Chapter 159

Very hot.

Also very blinding—

It felt like something was burning, scorching her back painfully. She wanted to lift her head, but Filien pressed down hard on her head, not letting her lift it even a bit.

The ground seemed to tremble, like an earthquake…… yet she felt no shaking. Filien heard nothing; the only thing echoing in her mind was a sharp tinnitus.

This chaotic feeling lasted about five minutes…… until Filien's grip gradually loosened, and Filien dazedly lifted her head.

The tinnitus gradually faded, and as her hearing slightly recovered, the next second she heard countless people in the tavern hysterical…… wailing.

Just moments ago, the tavern patrons who had been carousing and cursing almost all collapsed to the ground, clutching their eyes in pain; the tavern filled with mixed sobs and shouts, like a hell on earth.

"What, what is…… going on?" Filien stared blankly at the scene before her, at a loss.

"It's hard to explain…… anyway, first gather the nearby monks to treat the civilians; their eyes have been burned." Filien felt that even when subjugating the Demon King, she had never been this tense; recalling what just happened, she swallowed nervously.

"If I'm not mistaken, I just saw……"

—— (just a separator line) We need to output 【11】 with translation? The line contains just "——". Probably translate as "——" or maybe an em dash line. We'll output same: "——". Keep as is.

"……the destruction of a star."

Chu Zihang felt the scales on his body opening piece by piece, as if breathing rhythmically.

Double Blood Burst, his body began to show draconic traits—an instinctive manifestation—an organism's instinct when facing danger.

It felt as if some liquid was flowing from his eye sockets…… Chu Zihang instinctively wiped it; the slick sensation was all too familiar to him—it was blood.

He could see nothing; before him was only pitch black.

Just a second…… no, maybe less than a second; in that instant he reflexively activated Double Blood Burst, but even the draconic reaction speed couldn't let him escape.

A flash of white light before his eyes, then only darkness…… After he reacted, his pupils were already burned. But when he activated Blood Burst, he also pushed his Golden Pupil to the limit, barely making out the image on the light curtain.

"Your eyes……" The sudden bright light made Caesar instinctively close his eyes, which also preserved his pupils intact—though he didn't see what exactly happened in the light curtain, he instinctively felt it was dangerous.

"Don't worry, I'll go see a doctor." Chu Zihang tore a strip of cloth and tied it over his eyes; although under Double Blood Burst his wounds would gradually heal, he still needed some time.

He repeated: "I saw the destruction of a star."

"Huh? How could that be?" Caesar didn't believe it, "From the start of a star's destruction to its complete disappearance, the process takes 'hundreds of millions of years' as a unit—how could it happen in just a few seconds?"

"I don't know what that Extinction Sovereign actually did." Chu Zihang's voice remained as calm as ever, "But I seemed to see a star compressed in her palm, very small…… yet the energy it contained was undoubtedly planetary-level."

"This kind of thing……" Caesar felt it was more exaggerated than a fairy tale.

Suddenly, his phone made a "dudu" sound; he opened it and saw a message from the headmaster.

"Is it a new mission?" Chu Zihang asked.

"No, it's from the Headmaster." Caesar shook his head, scrolling through the images and messages the Headmaster had sent, his expression growing graver the more he looked.

"Your ophthalmology might be unavailable for a while; after that intense light just now, eye departments in hospitals worldwide are overcrowded." Caesar gave a wry smile, "Burning a person's lens in 0.001 seconds…… if I hadn't seen it myself, no one would believe it if written in a novel."

—— (separator) -> "——"

"As everyone was about to launch the next wave of attack, they suddenly saw Huanlong raising her hand high, pointing to the heavens."

""To crush ants, nothing is more suitable than dropping a star.""

Countless glimmers floated above the Abyssal Depths Realm, transforming in the atmosphere into a dazzling sphere, its surface covered with thousands of scarlet light seams, as if scorching magma surged and churned beneath it.

But the next second, this star suddenly contracted, ultimately condensing in Huanlong's palm into a small ball resembling molten fire.

——As if toying with a delicate little toy, the smile on Huanlong's face gradually deepened.

Almost instantly, Walter and Jingyuan's expressions changed; they both knew exactly what energy that small ball contained.

""Everyone, be careful——!""

"Unfortunately, their voices weren't fully conveyed, because the next second the Abyssal Depths Realm began to shake violently. Xing saw the Jianmu roots beside Huanlong constantly burning, then reborn in the fierce fire. The temperature rose sharply, white mist seeming to be sucked into the void."

"Immediately after, light burst forth."

"At that moment, Xing seemed to have seen——"

First a blinding blue, then a scorching yellow, and finally a white that destroys everything. The explosion's shockwave expanded at visible speed, withering all roots in its path. The molten fireball in Huanlong's hand began to swell, like overinflated, and then……

"A silent splendor."

Terrifying.

Overlord—— (English word) -> "Overlord——"

Horror beyond words.

Sebas, walking the streets, after witnessing Huanlong crush a star, had only this monotonous and pallid thought left in his mind.

All around were the townsfolk's hoarse wails; although the Holy Kingdom's medical personnel had immediately begun treating residents, perhaps after this disaster many would still be permanently blind……

Lord Ainz could not have done this——this thought flashed in Sebas's mind for a brief moment, quickly suppressed by himself. The emergence of such a thought is undoubtedly a sign of disloyalty; even if it were true, Sebas would never allow such a thought to arise.

"Can anyone really survive an explosion of this magnitude?"

Sebas harbored doubts.

Even if General Jingyuan, also an envoy, couldn't possibly survive; such an explosion could destroy the world he currently inhabits countless times, Sebas couldn't imagine any way to survive at this distance.

Xing and the others…… perhaps even their corpses have vanished into smoke?

Sebas sighed and slowly lifted his head.

But the next second, his pupils suddenly dilated——

But the next second, his pupils suddenly dilated——

After the white mist in the light curtain gradually dissipated, a beam of light belonging to the Guardian stood upright behind the star's flame spear.