On the distant horizon, a massive cloud of dust was approaching the battlefield at an unusual speed.
At first, many thought a new wave of monsters was on the way.
But a few seconds later... flags emerged from within the dust.
Flags that did not belong to their Base.
Massive armored chariots, tamed monsters with knights riding on their backs, magical units, mana artillery, and thousands of fresh awakened ones, like a massive flood, were approaching the field.
In the Ruined Realms, each country built its own independent bases.
Each base had its own exclusive territory, safe routes, mana mines, ancient ruins, and valuable resources.
Sometimes these bases were rivals, fighting each other over newly discovered ruins.
They competed over rare resources, and political and military disputes had even formed between them many times.
But everyone knew one unwritten rule, the fall of a major base... was to the detriment of all humans.
Each base was considered part of the security chain of the explored areas.
If Base #3 fell, hundreds of kilometers of safe routes would once again become monster territory, and the pressure of that entire army would be divided among the surrounding bases.
No sensible commander would allow such a thing to happen.
For this reason, immediately after receiving the emergency message, the neighboring base had dispatched all its ready forces.
But unfortunately, the distance between the two bases was large, even if they moved at full speed, it would take at least a day for them to arrive, and that was only if they moved at full speed without considering the difficulty of their rides.
When they heard how bad the situation was and realized they had no choice, that was exactly what they did.
At the front of that army, a tall man with dark blue armor and a gray cloak was standing.
He held a long spear in his hand, from the tip of which dense mana waves were leaking out.
His eyes were calm but piercing, his name... Valerian Cross, a level 40 awakened one who was only half a step away from his second evolution.
The main commander of the base that had come to help them.
All along the way, he had imagined he would be facing a widespread but normal siege.
But right when his gaze fell on the massive monster fighting in the center of the field... his face became completely serious.
And the system notification appeared for him.
[ Abyssal River Drake ]
[ Rank: Fallen ]
[ Level: 35 ]
Valerian stared at the information for a few seconds without speaking, then his gaze fixed on the monster itself again.
The body of that creature... did not fully match the information on the screen.
The mana pressure emanating from its body was even greater than many level 45 monsters.
Its black scales, the red veins among them, its unusual bloodline, and its innate skills had made the gap between the numbers almost meaningless.
He quietly whispered under his breath.
"The report only said a Fallen one was commanding the army." He paused for a few seconds.
"No one mentioned we would be facing a monster like this..." A level 35 Fallen... even he alone had no chance of defeating such a monster.
The monster also turned its head toward the newly arrived army at that same moment, its golden eyes fixed on Valerian for a moment.
Two hunters assessed each other.
Valerian dismounted from his riding monster without a moment’s hesitation.
Three commanders, level 33, level 34, and level 35, also landed beside him.
They moved directly toward the main battlefield, at that same moment, the Abyssal River Drake charged back toward Lian with explosive speed.
As if it did not want to miss the slightest opportunity and wanted to reach its target as soon as possible, it had to get that egg back by any means necessary!
But before it could cover the distance... Valerian’s spear fell from the sky like lightning.
BOOOM!!
The monster’s massive claw collided with the tip of the spear, a massive shockwave spread across the entire field.
The ground sank dozens of meters, several nearby monsters were thrown into the air even without being the target of the attack.
The monster stepped back one step.
Valerian also slid a few meters on the ground, but held his spear firmly, a faint smile settled on his face.
"Your power is truly absurd..."
At that same moment, Elizabeth also landed beside him, her armor was broken in several places, and blood was flowing from the side of her forehead.
And her gaze was still fixed on the corpse of the commander who had lost his head a few moments ago.
Valerian gave her a quick look.
"I need all your help to kill this creature."
Elizabeth, without taking her gaze off the Drake, wiped the blood from the corner of her lips and then said in a quiet voice.
"No problem." Her eyes fixed on her fallen comrade for a moment.
"I also have to avenge my soldiers."
A few moments of silence passed between them, years of competition, years of disagreement, but now... none of that mattered.
Both knew that if this monster survived... no base in this region would be safe.
The newly arrived commanders immediately took formation.
Defensive mages created several layers of mana shields around the field, high-level spearmen and swordsmen surrounded the Drake from different directions.
The mana artillery also started firing one after another.
For the first time... the Abyssal River Drake itself was surrounded.
Around it... Valerian Cross, Elizabeth, and five other commanders.
