CHAPTER 344: CHAPTER 344: SURPRISE

What a wonderful day it was.

Truly peaceful.

The sun hung high in the sky, bordering on the afternoon time.

The breeze swept through the land, bringing an air of freshness and change with it.

The general temperature was cool and manageable.

A lot of creatures would be having their midday nap by now, just basking in the serenity of the world.

The peach valley was okay, there was nothing to it. The metal structure stretched high into the sky, an echo of ancient events.

The clouds slowly drifted through the sky, painting a beautiful picture for those who could appreciate it.

Creatures came and went, some died, some were born. Some chose life mates, others started harems.

For a while, anyone could appreciate the world for what it was. They could appreciate nature for being so cruel, yet so peaceful.

What could possibly spoil this serenity?

...

...

...

*BOOM!*

The sound of an explosion rang out from the center of the peach valley.

It was loud, very loud.

As for the explosion, it was just the result of an unstoppable force colliding with an immovable object.

Trees were forced back, some being uprooted by the resulting shockwave. The ground was ripped apart and folded away like a carpet.

Large chunks of the earth tore into the sky in blocks and slabs. The air was drained, fueling the rising temperature that had not stopped rising.

Then, there was stillness. The rising chunks of earth fell back to the ground, forming craters and creating loud booms.

There was no dust to settle as every dust particle had been blown away.

At the base of the rising curved metal structure, this was where the shockwave had originated from.

The thirty-two tigers had been forced back but they held on by digging their claws into the ground. One of the tigers flew into the sky with its white feathered wings.

They looked ahead to see a shocking sight that left them slack-jawed.

Constantyne had thrown out his right fist to punch Kael as soon as he saw him. His hand moved fast, it was not his strongest attack, but it wasn’t casual.

Normally, Kael should have been blasted away by the punch, shooting into the corridor of the passageway behind him.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The first landed on the left side of Kael’s face. His body instantly shot into the passageway along with Chloe.

He should be down.

But he wasn’t.

Right before their very eyes, Kael rushed out of the passageway and delivered a mighty headbutt to Constantyne.

That was what caused the shockwave.

Constantyne’s legs had sunk into the ground all the way to his ankles. He almost fell over from that headbutt.

How was this physically possible?

They swore that they heard the sound of metal clashing with metal. Was Kael’s body that strong?

Flames had been ignited, space had been compressed, lightning surged, all on Kael’s forehead.

How powerful did his neck have to be for him to be able to do that and cause so much damage?

Wasn’t he a tier 4 creature? All the tier 4 tigers were sure that they couldn’t do something like that. At least, not unless they were War Tigers and it would cost them a lot of energy.

Thankfully, Constantyne was super strong. All the force of Kael’s headbutt had been transmitted into the ground and spread out.

The surrounding trees had been uprooted, and the earth had either been broken away or was filled with cracks.

"Hmm," Belgrod still had his arms behind his back as he floated above all this, observing with a keen eye. He frowned, noticing that he could not sense Chloe anymore.

"She has entered the arkship," He announced, alerting the tigers.

Constantyne snapped out of his puzzlement and narrowed his eyes. Rage filled his heart and deep guttural growls escaped from his throat.

Kael stood at the entrance, a cold killer expression on his face. This was serious.

The ground beneath him began to melt into lava as flames burst from Constantyne’s body.

"I’m going to burn you to..." Constantyne raged but Kael didn’t have time. This was a tier 5 creature, there’s no point in waiting.

The ground shattered and formed web-like cracks as Kael launched himself at Constantyne, his left arm raised to deliver a blow to the latter’s face.

It happened in an instant.

Constantyne smirked, bringing his right fist up to block the blow. Unfortunately, he had miscalculated and Kael was too close.

Kael doesn’t start a fight with his left hand, at least not if his right was impeded, and it wasn’t.

Constantyne blocked the left punch and noticed it was surprisingly weak, too weak.

It was a feint.

