Solrath, once one of Baeldum’s greatest trading cities, had long since turned into a living hell.

The massive city had originally housed tens of millions of people. Now, after days of nonstop infection and slaughter, entire districts had collapsed into chaos and ruin. Purple smoke drifted endlessly between shattered buildings while distant screams and explosions echoed day and night throughout the city. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

During the last twenty-four hours, Group Five and its twenty Grand Magus elites had successfully stabilized the four defensive gates surrounding the remaining safe zone. For the first time after four continuous days of battle, the exhausted local defenders finally managed to breathe slightly easier.

Unfortunately, when hundreds of cultivators fought endlessly against waves of infected across a city containing millions of civilians, the number of dead quickly became impossible to count.

Even Morgana no longer bothered looking toward the corpse piles scattered beyond the defensive walls.

She stood atop the eastern perimeter alongside her temporary unit of four. Other than herself, the group consisted of an elderly one-cosmos Grand Magus specializing in defensive arts, a young noble-looking cultivator carrying the insignia of a prominent faction, and a bearded two-cosmos Grand Magus whose nonstop talking had somehow become his method of relieving stress.

"I swear after this mission I’m retiring," the bearded man muttered while checking the edge of his axe. "I’m opening a tavern somewhere far away from bugs, parasites, and disasters."

The younger cultivator rolled his eyes.

"You’ve repeated that six times already."

"And I mean it every time."

Despite the conversation, nobody truly relaxed.

The air itself smelled of blood, smoke, and burned flesh.

The group had barely finished their short break when emergency alarms suddenly echoed across the defensive walls. Their bracer lit up immediately afterward as urgent messages spread throughout the perimeter.

"All Grand Magus personnel gather at the western gate immediately."

The atmosphere instantly changed.

Within minutes, all twenty Grand Magus from Group Five had gathered atop the western defensive line. They were reinforced by another ten local Grand Magus alongside more than a hundred Magus-realm cultivators from the city garrison.

This was no longer a normal defensive force.

This was the gathering of elite combatants.

Standing at the center of the formation was Colonel Goodie, the peak two-cosmos commander overseeing Alliance operations within the city.

The veteran cultivator wasted no time.

"A massive infected group is approaching from the western wastelands," he announced grimly while projecting aerial drone footage into the air. "Estimated numbers are in the tens of thousands."

Several Grand Magus frowned immediately.

The bearded cultivator beside Morgana even sneered slightly.

"Tens of thousands? If they’re ordinary infected, I alone can clear them."

Another Grand Magus asked more cautiously,

"Are there high-grade cultivators among them?"

Colonel Goodie’s expression darkened.

"Unknown. But General Anderson specifically warned every group to remain extremely cautious. There may be advanced parasite variants mixed among the infected."

Hearing this, the entire defensive line immediately became serious.

None of them were inexperienced cultivators. Every Grand Magus present had survived countless battles and understood exactly what it meant for General Anderson to personally issue a warning.

Minutes later, the incoming infected horde finally emerged from the wastelands.

At first glance, the sight appeared almost ordinary.

Thousands of infected civilians slowly advanced beneath drifting waves of purple miasma. There were old men, women, even children among them. Some still carried bags or wore torn merchant robes stained with blood and sand. Their movements looked slow and unnatural, their empty eyes fixed toward Solrath’s walls as they marched forward in complete silence.

Then—

The defenders noticed the figures floating above them.

Roughly two dozen Grand Magus cultivators slowly rose into the sky above the infected masses, their bodies suspended motionlessly like puppets hanging from invisible strings. Their expressions were blank, devoid of emotion or awareness, while traces of purple corruption spread visibly beneath their skin.

And among them stood one figure completely cloaked in darkness.

The surrounding space itself distorted faintly around his body.

Then yellow eyes slowly began opening across his chest, neck, and arms.

The moment those eyes appeared, the thirty Grand Magus defending the western wall immediately felt an overwhelming chill spread through their souls. Several cultivators instinctively stepped backward while others activated defensive techniques almost reflexively.

"What the hell is that...?" someone whispered in fear.

Even Morgana immediately sensed danger.

Not ordinary danger—

But the kind of suffocating pressure that warned of certain death.

Without hesitation, she quickly sent a message toward Emery through the Khaos connection.

The reply came almost instantly.

"Stay in the back. Watch carefully. Don’t hesitate to escape at the first sign of danger."

Seeing Emery respond so seriously caused Morgana’s expression to darken further.

Fortunately, she listened.

Several elite two-cosmos Grand Magus had already charged forward aggressively, clearly intending to eliminate the airborne infected before the battle escalated further. Powerful spells exploded across the sky as blades, flames, and cosmic arts descended toward the corrupted cultivators.

For nearly a minute, the defending elites actually managed to hold the enemy line.

Then the mysterious figure finally moved.

No massive spell formation appeared.

No terrifying energy buildup.

Only a slight ripple spreading quietly across space itself.

Seconds later—

One by one, the charging Grand Magus suddenly fell from the sky.

The western defensive line instantly descended into fear.

Colonel Goodie remained standing the longest.

The peak two-cosmos expert unleashed defensive techniques continuously while desperately trying to resist whatever invisible attack was happening around him.

Then suddenly—

Even his expression changed completely.

Fear filled his face.

The veteran commander slowly turned back toward the defenders, his lips trembling slightly as he forced out a warning barely louder than a whisper.

"...Run..."

The next moment, the mysterious figure vanished.

And instantly reappeared directly in the center of Solrath’s western defensive formation.

An overwhelming pressure exploded outward across the battlefield.

Morgana immediately felt a freezing chill invade her consciousness as countless yellow eyes suddenly appeared within her mind itself, staring directly into her soul.

The pressure alone nearly made her lose consciousness.

Without the slightest hesitation, Morgana activated Khaos Gate and escaped directly into the Khaos Domain.