Chapter 443: Reaction

BZZT.

Where her fingertip had touched, a complex, blue-gold array disc suddenly lit up.

The disc expanded in all directions, unfurling and rotating rapidly. In just a few seconds, it swelled from the size of a washbasin to a giant array over a hundred meters wide.

“Go… destroy everything you can see…” the Lady of Cold Night said softly.

Half of the gains from the slaughter committed by the monsters pouring from the gate she opened would automatically be transferred to her.

This was the fundamental reason why the Fusion Sect loved to open gates everywhere.

It was one thing for a derivative Calamity, but for many Source Calamities, it was even possible for a weak gate-opener to unleash a supreme expert far beyond their own level.

As long as a world’s resources were vast enough, such a situation was possible.

As the massive formation unfurled,

Divine Army soldiers maintaining order in the distant Foqu Town noticed the situation and flew over quickly.

But… it was too late.

A blue light suddenly erupted from the center of the giant formation.

The blue light shot out like a sharp blade. With a RIP, it tore a massive blue rift across the sky above Foqu Town.

The moment the several-kilometer-long blue rift appeared, it eagerly widened as if it were alive, prying itself open into the shape of an eye.

A vast amount of deep blue, freezing air poured out madly, along with dense swarms of translucent Ice banshees. They dripped like viscous liquid from the edge of the great rift, clustering together as they fell.

Not only that, but enormous, hundred-meter-tall ancient ice crystal dragons also began to clamber out of the rift.

These massive, winged lizards were wreathed in a terrifying, extreme-cold phantom fire that could directly burn a creature’s soul and refine it into a Cognitive Crystal. Their power was considered high-tier even in Extreme Cold Heaven.

ROAR!

A chorus of dragon roars shook the sky.

The entire false sky rapidly darkened as boundless blue, freezing air surged upward, completely obscuring the sun.

“Is this some kind of performance?”

Some of the Divine Race felt no tension at all. The Endless Divine Domain had not been invaded for so long that the very concept of an “invader” was foreign to them.

They were usually the ones invading other worlds. Not once since the founding of the Divine Domain had their own home base been invaded.

But as the approaching Divine Army soldiers were instantly washed over and submerged by the torrent of monsters from Extreme Cold Heaven, the expressions of the Divine Race in town changed at once.

The timid ones turned and fled, while the calmer ones hurried to their residences, still thinking of grabbing some valuables before leaving.

But regardless of their choice, as millions of monsters from Extreme Cold Heaven descended with a deafening roar, the fate of the entire town was sealed.

A colossal town-guardian giant erupted from the ground, roaring as it engaged an ancient ice crystal dragon in close-quarters combat.

The Divine Race still had some strength. The giant was surrounded by more than ten of the town’s top experts, all of them Second Ring Level powerhouses.

The Divine Power within them erupted, combining to form a golden net that shot straight toward the monsters from Extreme Cold Heaven, attempting to envelop them all.

Instantly, a large swath of monsters was purified by the Divine Power, evaporating and dissipating. The previously overwhelming tide was momentarily halted.

“As expected of a superior race…” A look of appreciation appeared in the Lady of Cold Night’s eyes. She reached out, grasping at the Void, and a massive, thirty-meter-long blue crystal spear materialized in her hand.

“Zero-Degree Blessing.”

She gently tapped the spear’s shaft with one hand.

Countless dense blue runes instantly lit up on the spear’s surface. Layer upon layer of blinding blue light turned the entire weapon into something like a fluorescent tube, making it incredibly conspicuous.

WHOOSH!

But before the blue light could draw any attention, the Lady of Cold Night raised her arm and threw it in an instant.

The massive, glowing blue crystal spear shot toward the center of Foqu Town at over fifty times the speed of sound.

This speed would be fast for an ordinary person, but for the Divine Race, it was quite slow.

Thus, the Ring Level experts spotted the spear the moment it was thrown. They unleashed all sorts of Divine Power attacks and weapons toward it.

But…

No matter how they combined their efforts, they could not stop the spear’s rapid approach.

Swathes of Golden Divine Power were pierced, shattered, and scattered into motes of light before the spear.

“Stand back, I’ll take it!” Suddenly, a streak of golden light shot into the sky. A tall man in a white military uniform, holding a double-edged sword and an exquisite triangular shield, lunged toward the spear.

The golden light radiating from his body was clearly brighter and more dazzling than the other Ring Level experts. Furthermore, there were three white runic wheels behind his back, signifying he was at the Third Ring level.

The Cultivation Techniques of the Divine Race were primarily combat skills of various styles and systems developed around Divine Power.

Since the energy source was the same for all of them, the core of their combat skills focused on two key aspects: high-level compression, condensation, and purification, and instantaneous explosive output.

Both of these aspects placed extremely high demands on one’s physical body, which was why the physical strength of the Endless Divine Race had grown stronger with each generation, becoming exceptionally high across the board.

The man’s current state was a perfect demonstration of this.

He shot up from the ground, flying straight toward the Lady of Cold Night and meeting the ice crystal spear head-on.

Everywhere he passed, monsters were shattered into ice crystals by the sheer force of his body and shield.

“Remnant Flame Fierce Battle!” the man roared. The three runic wheels behind him spun at maximum speed as he unleashed his full power.

“Mere invader! Allow me, Dickens, to end you right here!”

BOOM!!

The shield and the spear collided head-on in midair, erupting in a giant, circular shockwave of icy blue mixed with gold.

The shockwave spread out, slicing the tops off one tall building after another.

