Infinite wealth In A New World-Chapter 396: Mastermind
[Titans' World — The Crimson Wastelands]
The atmosphere was heavy, suffocating, and bathed in the color of dried blood. Agora, Nina, Cobra, and Shadow stood on the peak of a jagged hill, their silhouettes sharp against the oppressive sky. They stared at the horizon, where the curvature of the world seemed to buckle under the weight of what lay ahead. Far at the end of their view was a huge Forest, but these were not trees; they were spires of bone and stone measuring hundreds of miles high—the Titans' city. The three red suns in the sky cast red sun rays all over the open lands below, making the shadows stretch like clawed fingers.
"We should send the latest news back." Shadow said, her wolf ears twitching as she picked up the distant, rhythmic thumping of footsteps—giants on the move, miles away.
"Don't you get it Shadow?! We can't send any Message out of this world! I don't even know if we can leave here." Cobra muttered, her voice tight with the stress of their isolation. She crouched down, her eyes scanning the ground as she opened her palm.
A small viper, its scales camouflaged against the red dirt, slithered from below the hill. It wrapped around her hand, flicking its tongue against her skin, transferring its sensory memories directly to her. Cobra stared at it for some seconds, her expression darkening with every passing moment. She slowly nodded her head, dismissing the snake.
"Any news?" Agora, the Demoness who stood in front of the three as their leader, asked. She looked over her shoulder at them, her tail flicking impatiently.
"Well... Seems things are getting worse." Cobra muttered, getting to her feet and dusting off her knees.
"Worse?! What do you mean by that?" Nina, the only Succubus in the group, asked in shock. Her charm magic was useless against the mindless hunger of the Titans, making her the most vulnerable.
"My little friend here is a fifth order powerhouse, but it couldn't even get close to the gate. The energy it felt doesn't belong to one tenth order." She said, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"Huh?"
".....??!"
The three stared at her, their eyes wide in horror, shock, disbelief, and surprise. A Tenth Order was a calamity. More than one was an apocalypse.
"Yes." Cobra continued, confirming their worst fears.
"There must be ten tenth order powerhouses in that city!! And adding the sensation we felt yesterday, one of them must be above the tenth order." She said, her vertical snake pupils fixed on the distant fortress, trembling slightly.
"This explains everything." Agora finally nodded her head, her face grim. The sudden evolution, the organized movements—it all made sense. "Come with me!"
With that, she leaped off the hill, wind whistling past her hair, the three following closely behind her into the desolate valley.
_
[Five minutes later.]
TAP!
Agora, Nina, Cobra, and Shadow lightly landed on the ground, the impact barely disturbing the dust. They stood at the edge of a chasm, staring at the deep, huge hole before them. It wasn't natural; it was a scar on the planet.
"Why are we back here, Agora?" Nina asked, staring at the demoness, confused why they were investigating an empty pit.
"Look here." Agora pointed her finger at the center of the crater. "The tree of gluttony was right here. Our information said the Giants' absorbed it... That is the only reasonable explanation to its disappearance. But."
She squatted down, picking up a handful of soil that still pulsed with faint, chaotic energy. She stared at the hole.
"If the tree was absorbed, the ground will surely be hollow. But look at this..." She pointed at the sand at the bottom of the hole, which was churned and upturned, not withered.
"What I am saying is, the tree wasn't absorbed, but removed. Someone or something pulled out the tree and its roots from the ground with one full force."
She moved her gaze to the side, seeing the massive tectonic cracks on the ground, spreading all over from the hole like a spiderweb.
"Look around, all these cracks, these lines... They are all caused by the roots getting pulled off the ground."
"Following your words, you say the tree was pulled out?!! How is that even possible?!" Shadow yelled in shock. The sheer physical strength required to uproot a magical construct rooted in the planet's core was unfathomable.
Agora slowly nodded her head.
"Whoever did this, is also responsible for the Titans' massive growth. We must find a way to send this word out..." Agora turned her head to the distance, looking back toward the Titan City.
"I have a very bad feeling about this." She added.
_
[Titans' Fortress.]
In the huge hall, constructed from nothing but cold, dark steel that seemed to absorb the light, the ten newly ascended Tenth Order powerhouses knelt. They were mountains of muscle and armor, yet they bowed their heads in absolute respect and submission.
In front of them was a gigantic throne, sized for a being fifty times larger than a human. Standing on the seat of that massive throne was a man. He stood only six feet tall. Before the throne, he was like an ant, but the Titans stared at him with utter respect and Devotion.
This man before them was the Saint of monsters, a Saint Class entity—a creator of monsters.
The Saint of monsters stared at a small, miniature tree enclosed in a translucent white energy ball, hovering on his palm. It was the Tree of Gluttony, compressed by divine spatial magic.
"I got what I am here for." He said. He looked to the side, his gaze distant, piercing through the walls of the fortress.
'I just hope the others complete their missions.' He thought, his mind briefly touching upon the grand design of his faction. He turned his head back to the ten behemoths kneeling before him.
"I will be leaving now... You ten can destroy the seal and leave this world. Make sure to cause chaos my children! And with the upgrade I've done to you! Hehehe, you will be invincible."
"Yes, Creator! What about the tree?" The Black Titan kneeling in front asked, his voice shaking the foundations of the hall. He looked up at the Saint with hungry eyes.
"You don't have to worry about it! Take it as your gift to me... Don't fail me!" He said, staring at them with a cold expectation.
"You are leaving so soon?"
The air in the room suddenly grew heavy, heavier than the gravity of the Titans' world. The Saint turned his head to the side, watching as space itself was forcibly torn open. A man in a long, elegant black mage outfit walked out from the void.
Seeing the man, the Saint of monsters frowned, his arrogance shrinking slightly.
"True God Xanax, why are you here?" He asked respectfully, bowing his head slightly.
"I am here for fun..." Xanax looked up at him, his colorful, shifting eyes fixed on the captured tree. His presence made the Tenth Order Titans shiver instinctively. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"Take that back, I will take care of things here." He said, his voice echoing with the authority of a True God.
The Saint of monsters hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. He knew his place. He vanished, teleporting away with the tree.
Xanax turned his gaze to the monsters, a cruel smile playing on his lips.
"Ok you ten. Go get ready!"
