Chapter 190: Chapter 190 - The Slumbering Beast Awakens
A few days earlier.
Right after Atlas had carried Celestia’s trembling, ice-cold body back to the tent, he gently laid her down on the bed, adjusting the blanket to ensure she was properly covered.
Lyrassa was already there, tending to her with healing magic, while Luna and Atlas stood nearby, watching over her.
In that moment, the girl’s trembling lips kept moving, whispering words carried on shallow, icy breaths.
"When the moon..."
Celestia’s voice was fragile, barely audible.
Atlas immediately dropped to one knee beside the bed, leaning closer to catch her words.
"Celly? Are you okay?" he murmured.
But Celestia didn’t answer him. Her eyes stayed shut, her body shivering, as if caught somewhere between sleep and consciousness.
"...is cleaved in half..." she continued.
Luna leaned in, her voice hushed. "She’s reciting the vision she saw."
Atlas gave a sharp nod. He listened intently, every fragment of her trembling words slowly weaving together into something far heavier.
When the moon is cleaved in half and the long night stretches thin, the land itself shall turn, and the cycle shall begin anew.
What was frozen shall burn, what was silent shall roar, and the slumbering beast shall rise from the mountain’s heart.
Its twin remains locked beneath ice, dreaming in the hollowed abyss, but fire does not dream. It remembers.
With each breath of warmth, the flames return... and those who stand upon the shifting earth... shall become its first offering.
Atlas furrowed his brow, letting each line of the prophecy settle in his mind. And just as he was sinking deeper into thought, trying to piece it together—
"My Lord."
Atlas turned.
Lyrassa had finished tending to Celestia. She now stood, her face unreadable, but her voice carried a gravity that drew the room into silence.
Then, in a low, solemn tone, she confirmed the suspicion already clawing at the edges of Atlas’s mind.
"The island..." She paused.
"The cycle is shifting. The frozen land will no longer remain still, for nature never truly sleeps. It only waits. And now..." her eyes sharpened, "...the slumber has ended."
**
From the combination of Celestia’s prophecy, Lyrassa’s deep connection to nature, and the extensive scouting efforts of Kurogasa, everything had led to this moment.
And now... It had awakened.
[Epic - Vulkaris the Molten Leviathan Lv. 135]
A twin to the Frozen Leviathan slumbering in the cave.
A raid monster.
A raid boss.
The second of its kind.
And now, it had surfaced.
With an earth-shattering roar, the colossal beast unleashed its fury. A blazing cannon blast of pure fire, exploding outward in all directions.
The devastating heatwave engulfed everything in its path. Enemy soldiers caught in the blast screamed as flames consumed them, their armor melting, their bodies turning to ash before they could even react.
Some tried to escape, but Vulkaris’s firestorm was merciless. The sheer force of the attack tore through the battlefield, reducing anything it touched to charred remains.
Then, the true chaos began.
The island itself was changing.
The Frozen Island was no longer frozen.
The snow and ice that had covered the land began melting at an impossible speed, vanishing beneath the overwhelming heat.
The very ground beneath their feet shifted, the once-solid frozen lava pool now threatening to crack apart.
Panic swept through the enemy forces. Some turned their weapons toward Atlas’s army, still determined to fight. Some tried to flee, desperately seeking escape from the monster’s wrath. And others foolishly chose to stand their ground against Vulkaris itself.
The gold-armored lord watched the battlefield unravel before his eyes. Yet, despite the sheer destruction, his voice boomed over the chaos.
"Maintain your distance! Kill the enemy first. Then we retreat!"
Even as the battlefield fell into chaos, even as a legendary raid boss rampaged, Godfrey remained focused on one thing: Erasing Atlas and his army.
Atlas stood firm, his gaze scanning the battlefield as his army remained completely surrounded.
Despite the chaos Vulkaris had unleashed, despite the enemy soldiers scattering in fear, their numbers were still overwhelming.
If they stayed rooted to the spot, if they faltered for even a heartbeat, the battlefield itself would devour them.
