Sovereign of the Ashes

The Sea Emperor Shark’s silence weighed heavily on the Bouldrak King’s heart.

Submerged Wave World was a medium-sized plane, and the Sea Emperor Shark was a powerful Rank Six being.

Many years ago, Submerged Wave World had fought a brutal war against Phantom Crow World.

Both medium-sized worlds had invested over a hundred Rank Four creatures, creating one of the most intense and unprecedented conflicts the Bouldrak King had ever witnessed.

In the Bouldrak King’s memory, that war was as far as it could imagine when it came to large-scale battles.

Could there be a civilization stronger than Submerged Wave World?

Unlike the Eternal Sand Lord, the Bouldrak King had not traveled widely across the Astral Realm.

It had no real concept of what a large-sized world civilization meant.

As for the Magus Civilization behind Beastmen World, that was even further beyond its understanding.

“No matter what happens, we, the Bouldraks, will never surrender to an enemy that invades our homeplane!”

The Bouldrak King let out a furious roar, slamming one of its massive fists into the floor of the Obsidian Crystal Palace.

A wide section of the floor cracked under the impact, leaving a deep, fist-shaped imprint behind.

***

The Bouldrak King’s fierce resistance reflected the spirit of all native creatures on Bouldrak Plane and its vassal worlds—a spirit of unyielding defiance in the face of invaders.

By the third year of the war, both sides had paid an extremely heavy price.

Millions of half-beastman warriors had fallen across the battlefields.

Despite having the home field advantage, the native creatures of Bouldrak Plane had still suffered the greatest losses.

For the lower-ranking creatures with little strength, this interplanar war had been nothing short of catastrophic.

Boubor Plane, where Sein was, suffered the least losses among the three major battlefields.

In the fourth year of the war, Sein led nearly a hundred and fifty thousand half-beastman warriors to reinforce Bouldrak World at the request of Tosk.

The war on Boubor Plane had become less intense, as the mainstay of its native resistance forces had been severely injured after years of brutal battles between the two sides.

The departure of Tosk with part of the half-beastman legion did not have much impact on the overall war effort in Boubor Plane.

Besides, the conscription efforts from No Man’s Land were still ongoing.

If needed, they could quickly assemble and send a reinforcement force of three hundred thousand half-beastman warriors to Boubor Plane to support Sein.

However, the overall quality of this new batch would certainly not match the elite forces that Tosk had taken with him.

In the same year that Tosk led his legions to his father’s aid, the situation on Bouldrak World took another major turn for the worse.

But for the half-beastmen, it was a welcome turn of events.

Ursa, the bear companion of Reksha, did not immediately rush to the Champion of Wilderness’ side after defeating Bouldrak World’s guardian.

Instead, it charged straight toward the battlefield where the God of Forest, Senarius, was fighting.

Neither the Rank Five Bouldrak King nor the Rank Four Obsidian Crystal Giant was an easy foe to take down.

By comparison, the Rank Four Bouldrak that Senarius was facing was a weaker opponent.

Once the mighty Ursa joined that battlefield, the balance tipped almost immediately.

And Ursa did not come alone—it brought two peak demigod-level porcupines and more than a hundred thousand beasts.

Among the Thunder Lizards summoned by Reksha, many were Rank Two or even Rank Three.

The strongest among them—a massive lizard covered in red and purple scales—was even stronger than the two porcupines.

In truth, when Eugene first launched this interplanar war, with the help of his close allies, he had not been at a disadvantage when it came to the number of Rank Four creatures.

The only real headache was the Rank Five Bouldrak King.

How was he supposed to deal with it?

Even if Eugene sacrificed his own life, could he really kill it?

***

From the viewpoint of outsiders, the battle on Bouldrak Plane seemed extremely favorable to the half-beastmen.

The Rank Five Bouldrak King was indeed a tough rock to crack, but if all the Rank Four and above creatures in the half-beastman army joined forces against it, there was no way it could hold out forever.

In the Bouldrak King’s eyes, Ursa the Bear and Reksha the Champion of Wilderness were even more dangerous threats than Eugene.

To it, Eugene was just a persistent nuisance.

During another brief lull between battles, the Bouldrak King visited the Rank Four Bouldrak who had been severely wounded by Ursa and Senarius.

The Bouldrak had four thick arms, and its spherical body was covered in deep claw marks and bear paw prints.

Strange green moss had also taken root across its cracked surface.

No matter how hard the Bouldrak tried to tear it off, the moss would grow back thickly in just half a day, constantly siphoning away its life force.

This was Senarius’s doing—an insidious attack that even a resilient Rank Four geo elemental creature could barely withstand.

Meanwhile, the front lines at Obsidian Range were close to collapse.

The Drunken Panda Immortal, who wielded pyro elemental laws, had led wave after wave of half-beastman legions to smash through the defensive lines formed by the geo elemental creatures over the past few years.

Later that day, the Bouldrak King sought out the guardian of the plane. Half the Grove Python’s body was battered from Ursa’s assault.

“I need to contact Phantom Crow World,” the Bouldrak King said.

The Grove Python, half-squinting as it rested on the leyline node to heal its wounds, slowly opened its glowing orange eye.

A brown porcupine quill was still lodged deep inside its other eye socket.

“Those Phantom Crows will help us? Their king isn’t a pleasant being to deal with. Their greed and bloodlust make them far worse than the creatures of Submerged Wave World or Eternal Sand World,” the Grove Python muttered.

”You’re drinking poison,” the guardian warned, fixing the Bouldrak King with a steady stare.

“I intend to offer them Inkdrought Plane to convince the Phantom Crow King to help us. Even if it’s poison, we have no choice but to drink it,” the Bouldrak King replied in a deep voice.

Inkdrought Plane was a microplane—the farthest “satellite world” linked to Bouldrak Plane—and so far, it had remained untouched by war.

In the end, the Grove Python gave no reply. The Bouldrak King pulled out a black feather.

A strange, dark flame ignited along the feather’s surface, and thick black smoke coiled up into the air before him.

After an unknown length of time, a sharp, mocking laugh echoed from deep within the black mist.

“Bouldrak King—the one who foiled my plans twenty thousand years ago—how curious to see you taking the initiative to call on me today!”

From within the smoke, a pair of small, blood-red eyes appeared.