Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Aio’s Miracle and the Grand Druid’s Fury

The volcano erupted.

Scorching lava cascaded down, incinerating everything in its path. The entire conical peak was cloaked in a deep crimson, presenting a scene of utter apocalypse.

The adventurers no longer cared about the Butcher; they scattered desperately, striving to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the erupting volcano.

Yet, the Grand Druid once again communed with insects and stones, and the earth itself seemed to tear open, forming a deep canyon that blocked the path of every single adventurer!

Before them lay a bottomless chasm, and behind them, relentlessly pursuing lava. Despair gripped them, a true, profound despair. The adventurers reacted in myriad ways: some stood dumbfounded, others wept and wailed.

“Who will save us?” the hunter girl cried.

“Aio will save you!”

Ael descended from the heavens, landing gracefully before all the adventurers.

Everyone gazed at the blonde-haired girl, clad in silver armor and wearing a single ponytail.

“You are—? Aio’s Paladin?”

“Witness the one true God! Behold Aio’s miracle!” Ael declared, raising a finger toward the sky. The boiling lava was now terrifyingly close. This was no jest; only someone with absolute faith in their deity would dare such a feat.

Indeed, Ael’s conviction remained unshaken!

Then, a colossal hand, as vast as a sports field, scooped up all four hundred-plus adventurers present.

It leaped across the chasm.

Not a single soul was left behind.

All were transported to safety!

A miracle! A true miracle! It was utterly unbelievable. That night, Aio’s name spread far and wide. Some adventurers immediately knelt before Ael, pleading for Aio’s divine grace.

Among the four hundred-plus adventurers, the Butcher was also present.

“You! Look what you’ve done!” the enraged Wilderness Walker, Pharion, immediately transformed.

His face contorted into a grotesque snarl, his mouth elongating to a sharp point, somewhere between a canine and a rodent.

His arms morphed into massive claws, and his legs became the powerful hind limbs of a kangaroo.

His body expanded severalfold, now covered in shimmering fur.

The ‘Butcher,’ with a bounty of 10,000 silver coins on his head, lunged at Ael, claws bared.

***

Meanwhile, Leon and the Grand Druid met once more at the volcano’s crater.

His plan to eliminate the adventurers and restore nature’s balance had been thwarted by these intruders, and the Grand Druid’s mood could no longer be described merely as anger.

Leon crossed his arms, drawing the obsidian Lightshriek Sword and the silvery Mithril Blade from his back.

Naya imbued Leon with the radiant aura of a Shield of Light.

“Go, Leon,” she said softly.

Leon shot forward like an arrow!

Vines coiled around the Grand Druid, forming a protective wall.

“You should know when to stop!” Leon shouted at him, cleaving through the vines with his two swords.

Naturally, the Grand Druid was not one to simply await his demise. Unlike his four disciples, he had not only imbibed the Essence Blood, a symbol of nature’s power, but had also consumed its very flesh.

Moreover, with tonight being the night of the full moon, nature’s power would be amplified to its absolute peak!

A crimson light erupted from the Grand Druid’s body!

Behind him, a colossal wolf skeleton materialized, glowing with a crystalline red luminescence.

[Grand Druid possessed by ???, Challenge Level — ????]

“Then I shall have no choice but to tear this continent in two. This is an unavoidable decision made for the sake of nature,” the Grand Druid declared, his voice merging with that of the wolf skeleton. The two distinct vocalizations, blending as one, created an eerie sensation of true fusion.

Immediately afterward, the Grand Druid invoked the continent’s ‘innate’ power! He raised both hands, and a ceaseless torrent of natural energy converged within his grasp, coalescing into a sphere.

Even the lava within the volcano’s crater churned into a massive whirlpool, responding to his command!

“Do you intend to destroy the world?” Leon watched the Grand Druid’s deranged actions with utter disbelief.