[The Royal Capital, West District]
Whole blocks of buildings had collapsed into irregular piles of rubble.
Heavy dust rose from the ground, as if a brown curtain had been draped over everything.
The earth was covered in craters, with countless cracks spreading out around them. Deep fissures stretched across the land like ravines.
A large group of mages wearing hoods and blue uniforms held various magical devices in their hands.
Azure mana slowly rose above their heads, forming a transparent blue barrier in midair.
The residents who had not yet been fully evacuated and had been forced to encounter the earth giant huddled together beneath the magical barrier.
All they could do was look up helplessly at the city around them, now reduced to ruins.
In the dead silence, a powerful wave of magic suddenly burst forth from the Central District.
Terrifying motes of multicolored light, accompanied by wild winds, swept toward the West District.
The powerful force pushed everyone forward, nearly making them lose their footing.
The mages concentrating on maintaining the magical barrier all frowned slightly as they felt the surge of mana.
The intense magical fluctuation even affected the magical tools in their hands.
Even the glowing blue barrier above them began to flicker, as though it were about to fail.
When they tried to locate the source of the disturbance, everyone looked up.
Crystal-clear snow and wind filled their vision, as if they had been caught inside a storm.
Carrying shattered ice crystals and faint multicolored light, they swept across everyone's heads.
Looking at the scene in the distance, like a divine tree, they all stood there dumbfounded.
However, just as everyone was immersed in shock, a crisp crashing sound broke the silence.
Clatter! Clatter!
Pebbles fell from the sky one after another, striking the barrier and kicking up clouds of brown dust.
Through the haze, everyone saw Levi not far away raising his right arm.
His right arm instantly transformed into a flowing green whip like a stream of water, lashing the enormous stone giant.
In an instant, the giant shattered.
Clear cracks spread from the point where the whip struck, rapidly covering the giant's entire body.
Countless chunks of rock exploded from the giant's body, falling like rain in every direction.
They crashed into the ruins throughout the West District, sending up clouds of dust.
Levi lightly flicked his arm, and the whip quickly retracted, returning to an ordinary human arm.
Watching the giant fall completely, he turned toward the protected civilians and said in a low voice, "We're safe, for now."
Hearing Levi's words, the residents all let out sighs of relief, their faces filled with gratitude.
Fortunately, Duke Levi had arrived in time with his corps of mages.
Those familiar with Duke Levi's reputation were even more astonished by his display of strength.
He had only advanced to become a fourth-rank mage this year.
Yet even for a fourth-rank mage, being able to fight evenly against a rock giant was already terrifying.
The rock giant's strength was deeply ingrained in people's minds.
The moment it appeared, it had practically flattened everything around it.
If the rock giant hadn't suddenly frozen in place, they couldn't even imagine this battle being won.
While the residents were still marveling at Duke Levi's strength, they saw him turn around and issue orders to the mage corps.
"It's too late to withdraw to the palace now. Take these people and evacuate outside the city immediately."
The mages surrounding the civilians all nodded in unison after receiving the order.
"Yes."
The civilians also wholeheartedly agreed with Duke Levi's arrangement and hurriedly nodded.
They trusted Levi.
After all, he was a duke. Why would he harm them?
Besides, as Duke Levi had said, the capital's current situation was indeed extremely dangerous.
Not only were there earthquakes every so often, giant stone monsters like the one before also kept appearing.
None of them wanted to go through that again.
The crowd quickly got moving, forming orderly lines.
The mage corps tightly surrounded the civilians as they swiftly and methodically withdrew from the capital.
Once wave after wave of people had departed until they disappeared from view, Levi sat down wearily atop a pile of rubble, resting one foot on a rock as he let out a deep breath.
"Haa..."
"The Calamity of Earth... Even though it isn't the main body, it's still this hard to deal with."
Duke Levi breathed heavily and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The battle against the rock giant had left him thoroughly exhausted.
Although Levi had brought many mages with him, their main task was protecting the residents of the West District.
Having them fight the rock giant? Those mages couldn't help much.
After all, mages were a class that could do everything but excelled at nothing.
They couldn't match true mages in magic, nor warriors in physical strength.
So the battle just now had essentially been Levi fighting the entire rock giant by himself.
On top of that, the thing was incredibly tough. Ordinary methods simply couldn't deal effective damage to it.
Recalling the fierce battle from moments ago, Levi rolled his shoulders, seeming to recover some of his strength.
He couldn't help muttering to himself, "If Aubrey were here, he'd probably pierce it with a single spear."
Fortunately, the stone giant had suddenly stopped moving, giving Levi the chance to finish it off.
