Apocalypse Forecast

All they hoped was that the enemy wouldn’t notice anything unusual about the Ivory Tower.

”Something doesn’t feel quite right.”

In the temporary fortress, the Colonel put down his binoculars, frowning. ”The reaction from the Ivory Tower is a bit too sluggish, too simple.”

”Isn’t that a good thing?” ’Old Man’ Pant Delong asked. ”I haven’t noticed anything out of place; what seems wrong to you?”

”No, it’s just really strange, too passive.”

The Colonel furrowed his brow, looking at the image on the monitor screen, his expression growing more serious. Although I don’t know what trickery they’re up to, I feel like... they might be stalling for time?

”Are you sure?”

”Hard to say,” the Colonel shook his head. ”It’s just a guess.”

”Then let’s make it quick,” Pant Delong was the first to make a decisive call. ”Since the enemy is being passive, we don’t need to wait for nightfall. Let’s take them now in one fell swoop and avoid any complications that might arise if we wait.”

After a moment of contemplation, the old man, who knew nothing of war, made his decision. ”Didn’t we send Synthetic Beast No. 7 to the front line? Let’s use that—”

The Colonel was stunned. ”Are you sure? Isn’t that thing not fully calibrated yet?”

”We have to try,” Pant Delong said. ”If we keep hesitating, we’ll never be able to show our full capabilities. Besides, even if we don’t use it, wouldn’t the Ivory Tower still be on guard against us? I’ll take all the responsibility; you just go for it.”

The Colonel looked deeply at his long-time comrade and superior, nodded without saying anything more, and turned away.

Not long after, observers saw that behind Ivy Vine’s defensive line, massive airships once again took to the sky, skimming the ground. But then, under everyone’s stunned gaze, the huge gasbags above the airships, as large as buildings, slowly opened, revealing a structure of countless concentric rings nested together.

As the structure rotated, a howling hurricane erupted from nowhere amidst a deafening roar. It was as if a rift had been torn in the very fabric of space.

A slender leg reached out from it...

”Giant Synthetic Beast!”

August put down his binoculars, his face ashen. ”Our Dome Giant is nowhere to be seen yet! Those bastards managed to cultivate their Giant War Beasts so quickly? Can you make out the model?”

”It’s not an adult, just in its juvenile phase!” an observer’s eyes widened. ”It’s a Destroyer Heavy-Armor type, likely specialized for mobility, but still within our capacity to handle—”

Before he could finish, another roar erupted from the Sky Dome.

They were stunned.

Looking up, they saw a layer of dark, ominous clouds sweeping in from the distance, covering the entire sky. The twilight, which should have lasted three more hours, had ended prematurely. In its place were layers of black clouds flickering with what looked like lightning.

In the sudden chill of the wind, a Scholar squatting by the communication station raised his head, shouting elatedly to August, ”The storm is coming!”

Yes, the storm was on its way. Besides, within the codes of the Iron Crystal Throne, it signified something else: [Disaster Warning - 4T].

”Finally!” After a brief moment of astonishment, August took a deep breath. Smelling the rapidly intensifying scent of the tide in the air, his smile grew more exuberant. ”This time we’ve really hit it big! Everyone, gear up quickly and prepare for battle!”

As the hurricane swept through, amidst the increasingly intense howling, the Colonel suddenly looked up, catching sight of flashing lights leaping through the clouds.

What the hell is that? he thought, unable to believe his eyes. ...Is it about to rain?

After a brief silence, Pant Delong’s sigh came through the communication. ”Colonel, we may need to prepare to retreat. Everyone fall back, tighten the defensive line, and be wary of the enemy’s counterattack.”

Behind his mask, the old man lifted his gaze, staring at the malevolent clouds in the Sky Dome.

His heart filled with profound regret. He had been too cautious, and as a result, there wasn’t even a chance to play his trump card. Even though it wasn’t clear exactly what this was, he knew its existence was inextricably linked to the Ivory Tower.

”Stop the Wind Tunnel transmission!” he issued the wisest command.

In that instant, accompanied by a thunderous roar from the Sky Dome, a viscous, torrential rain poured down, falling evenly on every part of the Town of Dusk. Its color was crimson.

It was blood...

Endless blood fell from the Sky Dome, creating torrents that seemed to engulf the whole world, nourishing every inch of the land. More suffocating was the sinister aura lingering in each drop of rain, a nearly boundless malice that swallowed every figure daring to trek through it.

Beneath the wheels, seeds that had fallen into the soil began to grow rapidly under this rain, sprouting, then incredibly flowering and bearing fruit, before spreading their seeds and quickly proliferating. In an instant, the barren hellscape sprouted patches of green, lush verdure, and flowers bloomed from within, breathtakingly beautiful.

But amidst this precious, oasis-like scene, intermittent screams of agony echoed.

Unlike the Salamander, which naturally disliked rain and had taken shelter in fortifications the moment it began to fall, numerous Hell Clans were fond of moisture. But now, within this blood rain that seemed like a Blessing, all creatures daring to expose themselves to it met with brutal torment.

If skin was touched by the rain, it would swiftly sag and wrinkle. If hair was drenched, it would quickly lose its color and fall from the head, revealing a ravaged scalp. Even if only scales or claws were touched by the rain, aging would follow as swiftly as a shadow.

Under the downpour, each moment brought unimaginable aging and weakening. Within just a few seconds, a robust warrior would crumple to the ground, struggling to breathe in the agony of rapidly decaying organs. Once breathing ceased, the body would expand, rot, and decompose at a terrifying speed.

In a mere half-minute, not even bones would remain, only copious flourishing flowers, Wild Grass, thorns, or shrubs rapidly growing and decaying in the blood rain, returning to the natural Cycle.

This was a Curse! A Curse attached to the blood rain!

After the Great Grandmaster’s adjustments, Huai Shi’s blood showed no trace of toxins; instead, it was fully integrated into a generous Blessing.

Growth.

If it were a Curse, one might hope their own resistance could offer some defense. But faced with such generously infused vitality, no living creature’s instinct would choose to reject it. They relished the life-giving vigor the rain brought.

A thousand-fold growth, then, a thousand-fold decay.

In the span of a finger snap, after living out a brief lifespan, all that remained would become nutrients for countless budding plants.

Under the shroud of the blood rain, a brand new ecological Cycle had arrived within the Town of Dusk, forming a Cycle of nothingness, like an invisible Grinder slowly eroding away all life within it.

The giant cubic structure, originally the sub-control center for the Town of Dusk, was now merely an interface, a connection to the Central. Stimulated and modified by the Mystic Ritual, it had become a terrifying weapon, indifferent to friend or foe.

It was just as the Great Grandmaster had once said, ”Just having day and night is a bit too lonely.”

Leveraging its connection with this part of Hell, the Great Grandmaster infused the Town of Dusk with a third Disaster Miracle—the Rain of Aging.

Under his thick raincoat, August slowly lifted his hand, revealing the Ring of Nibelungen, inherited from the leader of the Exploration Team.

As he called out using the Stigma of the same origin, a terrifying chill rapidly shot into the sky, accompanied by the roar of a horn that shook the rain, the earth, and the heavens. Dazzling lightning emerged from the void, weaving into Long Spears.

The Frost Giant Army, lying in Deep Sleep within Nibelungen, opened their eyes and slowly emerged from this part of Hell. The endless blood rain falling on their shoulders froze crimson in the spreading chill, like blood-colored capes. In the blood rain of Dusk, they were already restless with excitement.

As the light from the Rune Pillar Stone shone through the rain, ’Old Man’ Pant Delong slowly closed his eyes.

The situation was beyond recovery.