The pieces of flesh did not fall directly after being stripped from the body. Instead, they hovered in mid-air, drawn by some eerie power, slowly rotating and twisting before finally transforming into clusters of dark gold blood mist.
The blood mist condensed without dissipating, resembling a layer of dark gold clouds suspended in the firmament.
Fine runic patterns constantly surfaced and vanished on the clouds' surface. Each flicker was accompanied by the bone-chilling sound of cracking coming from within the giant bird.
The giant bird's screeching changed its tone.
From rage to terror, and from terror to despair.
Its feathers began to fall off in large patches.
Each feather was the size of an adult human, its edges shimmering with a dark red luster. As they tore away from the body, they brought large chunks of flesh with them.
The exposed areas revealed dark red muscle tissue underneath. The surface of the muscles was covered in dense, fine patterns. These patterns were deep black and were constantly spreading to the surroundings.
The skeleton began to be bared.
The muscles peeled away layer by layer, starting from the sternum, then the ribs, the wing bones, and finally the spine.
The stripped flesh automatically shattered into smaller fragments, joining the mass of dark gold blood mist.
The exposed bones were likewise covered in black patterns. These patterns crawled slowly across the bone surface, leaving fine cracks with every movement.
The giant bird's massive body disintegrated in mid-air.
Flesh peeled away, bones shattered, and internal organs slid out of the abdominal cavity, only to be swallowed by the blood mist in mid-air.
Its screeching grew weaker and weaker until it vanished entirely.
On the battlefield, an Amons Priest stood atop a fortress, his amber eyes reflecting the ever-expanding mass of dark gold blood mist in the sky.
The short staff in his hand slipped from his fingers, bounced once on the wooden planks of the fortress roof, rolled to the edge, and fell off.
"That’s... the Feathered King... But... how... is this possible?!"
No one answered him. The warriors below the fortress also stared up, their pale green faces filled with dull shock.
Some were trembling, their battle-axes slipping from their hands and hitting the ground.
Some stood with mouths agape, their pupils shrinking to the size of needle points as they watched the blood mist.
The Feathered King, one of the strongest Tier 3 lifeforms in the Amons World.
From the day the rift in the sky appeared, it had been preparing for war.
In fifty-three years, it had consumed countless natural treasures, breaking its limits time and again under the catalysis of the world origin.
Its wingspan had grown from three thousand meters to five thousand meters. Its feathers had evolved from dark brown to dark gold. Its combat power was ranked among the top five in the entire Amons World.
And now, it was dead.
From the appearance of the first wound to its complete disintegration, less than thirty breaths had passed.
The dark gold blood mist in the sky slowly spread, its edges beginning to dissipate into tiny motes of light. Once separated from the mist, the motes dimmed rapidly, turning into gray-white powder that drifted down from the high altitude.
The powder fell onto the battlefield, onto the shoulders of Amons warriors, onto the wreckage of still-burning war machines, and onto the blood-soaked soil.
An Amons Sentinel reached out, catching a piece of the gray-white powder falling from the sky. The moment it touched his palm, it crumbled into finer dust and slipped through his fingers.
"Mother Goddess..."
His voice was trembling.
War Fortress Command.
On the giant 3D battlefield map on the dome, the green symbol representing the Feathered King had completely vanished. In its place was an expanding dark gold marker, its edges annotated with dense data: residual energy concentration, flesh-stripping speed, curse diffusion range, and estimated contamination zone.
Wizard Thousand Eyes stood before the circular command console, his graying hair glinting silver under the light of the dome crystals. Floating before him was a palm-sized light blue screen, scrolling with dense combat logs.
His gaze paused on a certain line of text.
【Combat Log #1147: Tier 3 lifeform "Feathered King" confirmed fallen. Method of kill: Flesh-Stripping Curse (Curse type: Blood Bone system). Time to kill: 27 breaths. Killer: Blood Bone (Tier 3 Wizard, Blood Bone Tower).】
The corner of Wizard Thousand Eyes' mouth twitched slightly.
"That old fossil... his hands are still so fast."
He casually pushed the screen aside and returned his gaze to the battlefield map. On the map, the blue and green blocks were still colliding wildly, with new data refreshing on every front.
The fall of the Feathered King had dealt a significant blow to the Amons' morale. The green blocks were collapsing simultaneously in multiple sectors.
But Thousand Eyes' expression did not relax.
"Relay orders," his voice echoed in the hall. "Left-wing Third War Sector, advance two kilometers. Right-wing Seventh War Sector, follow suit. The center army is to remain stationary for now and await further instructions."
"Yes, sir!"
The white-robed wizards behind him bowed and began operating the light screens with rapid movements.
After the Feathered King fell, the remaining Tier 3 lifeforms of the Amons World roared in unison.
The roar pressed down from tens of thousands of meters in the air, causing the eardrums of tens of millions of creatures on the battlefield to bleed.
A snake-like magical beast over three thousand meters long was the first to go berserk. Its dark green scales stood on end, and wherever its tail swept, the clouds were split in two.
Its massive body charged directly toward the nearest Tier 3 Wizard.
That Tier 3 Wizard was wearing dark red heavy robes and was currently maintaining pressure on another magical beast.
The wind pressure generated by the snake-like beast's charge tore the hem of his robes to shreds.
He was forced to withdraw his suppression, crossing his hands in front of him as a dark red light shield instantly expanded.
The snake-like beast's head slammed into the light shield.
Dense cracks spread across the shield's surface, and the wizard was sent flying thousands of meters. He tumbled a dozen times in the air before finally stabilizing himself.
A trace of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and a cold glint flashed in his dark red eyes.
At the same time, two other Tier 3 Wizards were being besieged by several magical beasts.
A witch in deep blue robes was being attacked from three directions by three flying magical beasts. Her water curtain shield vibrated violently under the continuous assault. Her left shoulder was grazed by a beast's claws, instantly soaking her deep blue robes with blood.
Another lean male wizard fared even worse. He was closed in on by two bear-like magical beasts and one leopard-like magical beast. His right leg was struck by a bear's paw; the sound of bone shattering was faintly audible even to the battlefield tens of thousands of meters below.
Three Tier 3 Wizards were simultaneously thrust into life-threatening situations.
"Outsiders! Pay for this with your lives!"
Svidk's roar pressed down from tens of thousands of meters above, causing the eardrums of the tens of millions of creatures on the battlefield to seep blood.
Countless dark gold runic shadows appeared around its body. Each rune hungrily devoured the surrounding wood-element energy particles, condensing into a mantle of energy armor dozens of meters thick around its form.
Its target was the Tier 3 Wizard in the dark red heavy robes.
That wizard was currently maintaining a curse suppression on another snake-like magical beast. Dense blood-red threads were wound between his fingers, the other ends sinking into the gaps between the beast's scales, constantly stripping away its flesh.
The moment Svidk charged, the wizard's robe hem was torn to pieces by the wind pressure.
He was forced to withdraw his suppression, crossing his hands in front of him as a dark red light shield expanded out of thin air.
Boom!
Rate on N.U.
