"The situation ahead is… unexpectedly smooth."
"This isn't even a battle anymore. It's a one-sided massacre."
"True. But even so, a few rats have slipped through."
Aiden Cross's gaze sharpened as he looked toward the southeast.
Thirty miles away lay a mountain range layered upon itself, dense forests blanketing everything in green.
Neither Gareth Ironblade nor Titan Valor specialized in perception.
They were pure physical powerhouses.
Using swarms of low-tier monsters to draw their attention—then dispatching specialists with stealth abilities to infiltrate Hero League Headquarters from the mountains—
It was, admittedly, a clever plan.
"Unfortunately," Aiden Cross said calmly,
"a rat that scurries in the dark still can't escape my eyes."
His crimson pupils locked onto a single point.
Even from thirty miles away, the chameleon-type monster—its body perfectly blended into the environment, breath fully suppressed—felt a chill crawl up its spine.
"…This feels bad. Like something dangerous is watching me," it thought nervously.
"But that should be impossible… from here, I can't even see any strange buildings."
Ever since the three mysterious violet lightning strikes descended upon Earth, curiosity had spread across the globe.
The fox-demon claw that carved a thousand-mile scar across the Eastern continent had already proven the might of Foxveil Sanctuary's ruler. Anyone with half a brain knew not to provoke that domain.
Especially when two of its three ruling figures were notoriously short-tempered—violence first, questions later.
As for Elysia Prime, the being responsible for the Pacific's super-spatial rupture, she had vanished entirely, her whereabouts unknown.
That left the final lightning strike.
The one that landed here—
Hero League Headquarters.
Over the past month, the U.S. military had repeatedly attempted reconnaissance.
After losing over a thousand soldiers without even leaving corpses behind, they finally gave up.
After all, the moment troops crossed the hundred-mile boundary, Ulric Cinder responded with a single Cero blast—no warnings, no negotiations.
The military withdrew.
But newly awakened monsters?
They had no such restraint.
After gathering over a thousand Wolf-level monsters and dozens of Tiger-level disasters, they marched straight toward this forbidden zone.
They arrived full of confidence.
What they encountered was absolute annihilation.
Even with Aiden Cross, Ulric, Mash Shieldheart, and Seraphina Dawnshield away, the defenders left behind—
Titan Valor and Gareth Ironblade—
Were more than enough to flatten the entire horde.
The monsters hadn't even glimpsed the silhouette of Hero League Headquarters before being completely wiped out.
"Ant," a cold voice echoed.
"Who gave you permission to step here?"
A surge of terrifying spiritual pressure erupted.
Using a high-speed spatial movement technique similar to teleportation—Sonído—
Ulric Cinder appeared behind the chameleon monster without any warning.
"Ghk—!"
The monster swallowed hard.
Its body stiffened like a rusted machine as it slowly turned its head.
It wanted to flee.
But as a mere Wolf-level disaster—one whose only strength lay in concealment—
It stood no chance before Ulric, whose power rivaled the peak of Dragon-level calamities.
Just a fraction of spiritual pressure was enough to make its body feel like it had been filled with molten lead.
It couldn't even twitch a finger.
Ulric reached out, seized the creature by the head, and dragged it like a dead dog—
Returning to the Hero League Observation Platform before tossing it onto the ground.
"Ow—ow—ow!"
With the pressure gone, the chameleon monster clutched its nose and screamed.
It was the very definition of disgrace among Wolf-level monsters.
Aside from stealth, its attack and defense barely exceeded that of an average human.
"Speak," Aiden Cross said flatly.
"Who sent you?"
"G-Grand Oculus! It was Grand Oculus!" the monster blurted out, throwing its hands over its head.
"Please don't kill me! I'll tell you everything—everything!"
Glancing at the colossal structure behind him and the red-eyed youth before him, the monster trembled uncontrollably.
Even after becoming a monster, its cowardly nature remained unchanged.
And among monsters, concepts like loyalty and honor were a joke.
"Tell me everything you know," Aiden Cross said calmly.
"Depending on how useful the information is, I may spare you."
The chameleon monster didn't dare lift its head.
It lowered itself as far as possible and began recounting everything it knew—
from the past month onward.
"A month ago, after the great catastrophe, I turned into this… thing," it said shakily.
"With my chameleon abilities, I easily stole money from banks and took whatever I wanted from supermarkets…"
"Other than not being able to show my real face, life was actually pretty comfortable."
"But about half a month later, a voice suddenly appeared in my head—ordering all monsters to gather at a specific location."
"At first, I thought it was just strength in numbers, so I went."
"But once I arrived, I realized it wasn't that simple."
"A psychic monster with overwhelming power—Grand Oculus—forced everyone to establish a Monster Consortium."
"All monsters had to obey."
"Some resisted at first…"
"But after the Monster King, Abyssal Orox, slaughtered several terrifying monsters with absolute force…"
"No one dared defy them again."
"..."
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