From above the valley, the squad leader stared down with widening eyes while the cold wind howled violently around him.

At first, he thought the movement beneath the fissures was only flowing corrupted energy or shifting earth caused by the strange pulses below the ground.

But then the surface beneath the fissures changed again. Something massive moved underneath. The enormous dark shape slowly traveled beneath the valley floor while the crimson-black cracks faintly bulged up as it passed below them.

The movement resembled something gigantic crawling deep beneath the earth. The squad leader could not see the entire thing clearly because the corrupted energy and mist obscured most of it. But what little he did see immediately filled him with dread.

The shape looked unbelievably huge. Far larger than any corrupted Magical beast he had ever encountered before. And it did not move randomly.

It moved with purpose. Slowly with heavy movements. Like some ancient monstrous existence was waking up beneath the land of the kingdom.

The fissures themselves seemed to react to its movement. The crimson light pulsed stronger while the deep rhythmic vibrations intensified throughout the valley.

They could hear the thumping sounds getting harder and louder.

The squad leader immediately felt cold sweat forming along his back. Without wasting another second, he descended rapidly from the air.

Wind Magic swirled around his body while he quickly dropped toward the valley floor before landing near the other scouts with heavy expression.

The moment they saw his face, their own expressions immediately turned uneasy.

One of the scouts stepped forward first.

"What did you see, sir?" the scout asked.

The squad leader remained silent briefly as though struggling to process what he had just witnessed. Then finally, he answered with visibly shaken voice. "There’s something moving beneath the fissures."

The scouts immediately froze.

Another scout frowned and asked, "Moving?"

The squad leader slowly nodded.

"It’s massive and filled the whole fissure down there," he said. "I couldn’t see it clearly through the corruption. But it’s alive and moving."

Several scouts instinctively stepped backward.

"The ground also was changing above it while it moved beneath the valley."

The atmosphere immediately became suffocating.

One of the younger scouts visibly paled. He asked, "What kind of creature could even be that large?"

Nobody answered him because none of them wanted to imagine the answer.

The squad leader quickly snapped out of his shock. "Contact the king immediately," he ordered sharply.

The female scout carrying the communication spirit immediately activated it. Blue light emerged from the floating spirit before flickering. Then the light destabilized.

But static-like interference erupted from the spirit repeatedly while distorted noise echoed around them. The scout’s expression quickly changed. She tried again but the exact same thing happened.

Finally, she looked toward the squad leader with alarmed eyes.

"The spirit communication isn’t functioning," she said.

Several scouts immediately reacted.

"What?"

"That’s impossible."

"Spirit communication has never failed before even during the earlier corrupted attacks."

The panic among them immediately began rising afterward. The squad leader’s expression darkened further. Now even their communications were failing. Which meant the situation had already escalated.

The squad leader immediately made his decision.

"We’re leaving. Move back to Leonora now. Full speed," he ordered firmly.

The others immediately looked toward him. Nobody argued. The scouts instantly turned and began sprinting back toward the kingdom at maximum speed while Magic enhancement runes across their bodies illuminated brightly.

Branches and rocks blurred past them while they rushed through the valley with growing panic inside their chests.

Then suddenly...

BOOOOOMMM.

A deafening sound erupted from behind them. The entire valley shook violently. The ground trembled beneath their feet while enormous vibrations spread throughout the surrounding hills.

Several scouts nearly lost their balance while running. Then another sound followed after that. A horrifying deep roar echoed from the fissures.

Every scout immediately turned their heads backward. What they saw behind them made terror spread across their faces instantly.

The gigantic fissures had begun glowing brighter than before. Crimson-black light burst violently from the cracks while corrupted mist exploded into the air like smoke from an erupting volcano.

The ground continued shaking beneath their feet while the deep rhythmic thumping beneath the earth became louder and faster.

The younger scouts could barely hide the fear inside their expressions anymore. Then suddenly another roar echoed across the distant lands.

But this time it did not come from the valley behind them. It came from far away and another direction.

The scouts instantly realized what that meant. The other fissures in another location that the other squad found had also become active.

One of the scouts immediately looked toward the distant forest with a pale face. "Oh no..." he muttered weakly.

Then another roar answered from even farther away. The squad leader’s expression darkened completely.

"Move faster!" he shouted loudly. "Don’t stop running!"

The scouts immediately forced more Magic energy through their bodies. Their enhancement runes glowed brighter while they accelerated through the wilderness at full speed.

Fear now fully spread through the group. None of them even attempted maintaining formation perfectly anymore. Survival instincts had already taken over.

Behind them, the fissures continued erupting violently.

Then something enormous finally emerged from the valley. The ground exploded.

A colossal serpentine body burst out from the fissures while corrupted earth and shattered rocks scattered across the entire valley floor. The creature’s enormous body twisted up unnaturally while crimson-black corruption Magic flowed across it like boiling blood vessels.

Most of the scouts did not dare turn around anymore. They only kept running desperately toward Leonora while panic filled their minds.

But the squad leader looked back once.

And he immediately regretted it.

His eyes widened with horror. The thing emerging from the fissures was not a normal beast.

Its body looked like countless corrupted beasts had been melted together into one gigantic abomination. Massive chunks of flesh continuously moving and squirming across its serpentine form while different beast bodies protruded grotesquely from everywhere.

He could see wolf heads embedded into the sides of the creature’s neck. Lion jaws opened and roared from beneath layers of flesh. Partially fused elephant skulls jutted out from its body while twisted limbs clawed endlessly against the air as if the creatures fused into it were still alive.

Some parts looked half-melted together while others continued moving independently in horrifying ways.

The creature did not even possess one proper face. Its entire body was made from suffering and corruption fused into that moving flesh.

The squad leader felt his entire body turn cold. His instincts screamed at him to keep looking away. But he could not stop himself from staring for one more second.

Then dozens of glowing crimson eyes suddenly opened across the creature’s enormous body simultaneously. All of them looked directly toward the fleeing scouts.

The squad leader immediately gritted his teeth hard afterward while forcing down the fear threatening to overwhelm him.

"Keep running!" he roared at the others while turning away from the monster and sprinting even faster toward the kingdom walls far in the distance.

—