Chapter 33: Red Star

Huey's enigmatic words left the party perplexed as they scanned their surroundings, trying to make sense of his cryptic warning. Amidst the confusion, their attention was drawn to a particular building structure that stood out starkly against the rest. It was a partially collapsed strut, still standing tall, but its exterior was shrouded in a pulsating mass of pale indigo, resembling decaying flesh. This eerie substance seemed to throb with a life of its own, its tendrils extending and coiling around the ruins, spreading outwards to engulf nearby structures and roads. The sight left the party in a state of bewilderment, unable to comprehend the strange phenomenon before them.

"Listen," Huey calmly said, his voice cutting through the tense atmosphere like a beacon of reason amidst the chaos, snapping the group out of their unpleasant shock. There were a few faces of discontent towards Huey assuming authority, but all those murmurs were silenced when the keen ears of the members recognized what resembled a beating heart, each throb echoing through the massive, viscous structure of the building.

At the pinnacle, a pale indigo light shimmered in response to the pulsing of the mass below, casting an eerie glow that danced with the rhythm of the heartbeat. With each pulse, a wave of "Mana" radiation was expelled into the atmosphere, saturating the air with its mystical energy. Simultaneously, the air seemed to grow thinner as the atmospheric "Mana" was drawn into the pulsating flesh, almost as if it were breathing – a mesmerizing dance of inhale and exhale, a symbiotic exchange between the structure and the surrounding environment.

"This is..." The Captain's voice trailed off as he perceived the distorted flow of radiation, his brows furrowing in concern. "Sure enough, we were close to the Den, but it wasn't supposed to manifest in the abandoned district. This was meant to be our last checkpoint before the final battle..."

"But the Den moved," Tyla interjected, finishing the Captain's unspoken thoughts. She then shot a meaningful glance at the seemingly stoic Huey, studying his expressionless mask for a minute.

It was well hidden, but there was a strange glint ablaze in Huey's eyes as he stared darkly at the Den. 'He knows something,' Lyra concluded with a frown, deciding to openly confront the swordsman.

Before she could speak, Huey's cold voice cut through the tension. "We have company."

Initially, many didn't grasp the gravity of his words, but the increasing shaking and tremors beneath their feet swiftly heightened their awareness. The tremors continued, steadily escalating into a heavy rumble. Despite their vigilant scanning of the surroundings, the members failed to spot any unusual occurrences beyond the pulsating building in the distance. However, Huey's words resonated clearly in their minds, prompting them to raise their weapons and prepare for an imminent battle.

Perhaps another ambush.

And... it was indeed an ambush.

The most significant yet.

[BOOM] The buildings surrounding them erupted in spontaneous explosions, reducing them to scattered debris. From the wreckage emerged massive abominations—Elder Gods, towering like small houses and war tanks, charging forth at terrifying speeds, their heavily armored forms a daunting sight.

Isha let out a yelp at the sudden appearance of their adversaries, her eyes blazing with determination as she readied her chains. But in the next moment, that fiery resolve was extinguished, leaving her mouth agape.

The same stunned reaction gripped them all.

In the startling silence of that fleeting moment, Isha's parted lips formed a slow, whispered question that seemed to hang in the air, addressed to no one in particular.

"Where did they come from... and why so many?"

The stampeding Elder Gods, numbering in the hundreds, flooded forward, flattening everything in their path and tearing through any structures obstructing their way. The ground quaked beneath their advance, sending tremors through the underground village as the booming echoes of their murderous cries and savage roars reverberated through the air, freezing their targets in place at the opposite end.

Huey's expression hardened, his red eyes flaring with irritation.

"Annoying," he muttered, barely audible amidst the chaos, just before a powerful [BOOM] resonated through the air, accompanied by a massive mushroom cloud of dust rising sharply amidst the stampeding flood of incoming Elder Gods.

They heard a powerful cry, the frenzied roar of a primal beast, and from their vantage point, they witnessed several Elder Gods being hurled into the air by something much larger, much stronger, and undeniably insane with hunger.

"That's...!" someone began, their voice trailing off in disbelief.

The creature that emerged resembled a giant ape, towering over three meters tall, with long, massive arms and stubby legs brimming with rolling muscles beneath its impenetrable armor. Its color resembled wet clay tinged with pale red blood, and its grotesque face was composed of hundreds of tiny black eyes burning with maddened fury. Its mouth, filled with ghastly tongues, licked the air in anticipation.

With relentless force, the giant plowed through the horde, either crushing them beneath its massive feet or tearing them apart with ease, all with the singular goal of reaching the group of people standing frozen at the end.

The giant let out a deafening roar, then slammed its massive arms against the ground before launching itself into the air with a rumble akin to thunderous applause. Its colossal figure cast an all-consuming shadow over the district as it glided closer and closer until it loomed directly over the frozen party.

"A Thousand Peerless Demon Sword Technique," Huey murmured calmly to himself, his voice barely audible amidst the chaos. "Malevolent Messiah—Demon Monarchy!"

Huey's pressure surged like a boiling cauldron, and a pure blood-red aura violently burst forth from his lean frame, engulfing the atmosphere in hungry crimson flames and shrouding him in a violent veil of a crimson demon form. His sword moved with a speed that surpassed the comprehension of any onlooker, slicing through the air with unmatched ferocity.

A crimson wave of energy pulsed forth like a supernova, obliterating the giant enemy into broken atomic particles before an all-consuming explosion engulfed them all, burning the atmosphere with searing radiation. It expanded like an exploding star, a red sun born from the fury of Huey's attack.

Huey's sword had moved faster than light, rendering the assault silent and instantaneous until the next few seconds after the attack was unleashed. The party members were assailed by a ringing, high-pitched sound and a blinding light so intense that their eyes burned beneath their eyelids. The sheer magnitude of mana executed in that attack assaulted their skin like a thousand prickling needles, leaving them reeling in its wake.

As the dust settled, a deafening shockwave swept through the area, accompanied by a strange, thunderous bang that seemed to reverberate through the very sky itself, as if the heavens were collapsing upon their heads. When they dared to open their eyes, they found themselves amidst a rain of fiery red dust.

The underground village lay before them, now a desolate wasteland devoid of any signs of life other than their own. Not a single soul remained in sight, leaving

them alone in the aftermath.