Chapter 428: Abomination—Devourer of All Things

The dragons watched the approaching titans. The atmosphere grew heavy, tension spreading through the horde. A thousand meters away, the titans halted.

"Augustine! Why are you here?" the Platinum Dragon God demanded coldly, his guard up as he watched the Luminous Titan.

"Bahamut! I'm not here to pick a fight! But of course, if you want one, I'll oblige you to the bitter end!" The Luminous Titan refused to back down, glaring right back at the Platinum Dragon God.

"Cut the nonsense! If you have something to say, spit it out!"

"I don't want any accidents during this hunt for the abominations. I propose a temporary truce between our two races."

"Cooperation is out of the question, but as long as the titans stay out of our way, the Dragon Race won't launch an unprovoked attack!"

"Hmph! Suits me fine! Farewell!"

"Wait!" the Platinum Dragon God called out, stopping the Luminous Titan just as he turned to leave.

"What now?"

"This mess was caused by the war between our races. The responsibility should be split evenly. Am I wrong?"

The Luminous Titan nodded. "That's fair."

"There happen to be four abominations this time. The Dragon Race and the Titan Race should each catch two. However, to capture them as quickly as possible, I suggest a competition between our races."

"What kind of competition?"

"Each abomination counts as one point. The side with the most points wins, and the loser must provide a reward to the victor. If one side captures three abominations, the reward is a Divine Artifact. If one side captures all of them, the reward is two Divine Artifacts. If it's a tie, we call it even. How about it?"

"You're on. But don't think you can fob me off with some defective junk. Let's decide on the Divine Artifacts for the reward first."

The Platinum Dragon God brought out a dragon scale and a hammer. "The scale is the Scale of Order. The hammer is a trophy of mine, the Hammer of Thunder."

The Luminous Titan brought out an emblem and a spear. "The emblem is the Emblem of Light. The spear is the Spear of Divine Retribution."

The Divine Artifacts presented by the Platinum Dragon God and the Luminous Titan were roughly equal in value. Both sides nodded. They didn't need a contract or binding constraints; the wager was established right then and there. After all, both were renowned Lawful Good deities in the multiverse. Neither would go back on their word.

The titans departed. The Platinum Dragon God turned to the dragon horde, addressing the six Abomination Rank dragons. "Which of you lacks a Divine Artifact?"

A silver dragon and a red copper dragon stepped forward. The Platinum Dragon God handed the two Divine Artifacts over to them. "Do your best, everyone! Do everything you can to win those two Divine Artifacts from Augustine. For our pride. For the glory of the Dragon Race."

"For the glory of the Dragon Race!" the horde roared in unison.

"Alright, time's up. Group up," the Platinum Dragon God ordered, sweeping his gaze over the dragons. "Every two Abomination Rank powerhouses will lead seventy High-Tier Legendary Dragons. Sort yourselves out, but try to keep the groups relatively balanced."

The White Dragon Lord turned to the copper dragon, Desert Bane. "Senior Hakmudiro, let's team up."

"Sure."

The two dragons immediately began recruiting members. Elena and the Ancient Gold Dragon were naturally the first to join. The White Dragon Lord also recruited several familiar faces—comrades who had participated in the assault on the Sincaro Titan World, such as the red copper dragon, Crimson Flame Streamer.

"Long time no see, Lord Amos!" Crimson Flame Streamer greeted, his tone slightly wistful and carrying a hint of distance brought on by the gap in their strength.

"We're old friends. Just call me Amos."

The dragons quickly finished dividing into groups.

"No one knows where those four escaped abominations ran off to. We'll split up to cover more ground. If you find a clue, call for backup from nearby allies." The Platinum Dragon God pulled out a stack of scrolls, distributing four to each group of dragons. "Once you find an abomination, defeat it and seal it inside a scroll."

With that, the Platinum Dragon God tore open a rift in space and stepped into the void. As a mighty dragon god, the Dragon God of the North Wind naturally operated alone. The three groups of dragons also plunged into the turbulent void.

In the endless void, darkness was the eternal theme. Debris drifted by alongside rapidly accelerating energy particles and the occasional dazzling flash of an aurora.

The White Dragon Lord looked around at the vast emptiness. "The void is huge. Where do we even start?"

"Hold on. Let me ask the elements. They might know something."

Desert Bane swiped a claw through the empty space and began muttering to himself. If the White Dragon Lord didn't know the copper dragon was a druid capable of communicating with the elements, he would have thought the dragon had gone insane.

"Hmm... the elements tell me there's something terrifying over there." Desert Bane pointed in a direction.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

The dragons flew in the direction Desert Bane had pointed, gradually spreading out to search. The White Dragon Lord activated his Elemental Sight, sweeping the void with a two-pronged approach alongside his Gold Finger's Scan.

