Chapter 150: The Sky Palace
[ Harem Shop ]
Item: Blood Beetle (S-Rank)
Description: Known as the descendant of a nine-winged Blood Angel, this creature can track anyone with just a mere scent of their aura.
Price: 30,000 Harem Force.
Note: As the bearer of the Chaos Physique, taming this creature is incredibly easy for the host. However, be aware of their ancestors; they do not take kindly to their kind being tamed as pets.
Adonis had purchased the Blood Beetle the moment he learned how difficult it was to locate the Sky Palace. Forget about ordinary Sky Serpents, even the Generals of the Sky Serpent Clan were ignorant of its precise location and whereabouts.
That was exactly why he had spent the precious 30,000 Harem Force to acquire the Blood Beetle.
Remaining Harem Force: 46,550 / 100,000
Still, the purchase was well worth it.
The Blood Beetle buzzed through the air like a drop of glowing neon blood. It led the army of the Chaos Order far from the desert sands and into a realm of suffocating greenery.
The Great Ancient Forest appeared before them, dominated by trees that pierced the clouds, their trunks five hundred meters tall and thick enough to house entire villages.
The beetle circled a particularly massive cluster of these giants, its red glow pulsing violently.
"They are here," Adonis whispered, his eyes turning cold. "In the canopy."
The army descended silently. Thousands of dragons and soldiers glided through the leaves, their enhanced vision turning the pitch-black forest into a clear, emerald-tinted battlefield. They saw them then: hundreds of Sky Serpents coiled around the massive branches like sleeping vines.
"Now!" Adonis commanded.
"FIRE!" Rai’s voice cracked like a whip.
"Art: Solar Flare!"
"Art: Shadow Needle!"
The darkness exploded into a symphony of screams.
"ARRRGH! MY EYES!" a serpent shrieked as a burst of light blinded its nocturnal vision.
"AMBUSH! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"
"WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM? HISS! THE DRAGONS! THE DRAGONS ARE HERE!"
The serpents, caught in the middle of their rest, stood no chance. The sky above the trees turned into a slaughterhouse.
"Kill them all!" Valentina roared, her blade phasing through the neck of a serpent commander.
"Sanguine Harvest!" she roared.
"Please! No! I surrender!" a young serpent cried out, cowering behind a leaf the size of a house.
Valentina didn’t even blink. "The King hasn’t accepted your soul yet. Die."
"SPLAT!"
The serpent’s head rolled off the branch, crashing through the layers of foliage below.
"General Akira is gone! Why isn’t the Palace responding?" another serpent yelled, trying to take flight, only to be intercepted by three Chaos Dragons at once.
"RAAAAAWR!"
The dragon’s jaws clamped down on the serpent’s midsection, snapping its spine like a dry twig.
"HEEEEEELP ME! BROTHER, HELP!"
"I can’t! They’re everywhere! They’re in the shadows!"
Adonis floated in the center of the carnage, watching as his 5,000 soldiers overwhelmed the 1,000 defenders. It was a one-sided massacre. The forest floor was soon littered with falling bodies and severed wings.
"Stop! Please, stop the killing! We surrender! We yield to the Dragons!"" a high-ranking serpent priestess screamed, throwing her staff away and kneeling on a branch.
Adonis raised his hand, and the onslaught slowed dowm, though the growls of the dragons remained.
"Half of you are dead," Adonis said to kneeling Serpents. "The other half are breathing only because I allow it. Chain them."
"Lady, you heard the King!" Rai shouted, his spear pointed at the priestess’s throat. "Move, and you lose your tongue. Hands behind your backs!"
"Hsss... how did you find us?" the priestess whimpered as she was bound in mana-suppressing chains. "No one knows these groves... the illusions should have hidden us."
Adonis ignored her. He was currently looking at the Blood Beetle. The creature was no longer circling. It was hovering near a patch of seemingly empty air between two of the tallest trees, its wings vibrating so fast they created a humming sound that made everyone’s ears ring.
"Is it a malfunction, Adonis? There is nothing there but clouds and wind." Millia said, flying to his side and looking at the empty space.
Adonis replied with a cruel smile plastered his lips,
"No Millia. The beetle doesn’t lie. It smells the unsee ."
Saying, he flew toward the empty space, reaching out his hand. His fingers didn’t meet air. They met a nonmaterial, cold resistance that rippled like water.
"An Inverse Phase Illusion," Sapphira remaked, catching up to him. "It’s not just a cloud. It’s a pocket dimension anchored to the trees."
The Blood Beetle suddenly let out a piercing shriek and dived headfirst into the "empty" air, vanishing instantly. A second later, a massive golden gate began to materialize, hidden behind the veil of the ancient forest.
"The Sky Palace. Those bastards were hiding right above the trees this whole time," Rai muttered.
At that moment, from within the gate, a new sound emerged.
"WHO DARES DESECRATE THE SANCTUARY OF THE HEAVENLY ONES?" a voice boomed from behind the gold gates, sounding like grinding stones.
"The one who is going to burn it down," Adonis shouted back.
He turned to his army, his black tobe stained with the blood of the serpents they had just slaughtered.
"Soldiers of Pandemonium! The gate is open! The cowards have nowhere left to run!"
"KILL!" the army responded.
"DESTROY THE SERPENTS!"
"FOR DRAGONIA!"
"WAAAAAAAGH!"
The screams of the captured serpents drowned under the war cry of the invaders.
Adonis led the charge, his fist glowing with the power of the purple Chaos.
"Break it down!" he ordered.
"Art: Chaoa Ultima!"
Adonis’s destructive fist slammed into the golden gate.
BANG!
The illusion instantly shattered like glass, revealing a majestic city made of white marble and floating gardens, suspended in a realm of eternal twilight.
"NO! THE GATE IS BROKEN!"
"GUARDS! TO THE PLAZA! THE DRAGONS ARE INSIDE THE PALACE!"
"MOTHERS, HIDE THE CHILDREN! THE MONSTER HAS ARRIVED!"
The cries from within the Sky Palace were music to Adonis’s ears. He stepped through the threshold, his 5,000 warriors pouring in behind him like a flood of vengeful spirits.
"Valentina, Rai, take the left flank," Adonis commanded as he looked at the sprawling palace complex. "Sapphira, lead the dragons to those towers. I want their air support grounded in five minutes."
"And you, Adonis?" Sapphira asked, her wings sparking with lightning.
"I’m going to the throne," he said, looking at the highest tower. "I have a King to dethrone."
The final battle had begun.