Chapter 3016: Angel and Dragon

Amidst these unsparing praises, the black insect-man on the seat to the Ancient One's left stood up. The thick, earthy-yellow spiritual light represented the power of the earth, while the insect-man's essence was that of a "Guardian" attempting to escape after molting.

The "Guardian" in its normal state had already been proven to be no match for the group, but now, this ancient evil entity, born from devouring the World Tree and representing "paradox" itself, had become even more powerful due to the strength actively provided by the World Tree.

Clad in armor made of insect shell, with green light surging from the tree roots embedded in its back, two pairs of wings resembling cicada wings beat against the cold air, forming a continuous sheet of white mist. Then, from the white mist of chaotic space-time, one Paradox Bug after another emerged.

Even though it had been enhanced by the World Tree, this highly intelligent bug still chose to summon its kin to help.

Although it wasn't summoning the bugs very quickly—even if the group on the ground did nothing, it would still take a long time for the swarm above the clearing to reach the density of the current fourth wave of bugs above the city—there was no large-scale divine ritual composed of five Orthodox Church cathedrals here, nor were there sufficient strategic supplies or a safe rear rest area prepared in advance.

Therefore, as the pitch-black insect-man took flight, half of the Ringed Shushis guarding Emilia flew into the sky to intercept it, or at least to stop the bug from summoning more of its kind.

But the "evolved" insect-man clearly possessed new abilities. Amidst the buzzing of the swarm, every "Paradox Bug" was wrapped in a "cocoon" made of white mist. Thaumaturgy attacks could not destroy these mist cocoons. After just a few dozen seconds of incubation, the creatures that crawled out were actually insect-men with human bodies and insect heads, identical in appearance to the "Guardian."

Having gained human bodies, they also possessed spellcasting abilities. After shielding the "Guardian," which continued to summon and hatch the swarm, the insect-men manifested Fate Rings ranging from the 11th to 12th circle behind their backs and met the human team head-on in the air.

Unlike Thomas Bennett, who had already fought his way into the tree canopy, the Paradox Bugs maintained a high-efficiency, low-altitude combat style. Thus, for a time, those still on the ground only felt various lights flying wildly above their heads.

Seeing that the human Ringed Shushis were already in a miserable state with only one 13th-circle "Nightmare Witch" present, the "Guardian," which continued to summon more Paradox Bugs, suddenly dove downward toward Emilia.

However, it did not harm the little sprite, because Xia De had made preparations during these few short minutes. Taking a fresh corpse he had prepared in advance out of his pocket, Xia De didn't even have time to apologize to the corpse before rudely stuffing a small, glowing bone fragment into the corpse's chest.

The limbs of the corpse "planted" with the bone fragment twitched violently. Gray light overflowed from the wound in front of its heart like water, and then the corpse actually opened its eyes.

By this time, the diving bug had already shattered eight barriers in succession. Bella gritted her teeth, wanting to stop it together with Vanessa, but Xia De grabbed her shoulder and made the witches retreat:

"Watch out!"

He grabbed the corpse's right hand with his left and threw it violently into the high sky. Emilia, who was very close to Xia De, felt in a trance as if she had heard the corpse say a very nasty swear word in Dralian with a Tobesk accent.

"Do corpses swear too?"

The "Guardian" didn't know what the corpse thrown at it was, but since the little sprite was now right before its eyes, it maintained its high-speed movement and crashed into it while wrapping itself in white mist.

Boom!

An explosion, as if from a potent Corpse Explosion spell, immediately engulfed the pitch-black insect-man at low altitude. The fireball condensed in the air and lingered for a long time; even those in the battlefield above the canopy couldn't help but look down to see what had happened.

The "Guardian" flew out rapidly from the exploding fireball and cloud, but it didn't seem to have been injured by an explosion of that magnitude. However, the way it fled at high speed made it hard not to think that it had encountered something even more terrifying.

Shattered flames soared into the air, illuminating the terrifying scene about to unfold. As the inferno churned in the sky, a skeleton draped in tattered black robes emerged from the flames, looking like the skeleton left behind after the corpse from earlier had exploded.

But immediately after, as the skeleton made a creaking sound, eight pairs of wings, mostly scorched black, grew out from behind it. The Wind of Death blew across the surrounding forest, and in that pure, cold dead silence, a golden halo manifested and floated above the skeleton's skull.

At this moment, the appearance of this skeleton that emerged from the explosion found a twisted balance between terror and divinity. Its skeletal appearance made one feel the extreme cold of death, yet it radiated a divine pressure that could not be ignored.

Its skeleton shimmered with a cold light in the fire that had not yet dissipated, its tattered robe fluttered in the wind, and the edges of its scorched wings ignited with black flames, giving the "Angel" a tragic beauty.

