Existence Beyond the Rolling Flames

It was as if the calm before a storm, tens of thousands of Huaxia's superhumans stood solemnly at their posts, resolute and unwavering.

Shen Qingsheng's pupils contracted as he gazed upward. A vine so massive it couldn't be fully captured by the naked eye stretched across the sky, blotting out the sun like a flowing cloud.

The light was gone, and the world plunged into darkness.

But in that moment, countless pairs of eyes, glowing with intense hues, lit up in the darkness, like torches burning within airtight glass.

The guardians of Huaxia were scattered throughout every corner of the darkened city.

The eyes were majestic and awe-inspiring, their owners being the tens of thousands of superhumans and ability users.

His hand gripped his weapon tightly in the darkness, ready at any moment to join the grand slaughter.

A deafening sound tore through the sky, accompanied by a powerful gust of wind that peeled away the ground's surface.

"What is that?!"

Countless people looked up in shock as a massive vine, hundreds of meters in diameter, plummeted from the sky like a meteor.

"Retreat! Get out of its range!"

Boom!

The vine pierced through the ground, accompanied by an earth-shaking roar that left everyone's ears ringing.

The sheer force of the wind pressure uprooted nearby trees and buildings, obliterating everything in its path.

A dozen Night Watchers who couldn't escape in time simply vanished...

Around the base of the colossal vine that had pierced through the earth was an enormous crater.

Similar scenes were unfolding across the globe, in every nation and region.

As everyone struggled to regain their bearings from the shock, countless grotesque green-skinned monsters crawled out of the vine, lunging at the superhumans with terrifying speed.

These monsters seemed drained of moisture, their muscles withered yet distinct. While a normal human's muscles would tense like ropes when exerting force, their bodies appeared to be woven from countless thin strands, shriveled like living mummies.

The students of Huaxia's academies, who were defending against the An Yang calamity, had already lost ten percent of their numbers within the first ten minutes of battle.

The mortality rate in the academies was higher than the graduation rate. Less than twenty percent graduated, while the death rate far exceeded fifty percent.

There was a grim reality to it: only the strong survived.

The thousands who died in those first ten minutes were mostly the weaker students. Those who survived were largely the more powerful ones.

Ji Ruxin fought amidst the horde of beasts, her movements swift and ghostly. She wasn't in An Yang but in Dust City, having requested a transfer there.

Defending Dust City was the Night Watcher's Dragon Taming Squad, along with two incredibly powerful Ghost Officers who had come to assist.

Bang!

A heavy gunshot rang out, the bullet trailing a streak of fire across the sky like a dazzling meteor, obliterating a Candle Realm-tier monster into pulp.

A black-haired girl lay prone atop a high-rise building, her large-caliber sniper rifle firing again, its muzzle flashing with brilliant light. The stronger monsters fell one by one under her precise shots.

Guns hadn't faded from the stage despite the rise of superhumans and ability users.

The reason few used guns against calamities was that the monsters' reaction speed and agility far surpassed that of normal humans. By the time you aimed your gun, they were already upon you.

For ordinary people, it was instant death. For superhumans, charging in with a blade was far more effective than relying on firearms.

When it came to firearms, unless there was overwhelming firepower, missiles were the only option. But this was a city, a home. Who would burn down their own house to stop a burglar?

Of course, missiles or other large-scale weapons weren't completely off the table, but they were only used under one condition: when the home was no longer a home.

The sniper girl was named Bai La. Along with Shuang Jiang, a girl with icy-blue short hair who danced gracefully yet violently across the battlefield wielding a war scythe, they were part of the Ghost Officer's First Squad.

Their coordination was seamless. As long as Bai La's gunfire didn't stop, Shuang Jiang could slaughter without restraint.

Not all bullets could deal such devastating damage to these calamity monsters.

The bullets Bai La used were incredibly special, crafted from rare ores from another world and graded from one to six.

The higher the grade, the greater the destructive power, but also the more materials and stabilizing agents required, making them prohibitively expensive.

The guns capable of firing these bullets were equally rare, making mass production impossible.

Only the most elite teams were equipped with such weapons.

