The faces of everyone present changed the moment they saw the Leaf-Cutter Squad stumble in, looking battered and defeated.
Xia Duo instinctively turned to ask what had happened, but before she could take a step, two ghostly figures burst into the hall right behind them.
Looking closely, they were clearly two more versions of Cantia—one clad in a flame-red robe, and the other enveloped in swirling azure currents.
The moment they stepped into the hall, they abandoned their original pursuit and lunged straight toward Starlight and his group!
“What? Oh no!”
Starlight immediately waved his hand to manifest a mana barrier in front of everyone.
However, against two of Cantia’s clones, this hastily erected barrier shattered into fragments before it could even slow them down.
“Presumptuous! Stop right there!”
Seranox roared. A gold and red figure flashed, and he threw a heavy punch toward the azure ‘Cantia’.
The clone was sent flying by the blow, crashing and embedding itself deep into the hall’s wall.
Despite the successful strike, Seranox did not look pleased. Instead, he looked at his fist with a trace of surprise.
He was not an indecisive person; he hadn't held back at all with that punch. Yet, the clone hadn't been pulverized—it had merely been knocked back.
“My power... something’s wrong...” Seranox’s golden pupils constricted as he suddenly looked up at the restrained original body. “Cantia! What have you done to the Dragon Nest?!”
Bound by the shadow chains, the Frost-Glow Dragon King suddenly broke into a fit of manic laughter, her eyes gleaming with morbid triumph. “My dear brother, are you only just noticing? It’s too late!”
In the next second, her red clone, which had already reached the group, began to swell like a balloon. The fire elements within it reached a critical threshold in an instant, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
“She’s going to self-destruct!” You warned sharply.
But it was already too late. With Cantia’s clone at the center, a fiery red sun rose within the shattered hatching chamber, and a wall of towering flames and heat swallowed everyone in an instant.
This was the self-destruction of a Dragon King-level powerhouse. Even if this clone only possessed sixty percent of the original’s strength, its power was still enough to shake the world.
“Naïve!”
Seranox snorted coldly, the golden flames around him surging. A brilliant golden shield expanded instantly, firmly protecting Starlight and the others behind him.
Outside the shield, the world had turned into a literal purgatory, but within the barrier, not even a breath of hot wind could penetrate.
Starlight could feel the violent fire elements outside being completely neutralized the moment they touched the Gold Flame Dragon King’s body.
The impact of the self-destruction lasted for a full half-minute. By the time the fiery light faded, the entire hall had been nearly leveled to the ground.
The originally smooth floor had melted into churning lava from the high temperatures, and most of the walls had liquefied like melting wax. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning.
Only the area within several dozen meters of Seranox remained perfectly intact.
During the explosion, You had managed to save the heavily injured Lions at the last possible moment.
But those members of the Leaf-Cutter Squad who hadn't managed to reach the safe zone weren't so lucky. They were instantly vaporized by the towering flames, leaving not even ashes behind.
With a wave of his hand, Seranox cleared away the remaining fire elements in the hall.
He slowly scanned the area, but his gaze suddenly locked onto something in the distance.
“Damn it... Salenzo! Are you alright?!”
Everyone followed his gaze and saw the Obsidian Dragon King in the distance, his wings wrapped tightly around his body to shield himself from the explosion’s force.
Though he had been further away, sparks of fire still clung to his black scales, and fresh red flesh was exposed in several places.
His scales, which usually shone like gems, had become dull and charred under the searing heat.
“I’m fine, an attack of this level isn't enough to take me down... Oh no!” Salenzo said, but then he suddenly remembered something and whipped his head around.
The two shadow chains that had been restraining Cantia and Yuta had long since disintegrated under the force of the explosion, and both figures had vanished from the hall.
“Bastards!!”
Seeing that the two prisoners under his watch had used the opportunity to flee, even the usually calm Salenzo erupted in towering rage.
His bone-spiked dragon tail slammed into the rock wall behind him, smashing a massive hole into the half-melted lava wall.
“Calm down! It’s not your fault! Given their current state, they won’t get far...” Seranox frowned, his voice deep. “Our priority now is to go down and see what happened to the core. I feel something strange... it’s as if the Dragon Nest’s power is being blocked by something.”
“Yes, my King.” Salenzo took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. He squinted at the large opening above the hall and then lowered his head in obedience.
“How... how could this happen!”
A trembling voice suddenly broke the brief silence. Lions was on one knee, his fist slammed into the scorching ground. He didn't even seem to notice his knuckles being instantly burned.
This usually steady Saint Bow Ranger now had eyes bloodshot with grief, his face twisted almost beyond recognition. The Leaf-Cutter Squad he had personally trained, the comrades he had lived and fought with for centuries, had all perished in an instant...
“What exactly happened, Captain Lions?!” Xia Duo rushed forward, grabbing his shoulders with both hands and pulling him up from the scalding floor. “You must tell us the truth!”
She could feel his muscles trembling and fully understood the grief of losing his teammates.
But at this critical life-and-death juncture, they needed information. They needed to know what had happened to make their next move.
At Xia Duo’s call, Lions’ bloodshot eyes slowly regained focus. He parted his dry, cracked lips and began to recount their ordeal with a trembling voice.
As a special unit of the elves, all members of Leaf-Cutter had ways to contact each other quickly. After being scattered during the transport into the Dragon Nest, they had immediately moved to regroup.
Since Lions was the only Saint Rank member of the squad, the other members had instinctively converged toward his location.
Fortunately, they had run into the two Saint Rank experts of the Night Elves along the way, successfully forming a formidable force.
However, because of their numbers, Leaf-Cutter had discovered a magic formation on their way that was identical to the one on the stone beach.
Naturally, one of Cantia’s clones had been stationed nearby. Before they could even react, they were caught off guard by the attack.
They had thought that with three Saint Rank powerhouses—Lions, El, and Liu Ye—they would be able to retreat safely even if they couldn't defeat Cantia. But the battle quickly drew in two more of Cantia’s clones.
Under the assault of three powerful opponents, even the battle-hardened Leaf-Cutter Squad suffered rapid casualties.
In the end, El and Liu Ye had used all their strength to hold back the Earth elemental clone, opening a gap for the remaining members of the Leaf-Cutter Squad to escape.
“Then what happened to Uncle El and Aunt Liu Ye?!” Lian’s voice cracked with panic when she heard that her kin were still in the thick of the fight.
“I... I don’t know. When we broke through, a wall of earth blocked the path behind us...” Lions shook his head, his voice raspy.
“How could you—”
Lian wanted to press further, but You raised a hand to stop her.
“That’s enough. The two of them aren't as fragile as you think. So...” You gently patted Lian’s shoulder as he spoke, looking up at Imira. “You said earlier that Cantia has four clones?”
“Yes, that’s right! We dealt with the Water one, the Fire one just self-destructed, and the Wind one should be quite injured...” Imira nodded in response.
“In other words, the enemy’s strength has actually been significantly weakened. Your Excellency Dragon King, do you have a plan?” After receiving confirmation, You looked toward Seranox once more.
“A plan? I don’t... but I do need you to do me a favor,” Seranox said slowly, glancing at the nearly destroyed Hatching Hall.
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