Chapter 82: The Emergence of Cultivator Ethereal Ascension Realm

"Arghhhh!"

A collective battle cry erupted from the vanguard of Aethelgard. Their throats strained against the cold wind as they charged across the grassy plain, but behind their thunderous screams lay sheer, unadulterated terror. Rising before them in the distance was an eighteen-meter Titan Apex Aberrant—a biological nightmare whose mere presence radiated apocalyptic weight.

Yet their warhorses did not slow. The riders slammed their spurs into their mounts’ flanks, driving the massive cavalry formation forward.

To the soldiers of Aethelgard, the emergence of a Titan-class monster so close to their borders was an existential crisis. They had watched neighboring territories burn to ash under the Heretical Dark Faction’s onslaught; they had seen fortified walls shattered like dry glass. They knew with absolute certainty that if this beast cleared the border, their families, homes, and kingdom would be burned next. Fear gripped their hearts, causing their hands to shake against their reins, but the dread of watching Aethelgard suffer a second total devastation forced them to ride straight into the mouth of hell.

Velista stood on the elevated ridge overlooking the plain, her cold eyes sweeping over the vast crimson line of approaching cavalry before drifting back to Ren.

’Titan Apex Aberrant,’ Velista transmitted telepathically, her voice echoing directly inside the monster’s mind. ’Wipe out those suicidal fools from Aethelgard. I will secure Ren myself.’

The eighteen-meter titan bowed its massive, four-eyed head in silent compliance.

Velista’s lips curled into a sharp, sneering smile. The sudden arrival of Aethelgard’s vanguard was no coincidence; her location had clearly been exposed. What amused her even more was the tactical implication. She had spent months driving wedges between the regional factions, fanning the flames of paranoia and territorial pride to ensure humanity remained fractured. Yet here was Aren Veyl, setting aside his inflated ego and throwing his elite legions into a meat grinder just to pull one man out of her grip.

"He really is special, isn’t he?" Velista purred under her breath, her gaze locking onto Ren as he stood amidst the dust. "To think those two broken kingdoms would join hands again just for your sake."

Her smile instantly vanished, replaced by an ugly, irritated grimace. "Tsk. How irritating."

"GRAAAAAHHH!"

The Titan Apex Aberrant threw back its colossal head and unleashed a deafening roar that sent kinetic shockwaves rippling across the plain, flattening the tall grass for hundreds of yards.

The titan bent its massive knees, driving its claws deep into the shattered remains of the coliseum. It scooped up dozens of heavy granite blocks, its iron-chitin gauntlets flexing as it crushed the stone into jagged, lethal boulders. The monster stepped back, coiling its massive torso like a professional baseball pitcher taking a long, calculated stride.

With frightening, unnatural speed, the titan whipped its colossal right arm forward, releasing the avalanche of crushed masonry directly into the dense ranks of the approaching cavalry.

WHOOSH!

Thousands of heavy, sharp stone fragments tore through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, cutting through the air with a screeching howl.

The lead ranks of the Aethelgard vanguard saw the dark cloud of stone approaching, their faces draining of all color behind their open visors.

"Brace—!"

The commander’s order was instantly swallowed by a gruesome storm of blood and shattered iron.

CRACK! CRACK! SLAM!

The barrage of supersonic boulders struck the vanguard like a localized kinetic bombardment. Heavy stone fragments smashed directly into the front lines, shearing through steel plate armor, warhorses, and flesh without slowing down. Hundreds of riders were instantly decapitated or torn in half mid-stride; the sheer kinetic impact turned iron chest pieces into twisted scrap metal and liquefied biological tissue instantly.

Horses screamed as their limbs were snapped, tumbling forward into the dirt and throwing their riders into the path of oncoming hooves. Blood spattered violently across the ranks, painting the green grass a sickening crimson as severed limbs, broken lances, and crushed helmets rained down over the charging column. Yet, despite the horrific carnage, the momentum of the cavalry force did not break. The surviving knights grit their teeth through the spray of their comrades’ blood, leaping over fallen horses and severed torsos as they continued their desperate, blind charge forward through the rising dust.

Ren’s pupils dilated to absolute maximum as he witnessed the brutal slaughter from afar.

His whole frame locked up, a cold shudder running up his spine. These men hadn’t even reached striking distance, yet hundreds of them had been butchered in a single microsecond by a simple throw.

The Titan Apex Aberrant threw its head back and burst into a deep, guttural laugh, the sound vibrating the very air. But as the dust settled slightly, its glowing red eyes caught sight of the remaining cavalry continuing to press forward through the crimson-stained mud, their battle cries echoing louder than before.

The monster’s laughter died in its throat. Hot steam hissed violently from its flared nostrils as its four eyes flared with rage.

"Why do you pathetic worms keep crawling forward?!" the titan bellowed, its heavy, rasping voice echoing across the plain like grinding iron. "You know you are riding to your deaths!"

It scooped up another massive pile of coliseum bedrock, its armored fingers crushing the granite into a second lethal salvo.

"Hahaha! Keep running, you miserable insects! Run straight into your graves!" the titan sneered, its sharp tusk-like teeth bared as it pulled its arm back, aiming directly at the core of the cavalry formation.

"All units, advance!" the vanguard commander roared from the front lines, his arm drenched in blood as he held his sword high toward the monster. "Do not retreat! Do not let the Aberrants and the Dark Faction reach our gates!"