As it stood in the air, no weapon appeared in its hands; instead, it held up a golden horn.

The horn was made of a strange light-absorbing metal, its surface covered in intersecting cracks, and it looked very archaic. But when the Angel held the horn with one hand in front of its head beneath the tree, the fatal sense of crisis made even the Ringed Shushis, who were not the target of this attack, feel a horror as if their hearts were about to stop.

Woo—woo—woo~

The eight pairs of wings behind the skeleton fully spread, and then the horn was sounded. This sound was similar to a normal horn, but when the spirit and soul captured the sound—or rather, when the sound captured the soul—everyone glimpsed the black waters illuminated by the Underworld Moon at that moment.

Most people's illusions lasted only a second, and those whose illusions lasted longer than a second immediately fainted and collapsed. Only Emilia saw a scene different from everyone else; she saw the "Skeletal Angel" sounding the horn directly above Tobesk, just as it was now.

And so the sky and the earth, or rather the entire world, trembled violently. A sallow yellow engulfed the color of the sky, and the world became blurred like a yellowing oil painting. The color of the sun dimmed, followed by black...

The little sprite spat out a mouthful of blood, but fortunately, the scene she had just glimpsed disappeared. But no one noticed her actions at this time, because amidst the continuous horn sound, the concept of the "Horn of the Apocalypse" was automatically captured by the living souls.

As for the bugs under the canopy that were the main targets of the horn's attack, they fell to the ground in large numbers after the sound passed. They had no ability to resist at all, and they didn't even realize what they had encountered.

The Death Messenger directly declared their end, and the swarm summoned by the "Guardian" was wiped out by this single blow. Even the "Guardian" itself became unsteady in the air. It didn't die, but the white mist wrapping around its body disappeared completely, dense cracks appeared on the surface of its thick insect-shell armor, and its body size even shrank by at least a third.

The "Guardian," enhanced by the World Tree's power, now seemed even weaker than its initial bug form. Seeing the skeletal angel lower the horn and its bones fall to the ground and shatter into pieces, it immediately flapped its wings and flew toward the canopy, wanting to join Bennett to face the enemy together. But it had just taken flight when it was blasted down by a sea-blue giant cannon.

A giant ship with the wings of a blue dragon appeared above the east side of the clearing. Miss Elise had finally driven the giant ship to find this place.

Miss Maria, the "Nightmare Witch," led the team to catch up with the injured insect-man. The high-circle girls who jumped down from the ship's deck joined them and launched a fierce battle with the pitch-black insect-man.

At the same time, more footsteps sounded from around the clearing. More and more teams crossed the forest, following the guidance to arrive here. And on those five huge thrones, only the Ancient One in the center and that black dragon-beast remained.

The moment the dragon-beast stood up and left its seat, blood-red moonlight slashed toward it. The dragon-beast, which had also received a power boost under the Ancient One's enhancement, raised its claws to resist, and was then sliced off its front claw by that ray of blood-moon light.

The red moon radiance filling 【Blood Sorrow】 seemed to want to turn the long sword into a crimson torch. The dragon-beast didn't recognize what it was, but it could sense that the sword possessed the most dangerous power against it.

It opened its mouth, accumulating flames to spray, but five dragon breaths from the front forcibly pushed it back onto the throne.

The 13th-circle crystal dragon "Lady Crystal," leading two red dragons, one bronze dragon, and one gold dragon, pounced out from the woods and immediately became entangled with the dragon-beast that had spread its wings to fly again.

However, the Ancient One in the light did not look at the entanglement of the dragons, but watched as Xia De threw 【Blood Sorrow】, whose light had reached its peak, into the high sky.

He had originally thought he would have to wait another dozen seconds, but after the long sword rose into the sky, the light erupted immediately. It was not a monochromatic light, but a variegated color block like a whirlpool. In that whirlpool of light, a stone statue with a blurred face emerged, and then the statue raised its right hand high, turning itself into a part of the light:

"Dragon of Light!"

The erupting light gathered inward toward the stone statue, and the stone statue received the light and turned into a huge body for combat. Amidst that deepest and most majestic dragon roar, blinding light illuminated the forest, and the Giant Dragon of Light made its debut.

Its body was composed of pure light, radiating a brilliance as soft yet intense as the morning sun. This dragon's body had no materiality, only the intersection of light and energy. Although the body composed of light made it impossible to look directly at, everyone knew its appearance was noble and majestic just by seeing that light.

When the huge dragon wings spread under the canopy, it was like two pure curtains of heaven, shimmering with five-colored brilliance. ===== CHAPTER 3017 =====