Chapter 26: Abyssal Armored Chimera

The atmosphere suddenly became suffocating.

The wind that had been drifting through the mountains seemed to freeze in place. Even the surrounding forest fell eerily silent, as if every living creature had instinctively sensed the arrival of something far beyond their ability to resist.

Then...

BOOM!

A thunderous shockwave erupted from deep within the mountains.

From the fog-shrouded gorge leading toward the innermost peaks of the Thousand Mountain Forest, the earth suddenly began to buckle.

Thump.

A fissure split across a solid slab of granite fifty yards ahead.

Thump.

The shockwave rolled outward like a physical hammer, snapping young trees at their trunks and reducing nearby boulders to jagged fragments.

Then, the mist parted.

A colossal creature emerged from the depths of the gorge.

Towering over five meters in height and stretching nearly twelve meters from its snout to its whip-like tail, it was an unholy amalgamation of bone and sinew—the Abyssal Armored Chimera, a Tier-4 Otherworldly Beast whose cultivation had reached the Martial General Realm.

Its massive body was encased in overlapping plates of volcanic, obsidian-colored bone that gleamed with an oily purple luminescence. Two curved horns jutted backward from its draconic skull, framing a monstrous maw lined with rows of triple-layered, serrated teeth.

Four muscular limbs supported its enormous frame, each tipped with scythe-like claws of pale ivory. Every deliberate step drove those claws deep into the earth, gouging trenches into the ground.

Its tail, thick as an ancient python and tipped with a heavy, barbed club, swayed lazily behind it, effortlessly shearing through boulders as though they were nothing more than dry clay.

The creature did not roar.

It did not need to.

The natural pressure of a Martial General descended upon the ridge like the weight of the heavens themselves.

The air grew thick.

Dense.

Almost suffocating.

Within a five-mile radius, insects stopped chirping, birds fell silent, and even the weaker mutated beasts instinctively lowered their bodies in submission.

The entire mountain seemed to hold its breath.

The Abyssal Armored Chimera had arrived.

On the high rock, Shadow One’s violet eye-flames flickered violently.

The tactical evaluation within the commander’s mind was completed in less than a microsecond.

Threat Level: Catastrophic.

Disparity: Absolute.

Combat Probability of Victory: 0.00%.

"Withdraw."

Shadow One transmitted the command through the mental network.

The hundred Shadow Soldiers, standing in an immaculate humanoid formation, showed no signs of panic. They pivoted with perfect military precision, immediately preparing to execute a phased tactical retreat.

Yet before their boots could complete even a single stride—

The Abyssal Armored Chimera moved.

For a beast of such colossal proportions, its speed defied common sense.

It did not merely sprint.

It seemed to fold the distance between itself and its prey through sheer explosive force.

BOOM!

A sonic boom tore through the clearing as the displaced air collapsed behind it with a sound resembling a detonating artillery shell.

Swish!

A pale ivory claw swept downward in a casual, contemptuous arc.

Three Shadow Soldiers positioned at the rear barely had time to raise their dark blades in a defensive cross-block.

BANG!

The impact was instantaneous.

The three thousand kilograms of physical force each soldier possessed were utterly insignificant before the hundreds of tons of kinetic force carried by the Chimera’s attack.

Their dark blades snapped.

Their scale armor caved inward.

Their humanoid forms were crushed beneath the overwhelming force, instantly dissolving into pure black mist.

The mist scattered into the wind before their severed shadows could even touch the ground.

Through the soul link, the sudden and violent destruction of three Shadow Soldiers struck Shadow One’s consciousness like a branding iron.

For the first time, the severity of the situation became undeniable.

This was not an opponent they could defeat.

It was a calamity they could only escape.

’Master! Tier-4 savage beast encountered. Martial General Realm beast. The unit cannot withstand direct contact!’

Thirty kilometers away, inside the quiet, luxurious bedroom of the Sterling Grand Courtyard, Lucian’s eyes snapped wide open.

A sharp surge of adrenaline shot through his spine.

He did not waste even half a second on hesitation or fear.

"Hold your ground. I’m taking direct control."

Closing his eyes, Lucian severed his awareness of his physical surroundings within the Sterling Manor. He then pushed his divine sense along the unbroken soul tether, crossing the thirty-kilometer distance in the blink of an eye.

Shift!

Inside Shadow One’s two-and-a-half-meter armored frame, the violet flames within his visor suddenly contracted, transforming into two burning, razor-sharp obsidian pupils.

Lucian’s consciousness took the helm.

Instantly, the crushing domain of the Abyssal Armored Chimera descended upon him.

The pressure was terrifying.

Every plate of Shadow One’s armor groaned beneath the sheer atmospheric force, while the ground beneath his feet cracked under the invisible weight.

’One hundred against this thing is nothing more than offering it one hundred separate targets.’

Lucian’s thoughts raced at lightning speed.

’If it strikes again, half my army could be permanently erased before they even have a chance to scatter.’

His gaze locked onto the colossal beast.

There was no time to hesitate.

"Shadow Integration : All units, converge!"

Under Lucian’s direct divine command, the remaining ninety-seven Shadow Soldiers did not flee.

Instead, their humanoid bodies dissolved simultaneously into ninety-seven thick streams of liquid darkness. Like bolts of black lightning, they shot straight toward the central commander.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One stream after another slammed into Shadow One’s breastplate, shoulders, and greaves.

The towering two-and-a-half-meter frame expanded slightly as the pitch-black plate armor became denser and heavier, complex abyssal runes glowing across its surface.

The two-handed greatsword in his grasp lengthened as well, its edge becoming wrapped in an icy, pitch-black shroud of condensed soul power.

Ninety-seven soldiers, each possessing three tons of physical striking force, merged with the commander’s innate six-and-a-half tons of strength.

The sudden concentration of more than three hundred tons of equivalent energy within a single body was simply too much, too fast.

Lucian was still getting used to the overwhelming sensation of directly controlling the Commander’s frame. For a brief moment, he failed to completely contain the surging energy within his Soul Sea.

BOOM!

A powerful wave of dark-attribute energy suddenly burst through the gaps in Shadow One’s armor, surging outward in every direction.

Within thirty meters, tree bark was ripped clean from the trunks, while loose stones and debris were sent flying through the air.