At that exact same moment, the disaster fully erupted across the other kingdoms as well. Within the frozen kingdom of Drakenmere, King Valor stood atop the towering battlements while the freezing winds roared violently around him. The defenders had only just begun reporting strange vibrations beneath the glaciers when the entire fortress suddenly shook.

BOOOOM!

Massive cracks exploded open across the frozen ground inside the wall of the kingdom itself.

The defenders immediately froze in shock.

"What in the—?!" They all said almost at the same time.

Dark mist erupted up from beneath the streets while entire sections of stone building immediately collapsed inward. The people of the kingdom who thought they were safe began screaming in panic as the ground beneath them split apart without warning.

King Valor’s eyes widened. "The corruption reached inside the kingdom..." he muttered in disbelief.

Then the ice shattered again. Long flesh roots suddenly burst from the fractures. Twisted masses of flesh immediately wrapped around several unlucky people before dragging them violently across the frozen ground.

"HELP ME!"

"NO—!"

The defenders immediately charged forward while Magic exploded across the streets. Knights slashed desperately at the writhing flesh while mages unleashed freezing storms to stop the tendrils from spreading further.

But more cracks continued appearing.

—

Far away in Valdros, King Darius experienced the exact same horror.

The enormous fortress kingdom trembled violently while the rocky streets inside the city suddenly split apart beneath the feet of the citizens. Dark corruption mist poured upward from the fractures.

The defenders atop the battlements immediately stared in horror as flesh roots erupted directly from beneath the city itself.

"Inside the kingdom?!" one of the captains shouted in disbelief.

The tendrils lunged wildly through the streets while terrified civilians ran in panic. Several unlucky people were immediately entangled around their legs and waists before being dragged screaming toward the widening cracks.

"Save them!" King Darius roared furiously.

The king immediately leaped from the battlements himself while Magic energy exploded around his body.

—

Meanwhile, within the sacred forests of Seraphelle, the ground beneath the luminous trees suddenly ruptured open.

King Sheron watched in horror as black-red roots erupted up among the sacred forest pathways and wrapped around fleeing spirit Mages and civilians alike.

The once peaceful silver forests became filled with screams.

Even the spirit beasts panicked and fled wildly through the collapsing woods.

—

Meanwhile in Elaris, enormous fractures tore across the desert cities while corrupted flesh burst through the sands beneath towers and crowded streets.

King Seladin immediately realized the horrifying truth. The enemy had never intended to attack from outside. It had already entered beneath them long ago.

Then the storm fully arrived at the same time in the five kingdoms regions.

The skies darkened even further and violent winds swept across the kingdoms. Rain began pouring heavily from the sky while thunder echoed across the world.

The wind howled harder. The corruption spread wider. Beneath the storm, panic consumed the kingdoms.

—

Far away from the collapsing kingdoms Erend suddenly slowed his flight midair. The cold wind rushed heavily around him while the storm clouds above grew darker with every passing second. His sharp Dragon eyes scanned the canyon lands below again and again, yet nothing visibly changed around the expedition itself.

Everything still looked quiet. Too quiet. But the horrible feeling inside his chest only continued growing stronger.

Erend’s brows furrowed deeply. A pressure unlike before had begun clawing at his instincts. It was not simply a danger. He had experienced countless battles and life-threatening situations before. This felt different.

This felt wrong on a much larger scale.

Far away across another region, Eccar also suddenly stopped moving as well. The Dragonborn slowly turned his gaze toward the distant horizon while the storm winds moved violently around his cloak.

"What is this feeling?" he muttered quietly.

Meanwhile, Sylven who was also moving through the corrupted forest paths alongside another expedition suddenly narrowed his eyes as well. The surrounding trees remained silent except for the wind and rain, but his instincts continuously screamed that something terrible had already happened somewhere far away.

Even Aesa experienced the same thing.

High above another cold canyon route, she abruptly slowed down while flying beside her expedition group. Her blue eyes scanned the darkened skies uneasily.

Nothing appeared strange, there were no enemies or corruption surge, or visible attack right now. Yet the ominous feeling only became heavier.

Then almost simultaneously, the four Dragonborns connected through telepathy.

A familiar mental connection immediately linked their minds together into a single channel.

Erend spoke first. "You all feel it too?"

A brief silence followed before Eccar answered immediately. "Yeah. Something’s wrong."

Sylven’s voice entered the connection next. He said, "I’ve been trying to locate the source for several minutes already. But I can’t find anything unusual around the expedition."

Aesa’s voice sounded tense afterward. "It is the same in my part as well. Everything looks normal... but my instincts won’t calm down."

The telepathic channel briefly fell silent again while the storm rumbled across the skies above all of them.

Erend’s expression slowly hardened. Then a dangerous thought finally emerged inside all of their minds almost at the same time.

"Wait. If nothing is happening here..." Eccar muttered slowly through the connection.

"...Then something might be happening somewhere else," Sylven finished grimly.

Silence immediately filled the telepathic channel while deep inside their hearts, the ominous feeling only became worse.

]]]

Then suddenly, Erend’s eyes widened slightly. "The kingdoms..."

The other Dragonborns immediately understood what he meant almost instantly.

Aesa’s expression immediately changed. "No..."

Eccar slowly clenched his jaw while the storm winds howled around him harder than before. A terrible possibility had finally begun forming clearly inside all of their minds.

The Void Architect had distracted them. The expeditions, the corrupted regions, the spreading cracks, and the giant creatures appearing across the world. All of it may have only been part of something larger.

"He’s attacking the kingdoms," Sylven finally said grimly through the connection.

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere inside the telepathic channel immediately became suffocating. Because now everything suddenly made sense.

The communications collapsing, then the growing ominous feeling they felt in the air, the strange silence around the expeditions. It was because the Void Architect no longer focused entirely on stopping the expeditions directly.

A dangerous pressure immediately filled the hearts of all four Dragonborns. If the kingdoms truly were under attack right now, then countless civilians were already dying while they remained far away from them.

—