.
[00:00:46... 00:00:31... 00:00:30...]
Aiden’s qi perception suddenly flared with dozens of hostile signatures approaching from every direction. Not human. Alien. Hungry.
Monster intent, seconds away from manifesting.
[00:00:30... 00:00:17... 00:00:16...]
"Almost there," Aiden shouted over the screaming crowd. The Safe Zone entrance was visible now, maybe two hundred meters ahead, but the street between here and there was packed with civilians who had nowhere left to run.
[00:00:16... 00:00:09... 00:00:08...]
The countdown hit single digits and the air itself seemed to vibrate with anticipation.
[00:00:08... 00:00:07... 00:00:06... 00:00:05... 00:00:04... 00:00:03... 00:00:02... 00:00:01...]
[00:00:00]
The sky RIPPED.
The sky RIPPED.
The dimensional barrier didn’t crack or fracture. It just tore apart like wet paper, reality splitting open with a sound that made Aiden’s ears ring and his teeth ache.
SHRRRRIIIIIIIP!
A system notification flashed across every awakened person’s vision simultaneously, the text burning crimson against the air itself.
[SECOND AWAKENING WAR HAS BEGUN]
Then the portals opened.
Not one. Not a dozen.
Hundreds of them, appearing across London’s skyline like wounds in space itself. Through each tear in reality, Aiden could see the red sky of Valdris, the massive armies assembled on the other side, and then the first wave hit.
Green goblins poured through like a flood, their bodies tumbling from the portals and hitting the street in waves of chittering violence. Small, vicious, armed with rusted blades and driven by bloodlust that made them shriek with savage anticipation.
Civilians screamed and ran, the panic reaching a fever pitch as monsters that had only existed in dungeons and nightmares suddenly manifested in broad daylight among them.
A goblin landed three meters from Aiden and immediately lunged at the nearest civilian, a middle-aged woman who’d frozen in terror. Its blade came up, aimed at her throat, and Aiden’s hand moved on pure instinct.
His longsword cleared its sheath in a blur of motion and his Sword Aura ignited along the blade’s edge. White lightning crackled as he closed the distance in a single Phantom Step, moving faster than the goblin could react and appearing beside it before it could complete its attack.
The blade took the goblin’s head off cleanly, blood spraying across the pavement as the body crumpled.
"Move!" Aiden shouted at the woman, who stumbled away still screaming.