The tension spreading in Xiltra was heavy and enormous.
Since the Jungle Expedition had been defeated humiliatingly, leaving only 15,000ish mentally broken Adventurers and Mercenaries behind, nobody felt safe near the Untamed Jungle.
The situation grew worse as the stories of the Jungle's Curse began to circulate. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the situation didn't improve even after the 13 Paladins arrived.
In fact, the fear of what might happen to the 13 Paladins was why some citizens asked the Paladins to retreat to the city and leave the Untamed Jungle.
The citizens didn't want the Untamed Jungle to take revenge on them for enraging it. But that was not all. Some citizens knew that the morale within Xiltra would worsen if something was to happen to the 13 Paladins. If they died, nobody would want to stay near the border of the Untamed Jungle anymore.
However, what nobody expected was the chaos that erupted not long after the 13 Paladins left Xiltra.
A huge storm gathered high up in the sky above the Untamed Jungle's outer ring, and the tension all over Xiltra intensified. Instinctively, everyone could tell that something bad was about to happen.
But the surreal display of unimaginable power that unfolded far away from Xiltra was not something they could have anticipated.
At the epicenter, a blinding flash of silver light erupted. It was intense and searingly bright, engulfing the surroundings, washing away colors, and distorting the perception of space and time. It was as if the essence of the sun had been captured, mixed with the light of the moon, and unleashed upon the earth.
Simultaneously, an expanding silver inferno kept surging forth from the point of detonation. It manifested as a rapidly expanding sphere of billowing silver flames, consuming everything in its path. Shades of silver, gray, and black danced and merged within the fiery tempest, creating a mesmerizing yet terrifying display that could even be seen in Xiltra.
The silver inferno engulfed and incinerated the flora and fauna of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring. Any living being unfortunate enough to be caught within its grasp died miserably, whether it was through the explosion that tore apart soil, Artifacts, and flesh or the silver inferno that corroded everything in its wake.
The immense chaos essence unleashed by the explosion caused the air to shimmer, the origin energy in its range to decay, distorting the surroundings with a mirage-like effect.
As the silver inferno expanded outward, it created a shockwave, a formidable force that rippled through the atmosphere. The shockwave radiated in all directions, flattening bushes, uprooting trees, and hurling debris with unfathomable strength. The air itself rippled as if the fabric of reality was about to be torn apart.
In the immediate aftermath, a rising column of smoke and debris ascended from the epicenter, a grim testament of the destruction created by the explosion. Dark and ominous, it twisted and billowed, obscuring the sky and blackening the landscape in a veil of devastation.
The atmosphere itself underwent a drastic transformation. As the explosion unleashed an immense amount of chaos essence, the land got even more corrupted, devolving into barren land.
What was left behind was a huge patch of desolate land, scarred and forever changed. The once-vibrant surroundings had been reduced to rubble and ash, with lingering silver inferno that continued to spread and corrupt the land.
Meanwhile, an eerie silence hung heavily in the air within Xiltra. Everyone stared in the direction of the Untamed Jungle with terror and shock in their eyes.
Even for those who didn't see the explosion, the commotion and the heavy pressure descending onto the plain were enough to show that something big had just happened. Not even the loudest babies dared to cry aloud in their mother's embrace. They went eerily silent, as fear crept up their spines.
Tens of minutes passed in utter silence. It was as if life in Xiltra had come to a standstill. Nobody even dared to move, fearing that something worse might happen.
Only after what felt like an eternity did a voice rang through the surroundings.
"The Paladins…" A young man mumbled quietly.
However, in the eerie silence of the border city, it felt like the young man standing on Xiltra's walls was shouting aloud.
"...but there are only three…and they're injured…"
Every word that rang through the ears of Xiltra's citizens felt like a bombshell that had been dropped right next to them.
If there were only three Paladins, what happened to the rest? And why were the returning Paladins injured as well?
"Their veins are black…" Another one blurted out all of a sudden, and the voice of a third guard on the city wall echoed shrilly.
"They collapsed!!"
Seeing the three Paladins stagger through the plains and collapse in front of Xiltra's walls, the citizens were shocked to the core. A few guards rushed outside, followed by healers, who cursed in terror.
"Their bodies have been contaminated with chaos essence. Who the hell is crazy enough to fool around with chaos essence?!?"
The healer's voice was louder than intended, but he couldn't control his emotions anymore. Just a quick examination of the three Paladins was more than enough to tell that the happenings in the Untamed Jungle's outer ring were far from ordinary.
The silver inferno in the Untamed Jungle turned into something far more threatening in the eyes of the healer, and his eyes shot wide open.
But the silver inferno was not the end of the mayhem. If anything, it was just the beginning.
If the explosion had already been horrifying, or the fact that only 3 Paladins returned from the Origin Expanse, what awaited them now turned into their worst nightmare.
Heavy pressure descended all over the Untamed Jungle's outer ring and the Zentika Empire's plains. The pressure affected every existence within a range of more than 100 kilometers, restricting their ability to move entirely.
The temperature in the vicinity increased drastically, and the silver inferno began to ripple unsteadily as a humongous shadow appeared above the Untamed Jungle.
Something appeared high up in the air, far above the clouds.
The outlines of a humongous serpent with feather wings manifested seemingly out of nowhere.
The serpent didn't utter a sound when it appeared and glided above the cloud, exuding a heavy pressure subconsciously which was enough to announce that it had arrived.
It inflicted fear; terrifying fear that could only be caused by a being, whose strength was unfathomable.
There was no need to ask a professional to find out what kind of monster appeared above the Untamed Jungle. It was a mythical creature that had been disturbed by the actions of the Unknown Lord.
Some feared that the wrath of the mythical serpent would affect them as well. However, there were also others, who hoped that all their problems would be solved soon.
"Will it kill the Lord inside the Untamed Jungle now?"
But instead of killing the Unknown Lord within the Untamed Jungle, the mythical serpent opened its wide maw.
It released blazing azure flames to devour the silver inferno before disappearing once again.
The silver inferno lit up in azure flames. The azure flames burned down the silver inferno, just to disperse into all directions, vanishing as if they'd never existed.
Following the dispersing silver inferno, the destruction caused by the Chaos Pills could be seen with much more clarity.
It was terrifying. More than half of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring had been destroyed.
Yet, the Unknown Lord was still alive.
He had emerged victorious against the Jungle Expedition and the 13 Paladins.
Michael Fang was the final winner of the battle.
He had won his first large scale war!