Ren gripped the hilt of his double-bladed Void Sickle, dark purple divinity flaring around his forearms like liquid flame.

’I have to disrupt its balance!’ Ren thought frantically, his mind racing. ’My attacks won’t breach its hide, but if I hit its pivot point right now, I can force its throw off target and buy those men time!’

Ren pushed his Nyx bloodline to its absolute limit. He vanished from his position in a streak of blinding purple light, leaving an afterimage behind as he reappeared directly beneath the titan’s towering left heel.

His eyes burned with deep purple fire. Ren drew back his Void Sickle, channeling every remaining drop of dark divinity into the dark blade. He readied a rising slash, intending to strike the monster’s tendons to throw off its firing arc.

SWISH!

Before his blade could complete its path, the spatial atmosphere beside him ruptured.

Velista materialized out of thin air directly beside his flank, her movements so fluid and instantaneous that Ren’s perception barely caught the edge of her silhouette.

Ren’s eyes darted sideways, his jaw clenching as pure instinct screamed at him to defend.

Velista was already in motion. Her slender right leg cut through the air in a lightning-fast high kick, her boot wrapped in a dense, suffocating aura of compressed dark mana.

BOOM!

Her heel slammed straight into Ren’s ribs with the force of a battering ram.

CRACK!

A sharp, sickening snap echoed out as two of Ren’s ribs fractured under the raw physical kinetic force. The sheer pressure tore the Void Sickle from his fingers, sending the weapon spinning through the dirt. Ren was lifted off his feet, his body flying forty feet across the clearing before slamming hard into the ground, skidding through the dirt and leaving a long, bloody furrow in the earth.

"Gah...!" Ren choked, coughing up a mouthful of dark crimson blood as he lay in the dirt, his body trembling violently from the sheer agony radiating across his torso.

Velista landed gracefully on her toes, a cold, teasing smirk gracing her lips as she watched him struggle to pull his elbows beneath himself.

Above them, the Titan Apex Aberrant completed its windup and unleashed its second massive barrage of stone shrapnel straight at the advancing army.

Ren forced his head up through the hazy pain, his eyes widening in horror as he watched the sky fill with a second cloud of lethal, high-velocity boulders.

In excruciating slow motion, thousands of jagged rocks tore through the air, closing the distance to the charging Aethelgard knights who screamed as they braced for impact, knowing their armor would offer zero protection.

WHOOSH—

Just as the stone storm was about to obliterate the front ranks of the cavalry, the sky above the battlefield suddenly turned a brilliant, blinding shade of sapphire blue.

A dense array of radiant, ethereal blue broadswords—numbering in the thousands—materialized out of thin air across the clouds. They hovered in a massive, sweeping wall, their translucent blades glowing with the profound, terrifying aura of a high-tier cultivation realm.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

With a single, silent command, the sky-full of blue ethereal blades rained down in a defensive storm, intercepting every single rock fragment mid-air with terrifying precision!

The glowing broadswords sliced through the supersonic boulders like warm butter. Granite blocks the size of carriages were instantly reduced to fine, harmless grey powder before they could touch a single horse or rider. The air hummed with the sound of thousands of spatial sword-arcs cutting through physical matter, completely neutralizing the titan’s apocalyptic barrage.

Ren dragged himself up into a low knee-rest, staring at the sky in pure shock as dust rained down harmlessly around the army.

Velista’s smirk vanished instantly. Her brow twitched, her eyes narrowing into cold, lethal slits as her dark mana flared in deep irritation.

Descending gracefully from the upper atmosphere came a breathtaking figure.

Though she was over a thousand years old, her physical form remained that of an impossibly beautiful young woman in her prime. Her long, ice-blue hair flowed freely down her back like liquid silk, framed by delicate curtain bangs that accented her pale, flawless complexion. She wore a grand violet off-the-shoulder gown that fluttered gently against the mountain breeze, casting an aura of supreme, celestial majesty around her. Her deep blue eyes were entirely flat and emotionless, her hand holding a subtle two-fingered sword sign as she hovered in the air above the vanguard like an ancient goddess.

This was Qing Su—a supreme cultivator who had attained the formidable Ethereal Ascension Realm, a stage of martial perfection that granted her absolute telepathic control over spatial sword domains and unassisted flight.

"My apologies for the delay," Qing Su murmured softly, her quiet voice carrying across the silent field as she glanced down at the hundreds of fallen Aethelgard soldiers decorating the grass. A subtle flicker of solemn remorse passed through her cool gaze.

The surviving cavalrymen looked up at her floating figure, their faces lighting up with renewed, ecstatic fervor.

"Lady Qing Su!"

"The Sword Saint is here! Charge!"

The vanguard let out a deafening cheer, their morale soaring through the roof as they drove their warhorses forward with unstoppable momentum.

Ren stared up at the floating cultivator, his breath catching in his throat. *Who is she...? To control a sword domain of that scale without casting a spell circle...*

Velista’s jaw tightened, her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides as a murderous glare locked onto the blue-haired woman.

"You miserable bitch..." Velista hissed, her voice dripping with venomous rage as she spat out the name. "Qing Su!"

High above the battlefield, Qing Su shifted her cold, unbothered gaze down toward Velista, her expression remaining completely stoic as the wind blew her violet dress against the sky.