No one responded to her, and the team continued to march forward.
She stood frozen in place, watching the Silver Heart team brush past her, her lips trembling uncontrollably.
Eventually, she crouched down, burying her face in her hands as her muffled sobs drifted away in the wind.
Right then, the ground suddenly began to shake.
Unlike the continuous trembling from before, this was intermittent, growing faster and heavier with each tremor.
Kaylon pulled back on his wolf's reins and looked up at the distant giant beast; the mountain-like colossus had begun to move.
Its massive head slowly turned toward them, its seven amber eyes scanning the area one by one, as if searching for something.
It waited for a long time, but found nothing.
Kaylon could clearly see its massive mouth slowly splitting open.
No deafening roar echoed out, only a silent, twisted expression.
The giant beast had grown restless.
Its tail slammed violently into the ground, and with a thunderous crash, a section of the Ancient Glay ruins was instantly leveled.
Shattered rocks shot high into the air before raining down in a dense deluge.
The crystal pillars on the ground suddenly erupted with a blinding blue light, causing the entire sky to dim by a shade.
Immediately after, it began to move, staggering awkwardly like a toddler taking its first steps.
Thousands of years of slumber had long made it forget how to move its heavy limbs, and every step it took caused the earth to shudder violently.
A beam of dark-gold light suddenly erupted from its mouth, sweeping across the ground.
It was not aiming at Kaylon's team but simply venting its rage at random, like a drunkard swinging a blade recklessly.
The beam grazed a nearby ridge, instantly tearing open a massive ravine in the ground.
The rocks were scorched to a dark red, sending up wisps of white smoke.
Soil and stone sprayed into the air, raining down heavily like a dense downpour.
“Get down!” Kaylon roared, his voice piercing through the chaotic din.
The gray wolf beneath him was the first to drop to the ground, and Kaylon rolled off its back, seeking cover behind a protruding rock.
Debris pelted the rock face, making a sharp, crackling sound.
One team member was half a step too slow and was struck in the shoulder by a head-sized rock, letting out a muffled groan as he tumbled from his wolf's back.
A nearby Warrior immediately rushed over and dragged him behind a barrier.
His arm hung limply, the bone clearly broken.
“Captain, my arm...” the man ground out, cold sweat mixing with blood and dripping down his cheek, his voice laced with intense pain.
Without a word, Kaylon pulled out a strip of cloth and quickly bound it.
“You won't die.”
The dark-gold beam gradually subsided, and the giant beast opened its mouth once more, but this time, its head slowly turned in their direction.
It had noticed them.
Kaylon's hand gripped his sword hilt tightly, his knuckles turning white from the strain.
The Deputy Captain nudged his wolf closer to Kaylon, his lips pale and completely devoid of color.
“Captain, let's go. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late.”
Kaylon did not answer, his gaze still locked onto those seven eyes.
He watched the awakening "mountain range" move toward them, step by step.
The ground trembled beneath his feet, causing pebbles to dance.
In the distance, the screams of adventurers, the neighing of horses, and the thunderous crashes of collapsing rock interwove into a living hell.
He slowly reached into his shirt and pulled out the item. It was no longer merely warm, but felt like a branding iron, so hot that the skin of his palm could barely bear it.
He opened his hand, letting the item drop to the ground, where it instantly sank into the rubble beneath his feet and vanished from sight.
“Retreat,” Kaylon said, standing up and bending down to help the injured member onto his wolf mount.
“Everyone! Retreat now!”
The members of Silver Heart, along with the scattered fleeing adventurers, immediately bolted in the opposite direction of the giant beast.
More screams, more collapses, and more desperate cries echoed behind them, but no one dared to look back, and no one stopped.
In the face of life and death, all kindness was swallowed whole by fear.
Kaylon did not look back either. He could clearly hear the heavy footsteps of the giant beast drawing closer, the earth shaking violently beneath its weight.
The ruins of Ancient Glay were as fragile as a child's building blocks before it.
The towers, city walls, and stone tablets that had only just reemerged on the surface were instantly reduced to powder with a single sweep of its tail.
The team member riding at the very front suddenly yanked hard on his wolf's reins. Kaylon followed his gaze, and his heart instantly sank.
The path ahead was completely cut off by a newly formed, deep trench.
This was not a natural fissure; it was the mark left by the giant beast's breath sweeping across earlier, and the gap was incredibly wide.
It was impossible to cross, and peering down, one could see unextinguished lava churning within.
They were trapped.
“Captain...”
The Deputy Captain's voice finally began to tremble, his feigned composure completely shattering.
Kaylon did not answer. He slowly turned around, gripping his sword tightly, and faced the direction the giant beast was approaching from.
The wolf mounts around him lowered their bodies, their ears pinning flat against their heads as they let out low, terrified whimpers.
Complete chaos broke out among the ranks. Some began to weep bitterly, driving their swords into the ground and kneeling down, continuously chanting the names of the gods.
Others cursed hysterically in the direction of the giant beast, their voices growing louder, yet unable to mask the despair in their hearts.
In the distance, the giant beast slowly lowered its head.
Seven eyes looked down from above at this tiny group of humans. Kaylon could even see the intricate patterns on its eyeballs.
They resembled dried riverbeds, cracked earth, and even more, the deep scars left behind when it was sealed a thousand years ago.
The team collapsed entirely.
A few adventurers closer to the giant beast felt their legs give out and fell to their knees with a thud, pressing their hands tightly together and burying their heads low as they muttered prayers under their breath.
Seeing this, the people beside them could no longer maintain their composure and burst into tears, their tears mixing with the blood and dust on their faces.
A few others plunged their long swords into the rubble, sinking to their knees as if all their strength had been drained, falling completely into an abyss of despair.
Staring at the approaching giant beast, their mouths hung wide open, tears streaming down silently, entirely unnoticed.
An elderly woman fished a yellowed letter out of her backpack, pressed it tightly to her chest, and slowly closed her eyes, seemingly waiting for the final end.
Kaylon's legs were also trembling, both from fear and from a sheer sense of helplessness.
He gazed at those seven eyes, looking at the awakening giant beast, and remembered the words that lord had spoken.
“Find it, no matter the cost.”
He had paid it—the price of his team members' lives and the disbandment of his squad.
Yet what he got in return was a monster as massive as a mountain, capable of easily crushing them all.
“I was wrong.”
Kaylon's voice was so quiet that it dispersed in the wind, heard by no one.
Right then, the giant beast suddenly raised its head, its gaze passing over them to look into the far distance.
A brand-new, even more powerful pressure suddenly descended.
Rate on N.U.
