Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 144: Rise of the Mountain Beast III: Until the End

Two seconds after the pull dulled, a deafening roar tore through the air, shaking everything, including the unshakable mountains.

At that same time, screams tore through Dusthollow as glass shattered from tall buildings and fell like rain on the streets.

Ladies walking calmly on the street doubled their steps, and children getting carried away by their parents in an instant.

At Dusthollow's junction, an old woman using a stick as a third leg paused, smiling. "Finally, he is back." A bad smell seeped out of her mouth as she raised her head and glanced at the moving tiny darkness turning into clouds.

She closed her eyes, readied her mouth, then threw the stick away. When her head tilted down, she began to dance in an eerie manner, then vanished as if she had never been there.

Back at Basalt Mountain, Ewen was being held in Darian's arms like a baby, sharp gasps exiting from him.

"Put him down!" Kira screamed. "Why follow us, knowing you can't withstand fear?"

Her words waved through the air like darts.

Darian slowly loosened his grip on Ewen, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Join the soldiers nearing the convoy."

Ewen lowered his head, his small war discs moving toward his waist as he followed the fleeing soldiers and the stubborn reporters.

Two Thule soldiers neared Ewen the moment he reached the first vehicle. "Ewen Qing, follow us to safer ground."

They guided the boy, then moved him far away from the convoy where most reporters and cameramen stood, sighing in relief.

In the space in the mountain, which was now visible even at a hundred-meter distance, a bright light flickered.

In a flash, bones like broken cathedral spires erupted, followed by a colossal body that was draped in slick black flesh.

Standing twenty feet away from the split part of the mountain, cold snaked down Kira's spine. Her bones cracked beneath her skin. Her eyes widened, followed by a pale face.

Beside her, Darian's boastful stance faltered, his sword loosening from his grip. It bounced on the corpse of an Oculus devourer, then clicked on the ground once.

With synchronized steps, the two moved back, the heels of their boots promising to make them falter and slam on the ground.

The thing rising from the mountain kept on exiting as more of the slick black flesh dragged forward.

Leon's fingers twitched at his side as his mind failed to settle on one part of the creature, which was causing his heart to beat faster even without its full body shown.

Where most creatures' faces should be was a massive vertical maw split open from the upper skull down through its chest.

Rows of jagged teeth lined the upper section of the wide mouth, sticky liquid dripping from it.

Each Oculus creature that stood at the front, where the split part of the mountain was, began to dissipate into motes and entered the creature's mouth as it inhaled through the jagged maw.

The maw widened by another inch. Then another as darkness, and the transformed Oculus devourers got inhaled.

The translucent panel bled into reality the moment Leon's focus got stuck on the faceless creature.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Presence Detected.

Scanning...

Name: Abyssal Maw Lords

Rank: B

Hostility: Critical

Environmental Alteration: Confirmed.

Unique Ability: Biomass Conversion

Before Leon could shift his eyes from the panel, more of the corpses lying on the ground got swallowed as it inhaled.

"EVERYONE STAY BACK!" Longwei's scream bounced in the air, yet the words thinned like a chime.

Just as two corpses, Kira and Darian, moved past got carried toward the creature. Kira's legs gave out. She crouched on one knee, her chest rising and falling in a frantic drum.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT…?"

No one answered, not even Darian, who was a step away from her.

With the little strength left in her, Kira pushed herself up from the ground, then ran for her life.

'When did this rise from the dead?' Longwei thought as the memory of the battle he and a few other special forces fought at the border of Thule and Agatha spun in his head.

His face turned pale as he tried to focus on the speeding motes entering the wide mouth of the creature.

A few meters away from Longwei, Hei Yung gave out a saddened sigh, then closed his eyes.

'Not you too…'

The thought rammed into his mind as memories of the same battle Longwei was trying to pause also reeled in his head.

His left arm began to shake, but he caught himself before anyone could notice.

Yet Leon saw it.

'Are they…?'

Leon shifted his gaze from Hei Yung to Longwei, then back to Hei Yung, then tightened his grip on the dagger.

"Let's go… Leon!" Zoe screamed, trying so hard to pull the boy, but Leon's stubbornness had taken over.

He pulled himself from Zoe's grip, then closed the gap between himself and Hei Yung. "Sir," Leon said as he reached out, placing a hand on Hei Yung's left shoulder.

Hei Yung reacted abruptly, shaking as if the touch he had felt was that of the creature that caused him to be hospitalized for a full year.

"LEON," Hei Yung tried smiling, but couldn't hide the fear buried within his eyes.

He looked at Leon once, then shifted his gaze from him to Longwei, then back to Leon.

Hei Yung placed a hand on Leon's left shoulder. "This is not your fight. Go back."

"But—"

"It's an order," Hei Yung whispered in a cold tone, then stared at Leon until the boy moved away from him.

Although Leon moved back as he had insisted, he didn't go beyond thirty steps.

With slow steps, Hei Yung neared Longwei, then placed a hand on his shoulder.

Longwei turned his gaze from the monstrous creature, then gave Hei Yung a stiff smile.

"It's been a while since we fought together, brother," Longwei said, winked at Hei Yung, then shifted his gaze back to the creature.

"Until the end," he whispered without turning back.

As the heated air brushed against their faces, Longwei shoved his left arm into his pocket, pulled out a golden triangular remote controller, and then turned.

"Give this to Leon." He handed the controller to Hei Yung, then smiled.

"Why give me this? You're the one who should—" Hei Yung paused and shifted his gaze from the key to Longwei's smiling face.

"Do me the honor, brother."

As soon as the words faded, Longwei dashed toward the creature like a bolt of light. "It's the only way, and you know that."

His voice traveled from the distance and seeped into Hei Yung's ears.

Hei Yung's blue lightning burst out, some converging from within him and the sky itself. This time, the ring they formed expanded after a beam of light exploded, giving the night a daylight exposure.

Standing at the window of the mansion in Bastion City, Lily tilted her head sharply toward Li Mei. "Mom, the sun is coming early."

Beside Li Mei, Min-seo's heart dulled, her head lowering. "That's not the sun."

In a flash, Lily's brightened face darkened.

Back at Basalt Mountain, yellowish light began to seep out of Longwei's skin as he stood at the front of the Abyssal Maw Lord, laughing.

His skin began to tear off one after another when the light doubled.

Then, like a nuclear bomb, Longwei blasted.

The density of Longwei's soul ignition burned parts of the creature's slick skin in the hazing flames that melted the mountain.

Yet the creature stood still even after the blinding light faded.