Chapter 658 — The Glutton

"Move it, boys!" A veteran who had fought through every battlefield from old Cecil to the present day commanded this car, and he had already seen through the General's design. His voice rang out with particular force now: "Obey the order—open the shell fuses, open the grenade fuses too, and any spare contact mines, stuff them all into the ammunition stacks! Let's put on a real show!!"

The train squeezed out a little more speed, opening the gap between itself and the giant stag, and in that brief window the soldiers swiftly completed their task, passed through the Third Arsenal Car, and entered the empty transport cars ahead.

Two minutes later, the commander of the Third Arsenal Car received the order and manually released the coupling at the rear of the train along with the power supply to the Fourth Arsenal Car.

Bereft of power, the great car swiftly fell away from the main body of the train and was left far behind on the tracks.

A few minutes after that, an earth-shattering explosion, followed closely by a string of smaller detonations, came rolling in from the distance.

Ma Qi gazed toward the rising column of the blast, and for one moment he deeply hoped that the terrible "god" might simply and cleanly perish in that explosion and never appear again—but this unrealistic hope of his was quickly snuffed out by the holy radiance kindling within the smoke and cloud of the blast.

The giant stag had not been affected by the car's detonation; the radiance around it and the surging tides of magic had set the car off ahead of time. The monster only slowed slightly, then came charging on again.

Ma Qi's brows knitted tight, but he only watched it all in silence.

Ten minutes later, he issued another order.

"Section Three of the arsenal—all personnel move to the transport cars and prepare for self-detonation."

"Yes, General!!"

The detonation of the cars would not harm that monster, but it could at least buy time.

White Sand Hills was almost in sight.

When the second mushroom cloud rose into the sky above the distant tracks, Ma Qi looked out the window once more.

The sky had turned dreadfully overcast, as though the whole world were about to fall into night. Dense clouds of unknown origin gathered above the White Sand region, and a bitter cold wind was sweeping unchecked across the land. All at once, thunder and lightning burst forth together.

The thunderclap seemed to explode inside the heart of every person in the car, making even the most seasoned, brave, and composed soldiers and officers flinch. In the faint blue glow cast by the mental protection system, almost everyone instinctively glanced at one another, then, as if by common accord, turned to look out the window.

A raindrop struck the car window, tracing a slanting streak across the crystal glass. Then, before the wind could blow that streak apart, a second drop fell, and a third...

It was raining.

Countless raindrops joined into a curtain and came pouring down from the heavens.

The Iron Throne charged into that torrential rain without hesitation, as though plunging into a world of water hung upside down from the sky. Right behind it, the enraged artificial god burst into the rain as well. In an instant the savage wind and rain swallowed every intruder and swiftly spread until it blanketed the whole of White Sand Hills.

The sky was now completely covered by a vortex of clouds hanging downward, and that dreadful mass of dense cloud plunged the entire region into what seemed like midnight. The cold wind howled, the rain came down in sheets, and the lights scattered across the Iron Throne could only push back the darkness nearest at hand; the wider world beyond was lit only by the unending flashes of thunder and lightning.

In the glare of the lightning, Ma Qi saw countless shadows gathering in the sky, countless grotesque things breeding within the storm and the darkness. The boundary between the tangible and the intangible had broken down. An indescribable structure, vast as a mountain, took shape amid the wind and rain, hanging downward with limbs and tentacles as dense as a forest, sweeping toward the "Great Stag" that was still wreathed in radiance.

Even in its madness, the "Great Stag" was driven by instinct to sense the approaching crisis. It abruptly abandoned the Iron Throne, which had been almost within reach, and instead raised its head to the sky. Light surged between its antlers, and a blinding jet of energy swept across the whole heavens.

Countless shadows fell from the sky, as though many things both tangible and intangible had been cut apart and destroyed by the beam. But in the blink of an eye those shadows merged into the surrounding rainwater, reforming tentacles and limbs, and pressed on unwavering, closing in upon the "Great Stag."

Those nameless things gradually grew distinct. It assumed a posture like some colossal sea creature, yet also like a monster pieced together from countless forms drawn from the limits of imagination—as though only in humanity's most insane and absurd imaginings could even a fraction of this structure's shape be assembled. It unfurled its thousands upon thousands of limbs, bit by bit sealing off the "Great Stag's" every movement, bit by bit closing in. Twisted, grotesque runes glittered across the surface of those limbs, suppressing every last shred of the Stag's resistance.

It is feeding. A wild and chilling thought flashed through Ma Qi's mind.

But it truly was feeding. Those tentacles and limbs had already begun to tighten—the unmistakable posture of a predator at its meal.

Yet confronted with such a horrifying sight, one that seemed enough to shatter an ordinary person's mind, Ma Qi was astonished to find that his will had not been tested in the least. On the contrary... his thoughts were clearer than ever before, his spirit more exhilarated than ever before. All the accumulated negativity and psychological pressure of the past seemed to have vanished, and a soaring, uplifting emotion enveloped him—an emotion that even carried... a certain joy.

The mental protection system could produce a similar effect, yet its efficacy could not remotely compare with this moment.

In this wondrous state of mind, Ma Qi watched as those indescribable limbs and tentacles finally closed completely, until even the radiance surrounding the Great Stag was shut away entirely by the closing limbs.

Then, in an instant, all the tentacles and limbs contracted sharply, and from the wind and rain came a cheer that sounded like countless voices merged into one:

"Lunchtime!!"