Countless members of the Divine Race who couldn’t dodge in time were caught in the blast, instantly pulverized and annihilated.

Other members of the Divine Race trying to escape on flying vehicles had their crafts damaged by the explosion’s shockwave and plummeted from the sky.

“Freeze…” A satisfied smile spread across the Lady of Cold Night’s face.

From her vantage point, she could see countless fresh souls floating up, being sucked into the massive rift to Extreme Cold Heaven.

Meanwhile, the Third Ring Divine Race man was already grievously injured and coughing up blood, sent flying backward as he tried to flee into the distance.

But he didn’t get far before the Lady of Cold Night pointed a finger at him. In midair, his body rapidly froze into ice, all signs of life gone.

But Third Ring experts didn’t die so easily. As long as the Endless Divine Race were given the slightest chance, they could reignite from the ashes with just a tiny bit of Divine Power and recover quickly.

However, in a large-scale confrontation like this, all sorts of clever tricks and techniques were useless. Only a duel of pure power mattered, making victory and defeat seem very simple.

This was why the Divine Race seemed not that difficult to deal with. In truth, their formidable survivability simply had no opportunity to be displayed.

But the Lady of Cold Night was not fooled.

She hovered high in the air, watching the vast army of monsters from Extreme Cold Heaven charge into the town and slaughter the Divine Race, ever vigilant for any potential surprises.

The attack from Extreme Cold Heaven had just begun.

At that very moment in Red Simurgh City, which governed the area, a piercing alarm blared, instantly bringing life to the Intrusion Countermeasures Office—a room that had been unmanned for many years.

Inside the office, on a topographical map of Red Simurgh City suspended in midair, the marker for Foqu Town in a corner was rapidly changing from a safe green to a glaring red.

Red Simurgh City was located at the center, surrounded by dozens of towns of various sizes.

These towns corresponded not only to planets in the Human Realm but also to other small worlds conquered by the Divine Race.

The Endless Divine Race did not rule over the Human Realm alone.

To be precise, the Ruin Star Realm, to which the Red Simurgh Star System belonged, and even the other territories in the Human Realm, were all disputed lands they were currently fighting over with the Dragon Court and Yanwu, making it a border region.

A few minutes later, Xu Shifei, the Star Lord of Red Simurgh, appeared in the Countermeasures Office in a flash of golden light. Yawning, he was supported by two voluptuous beauties.

“Why is the alarm so loud? Red Simurgh, turn it off.” Xu Shifei had been transferred to this post as Star Lord only two hundred years ago. As a high-ranking divine-blood, he was just here to go through the motions. He never expected some random alarm to suddenly go off.

“Affirmative,” the defense system’s intelligence, Red Simurgh, replied respectfully.

“What the hell is going on? Why is one little town making such a fuss?” Xu Shifei asked impatiently.

A full four white runic rings spun behind him, yet he possessed none of the bearing of a Fourth Ring expert. This was because all his Divine Power had been forcibly infused into him by his parents.

In a real battle, he might not even be able to defeat a Third Ring expert—something unimaginable within the Divine Race’s system, where the gaps between Ring Levels were enormous.

Normally, a gap of a single Ring meant one person could fight at least ten of the lower level, or even more.

“A clear invasion by the Power of Calamity has been detected in Foqu Town. Analysis identifies it as a derivative Secondary Calamity, with the threat level provisionally set to ‘Medium.’ The defending Third Ring Divine Army general, Dickens, has been confirmed killed in action,” Red Simurgh replied.

“What? A Third Ring couldn’t even escape? That was a Third Ring expert stationed at the border!” Xu Shifei was suddenly wide awake.

Because this part of the Human Realm was a region of long-term conflict with the Dragon Court and Yanwu, the Ring Level experts dispatched here were almost all seasoned masters of real combat.

‘He’d met that man, Dickens. The general had even toasted him at the routine centennial banquet, and now he hadn’t even managed to escape?’

Xu Shifei’s drowsiness vanished completely.

“What about the Divine Shepherds? Quick, request a connection to Divine Shepherd Wang and Divine Shepherd Huang! Tell them I have urgent matters to discuss!”

‘In a critical moment, I still have to rely on the pillars of the military and law departments.’

“Due to the high volume of requests, the waiting list to speak with the two Divine Shepherds is at least a month long. By my calculations, this is not the optimal choice,” Red Simurgh replied.

“But this is a military affair, a major incident!” Xu Shifei slapped his hands together.

“All eligible requests are major military affairs.”

“Then… then what do we do?”

“Since the scope is small and the Calamity is only a Secondary Calamity, we cannot rule out the possibility that this is a temporary, isolated incident. The Divine Power within the Divine Domain will also automatically cleanse it. It’s possible that if we wait, the situation will resolve itself,” Red Simurgh suggested.

“If that doesn’t work, can’t the Divine Army recall one or two Fourth Ring generals?” Xu Shifei said, exasperated.

“A Calamity that can easily kill General Dickens cannot be guaranteed to be solvable by a Fourth Ring. According to standard procedure for dealing with Calamities, a power level at least two ranks higher is required to ensure a successful cleanup.”

“…Five Rings… If I could mobilize a Five Rings expert, would I still need to be here polishing my resume in this shithole!?” Xu Shifei was furious.

“Then the only options are to wait, and then find a way to get transferred as soon as possible,” Red Simurgh suggested again.

“Yes, a transfer! An immediate transfer!” Xu Shifei came to a sudden realization.