The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1225: Fighting the Calamity: Beneath the Royal Capital

Bang!!

Every dark apparition within seven hundred meters in front of Saya was obliterated. The attack could have traveled for more than ten kilometers, but the sheer number and relentless momentum of the dark apparitions managed to halt it.

That was enough.

It gave her a chance.

Whoosh!!

Saya shot forward at high speed, her figure streaking through the air as she headed straight for the palace.

Behind her, the dark apparitions surged once more. The empty space she had carved out was quickly swallowed as countless figures poured in, rushing after her with pure hostility.

Saya tilted her head slightly, her expression tightening. She could see them. She could feel them closing in.

She accelerated.

Bang!

She blasted through the palace wall and entered without hesitation. There was no point in hiding her presence. She knew this was where the dark apparitions originated.

What she sought was deeper within.

The passage.

Saya remembered the Crown Prince’s explanation about these vile creatures with perfect clarity. They emerged from below, crawling up from the depths.

’Then I’ll go down.’

If she could seal the passage, she could prevent more from reaching the surface. Letting the situation escalate further would be dangerous, even for her.

She tore through walls and floors alike, descending deeper into the palace. Dark apparitions began to appear in her path, emerging from every direction.

Saya raised her sword.

Anyone who stood in her way was destroyed.

The entire palace trembled violently, as if on the verge of collapse. Yet it endured. The black liquid coating its structure seemed to reinforce it, unnaturally increasing its hardness and preventing total destruction.

’Annoying... but not enough to stop me.’

Before long, Saya reached the underground depths of the palace.

”...There are signs of spatial expansion here.”

She sensed it immediately. The space was far larger than the palace’s structure should have allowed. The air felt warped, stretched unnaturally. An eerie atmosphere clung to everything, and the distorted howls of dark apparitions echoed endlessly from every direction.

The ceiling, walls, and floor were coated in thick, black, sticky liquid.

Danger pressed down on her senses.

Heavy and suffocatingg.

That wasn’t surprising. This was where the dark apparitions emerged.

”Dark apparitions...” Saya murmured. ”A fitting name, considering we can’t even speak their true names without inviting disaster...”

Her words trailed off.

”Hm?”

She felt it.

Something was far ahead.

Saya bent her knees and shot forward. Her figure flashed through the air, shockwaves rippling outward and cracking the corrupted ground beneath her.

Kieehk!!

Dark apparitions surged into view.

Many of them radiated power comparable to the Sixth Shackle Realm. There wasn’t a single one below SSS-rank in this place. If Angus’s group had encountered enemies like these, there would have been no escape, only death awaits them.

They rushed towards her all at once.

Their power erupted violently as they blocked her path, razor-sharp claws tearing through the air toward her body.

Saya’s expression didn’t change.

She swung her sword.

At the same time, her free hand rapidly wove a Tier 3 spell.

[Crimson Moon]!

[Fallen Light]!

Bang—!!

A massive crimson energy blade swept forward, followed by a torrential rain of light spears. The dark apparitions were swallowed whole, their forms erased before they could even scream.

Silence returned for a moment.

For Saya, dealing with these dark apparitions was easy.

The real danger lay deeper.

Saya was in control of Souta’s body. Though she was still unfamiliar with it, she could unleash terrifying strength. A power more than enough to overwhelm Sixth Shackle Realm creatures with ease.

Saya sneered as hundreds of dark apparitions were obliterated in an instant. The sensation stirred a faint sense of nostalgia within her, recalling a time in the past when she had fought in much the same way.

Whoosh!!

She vanished from her spot and reappeared moments later, her gaze locking onto a sphere of radiant light in the distance.

The light energy sphere floated in midair, surrounded by countless dark apparitions that assaulted it relentlessly. Each time one made contact, its body disintegrated instantly, reduced to nothingness. Yet despite the certainty of annihilation, the apparitions continued their attack like mindless madmen, utterly indifferent to their own destruction.

What truly mattered, however, was what lay inside the sphere.

There were people within it.

”There are still survivors?!”

Say widened her eyes in disbelief. She had been certain that no one could have endured the overwhelming onslaught of dark apparitions. To think that some had managed to survive. This was completely unexpected.

...

Inside the light energy sphere, only two lives remained.