Bai La's targets were exclusively monsters at the Candle Realm or above. Those at the Firefly Realm were quickly dispatched by the Dragon Taming Squad, Shuang Jiang, Ji Ruxin, and others, who swept through them like a storm.

...

"This world is quite tenacious."

"Though compared to the previous two worlds that fell within days of the war starting, this one is far more interesting."

In Wei Du, atop the massive vine, Devilier smiled as he watched the fierce battle below.

Huaxia was currently the nation putting up the strongest resistance.

Devilier's heart stirred, and with a single hand, he tore open a rift in space.

The roar of a beast, ancient and awe-inspiring, echoed forth.

"My god! What is that?!"

The defenders of Wei Du, already exhausted from the battle, looked up in shock to see a terrifying, colossal head emerging from the spatial rift.

"Let the Colossal Beast Konado play with you for a while," Devilier sneered before vanishing.

"Quick! Focus fire and kill that thing!"

The defenders acted swiftly, redirecting their firepower.

Faced with the concentrated barrage, the Colossal Beast Konado, with only its head exposed, seemed to smirk disdainfully, its scaled visage showing no signs of significant damage—only minor cracks on its surface.

It tore open the spatial rift further and stepped out fully.

Boom!

It was like Mount Tai crashing to the ground. The earth shook violently.

The shockwave alone overturned the surrounding terrain, killing several defenders instantly. The sheer energy radiating from its casual movements left everyone in awe.

"No! It's beyond the Rolling Flame Realm!"

"Quick! Notify the commander! We need reinforcements!"

Everyone stared in terror at the monster, as tall as a skyscraper, their pupils contracting in fear.

On one of the buildings, a middle-aged man in a duckbill cap suddenly appeared. Sensing the energy fluctuation, he had immediately gone to inform the two commanders still stationed in Huaxia.

He stood frozen for a moment, his face pale, swallowing hard before raising a trembling middle finger at the monster staring down at him.

"Stupid ugly thing, what the hell are you looking at?"

The Colossal Beast Konado was momentarily stunned. It didn't understand the words, but it felt the insult deeply.

It swung its massive hand, smashing the building to rubble.

But in the next instant, it froze again. The middle finger had grown larger, almost poking its eye.

Indeed, the man was now standing right in front of its eye, still flipping it off.

Before the beast could react, the man spat at it, then disappeared and reappeared, his feet now covered in something foul and spicy. He began kicking the beast's massive eye furiously.

"Ah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah! Take this, Shadowless Kick!"

"Holy... holy crap!"

The defenders were dumbfounded. Who was this guy, so fearless? Though his attacks did little damage, the sheer audacity was off the charts.

The Colossal Beast Konado was equally baffled. Did this man not realize it was a being beyond the Rolling Flame Realm? Was he always this bold?

The beast roared in fury. The insult was unbearable!

It swung its massive hand again, striking its own head with such force that it staggered. But when it looked at its palm, there was no blood.

The man had vanished without a trace.

The Colossal Beast Konado stood stunned for a moment before letting out an earth-shaking roar.

"Quiet," a gentle voice said.

Suddenly, countless flashes of blade light erupted on the body of the Konado Beast. Although the power wasn’t overwhelmingly strong, the blade lights were concentrated on a single point, quickly carving a half-meter-deep, narrow gash into its flesh.

The Konado Beast roared, its voice thunderous, and the energy shockwave it unleashed devastated the surroundings, instantly crushing several of the stationed defenders.

“Quick! Evacuate the area! That thing is beyond our ability to handle!” The defenders, realizing reinforcements had arrived, swiftly retreated from the battlefield.

Dozens of human-sized marionettes that had been darting across the beast’s body were abruptly torn apart, but they quickly reassembled themselves and continued their assault on the Konado Beast.

“Is this… something beyond the Rolling Flame Realm?”

The gentle voice now carried a hint of hoarseness. On the ravaged streets, Li Wenxing, the commander of the enforcers, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and glanced at Yao Ge, the commander of the Night Watchers. “You seem remarkably calm. This thing far surpasses the Rolling Flame Realm. Even together, we’re no match for it.”