And that magical fluctuation just now...
Levi raised his head toward the giant tree silhouette that almost covered the entire sky above the Central District and couldn't help murmuring,
"Heh... the gods' scheme."
He let out a scornful laugh.
"Leopold."
"You underestimated far too many people."
———
The layers of multicolored light gradually faded, and the gigantic tree of mana that had appeared above the clouds slowly lost its color.
It turned into countless glittering fragments and gradually dispersed.
Dense mana still drifted through the air, while faint waves of dust and wind rose and fell across the land.
After the glow disappeared, only a lone mountain standing amidst the dust remained unmoved.
"That's bright enough to hurt."
Vega slowly lowered the wing shielding his eyes and couldn't help sighing.
"I almost went blind. Next time, remember to get me a pair of sunglasses."
At the same time, Viktor lowered his head and checked his status and mana.
His condition was still good.
Back when he was only a fourth-rank mage, casting a supreme-tier spell composed of ten war magic spells like this
would probably have drained every last drop of Vega's mana.
But ever since advancing to a fifth-rank mage, his mana consumption had been greatly reduced, while the power of his magic had increased dramatically.
So after casting such a powerful supreme-tier spell, he still had enough mana left to cast more.
However...
Viktor slowly raised his head.
Dust filled the air ahead of him, snow drifted through the wind, and multicolored light poured through the gaps in the clouds like a meteor shower.
The enormous mountain range was hidden behind the shockwaves and vanished from sight.
But the conspicuous health bar hanging in the sky remained clearly visible.
[85%]
In other words, Viktor's supreme-tier spell had only taken away 10% of the Calamity of Earth's health.
Of course, it wasn't over yet.
At that moment, the smoke gradually cleared, revealing the earth-brown mountain of stone.
Suddenly, as if struck by another attack, the entire body of the Calamity of Earth shook once more.
The rocks covering the mountain exploded apart, crashing onto the flat ground below and leaving deep craters.
The long health bar suspended in the air instantly dropped another section.
[80%]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the mountain shook again, it sounded as though thunderous explosions were erupting from within.
More rock broke away, and the health bar dropped noticeably.
[70%]
Looking at the Calamity of Earth's health, Viktor's lips curved into a slight smile.
"Looks like they've started taking them down one by one."
Strictly speaking, what set the Calamity of Earth apart from the other Calamities was its five earth giants.
Each earth giant possessed an independent 5% portion of the Calamity of Earth's total health.
Whenever one was destroyed, the Calamity of Earth's health would decrease by 5%.
No one could understand why the already not-so-bright Calamity of Earth insisted on creating five rock clones just so everyone else could destroy them one by one.
At first, people believed it was because the Calamity of Earth was simply too powerful to shake with ordinary means.
So this weakness had been specifically designed for it.
Although it was indeed the Calamity of Earth's weakness, it was only obvious to players who had mastered the game.
Because if you lacked the proper strategy and chose to focus all your attacks on the earth giants, Uranos would awaken ahead of schedule.
If there really had to be an explanation for what those five earth giants were for, they only served one purpose.
The death of the earth giants rapidly removed Uranos's seal.
[Lone Ravine, Sea of Sand]
In an instant, the swirling snow and dazzling multicolored stars from before seemed to have been erased, disappearing completely.
A violent, chaotic sandstorm slowly emerged across the flat land, while countless tiny stones and dust whirled through the air.
A rising tide of sand and stone swelled upward, continuously eroding and devouring the rocks around the Calamity of Earth.
Heavy waves of sand and rock expanded upward, constantly eroding the rocks sunken into the ground around the Calamity of Earth.
As terrifying waves of dust spread outward, Viktor's multicolored coat fluttered wildly, while large stone fragments slammed toward his face.
Yet the invisible barrier surrounding him blocked every incoming rock.
Deep within the layers of sandstorm, Uranos's figure gradually became indistinct.
Its six eyes suddenly shone brilliantly through the dust, like six enormous moons buried within the mountain.
Before those gigantic eyes, Viktor was as insignificant as a speck of dust.
Crackle... Crackle...
A shrill roar like electric currents tearing through the air rolled out from within the sandstorm, relentlessly battering Viktor's eardrums.
It was as though the chaotic aura itself intended to crush Viktor.
Viktor stared at Uranos before him, whose body seemed to burn with multicolored flames. The six eyes flashed one after another, radiating absolute terror.
Standing at the very center of the storm, feeling grains of sand constantly scraping across his face, he smiled confidently.
"You've finally arrived."
The Calamity of Earth, Uranos.
[Bedrock: Complete Form]