A young woman and a middle-aged man stood upon a dim, circular platform of light, the last fragile remnant of resistance in a city already erased. The man lay motionless at its center, his skin ashen, his body trembling faintly with every labored breath. Each inhale sounded like it might be his last.

The young woman knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she clutched his sleeve. Her eyes were sunken, hollowed by exhaustion and fear, yet still desperately clinging to hope that was rapidly slipping away.

”Father... the Divine Light Barrier won’t hold much longer...” Her voice cracked. ”It’s collapsing. The dark apparitions will break through soon.”

Her teeth sank into her lip until blood spilled freely, staining her chin red. She squeezed her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms but pain was the only thing she could still feel.

”Cough!” The man’s body convulsed. His voice was hoarse, barely audible beneath the roar of destruction outside. ”There’s... nothing left we can do. Whatever happened beyond this barrier... I sense that your brother is still alive.”

”Brother...?” The word escaped her lips in disbelief.

The Royal Capital had already fallen. Reduced to ruins and swallowed by corruption, it was a graveyard where even screams no longer lingered. As far as she knew, only the two of them had survived. And beyond the capital, she was certain the darkness had already spread out devouring cities one by one, marching inexorably toward consuming the entire Land of Fire Light.

The middle-aged man gave a weak nod, as if confirming her unspoken fear.

Suddenly,

BOOOOOOM!!

A thunderous explosion shattered the air. The swarm of dark apparitions surrounding the sphere was erased in an instant, their forms disintegrating into nothingness as though they had never existed.

The sudden silence was far more terrifying than the noise.

Father and daughter turned their heads at the same time.

A figure emerged from the void of darkness. It advanced toward the light sphere, step by step, each movement warping the space around it. The pressure it exuded was suffocating. It’s an existence so overwhelming that even the Divine Light Barrier trembled in response.

The figure stopped directly before the barrier.

”This... this can’t be...” the young woman whispered, her body frozen in terror.

She couldn’t see its face. The space around it twisted violently, refusing to allow its form to be clearly perceived.

”Father...” Her voice shook uncontrollably. ”What... what is that?”

In her mind, there was only one answer.

Another dark apparition.

But the middle-aged man’s eyes widened in horror. From the moment he sensed its aura, he understood something.

This was not a dark apparition.

It’s a monster.

The monster was Saya, controlling Souta’s body.

Saya’s gaze lingered on the trembling barrier before she spoke, her voice calm yet oppressive.

”Let me enter. I want to know what’s happening.”

She could shatter the barrier effortlessly but doing so would be unnecessary, even discourteous. More importantly, destroying it would leave those inside completely exposed, stripped of their final, fragile protection.

The young woman stiffened in shock.

The middle-aged man studied Saya in silence for several long seconds, his gaze heavy with exhaustion and resignation. At last, he gave a slow nod. Raising his hand, he summoned a strange, inverted triangular device etched with ancient runes. With a slight twist of his fingers, the light barrier parted, opening a narrow passage.

”Father?!” the young woman cried, turning to him in disbelief. ”Why would you listen to this... this being?!”

Saya stepped through the opening. The moment she entered, her eyes swept over the two of them. It was immediately clear that the man was grievously injured. His life force was in tatters, his strength reduced to less than five percent of what it once was. He was standing here purely through will alone.

A faint, almost pitying smile tugged at her lips. ”What are you planning to do?” she asked.

”Plans...?” The man repeated the word as though it were foreign to him. After a moment, he shook his head weakly. ”There are none left. The dark apparitions will destroy this land. It’s only a matter of time.”

Saya’s expression darkened.

”Then why are you still here?” she asked coldly. ”Are you planning to let your daughter and your son die here, King Zachary?”

The young woman froze.

The man’s eyes widened slightly.

That was right.

The man before her was none other than King Zachary, the ruler of the Everlasting Kingdom.

It wasn’t difficult for Saya to deduce. This place, the barrier, and the forbidden knowledge. Only the royal family had known of the dark apparitions long before the calamity began. They had guarded this land for generations, preparing countermeasures against beings that were never meant to exist.

King Zachary met her gaze for a long moment before finally speaking.

”The Land of Fire Light is already doomed,” he said quietly. ”Every defense we built has fallen. The dark apparitions will soon swallow everything. There is nothing left we can do.”

”Then why maintain the barrier?” Saya pressed.

King Zachary’s fingers trembled.