“Death is just death. Why panic?” Yao Ge drew the straight blade from his waist. “It looks like it’s surpassed the Rolling Flame Realm, but upon closer observation, you can sense that it’s still constrained by a bottleneck. It hasn’t truly broken through to the next realm.”

“Regardless, we need to call them back. We can’t hold out much longer.” Despite his disheveled state, Li Wenxing still wore a faint smile. “I never imagined there could be something that surpasses the Rolling Flame Realm.”

The Rolling Flame Realm was the highest known realm in the world. They had never considered the possibility of a monster that could break through this bottleneck and reach the next level.

“Little Zhao,” Yao Ge called softly.

A middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap appeared instantly before him. “What are your orders, Commander?”

“Call them back… and summon Uesugi Akizuki as well.”

“But she’s guarding the spatial gate in Yu Province! If she leaves, the people of Yu Province…”

“Her clan is composed of Ghost Officers. They’re more than capable of defending Yu Province. As for the spatial gate, she’ll find a way,” Li Wenxing interjected.

“But… will she agree? She only promised to help us guard Yu Province. She didn’t…”

“If she disobeys, kill her!” Yao Ge frowned slightly, clearly growing impatient. “Do you really think we can’t kill her?”

“In a life-or-death situation, why should we care about her feelings?”

Realizing his mistake, the middle-aged man nodded. “Understood!”

With that, he vanished, moving at one-tenth the speed of light and arriving in Yu Province in mere milliseconds.

At that moment, Uesugi Akizuki stood atop a tall building, gazing into the distance.

Her eyes were fixed on the direction of Wei Capital. She, too, had sensed the overwhelming energy pressure emanating from the Konado Beast.

When the middle-aged man in the baseball cap appeared beside her, she was momentarily taken aback. “Huaxia actually has someone with such extraordinary abilities.”

“You flatter me…” The man hesitated, unsure how to broach the subject.

Uesugi Akizuki pointed a finger at the spatial gate not far away.

“Ninth Seal of Heaven’s Blade!”

Her finger slashed downward.

A magnificent, colossal flame tore through the sky, descending diagonally and piercing through the spatial gate!

It was a massive, ancient crimson blade, dozens of meters long.

The middle-aged man stared in shock. He could no longer sense any energy emanating from the other side of the spatial gate. It seemed the passage between the two worlds had been severed.

“I don’t have much time to spare. You need to gather the others quickly.”

Uesugi Akizuki already knew why the man had come. Reluctant as she was, she understood that she and Huaxia were now in the same boat.

She couldn’t let her own stubbornness sink the ship. That would benefit no one.

She glanced at her clansmen, who were defending the entrances to the bomb shelters across Yu Province. Each of them radiated a fierce aura, their combat prowess formidable.

After a moment of silence, her figure vanished, reappearing several kilometers away in the sky. She disappeared again, covering thousands of meters in an instant, and then materialized atop the Konado Beast’s head. With a single slash, she carved a deep gash into the beast’s body!

This unexpected attack left the beast reeling.

Yao Ge’s straight blade left countless cracks on the Konado Beast’s body as he circled to its neck and delivered a decisive slash! Blood sprayed, some of it splattering onto his calm, handsome face.

He pressed two fingers together in front of him, muttering a complex incantation.

In the next moment, a vast, radiant magic circle unfolded on the Konado Beast’s body.

The immense gravitational force pinned the beast to the ground, as if it were dragging an enormous weight. Its massive limbs struggled to move, leaving it unable to counterattack.

Yao Ge flipped his straight blade, gripping it in a reverse hold, and plunged it into the beast’s skin. With a forceful pull, he carved out a deep gash, causing blood to gush forth.

The gravity magic circle created a significant opening for the other two. They unleashed a barrage of attacks on the beast’s neck and eyes.

But after all, this was a creature on the verge of surpassing the Rolling Flame Realm.

Under the combined assault of the three, the Konado Beast let out a deafening roar, shattering the magic circle in an instant. Its massive body sent Uesugi Akizuki flying, blood spewing from her mouth.

Yao Ge was momentarily dazed, blood streaming from his nose. Just as he was about to be crushed under the beast’s foot, several marionettes moved at incredible speed and whisked him to safety.