“You guys go on ahead,” Lux said. “But don’t go too near the Capital City. I’ll just go for a bit and take a piss in that forest over there.”

Without another word, the Half-Elf urged his mount, Jed, to descend into the forest, disappearing from everyone’s view.

“Does he have a habit of peeing when things are about to get dicey?” Prince Cyrus asked.

This wasn’t the first time the Half-Elf had done this, and every time he did, he couldn’t help but feel like the latter was up to something.

Contrary to what Lux expected, no one left and waited for him to finish his business.

A few minutes later, the Thunder Warg King once again took off towards the skies, carrying the red-headed teenager, who looked like someone who had just reached enlightenment.

They then proceeded to continue their journey and headed toward the Capital City of the Ammarian Kingdom.

Inside the forest, a Half-Elf watched as the group disappeared into the horizon with his arms crossed over his chest. A faint smile hung at the corner of his lips, which only lasted for a brief moment before he disappeared to who knows where.

————

Two hours later, on the outskirts of the Capital City of the Ammarian Kingdom…

“Something doesn’t feel right.” Cethus frowned as he looked at the city in the distance.

He could sense people inside the city, but he couldn’t see any Monsters anywhere.

Lux remained calm as he scanned the surroundings. Zagan and Shax had both scouted the Capital City a few hours ago and had told him that the area was littered with Monsters.

If not for the fact that they were chased away by a giant fly, who was at least four meters tall, the two of them would have continued to observe the city from a distance.

The fly was very fast, even faster than Shax. It even nearly killed the Nightgaunt. If not for the fact that Lux had recalled him at the right moment, nothing could have saved him from dying.

Due to the dangerous situation, he also recalled Zagan, ending the scouting mission for the two of them.

The Fly was one of the Dreadnaught-Ranked World Bosses that went by the name Gloom Wing Horror.

Due to how fast and dangerous it was, Lux deemed it best for Leoric to personally deal with it in order to prevent the Giant Fly from targeting the teenagers and killing them before they could even react to its speed.

“What should we do now?” Cai asked. “Should we enter the city and ask the residents if they have seen any Monsters around?”

Lux shook his head because he felt that entering the city would be the most dangerous thing to do at this point in time.

While they were thinking of what to do next, a magic circle appeared in the sky, encompassing a wide stretch of land, including the city as well as its surrounding areas.

Suddenly, everything around them turned red, which reminded Lux of the scenery in Zangrila when he was there.

No other colors aside from red could be seen, making all the teenagers feel alarmed.

“Calm down everyone,” Cethus said. “Look at the bright side. There’s no crack in the sky right now that is spewing monsters above our heads.”

As if on cue, a resounding crack reverberated in the surroundings, and the sky directly above them broke apart.

Immediately, a buzzing sound was heard, which made the Half-Elf’s expression turn grim.

“Leoric, I’ll leave it in your hands!” Lux ordered.

The Wraith King materialized beside Lux before flying upward to exchange blows against the Gloom Wing Horror.

Just as he expected, the Fly was indeed fast. It was so fast that Lux could only see faint blurs when he tried to follow it with his eyes.

Fortunately, Leoric had the ability to phase in and out of existence, reappearing in other locations as if he was using Teleport.

Lux and the others didn’t have enough time to pay attention to the battle between the Wraith King and the Giant Fly because Monsters had started to pour from above them en masse.

A moment later, the ground under their feet shook, making everyone on the ground almost lose their balance.

“Cai! Fly upwards now!” Lux ordered.

The Boar, who had sensed the urgency in Lux’s voice, commanded his Winged Serpent to fly upwards.

As soon as Coatl rose in the air, the ground under its body broke apart, and a Giant Death Worm that was nearly a hundred meters long opened its massive jaws in an attempt to eat the Winged Serpent whole.

‘A Dreadnaught Ranked World Boss?’ Lux’s face became grim because the numbers weren’t adding up.

He had assumed that the silver-haired Devil was one of the two Dreadnaught-Ranked Monsters. However, after seeing the two World Bosses in front of him, his worst fears came to life.

Lux no longer had any time to think about other things as he summoned his Undead Legion to his side.

The Half-Elf summoned a single clone, while Eiko and Asmodeus summoned all of their clones.

A moment later, sixteen Hecatoncheires appeared on the battlefield, towering over most of the Monsters, yet they were still completely dwarfed by the Giant Death Worm, whose massive jaws were open wide, revealing its countless razor-sharp teeth.

“This is what a Raid is like,” Lux muttered as he ordered all sixteen of his Hecatoncheires to fight against the Giant Death Worm, who burrowed into the ground once again, preparing to strike when they least expected it.

“Shax, focus on attacking Argonaut Ranked Monsters,” Lux ordered.

The NIghtgaunt nodded and took off to the skies.

The battlefield had become extremely chaotic, with all the members of the different Factions duking it out with the Monsters who had started to attack them.

Aur flew beside Lux and took out the artifact that could amplify their attacks at the same time. This was the Trump Card that they were planning to use against one of the Dreadnaught-Ranked World Bosses.

The only problem was that the Giant Fly was too fast, and the Giant Death Worm was too sly, making it difficult for them to aim their attacks properly.

The Dozens of Wraith Knights and Hundreds of Wraith Soldiers fought alongside the teenagers, preventing them from dying.

Since the Wraith Knights were all Deimos-Ranked Fighters, they were able to hold off Monsters of their same Rank.

The only problem was that there were at least a dozen Argonaut-Ranked Monsters on the battlefield, making everyone’s heart beat wildly inside their chest due to the tension.

“Fire Snakes!”

Flamma roared, and four Fire Snakes clashed against an Argonaut Ranked Monster, entangling it in its fiery embrace.

Although the Half-Orc was only a Deimos-Ranked Alpha Monster, he had the artifacts and skills that allowed him to deal with Argonaut-Ranked Monsters in a one-on-one battle.

Aside from Shax, Flamma was one of the handful of fighters in Lux’s entourage that could contend with Argonaut-Ranked Monsters.

The Half-Orc fearlessly repelled one Argonaut Ranked Monster after the other as he summoned Fire Snakes left and right.

He could control ten of them at the same time, and the only thing he could do right now was defend against these monsters.

Even if he were to fight one of them, it would still take a while before the end of the battle. By then, half of the teenagers might be killed, which was something that Lux wanted to prevent no matter what.

Truth be told, the Half-Elf wanted everyone to survive the battle because he had a feeling that the rules of the Final Gate of the Apocalypse would be different from what they currently knew.

Gaap told him about the possibility that, if they successfully cleared the Gate of Famine, Rankers and High-Rankers might be allowed to enter the Gate of the Apocalypse.

Because of this, Lux wanted to have as many survivors as possible, prioritizing the people who had formed alliances with him.

As if to mock their efforts, something unexpected happened.

Four strong monsters made their presence known, which made the hair on everyone’s neck stand on end.

“Dreadnaught-Ranked Monsters?!” Prince Cyrus exclaimed. “What the hell is happening here?! Aren’t we only supposed to fight two of them?!”

This was the same thought running through everyone’s mind. All of them were already reeling from the shock of fighting so many High-Ranking monsters at once, which was truly impossible at this point.

Except, the new arrivals weren’t Alpha Monsters or World Bosses. All of them were of the Dreadnaught Rank, which was above the Argonaut Rank.

These monsters all had the ability to destroy entire cities, making killing dozens of teenagers look like mere childsplay.