Dozens of level 20 and above awakened ones, and hundreds of support forces, the numerical advantage... was now with the humans.
But no one was happy, everyone could feel the terrifying pressure of that creature.
The Abyssal River Drake slowly turned its head.
Its gaze passed through the commanders and fixed on Lian again, it let out a roar that shook the entire field.
In its roar, there was only one emotion, rage... pure rage.
It moved toward Lian again, although Valerian appeared in its path once more.
His long spear blocked the attack path, at the same time Elizabeth attacked from the left flank, and several mana chains wrapped around the monster’s massive legs.
The Drake tore them apart with one movement, but those few seconds were enough.
It was forced to focus all its attention on the enemies in front of it, there was no longer a way to reach Lian directly.
Kain placed Lian’s arm over his shoulder, almost all his weight had fallen on his body.
"Move."
Lian blinked with difficulty, he could still hear the sound of explosions, he turned his head a few times.
He saw Valerian and Elizabeth’s battle with the Drake, and then took a deep breath.
"For now... they don’t need me anymore..."
"Stop talking, just try to stay alive." Kain said angrily.
Lian just gave a faint smile, even that smile made blood flow from the corner of his lips.
When they reached near the base gate... Seraphina was the first to see them, and at that same moment, she ran at full speed.
But when she saw Lian’s condition... all the color drained from her face, her body froze for a few seconds, and then she said with a trembling voice.
"...Lian? Damn it! Damn it! You didn’t have to do all that!" Seeing her childhood friend’s face like this was hard for her.
She always knew he was stubborn, but not to the point of putting himself in such danger! If help had arrived just a little later, Lian would be dead right now!
What if that damn monster had killed Lian? Why doesn’t this idiot care about himself at all? Why does he put himself in such danger?
"It’s nothing serious..." Lian tried to smile.
Seraphina almost shouted:
"That’s not something someone whose half his body is crushed and broken should say!" Her eyes were full of worry.
It was as if she was even afraid of the thought that they might have arrived a few minutes later.
A few moments later, Kael and his group also arrived, this time even Rhea did not say anything.
No sarcasm, no jokes, she just stared at Lian’s condition for a few seconds, even she had to admit that this robber had made a huge contribution this time.
Without his help, the base might have really fallen... maybe all of them would have been killed.
Bren came forward without a word and took his weight, Elias spent his last remaining mana on emergency treatment.
"We need to get him to the medical center first." Kael said with a completely serious face.
At that same moment... Lian seemed to remember something and with difficulty turned his head toward Kain.
"Go... bring that prisoner."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Prisoner?" Seraphina frowned.
"What are you talking about?" Kael also asked in surprise.
They were not aware of the situation, and it was normal that they did not know what Lian was talking about, but Kain just nodded without any explanation.
"Got it." And immediately ran toward the rocks where he had hidden the native prisoner.
No one asked more questions, from Lian’s face, it was clear that the matter... was much more important than they imagined, but his condition did not look good enough to explain anything.
As they were passing through the gate... suddenly Lian’s storage space trembled.
Once.
Twice.
Then stronger, and a blue notification appeared before his eyes.
[ Devourer Detects Abundant Biomass ]
[ Hunger Intensifying ]
The egg’s pulse was getting faster every moment.
Lian unconsciously looked at the battlefield, thousands of corpses and killed monsters... all of them could be excellent food for the Devourer.
But... now? Impossible.
Thousands of people were around him, if he took the egg out right now... everything would be over, and his great secret would no longer remain a secret.
Besides, God knew how that monster would react if it suddenly saw the egg, who knew if it would suddenly go crazy and be willing to destroy everyone along with itself to get that egg back?
Only a madman would take that egg out right now.
There would be plenty of opportunities later to feed this egg, even if he had to buy the monster corpses, but for now, this was not the time.
But the egg was still pulsing, stronger, greedier, and as if the creature inside it... was frantically smelling all this blood and flesh.
When Lian passed through the Base gate... his mind calmed down.
Kain was alive, the native prisoner was on his way, reinforcements had arrived, and powerful commanders had stopped the Drake.
His body no longer had a reason to resist, and suddenly he heard Seraphina’s voice from a distance.
"Lian..."
"Lian, keep your eyes open..."
But the image in front of him slowly blurred, his legs could no longer stand, and before he fell to the ground, Bren and Kain caught him.
The last thing he felt before his eyes completely closed... was the fast and hungry pulse of the Devourer egg in his storage space.
And then... everything fell into darkness.