Zael stopped moving.
The battlefield around them had already been devastated beyond recognition. Ruins collapsed everywhere, the ground shattered from repeated impacts while nearby awakened kept their distance instinctively.
The two cloaked figures were injured badly now.
One knelt against broken stone, blood dripping steadily beneath his cloak while the other struggled just to stay standing after the repeated impacts.
But even now—
Neither looked afraid.
Zael noticed immediately.
And that irritated him slightly.
He walked toward them slowly, abyssal energy still flowing faintly around his body.
"Who are you people?"
Neither answered.
Zael's gaze sharpened.
"That serpent. The beasts. The camp attack."
His voice remained calm.
"What's your goal?"
Silence.
Then the blood-red attacker suddenly laughed weakly.
A rough sound filled with blood and exhaustion.
"You really don't know anything…"
Zael frowned slightly.
The second cloaked figure slowly pushed himself upright despite his injuries.
"You people…" he muttered, voice shaky but fanatical. "You live in ignorance… pretending this world still belongs to you."
Auralis grimaced.
"…Okay yeah, these guys are insane."
Zael ignored her.
"Answer the question."
The pressure around him intensified slightly.
The wounded spear user suddenly lifted his head toward the sky.
And spoke softly.
"The light of our world will never truly fade."
The blood-user smiled beneath his hood.
"Even if the old world dies…"
"Our lord will bring dawn once again."
Zael's eyes narrowed.
Lord.
Again.
Before he could speak further—
Something felt wrong.
Sovereign Instinct reacted instantly.
"Wait—"
Too late.
The two figures suddenly grabbed their own chests simultaneously.
Then—
CRACK.
Dark red patterns spread across their bodies violently.
Auralis' eyes widened.
"Oh hell no—"
BOOM!!
Their bodies exploded outward in a violent surge of corrupted energy.
Zael reacted instantly, abyssal energy spreading outward to shield the others from the blast while Lily distorted space to redirect the remaining shockwave away from nearby awakened.
The explosion faded quickly.
Silence followed.
Then—
Nothing remained.
No bodies.
No loot.
Nothing to devour or gain.
Just scorched ground and lingering blood-red energy slowly fading into the air.
Zael stood there quietly for a few seconds.
Expression unreadable.
"…Fanatics."
Aurelia adjusted her glasses slowly, gaze serious now.
"They killed themselves before revealing anything useful."
Lily frowned slightly.
"No… they revealed one thing."
Everyone looked toward her.
Her expression darkened slightly.
"They aren't acting independently."
Silence followed briefly.
Then somewhere in the distance—
The Dragon Blood Serpent suddenly roared.
And this time—
The pressure it released felt noticeably stronger than before.
It was then Zael noticed it.
The blood.
Not just from the two cloaked figures.
All of it.
Human blood.
Beast blood.
Everything spilled across the battlefield was slowly moving, thin streams creeping across the shattered ground almost invisibly as they converged toward the Dragon Blood Serpent.
And the serpent—
Was absorbing it.
Its massive body pulsed faintly with crimson light as the blood disappeared into its scales. The pressure leaking from it became heavier by the second, more oppressive, more dangerous.
Zael's expression darkened immediately.
"…That thing is evolving."
The others noticed too.
Auralis tightened her grip on the hammer.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Another deep roar shook the battlefield.
This time several weaker awakened collapsed outright from the pressure alone.
Zael moved instantly.
"We attack it now."
No hesitation.
No discussion.
Because if that thing evolved fully—
Nothing good was going to happen.
Zael shot forward first, abyssal energy erupting around him as the others followed immediately behind.
The serpent noticed.
Its massive golden eyes shifted downward slowly.
Then—
Everything between them exploded into motion.
The beasts attacked again.
This time harder.
Not berserk.
Protective.
Like guards defending their king.
A massive armored beast slammed into Zael from the side. He cut through it instantly without slowing down, but three more replaced it immediately.
Lily distorted space repeatedly, clearing pathways forward while Aurelia directed attacks toward openings.
Auralis simply bulldozed through everything in front of her.
But there were too many.
Way too many.
The entire area had become a tide of monsters.
Every time they pushed forward, another wave crashed into them.
Zael tore through beast after beast, abyssal energy carving destruction across the battlefield while EXP notifications piled endlessly into his pool.
But even with his strength—
Progress was slow.
He became painfully aware of his lack of aoe skills as killing them individually even if it was only with one strike per beast was still too slow.
The Dragon Blood Serpent remained in the distance, continuing to absorb blood uninterrupted.
Its aura kept rising.
Higher.
Denser.
More dangerous.
Then—
A pulse erupted from its body.
BOOOOM!!
The pressure wave spread across the battlefield violently, forcing countless awakened backward.
Even Zael slid several meters before stabilizing himself.
His eyes narrowed immediately.
Because now—
The crimson patterns beneath the serpent's scales were spreading faster.
Changing.
Evolving.
And behind him—
For the first time since the fighting began—
Aurelia sounded genuinely tense.
"…We're running out of time."
Thunder clouds began gathering above the battlefield.
Slow at first.
Then faster.
Dark masses rolled in from nowhere, swallowing what little light remained over the ruins. The air grew heavier, charged, almost unstable—like the sky itself was reacting to what was happening below.
The Dragon Blood Serpent coiled tighter.
Its massive body no longer just absorbed blood—it shook with it. Crimson energy pulsed through its scales in violent waves, each one stronger than the last.
And then—
Something began to form around it.
Faint, unstable apparitions.
Wings.
Massive and torn, appearing and disappearing like broken shadows.
Horns curved out from its head, jagged and ancient, not fully real yet but already pressing into existence.
Claws stretched along its limbs, larger than before, reshaping its entire frame as it writhed in midair.
Zael's expression hardened instantly.
"…It's not just evolving."
The pressure dropped for half a second.
Then—
EXPLODED outward.
BOOM!!
A wave of force slammed across the battlefield, throwing weaker awakened and beasts alike into the air. Even the stronger groups staggered, barely holding their ground.
Auralis dug her hammer into the ground just to stay upright.
"Okay—this is getting ridiculous!"
Lily raised a spatial barrier instinctively, but even it flickered under the pressure.
Aurelia's eyes narrowed sharply.
"It's completing a transformation," she said, voice low. "Not a normal evolution."
Zael didn't answer.
His gaze was locked on the serpent.
Because now it was clear.
The creature wasn't just growing stronger.
It was changing species.
The wings above it sharpened for a brief moment before distorting again, unstable but increasingly real. The horns solidified further, and the claws dragged across the air as if tearing open space itself.
Each change came with another surge of pressure.
Stronger.
Heavier.
More suffocating.
The entire battlefield began to shake under it.
Even the beasts that had been attacking them earlier started retreating slightly, instinctively afraid of what their "king" was becoming.
Zael clicked his tongue softly.
"…We don't have time."
Auralis glanced at him.
"You've got a plan?"
Zael didn't look away from the serpent.
"Yeah."
A pause.
Then—
"We interrupt it."
As soon as he spoke, abyssal energy flared around him again, darker than before.
The others tensed instantly.
Because they all understood the same thing at once—
If they didn't stop it now…
They wouldn't get another chance.