Chapter 438: The Unbreakable Grand Array

Kina shifted her body slightly, turning to face the southeast.

Then,

a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips—a rare, unexpected expression on her usually ice-cold face.

“Captain......”

She whispered softly, her eyes filled with a hint of longing.

“I’m sorry, Kina can’t go any further.”

As the words left her mouth,

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK......

Her body began to freeze over from the feet up, turning to ice at a terrifying pace.

In less than three seconds, she had completely transformed into a lifelike ice sculpture.

But Aznov and Sandor, still standing not far away, had no time to admire this stunning yet tragic work of art. Terror etched itself onto their faces.

“RUN——!!!”

BOOM——!

In the next instant,

a blinding white light erupted from the ice sculpture, spreading outward in all directions like a tidal wave.

Everything in its path froze solid in the blink of an eye—all living things, the air itself, even the earth beneath their feet......

When the white light finally faded away,

a colossal iceberg over a kilometer wide towered over the landscape.

Its peak vanished into the clouds, and its base stretched endlessly downward into the depths of the earth.

At the edge of the iceberg,

the two men stood covered in frost, their faces ashen as they stared at the massive structure mere meters away.

So close. They had come so close to dying here!

Luckily, they’d been cautious enough not to get too close initially.

Luckily, they’d run fast enough.

If either of those two strokes of luck had been missing, they would never have survived this day.

After a long while,

Sandor finally found his voice, grinding his teeth as he spoke, still shaken to his core.

“She was completely insane!”

......

“ROAR——!”

An A-Rank monster let out its customary roar at the intruder, baring its fangs.

SWISH——!

A beam of light shot straight into its open mouth, piercing clean through its body from head to tail.

THUD!

In the end, the ferocious A-Rank monster only managed to let out a single roar before collapsing to the ground, dead before it could even strike.

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Hulim paid no heed to the fallen beast, stepping over its body without a second glance.

“Is this the last one......”

She stood before the final crimson pillar of light,

but instead of attacking immediately, she hesitated, a frown creasing her brow.

She lifted her head, gazing up at the battle raging in the sky.

“Why......”

Why was he still doing nothing?

Recalling the oddity she’d noticed ever since she destroyed the first pillar,

a growing sense of unease gnawed at Hulim’s heart.

Something was wrong.

There had to be something they were missing.

But what exactly was it?

She couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, they’d been on the back foot from the very start of this battle.

Gulos’s tactics had exceeded everything this world could have anticipated.

Their next move was completely unpredictable.

All they could do was react passively, countering each blow as it came.

“......Yes. That’s all we can do.”

With that thought, Hulim’s hesitation vanished.

WHOOSH!

She twirled the Seven Luminaries in her hand, tightening her grip before pointing it straight at the pillar ahead.

“No matter what tricks they have up their sleeves, we can only find a way to defeat them once they reveal them!”

“Final Light——!!!”

BOOM!

A blinding white beam pierced through the crimson pillar of light in an instant, striking the red cylinder at its core.

CRACK!

The red cylinder shattered into pieces, dissolving into nothingness under the white light.

And so,

the cage formed by the ninety-nine pillars was completely destroyed, and the all-out battle was officially declared over.

......

As the last crimson pillar of light slowly faded from the sky,

everyone on the battlefield turned their gaze toward it.

They all froze in place, holding their breath, waiting for the final victory to be sealed.

Yet......

“How is this possible? How can this be?”

A soldier on the battlefield shouted in disbelief, his voice cracking with shock.

Soon after, more and more voices joined his, echoing the same question.

Why hadn’t the blood-red sky dissipated?

Why?

The World Tree’s restraints were still in place!

High up in the sky,

Irus’s eyes were wide with shock.

“It can’t be......”

She stared at Darius with a grave expression, her voice trembling with rage.

“Darius! What have you done?!”

“What have I done? Heh...... Hahaha......”

A low chuckle escaped Darius’s lips.

Finally,

he couldn’t hold back any longer, bursting into a loud, mocking laugh.

“HAHAHAHAHA——!!!”

His laughter echoed across the entire battlefield, loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.

“You fools! Did you really think a grand array this terrifying could be destroyed so easily~?”

“Let me tell you——”

Darius pulled a small cylinder from his pocket. It looked identical to the other ninety-nine cylinders—but this one pulsed rhythmically, like a beating heart.

“What? That’s——!”

Irus’s eyes widened in horror as she stared at the object in his hand, the truth finally dawning on her.

“Heh. As you’ve no doubt realized, all you destroyed were mere decoys. The true core of this grand array has been in my hands from the very beginning!”

“As long as the core remains intact, the grand array will never stop functioning! Despair! All your efforts have been completely in vain!”

“How can this be......”

“After all the sacrifices we made, was it all for nothing?”

More and more soldiers crumpled to the ground in despair, their faces drained of all color.

Irus finally understood why Darius had remained so indifferent as their ground-based defenses were destroyed.

Because he himself had been the most crucial piece of the puzzle all along.

Everything else—

the massive monster army, his subordinates, all of it—had merely been pawns to pave his path to the end.

In this man’s eyes,

no one else had ever mattered. Everyone was just a tool to be discarded when they outlived their usefulness.

Irus clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles turning white with rage.

“Darius——!!!”

“You’re beyond redemption! Not even the demons are as despicable and cruel as you!!!”

“Hmph.” Darius scoffed coldly. “Empty rage.”

He tucked the core back into his pocket.

“If that’s your surrender speech, I suppose I can let it slide.”

“Surrender?”

“To someone like you?”

Her sharp gaze pierced him like a blade.

“Don’t even dream of it!”

BOOM——!

She charged straight at Darius, her aura flaring with determination.

“I’ll never let you get away with this!”

“Hahaha!”

Darius laughed as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.

“That’s impossible.”

“You could barely hold your own against me with three Holy Tree Staves. Now you’re down to two—what hope do you have of defeating me?”

As the words left his mouth, Darius raised his demon spear, striking with pinpoint accuracy at the gap between the two Holy Tree Staves as they shifted positions.

BOOM!

“Ugh!”

Irus was sent flying backward, crashing violently into the air.

“See?” Darius twirled his demon spear casually, looking down at her with a sneer. “That is reality. Right now, you stand no chance against me!”