Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
A golden sphere of light ignited at the point of impact. It expanded instantly, accompanied by flashing lightning, then collapsed inward before erupting with force. Only then did the orcs on the fortress hear a deafening roar made of countless amplified thunderclaps, striking their minds like Thor’s hammer.
“Is… is it an ancestor’s manifestation?”
The lightning seared their eyes, yet some orcs strained to see who was fighting the Old Ones’ avatar at this time of crisis.
“No…” a veteran orc, barely standing against the shockwave with his longsword, murmured. “That’s not an ancestral spirit… That’s… a God!”
Crackling—
From high above, golden lightning descended, forming countless chains that snaked towards the epicenter, binding the monstrous entity. Within the blurred light, one could faintly discern a girl with thunder wings on her back, holding a crimson-gold bolt of lightning forged into the shape of a blade.
Facing the struggles of Gatanothoa’s avatar, Bai Yao, with lightning flashing in her eyes, took a step forward and swung her blade. With a *slash*, a golden lightning blade flashed, shaking Dragon Ridge Canyon. Dust billowed into mist, kicking up sand and stones. A fierce wind rose, and collapsing mountains and broken rock layers caused an earthquake. Gatanothoa’s avatar was left with a wound that pierced through its body. Lightning crackled and flashed at the cut. Behind it, a golden scar stretched across the Dragon Ridge mountains, heading north until it vanished at the horizon.
However, this strike was not enough to kill Gatanothoa.
It roared towards the sky, its mouth torn by lightning, revealing densely packed rows of small orifices, like barnacles on the hull of a ship, overlapping and crowded. As it roared, it emitted waves of sound that were deeply corrosive to the mind.
The sound waves were incredibly penetrating. Even from thousands of meters away, they affected the orc legion at Dragon Ridge Fortress. Almost simultaneously, countless orcs, already mildly corrupted, clutched their heads and collapsed, wailing in pain. Their muscles writhed, tearing open to reveal sprouting flesh. From within these wounds, eyeballs eerily rolled.
“Slay the fallen!”
At almost the same moment the abnormality occurred, the remaining orc commanders issued their orders. The Boiling Blood Legion could not afford any more losses, so their focus was absolute, reacting instantly to minimize damage. But even with their swift response, over two thousand orcs fell to their mutated comrades. Blood flowed like rivers on the walls of Dragon Ridge Fortress. Including the mutated orcs, a single roar from the Old Ones’ avatar had cost the Boiling Blood Legion over three thousand brothers.
“Damn it! Damn it all!”
Grosol’s副官, Olgram Boiling Blood, slammed his fist onto the city wall in anguish, staring at the Old Ones’ Retainers gathering below with hatred burning in his eyes.
“Sir, should we retreat? If the evil god roars twice more, the entire Boiling Blood Legion will be wiped out!”
Olgram glared at the speaking orc, drawing his axe from his waist and placing it at the orc’s neck. “Retreat? Where would we retreat to? Abandon the fortress and enter Dragon Ridge Canyon? Or slink back to the Royal Court? The Boiling Blood Legion is the Royal Court’s legion. If we retreat, the Royal Court will suffer, and so will our tribes!”
“But… the Boiling Blood Legion is Lord Grosol’s life’s work…” The orc knelt, banging his head on the ground. “We are not afraid of death, but we fear a future where no orc remembers the Boiling Blood, or recalls Lord Grosol’s glory!”
“Grosol doesn’t care about this glory. The Boiling Blood doesn’t care about being remembered either!” Olgram pulled the orc up, punched his thick chest muscles, and pointed at the city wall. “Soldier, pick up your weapon, put away your tears! There are no cowards in the Boiling Blood! Commander Grosol is watching us from within the ancestral spirits!”
Following his gaze, they saw countless worms already swarming the city walls.
At this moment, Bai Yao, at the center of the sonic waves, was completely unaffected, not even blinking. This sight stunned Gatanothoa’s avatar, its massive body freezing in place for a moment. This opponent was a demigod. Its avatar was also a demigod. Logically, its corrupting influence should have been enough to threaten this deity, yet there was no effect.
But in that moment of hesitation, Bai Yao moved. The lightning in her hand surged, instantly transforming into a thunder spear. The spear connected to the sky filled with lightning and pointed towards Gatanothoa’s avatar. With a fierce cry, the air boomed, easily breaking the sound barrier. With an unstoppable momentum, she thrust towards Gatanothoa’s avatar.
Before the spear tip even landed, countless lightning serpents shot out from its shaft, piercing Gatanothoa’s mouth, blasting its ring-shaped orifices and rolling eyeballs into fragments, burning them to ashes. Not even blood could remain for an instant, everything turning to nothingness.
Gatanothoa reacted, its massive body struggling wildly, turning a lava-red hue, emitting immense heat that rendered the surroundings a vacuum, attempting to force Bai Yao back.
Crackling—
The lightning chains snapped. The thunder spear, however, arrived instantly. Infinite divine radiance flashed along the spear’s shaft as it brutally pierced Gatanothoa’s body.
“Judgment—!”
“Supreme Thunder Punishment!!”
The voice seemed to descend from the Supreme Dome. The immense divine power pressure silenced the entire world. The thunder spear impaled in Gatanothoa’s body acted as a marker, an anchor. In the next second, the rules of the entire world were instantly mobilized, locking onto Gatanothoa’s avatar completely.
Boom—
The sky caved in, revealing a pitch-black void. A radius of thousands of miles was enveloped by the black hole. Then, lightning flashed explosively within the void, a sea of thunder pouring down. The world paled in comparison, illuminated only by infinite golden light, carrying the ultimate power of destruction and judgment. All impurities were purified into dust by the ferocious lightning!
“This is the land of Cain.”
Bai Yao stood in the giant crater, her eyes icy. She bent down to pick up the Chaos Origin from the ground. Then, with a beat of her thunder wings, she ascended into the sky, heading north, gradually disappearing at the horizon.
On the Dragon Ridge Fortress, the kneeling orcs recovered from the world’s power. They rose and looked into the distance. They found that apart from Dragon Ridge Fortress, everything else around had turned to scorched blackness. Within and outside the fortress, vegetation was gone. The ground had sunk dozens of meters, riddled with large and small craters, some still burning with lightning and fire. In the distance, Gatanothoa’s avatar had long since been purified, and the Old Ones’ Retainers had vanished. A gust of wind blew, carrying bone ash everywhere.
