Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 449: Witnessing That Day

“Durik! Are you ready?”

A shout rang out. Everyone felt their heads turn to greet the caller, despite being trapped in an unmoving trance. They all saw the world through Durik’s eyes as they saw a huge winged serpent. Durik replied, “Of course!”

“Good! Then wait for the command!” cackled the serpent, rushing to check on the other beasts around them.

Durik quickly scanned over the crowd with a confident nod. There was a slight scoff in his throat but he didn’t dare say anything. However, everyone could hear Durik’s thoughts from that moment. Finally... Time to test you for myself!

“MOVE OUT! DON’T BREAK FORMATION!”

A long-bodied dragon flew overhead at top speed. Its toxic green scales all thinned out to points and there were layers upon layers of scales stacked on top of each other. The twenty-five-krin dragon abruptly slowed down as two more figures rushed to the skies, leading the rest of the crowd to do the same. It was a flaming tiger, running through the air, that caught up to the long green dragon, along with a slightly smaller blue dragon covered in lightning.

They were all silent since the moment they set off and rose above the clouds. Occasionally, Durik would look back. But he would mostly keep his gaze forward since he was among those directly behind the leading three beasts.

.....

In the back of their minds, while witnessing this domineering pack of beasts charging through the skies at top speed, Warak, Jarrit, and Bradok trembled where they sat.

Twenty-four beast gods! They were all focused and shocked at the sheer amount of gods that had gathered. And, thanks to accessing Durik’s senses, everyone was able to identify the cultivations of each beast. There were two early-gods and six low-gods at the rear. Then there were seven mid-gods, of which Durik was the leader. At Durik’s sides were a total of six high-gods. And leading the charge were three peak-gods. It was a force that could destroy the world as Warak and Bradok knew it!

But Durik’s memory played out unimpeded. It was a coordinated ambush and they were lying in wait quite close to their target. Not even ten minutes later, the group descended from the clouds and could see a serene, isolated estate in the distance. It didn’t seem that big at first. But the great speed of the ambushing gods fixed that mistake, letting everyone see that the estate could take up an entire mountainside.

‘GO!’ The green dragon roared telepathically.

“DIIIE!!! ALL WHO DARE!!!” an overwhelming voice echoed through the air, shaking the world around them.

Suddenly, from that roar alone, each person reliving the memory nearly fell into a seizure. They could feel the pressure of that voice weighing down on Durik’s mighty, mid-god body as if it was their own. And it was greatly slowing him down! Along with every other god!

“GET DOWN HERE!!!”

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Altogether, the ambushing gods crashed down from the sky. Only the three leading beasts were able to slow themselves enough to not form a crater on impact. Durik crashed hard into the ground as that new force was compacting his entire body into the dirt. It took Durik a moment to struggle back to his feet.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Splat!

Just as the gods were able to lift their heads and try to stand, the ground burst open. Three low-gods were caught up in the rubble, instantly exploding along with the rocks.

“FORMATION!!” roared the green dragon, flapping his wings and charging straight into the fray. A strange green slime oozed out from the dragon’s body. The dragon flapped and flung the acidic slime as he barreled into the storm of debris and boulders.

The huge tiger roared and doused his body in glorious, divine flames, also leaping into the explosion. But it was the lightning dragon that reached the debris first, hurling bolt after bolt into the center of the scattering rubble.

Next, the six high-gods took action. They surrounded the explosion and prepared to defend their encirclement.

Durik was awed by the surprise attack but hurried away before that strange pressure could appear again. He and the remaining eleven gods raced toward that nearby estate.

At that moment, four apes leaped over the estate walls, barreling directly into the invading gods. Those apes were huge, to the point that Bradok, while mentally witnessing their arrival, trembled with amazement and pride. The largest of the apes was at the center, standing eight krin tall. The smallest two were still six krin tall, showing no fear as they roared and rushed into the invading beasts.

Those spectating the memories felt their heartrates spike as they sensed the strength of those apes. There was only a mid-god, a low-god, and two peak-kings. Yet the bloodlust of the peak-kings wasn’t any less than that of early-god beasts...

“NONE SHALL LIVE!!!” That same earth-shaking voice cried out, now coming from behind Durik. But that one shout boosted the morale of those apes tenfold.

“Group up! Don’t fight alone! Follow orders!” Durik roared, hastening his attack to meet the mid-god ape for the first clash, unleashing his full-power Flying Drill Art while dowsed in flames.

The apes only roared and howled in response. They had no words, not after receiving the orders of their clan chief. That mid-god ape rocketed forward with a powerful leap. His fist was launched out to meet Durik’s drilling charge.

Crack! Crack! THUD!

Durik was hurriedly thrown into the ground as the absurdly heavy fist pummelled his head. At the same time, Durik felt his body get heavier, making his crash landing hurt all the more. Blood fell from the ape’s fist and arm but he wasn’t even pushed back from the exchange.

The low-god ape lunged forward as well, only a second away from crushing Durik’s side.

But two streaks of darkness sped by, holding the low-god ape back. A duo of Toxic-shadow Dragons appeared in place of the shadows. They unleashed purple flames filled with death essence to create a quick perimeter, shielding Durik while he rushed back to his feet.