After the White Dragon Lord advanced to the Abomination Rank, his mental strength had surged, expanding his Gold Finger's Scan radius to a hundred thousand meters with him at the center. A hundred thousand meters sounded massive, but in the endless void, it was just a drop in the ocean. Finding an abomination still required luck.

Wait! Luck!

The White Dragon Lord suddenly remembered that the red copper dragon, Crimson Flame Streamer, had won the Goddess of Fortune's favor. He immediately flew over to him.

"Hey! Old friend! Can you cast luck-boosting spells on others?"

"I do know a bit of luck magic, but it won't have much effect on an Abomination Rank powerhouse, not unless the Goddess intervenes personally."

"A little extra hope is always a good thing."

"Alright."

A strange incantation tumbled from the copper dragon's lips as he cast a Good Luck spell on the White Dragon Lord.

"The Good Luck spell will last for a day. Here." Crimson Flame Streamer then took out a Lucky Gold Coin. "Take this with you. It's better than nothing."

"Thanks." The White Dragon Lord took the Lucky Gold Coin and separated from the copper dragon to continue the search.

Time passed unknowingly...

The White Dragon Lord dodged a large boulder flying right at him. When a smaller rock followed, he opened his mouth, caught it, and chewed as he flew.

Suddenly, the Gold Finger Scanned an ominous aura of power. His spirits lifted, and he flew toward the source—a massive boulder about to pass right over his head.

The White Dragon Lord intercepted the rock and found his target on its surface: a tiny trace of almost-dissipated ominous energy.

He was going the right way!

The White Dragon Lord tracked the path the rock had come from, continuing to find more clues, each one fresher than the last. He called the group together, and the nearby dragons rushed to his side.

"Everyone! Look at this!" The White Dragon Lord held up a small stone bearing a lingering trace of ominous aura. "One of the abominations bumped into this rock while moving."

Desert Bane took the stone. "This aura..."

He turned the stone over, revealing a missing chunk. "This abomination should be the Devourer of All Things. It's a monster born from the corpse of the long-fallen former God of Famine. It constantly feels hunger and can never be satisfied."

By this point, the dragons had finished gathering. As they gave chase, they listened to the highly knowledgeable Desert Bane explain the Devourer of All Things abomination.

"The Devourer of All Things eats everything—elements, rocks, metal... The more it eats, the stronger it becomes. In ancient times, it devoured an entire plane. It eventually took a siege from several Greater Divine Power deities to defeat and seal it."

"Of course, there is more than one Devourer of All Things. I'm not sure if the one that devoured that world is the same one we're tracking. Even if it is, after so many years of imprisonment, its strength has severely degraded..."

The traces of the Devourer of All Things that the dragons found were growing fresher and fresher. They were extremely close to the abomination.

Finally, the White Dragon Lord spotted the abomination in the distance. The Devourer of All Things looked like a writhing, burnt-yellow mountain of flesh. It moved like a fluid, completely erratic yet terrifyingly fast. Its entire body was covered in mouths filled with circular, shark-like jagged teeth and long, thin, tubular tongues.

The White Dragon Lord watched as the Devourer of All Things caught up to a large boulder, latching onto it as its teeth bit down rapidly. Like a silkworm devouring a mulberry leaf, it cleanly consumed the several-hundred-meter-long boulder in just ten seconds. Only a few cracked fragments, tainted with a hint of the abomination's aura, flew backward—these had been the clues guiding the White Dragon Lord and the rest.

It wasn't long before the dragons caught up to the Devourer of All Things. The Devourer spotted them as well and flew toward the horde.

"Hungry~"

The Devourer of All Things opened its mouths. No actual words came out, but all the dragons could sense it saying it was hungry. A wave of hunger simultaneously washed over the dragons, giving them an intense craving to eat something. They forcibly suppressed the urge.

This was the abomination's special ability—manipulating the dragons' emotions through some unknown means. Anyone below the Legendary Rank would be instantly swallowed by this overwhelming hunger in the abomination's presence, losing their minds and devolving into a monster that would eat even itself. Legendary practitioners could protect themselves, but only those at High-Tier Legend or above could offer any real assistance.

"Everyone! Attack!"

Desert Bane took the vanguard. The dragons surrounded the abomination and unleashed full firepower. A vast sea of varied magic coalesced and poured down onto the Devourer of All Things.

Flames burned fiercely, triggering a chain of booming explosions.

Frost crept forward, silently freezing and killing the chunks of flesh on the Devourer's surface.

Lightning crackled, fleeting arcs of white light illuminating the void one after another.

