A thick serpentine tail was covered in venomous barbs, and its four limbs ended in the massive claws of a snow leopard.
Its head was twisted and deformed, completely unrecognizablle as either a troll or Moragon.
The monster's enormous mouth opened, spewing a destructive breath attack mixed with frost, poison mist, and shadows!
"Roar—!"
The stitched monster let out a deafening roar, sweeping its serpentine tail with immense force, indiscriminately destroying everything in its path!
Dozens of allied soldiers who couldn't dodge were instantly swept away like straw.
Arrows and javelins clattered against its body, covered in chitin and scales, bouncing off without leaving even a scratch!
"Attack its joints! Its eyes!" Skala roared hoarsely, directing the soldiers to spread out and find the colossal creature's weaknesses.
However, the monster's movements, though seemingly clumsy, were astonishingly fast. Each claw swipe, tail sweep, or destructive breath attack covered a huge area, causing heavy casualties!
Toka, glowing with golden-red Holy Light, roared, "Follow me!" and led a small squad of the most elite Paladins, fearlessly charging towards the monster's relatively vulnerable ankle area!
Holy Light-infused weapons struck against the chitin and scales, sparking blindingly and leaving shallow scorch marks, but failing to cause real damage.
With a casual kick, the monster's violent shockwave sent several Paladins flying, spitting blood!
Skala watched the soldiers suffer heavy casualties under the monster's rampage, and saw Toka and the others' determined charge, a sense of powerlessness welling up within him.
Tactics, courage, faith—before this monstrous, destructive beast, built from divine power, they all seemed so pale.
This feeling reminded Skala of his first encounter with the Dragon God during that hunt.
At that time, they also faced an unconquerable Proto-Dragon, and it was the gods descending from the heavens who saved everything.
Then, they crawled out of the ruins of Tok-Aak, built Ital'ruk under the protection of the Dragon God, trained armies, spread faith,
shed blood and sweat...
He thought they had become strong enough to control their own destiny and protect their homeland.
But facing this situation, would the outcome still be so pale and powerless?
If so, what was all his effort for?
Was it merely to prove that the limits of mortals ultimately required the mercy of gods to overcome these trials?
This thought gnawed at his pride like a venomous snake, leaving Skala breathless.
His knuckles turned white from gripping his battle-axe too tightly, and his other hand was clenched into a fist, but he had nowhere to vent.
Just as Skala was lost in despair, "Roar—!"
A bear's roar, even deeper than the stitched monster's, echoed from outside Gundrak City!
Where the sound wave passed, even the strange snowfall paused!
Immediately after, the ground trembled violently!
A massive white figure, with the momentum to crush all obstacles, crashed through a towering section of Gundrak's city wall and entered the battlefield!
The King of the White Mountain, Rhunok!
His bear eyes, burning with golden-red flames, instantly locked onto the rampaging stitched monster.
Without any hesitation, without any declaration.
Rhunok burst forth with terrifying speed unbefitting his size, his four paws thundering on the ground, transforming into a white storm, charging straight at the monster!
"Bang—!"
The deafening roar seemed to make the whole world groan!
Rhunok's bear paw slammed heavily onto the stitched monster's thick forelimb!
A visible shockwave exploded in a ring, instantly pulverizing architectural debris within dozens of meters!
The stitched monster let out a hiss mixed with pain and fury, driven back a few steps by the blow, its feet creating several deep pits!
But it also showed terrifying resilience, enduring a blow that could have shattered a mountain!
It whipped its massive tail, moving so fast it tore through the air, emitting a piercing shriek, and lashed fiercely at Rhunok's waist and abdomen!
Rhunok once again displayed astonishing agility; he swiftly dodged, the serpentine tail grazing his fur, instantly severing a remaining tower behind him at its base!
Rubble and ice shards rained down like a storm.
The two colossal creatures then completely engaged in battle.
Each collision of bear paws and sharp claws sounded like thunder, unleashing violent air currents!
The whipping of the serpentine tail and the crashing of the bear's body caused Gundrak's central city to continuously collapse like a fragile block city!
City walls turned into ice crystal dust under divine impact, and stone buildings disintegrated with a roar under immense pressure!
The earth groaned beneath their trampling, cracking into bottomless chasms.
A hurricane named "Destruction" raged around them, grinding everything caught within it into dust!
This was a rare divine battle in the mortal world.
Gundrak, this ancient troll capital, became their gladiatorial arena, heading towards complete destruction in the melee.
Rhunok's strength was clearly superior; golden-red divine fire flowed over his body, burning away the corrupting aura emanating from the monster.
His bear paws could shatter the chitin and scales on the monster's body, leaving charred wounds; his bites could tear off large chunks of writhing flesh.
But the stitched monster was not without resistance.
The battle was incredibly fierce; Rhunok had the upper hand but couldn't quickly end it.
Finally, after a ferocious pounce, Rhunok seized an opening in the monster!
His bear paw clamped tightly around the monster's relatively vulnerable neck, while his other colossal paw, burning with scorching divine fire, was raised high, aimed at the monster's frantically twisting head, and slammed down forcefully.
"Splat!"
With a squelching sound of flesh being crushed, Moragon's already chaotic consciousness was annihilated along with the splattering brains.
The monster's body, forcibly pieced together from different Loa characteristics, finally stopped its twisting.
Rhunok panted heavily, his chest heaving violently, golden-red divine fire leaping around him, reflecting the devastation on the battlefield.
However, the King of the White Mountain did not leave immediately as he had after defeating Hakkah.
His head turned towards outside the city, looking in the direction of the snowy plains.
"Who—is there?"
Just as Rhunok uttered this question—the entire battlefield, the entire ruins of Gundrak, and even the howling snowstorm around them, without any warning—froze.
It wasn't the disappearance of sound, but a sense of stasis.
The scent of blood, gunpowder, and burning in the air—all odors vanished, leaving only an absolute void.
Light became dim and distorted, as if covered by an invisible grey veil.
The blood flowing on the ground, the falling snowflakes, the rising dust... everything seemed to have stopped.
A figure appeared silently on the snowy plains where Rhunok's gaze was focused.
He was extremely tall, about twenty meters.
His skin was a deathly blue-grey, his muscles knotted but lifeless.
Multiple sets of huge, curved, pale tusks grew on his face, extending from his jawline all the way to his ears, like a crown of death.
A mane of wild white hair cascaded over his broad shoulders and back.
He made no movement, simply stood there silently.
He was draped in a shroud that seemed to be woven directly from shadows, the shroud floating in mid-air, devouring the surrounding light.
His very existence was the embodiment of "ending."
Just a glance caused mortals to feel their souls freezing, their life-fires flickering as if about to extinguish.
The King of the White Mountain, Rhunok's body instantly tensed, his bear eyes narrowed, filled with solemnity and apprehension.
A low roar rumbled deep in his throat: "Mueh'zala!"
The tall, blue-grey troll figure nodded slightly, acknowledging his identity.
His gaze swept over the allied soldiers below, over the struggling Toka, over the terrified Skala, finally resting on the remains of the stitched monster.
But Rhunok knew he was not looking at the living, but at the accumulated souls here.
Finally, the God of Death spoke:
"The feast of the living must end. So many souls, restless, should return to eternal slumber."
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