Chapter 137: Terror and Destruction (Third Update)

Tens of thousands of blood bats hovered across the sky, hissing and shrieking, yet refusing to leave.

They were waiting.

Waiting for the emergence of their king within the Blood River realm.

The wait was not short; it lasted for more than half an hour.

Then, precisely half an hour later, the tranquil surface of the blood river began to churn.

Amidst this churning, a specific area of the crimson, blood-like surface began to rise and form a depression, culminating in a terrifying screech.

Amidst the rolling shockwaves of a sonic boom, the water of the blood river splashed in all directions as a terrifying bat with a wingspan of nearly a hundred meters emerged.

It surged into the sky, and the very moment it flapped its massive wings, all the blood bats in the sky immediately converged around it with shrill cries.

The hundred-meter blood bat was engulfed in a dense black-red radiance, and before long, vast amounts of black smoke began to emanate from its entire body.

Resembling a dark cloud, the mass grew even more gargantuan as all the smaller blood bats plunged into the black smoke and integrated within it.

Beneath the desolate purple moon, high above the expanse of the sea, the dark cloud grew completely still and motionless, as if it had truly become a cloud drifting across the sky.

Just as all the blood bats vanished into the dark cloud of smoke, and the blood river within the realm slowly grew calm once more, massive waves suddenly erupted across the entire blood river.

These churning waves swirled incessantly, ultimately forming a terrifying monster composed entirely of blood above the river.

Merely exposing its head and forequarters above the blood river was enough to completely fill the spatial boundaries of the entire island realm.

The rolling waves of the blood river surged endlessly from the surrounding spatial void, causing the monster's forming body to grow ever larger and taller.

Its head resembled that of a serpent, and its body wound with serpentine undulations.

The blood river was infinite, and its body continued to tower upward like a snake raising its head.

Ultimately, after the terrifying blood-serpent elevated the height of its body to over eight hundred meters, the monster finally ceased its upward climb and stopped expanding its form without restraint.

By this moment, the sheer thickness of its exposed torso completely filled the absolute capacity of the realm's spatial limits.

With a body nearly five kilometers in diameter, its head was so gargantuan that its maw could swallow a small human village whole.

The dark cloud formed by the blood bats appeared utterly minuscule above its crown.

Beneath the purple moon illuminating the realm, the blood-serpent forged from the blood river slowly opened its terrifying, blood-red pupils.

Its gaze was chilling and brimming with greed.

It began to survey the world beyond the realm.

The dark night could not obstruct its vision; it stared fixedly at the landmass lying to the east of the realm, meticulously analyzing and discerning everything.

***

Thus, amidst the wise and calculating gaze of the colossal blood serpent, its blood-river body suddenly collapsed and disintegrated across the realm, transforming once more into a churning expanse of crimson river water.

The realm grew illusory once again, and the previously vanished phantom of the island slowly materialized.

The blood river and the island's phantom overlapped and displaced one another, and at that very moment, an inexplicable string of syllables echoed from the increasingly ethereal blood river.

These undulating syllables penetrated the relatively small dark cloud high in the sky.

Following that, the flock of blood bats, now altered by the blood river, immediately sprang into action.

The instant the island fully manifested, these blood bats, shrouded by the cover of night, swiftly flew toward the mainland located over a hundred kilometers away.

***

The Kingdom of Pru.

This was a small nation neighboring the Bana Federation.

With a population of less than eight million, the country's territory was mostly covered by the Amazon rainforest. Its domestic economy remained sluggish, primarily relying on handicraft industries and agriculture.

Although economically backward, its people lived relatively peaceful and contented lives.

Yet in such a nation, precisely three hours after the descent of the purple moon tonight, a catastrophe was descending.

Located near the bay, a small town in the Kingdom of Pru named Vokdo had long since seen its residents retire to their homes.

Beneath the purple moon, all activities had ceased. Every household in the town bolted their doors tightly, either eating dinner and watching television indoors or having already fallen fast asleep.

Everything seemed exceptionally peaceful and tranquil.

Yet, unannounced, a patch of dark clouds suddenly drifted across the night sky.

The moment these dark clouds approached the town, they abruptly and silently plunged downward in a rapid dive.

"BOOM!!!"

The window of a brightly lit household shattered without warning.

A giant blood bat with a three-meter wingspan tumbled as it crashed directly into the family's second-floor living room.

Due to the sheer momentum of its dive, the giant blood bat shattered the glass and collided with a wall inside the living room, plunging into a brief state of dizziness.

"Oh god, what is this monster?!"

"Belika, hurry—quickly get my hunting rifle out! Fast!"

An interrupted middle-aged man recovered from his momentary panic and shouted urgently toward the bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, a young girl who had been playing a mobile game was startled by the deafening crash. Upon hearing her father's frantic shout, she immediately snatched the hunting rifle hanging on the bedroom wall and dashed toward the living room.

"Ah! What is that thing?"

The girl shrieked as she caught sight of the giant blood bat, which was slowly shaking off its dizziness and turning toward them.

Without giving the girl a moment to panic further, the man snatched the hunting rifle from her hands and clicked off the safety.

"Damn it! Go to hell!"

The man moved with extreme swiftness. The moment the blood bat steadied its body and attempted to charge at him, a gunshot rang out.

Because the weapon was a shotgun and fired at point-blank range, it instantly riddled the blood bat's entire body with countless bloody holes.

The destructive impact of the shotgun blast was staggering; terrifying wounds covered the wings and torso of the blood bat.

Even dead center in the blood bat's forehead, a ragged bullet hole had been blown open.

Consequently, after a brief struggle and a shrill screech, the blood bat collapsed to the floor and ceased breathing entirely.

Seeing this, a look of narrow escape from death washed over the man's face.

"Damn it, where on earth did this monster come from? Does our world really have such bizarre creatures?"

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, the man prepared to step closer and examine the monster at close range.

However, just as he intended to walk up to the deceased blood bat, another piercing sonic boom erupted from behind him.

Accompanying this sound came the shattering of countless windows throughout the town, interspersed with the agonizing screams of dogs and humans alike.

In merely a fraction of a second, the town was filled with the rush of tearing air, while the man was already coughing up mouthfuls of blood as he collapsed beside the very blood bat he had just slain.

For at the exact instant the sonic boom had echoed, yet another blood bat had hurtled straight through the shattered window of the man's home.

Pouncing forward in its dive, its talons directly ripped through the man's back, piercing straight through his chest.

The blood bat snapped its jaws onto the man's neck, frantically gulping down his warm blood.

Witnessing this scene, the man's daughter was paralyzed with terror. But before she could even attempt to flee, another blood bat lunged inside, fixing its bloodthirsty gaze squarely upon the girl.

In the desolate night, illuminated by the cold light of the purple moon, the entire town of Vokdo was plunged into absolute, deathly silence within ten minutes under the assault of tens of thousands of terrifying blood bats.

Yet slaughtering a town of a few hundred people was evidently not enough for the massive swarm of blood bats. Thus, they swiftly mobilized once more, launching attacks toward larger, more densely populated human cities deeper within the Kingdom of Pru.