Beneath their boots, fractures spiderwebbed outward in every direction, splitting the frozen ground like glass under a hammer.
Then the cracks widened.
From deep below, a crimson glow bled through, molten lava forcing its way into the open. The surface, once hardened, was breaking apart.
If they didn’t move now, there was only one outcome. They would fall and die.
There was no escape. No breakthrough. No miracle could possibly save them from this storm.
No...
Unless.
Atlas reached into his inventory, his fingers wrapping tightly around a single item.
[Rank-A Item: Party Recall Crystal]
[Instantly teleports your entire party to safety.]
The instant the enemy forces lunged forward, Atlas gripped the crystal tightly, and then. A burst of blinding light erupted from his hand.
The battlefield was swallowed in a brilliant explosion of white. The glow engulfed Atlas and every single one of his troops, their forms vanishing into the radiance.
And then Impact. The enemy soldiers crashed forward, only to slam into nothing.
They stumbled, falling hard, their momentum sending them sprawling across the breaking ground.
Atlas and his army? Not a single trace of them remained. And in their place, the molten battlefield continued to crumble, claiming those too slow to react.
The enemy forces stood frozen, left behind on the battlefield, their primary target gone, vanished without a trace.
And now, they were the ones being hunted!
The raid monster’s roar echoed across the battlefield, its burning eyes locking onto the remaining troops. Vulkaris had found its prey.
The gold-armored lord stood seething, his fists clenched so tightly that his gauntlets groaned under the pressure. His veins bulged, his breath heavy with sheer rage.
With a voice that shook the battlefield, he unleashed his fury.
"ATLAS!!! You conniving, spineless, rat-blooded bastard! You think you can humiliate me?! You think you can just run after all of this?! I WILL TEAR YOU APART WITH MY OWN HANDS!!!"
His roar of fury echoed into the chaotic night, but there was no one left to hear it. Except his own soldiers, dying around him.
More and more of his soldiers screamed in terror. Some consumed in Vulkaris’s raging inferno, others tumbling helplessly into the molten depths as the cracking lava pool devoured the battlefield piece by piece.
"Retreat! RETREAT!!!" the gold-armored lord finally roared.
But before his troops could even begin to pull back. Something stirred in the distance.
From beyond the melting, dying forest. From behind the collapsing, crumbling hills. An entire force stepping out of the smoke and ruin.
The gold-armored lord froze. His fury, already boiling, twisted into something sharper, more dangerous.
His eyes widened, his chest heaving as the truth sank like a blade into his gut.
They weren’t just losing ground. They were surrounded.
And yes, Atlas had lied, just a little, when he claimed he would face Godfrey and his forces with only his own army. In truth, he had brought the entire alliance’s strength into this battle!
"Damn you, Atlas! I’ll kill you!" the gold-armored lord roared. But it was already too late.
Another massive force revealed itself. An army that had been waiting in the shadows, biding their time until the perfect moment. Now they surged forward, cutting off every escape route, surrounding him completely.
And then the sky darkened. Not from clouds. Not from smoke. But from thousands of airborne shadows. No, arrows.
A storm of arrows rained down in a deadly cascade, their razor-sharp tips glinting in the molten glow of the battlefield. The barrage struck like a merciless hailstorm, tearing through armor, shields, and flesh alike.
The battlefield erupted into chaos once more.
The once-mighty invading army was now trapped between fire, steel, and death raining from above.
The gold-armored lord roared in fury, swinging his massive sword in wild, heavy arcs, his rage spilling out with every movement. He refused to fall, not tonight.
With a battle cry that shook the field, he raised his blade high and shouted, "FIGHT BACK! We END this war TONIGHT! RIGHT NOW! KILL THEM ALL!"
His burning gaze swept over his troops, his voice sharp with command.
"ANYONE who dares to run, WILL FACE MY WRATH!"
His rage was absolute, his hatred unshakable. Even as arrows rained from the skies, even as fire consumed the battlefield, even as his army fell apart around him, he stood firm.
He would not yield. Not until every last enemy lay dead before him.