His orange eyes caught sight of another fist coming at him. This one was different.

The arm had swollen to a monstrous scale, the fist was covered in flames, lightning, and distorted space.

And there was a faint halo of fortune that came and went in the blink of an eye.

Kael’s supercharged right punch landed square on Constantyne’s defenseless chest.

Another explosion occurred, and this time, it was more destructive.

Belgrod hurriedly put a magic barrier around him to shield against the shockwave, the frown on his face getting deeper.

Walls of ice rose from the ground to protect Agatha as she was the closest to them.

The tier 4 tigers could only improvise.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

Constantyne’s body broke the sound barrier as he shot off like a bullet. He left a deep and long trench behind that kept getting longer the further he flew.

Trees were obliterated when he came into contact with them, hundreds of them, shattered into wood chips and splinters.

Constantyne watched as he got farther and farther away from Kael’s outstretched hand. He watched his body create a long fissure in the ground and he felt the trees breaking behind him.

His chest, it hurt...

Meanwhile, Kael’s senses reached into the passageway behind him. He confirmed that Chloe had already gone in.

When Constantyne punched him, he used the opportunity to sweep Chloe into the metal tunnel so that she could get a head start.

He didn’t know how long he could keep this entrance guarded.

His survival as of now was partially dependent on how fast Chloe could find the Command Chamber and if she could even find it at all.

"Kael, don’t blame us for being merciless," Belgrod said, as he waved his hand, summoning hundreds of magic circles.

"Same to you," Kael said. Then, Belgrod’s eyes widened as he felt a magic aura rising from Kael’s body. He had already suspected that Kael was a Chimera, like Constantyne.

Kael’s previous attack contained the power of fire, lightning, and space. His arm had even swelled with muscles, indicating War powers.

And now, he revealed that he also had magic.

Belgrod began to reassess Kael’s danger level. If Kael was a Magus Lion, it also meant he had the dangerous intelligence that came with it.

In a sense, Kael was just as intelligent as he was.

This was not good.

However, Kael did not execute any magic attack or defense. Instead, the magic aura died as all the energy was transferred to another person that Belgrod and the rest had forgotten at this point.

...

Katari still had her head down while her limbs were wrapped by glowing red strings. The previous booming sounds had attracted the attention of the tigers watching over her.

They wondered what was causing those loud sounds.

They just saw Constantyne rush past them, leaving a deep trench in front of them. The wind was still rough from his movement and had not yet died down.

Suddenly, there was a click.

The ears of the tigers twitched as they turned to Katari.

There was another click sound again.

They saw it, one of the glowing red strings snapped.

It actually snapped.

Then another, and another, and another. More of the red strings binding Katari were snapping, fading away as another magic power was cancelling their hold.

The magic circle under Katari flickered like a light, and the confidence of the tigers flickered with it.

Every string that snapped was followed by a terrifying killing intent that bellowed out of Katari like water from a broken dam.

Never had they felt such a desire just to kill from another entity.

The killing intent was so much that it affected their minds, seeding indescribable fear within them.

With her black hair covering her face, her dirty dress, her pale skin, the killing intent, and the rising aura, Katari seemed to be a horrifying eldritch entity that was trapped in this humanoid form.

Perhaps...

"STOP HER!" One of the tigers shouted as he lunged at her. He was the first to come back to his senses.

The other tigers also reacted fast. Their aura rose and their powers burst forth. Fire, vines, metal claws, lightning blades, they rushed at Katari with the mind to eliminate this threat.

They didn’t bother to alert Belgrod.

Alas...

All their attacks met emptiness at the last second. The magic circle had flickered out of existence and the strings disappeared. Katari was gone.

The tigers unanimously looked up, sensing that their enemy was above them. Indeed, she was.

The tigers could finally see her face and they were frightened by what they saw.

Katari stood high in the sky, looking down at the tigers indifferently with two mini black holes replacing her eyeballs.

Multiple magic runes covered different parts of her body, lighting her up with the power of a Magus.