Chapter 757: Chapter 421: The Grand Finale (Part 3)

......

The other side of the slope, Eagle’s Beak Rock Watchtower.

Thomas lay in the damp and cold grass, motionless, his eyes pressed against the high-magnification alchemy telescope, his breath held extremely low.

The scene in the lens slowly furrowed his brow: "They’re... not quite right."

The monsters inhaling the red mist did not fall.

Instead, they sped up, an acceleration beyond reason.

The trajectory dragged a brief afterimage on the retina, as if the delay between body and power had been forcibly smoothed.

Then came a more noticeable change.

The black dragon scales covering their bodies stood upright one by one, the edges rubbing against each other, producing dense and piercing "kaka" sounds, like a pine forest exploding.

Veins bulged under the skin.

Dark red patterns rapidly spread along the limbs and torso, bright enough to almost penetrate the body.

In a very short time, body temperature rose to an uncontrollable degree, rain falling on them didn’t even have time to slide off the scales, it was directly evaporated.

White steam rose from the square, a vapor forcibly expelled by intense heat.

This energy overload did not cause them to collapse.

At least not yet.

They fell into an almost manic state of excitement.

Some monsters started crazily scratching their bodies, claws scraping on scales made ear-piercing noise.

Some lunged directly at their kind, biting, tearing off limbs, while others swung their arms aimlessly, pounding the ground.

Thomas’s Adam’s apple rolled: "If we engage them head-on now..."

He didn’t finish the sentence.

But everyone who heard understood.

In such a state, the power these monsters possessed was already enough to tear apart a Steam Tank barehanded.

The air in the center of the square suddenly changed.

It wasn’t sound, but a more direct sense of oppression.

Thomas’s gaze was tightly fixed on the telescope as he instinctively held his breath.

In the lens, those originally frenzied monsters showed a very brief hesitation in movement at the same instant.

As if something had been pushed to the limit.

"Dong."

The first muffled sound rang out, from inside those monsters.

Followed by the second, and third sound.

"Dong. Dong. Dong."

The sound was deep and dense, like hundreds of giant drums pounding simultaneously.

Even the Knights outside the city could feel the slight tremor of the earth beneath their feet, the rhythm completely lost the heartbeat of life, leaving only mechanical and frenzied repetition.

Thomas’s pupils slightly contracted, he saw an incomprehensible scene.

Hundreds of hearts forcibly catalyzed by dragon blood were wildly beating within the chest cavity at a frequency exceeding structural limits.

In the lens, the monster’s bodies began to swell.

Muscle fibers like steel cables overstretched snapped one by one.

Dark red light sprayed from gaps between scales, blood no longer flowed but boiled.

Rain falling on them instantly evaporated.

Steam mixed with blood mist, making the whole square look as if placed into a gigantic pressurized furnace.

"...Reached the critical point." Thomas said in a low voice.

The next second, the largest body in the center of the square shuddered violently.

It was the existence that first completed the transformation, also the "Zero" that devoured Kael’s corpse.

It opened its mouth, seemingly trying to make a sound.

But the sound never formed.

"Boom—!"

A complete detonation, like a flesh bomb forcibly ignited, high-pressure blood plasma, innards, and shattered bones were thrown outward in an instant.

This explosion became the signal.

"Boom!" The second sound.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" One after another, without interval.

The chain reaction was completely ignited.

In just a few seconds, all monsters on the square, whether fully transformed or still in an unstable phase, disintegrated at their respective limit points.

They didn’t even have time to realize what happened.

The center of Grey Rock Castle, like a crazy switch was pressed.

Countless masses of blood mist, shattered bones, scales, and innards were thrown high in the air by the intense light formed by blood overload.

They exploded amidst the night and storm, layer upon layer, like a deliberately arranged scarlet celebration.

Scarlet and splendid.

The airwave of the explosion spread outward, shattering all remaining glass on the surrounding towers.

The sound of shattering echoed in the rainy night, quickly swallowed by even louder roars.

Then blood rain fell, viscous and warm, mixed with yet to dissipate steam, poured from the sky over the entire castle.

Every brick, every remaining wall, was painted anew with a thick layer of scarlet.

It was a dead city.

Also a thoroughly emptied container.

......

Several kilometers away, at the refugee settlement, the storm continued.

The temporary rain shelter swayed slightly in the night wind, the canvas pressed down by rainwater, droplets dripped continuously along the ropes, creating small pits in the muddy ground.

A woman stood at the edge of the shelter, tightly holding a child in her arms.

The child was already asleep, face against her soaked cloak, breathing evenly, yet occasionally twitching lightly due to distant tremors.

She didn’t return to the shelter.

Like her, many refugees stood outside.

Their gaze crossed the dark wilderness, looking toward Grey Rock Castle.

That city was glowing.

"...Look." Someone whispered first, "Such a red glow."

At this distance, the details of the explosion had long been swallowed by the night and rain.

From here, no blood, no shattered bones or innards could be seen, only the outline of clouds illuminated, layer upon layer, like the sky ignited.

The glow even carried a strange warmth, as if a grand bonfire party was held there.

There was no cheering in the crowd.

Nor crying.

Only oppressive and chaotic breathing.

An old man, face full of dust, leaned on a crutch, standing at the outermost part of the crowd.

He squinted, watched for a long while, seeming to be recognizing something, or confirming a long-anticipated outcome.

"That’s not fire." His voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally clear, "It’s blood."

People around instinctively looked at him.

The old man slowly exhaled: "It’s demon’s blood burning."

After saying it, he fell silent for a moment, then whispered: "Lord Louis... is purifying that city."

No one refuted.

To these people who didn’t know what happened inside the city, the pervasive red light was explanation enough.

It was the color of the end of nightmares.

The sign of the old era burned away.

In their hearts, they saw this scene as a divine punishment, punishment for the Remont Clan.

......

Five minutes later, the last muffled sound vanished into the rainy night.

Grey Rock Castle completely fell silent.

Within the city, no shadows of activity remained.

The searchlights steadily advanced but failed to reveal an outline that could still stand.

On the square, no complete corpse could be found.

Nor complete skeletons.

Only a thick half-foot layer of dark red mush remained, slowly emitting heat.

Steam mixed with the smell of blood, rolling in the rain like freshly cooled furnace residue.

Those creatures once seen by Kael as invincible trump cards, enough to overturn the Empire’s order, were crushed and wiped out under the siege of intelligence and technology, along with the Remont Clan’s decades of sin.

On the hillside, Louis lowered the telescope.

He didn’t look again at the square, now devoid of meaning, merely adjusted his cuff. The action was restrained as always, as if just ending a routine inspection.

"It’s over, all forces enter the city, use flamethrowers to cleanse the streets..."

Orders were recorded, repeated, executed.

The engines of Steam Tanks restarted, their deep roars merging in the rainy night.

The tracks slowly moved forward, crushing through the marsh-like thick blood plasma without hesitation.

Steel armor reflected cold, hard light under the searchlights.

They drove into the city gate.

Into this fortress that had lost its master.

The Gray Rock Province, the Remont Clan’s era.

After this short yet grand scarlet fireworks display, came to a complete end.