...

Without exception, the dragons relied strictly on pure elemental attack magic. Physical spells like Rockfall would only serve as extra snacks for the Devourer of All Things.

Even with pure elemental magic, the abomination still devoured a portion of the elements, converting them into its own power. However, the damage inflicted was far greater.

The magic scorched the Devourer's exterior and blasted bloody holes into it, but its monstrous regenerative abilities quickly healed the wounds. Still, such healing consumed energy.

Abominations couldn't be killed and didn't truly suffer injuries. This energy drain was the dragons' only point of breakthrough. Once they weakened the Devourer of All Things enough, the White Dragon Lord and Desert Bane could attempt the seal.

The Devourer of All Things launched a counterattack. The mountain of flesh lunged at the horde, but the High-Tier Legendary Dragons dodged in time. Suddenly, tentacle-like tongues shot out from its terrifying, fanged mouths, whipping toward the dragons.

Several High-Tier Legendary Dragons failed to dodge and were about to be struck by the tongues dripping with foul-smelling fluid. That was when the White Dragon Lord, who had been keeping a close eye on the battle, made his move.

Ice Blades!

Several blades of ice flew out, cleanly slicing through the tentacle-like tongues. However, flesh immediately sprouted inside the circular mouths, and in the blink of an eye, new tongues grew in their place.

"Hungry~!"

After the prolonged drain from the dragons' attacks, the Devourer's hunger only grew more severe, and its influence on the dragons intensified.

Meanwhile, the White Dragon Lord noticed that the ice blades he had fired were heavily corroded. "Be careful! The fluid on its tongues is highly corrosive."

Heeding the White Dragon Lord's warning, the dragons put a little more distance between themselves and the Devourer, continuing to whittle it down with long-range magic.

Suddenly, the Devourer clamped its mouths shut. Its body contracted inward before abruptly swelling up, violently spewing a shower of clear liquid at the dragons.

The dragons retaliated with their Dragon Breath. The concentrated barrage of Dragon Breath completely blocked the Devourer's spit attack. When it came to breath attacks, the Dragon Race feared no one in the multiverse.

A few more rounds of attacks passed. The Devourer hadn't managed to bite a single dragon, yet its stored energy was depleting rapidly. Driven by hunger, it turned and fled.

"Tail it! Don't get too close!" Desert Bane took the lead, flying after the rock-devouring abomination with the massive horde of dragons right behind him.

The White Dragon Lord flew above the horde, overlooking the battlefield. The combination of his Gold Finger's Scan and his exceptional magical prowess allowed him to intercept the Devourer's attacks in time, ensuring the safety of the dragons.

The dragons pursued the Devourer of All Things. Various types of elemental magic glowed brightly, illuminating the endless darkness, while the Devourer consumed passing space rocks and constantly attacked the dragons trailing it.

Guided by the right strategy, the Devourer's aura grew steadily weaker. It wouldn't be long before the White Dragon Lord could initiate the seal.

Suddenly, the White Dragon Lord spotted a plane up ahead. Judging by the planar barrier, it was a Small Material Plane, and the Devourer of All Things was heading straight for it.

"Damn it! We can't let it enter that plane! The lifeforms of a material plane are a massive tonic for it! Stop it!" Desert Bane roared. Leading the dragons, he accelerated, flanking the Devourer in an attempt to force the abomination to change course.

But the Devourer of All Things seemed to have caught the scent of the material plane's fragrance and continued its approach with unshakeable resolve. No one could stop an abomination that could devour anything. The Devourer of All Things plunged headfirst into the plane.

The White Dragon Lord and Desert Bane hurriedly tore through space, leading the dragons into the plane.

Above an endlessly sprawling, emerald-green primeval forest, the dragons spotted the Devourer of All Things below. It was sprawled out in the forest. Wherever it passed, the greenery vanished, leaving only bare dirt in its wake.

As a druid, Desert Bane was heartbroken by the Devourer's destruction of the forest.

"Despicable monster! Feel the wrath of the forest!"

A violent surge of natural force erupted from Desert Bane, merging into the flora surrounding the abomination. The entire forest seemed to come alive as it launched an assault on the Devourer of All Things.

However, despite the grand scale of the attack, it had little effect. Instead, it was like serving up an extra meal straight to the Devourer's doorstep. Realizing this, Desert Bane quickly changed tactics, ordering the plants away from the abomination while the dragons rained down attacks from the sky.

The White Dragon Lord noticed the abomination was sinking lower. It was actually devouring the soil beneath it.

"Not good! It's digging into the ground!"

Suddenly, a terrible possibility occurred to Desert Bane.

"Its target is the Heart of the Plane!"