Chapter 575 - 431: Tier Six Wondrous Object: Heart of the Ancient Tree

"Kado, Gordo."

Raylo turned to the two Hill Giants.

"You two will stay here. Guard the Space Stone Wall and don’t let any creature near it."

"Yes, sir!"

The two Giants accepted their orders.

Once he had given his instructions, Raylo, along with Moonlight, Lightning, and the other little ones, took a single leap and landed lightly upon Astra’s incredibly broad back.

Astra’s back was even larger than the grand square of Black Stone Castle.

The azure scales covering it were smooth and hard. Walking on them felt like treading on the flattest jade floor.

"ROAR!"

Golden Dragon Sun and the Black Dragon "Black King" let out a roar, beat their wings, and soared high, flying escort on either side.

Astra glanced at them.

The next second.

Before the two Giant Dragons could even react.

"HUMMM!"

An invisible force field composed of lightning instantly spread out from Astra’s body, enveloping the draconic forms of Sun and Black King as well.

The Golden Dragon and Black Dragon felt their bodies lighten as the surrounding scenery instantly blurred.

Astra’s pair of sky-blotting Thunderbolt Dragon Wings gave a mighty flap!

"BOOM!"

Its figure, along with Raylo, Sun, and Black King—all enveloped in the lightning—abruptly vanished from the highlands.

In their place, only a faint, slowly dissipating arc of electricity remained.

The two Hill Giants, Kado and Gordo, stared dumbfounded at the empty sky, their faces etched with utter shock.

They hadn’t even been able to see how the terrifying Giant Dragon had departed.

The speed of a Catastrophe Level being completely transcended the constraints of physical laws.

Wrapped in Astra’s lightning, Raylo felt the scene before his eyes transform into a blur of rapidly receding light and shadows.

He couldn’t hear a single whisper of wind.

His body felt no turbulence whatsoever.

The sensation was less like flying and more like executing an ultra-long-distance spatial jump.

「Just half an hour later.」

When the blurry light and shadows around them sharpened once more, Astra’s colossal body was already hovering above a vast, boundless primeval forest.

This forest was composed of giant trees, each a hundred meters tall.

Their massive canopies linked together, forming a green, seemingly endless ocean.

And in the very center of the forest, a particularly striking ancient tree, a full kilometer in height, stood like a titan holding up the sky at the heart of this green ocean.

Its gnarled trunk would require hundreds of people to encircle.

Its lush branches and leaves blotted out the sky for several kilometers in every direction.

A majestic surge of Natural Energy, brimming with the essence of life, radiated outward from it.

That was the target of this trip: the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree that had nurtured the Heart of the Ancient Tree.

Raylo’s gaze pierced through the layers of canopy, settling on the base of the ancient tree.

"Astra."

Raylo’s voice rang out.

"We’re just over three hundred kilometers from the Giant City-State. For a Catastrophe Level being, that distance can be covered in an instant."

"The Great Elder of the Giant City-State is a genuine Catastrophe Level Giant. The moment we make a move here, he will surely sense it."

"So, we have to make this quick."

Astra’s enormous golden eyes swept a cold glance over the Giant Wood Forest below.

"Rest assured."

"This will all be over before any other Catastrophe Level beings can arrive."

The moment it finished speaking, Astra’s colossal draconic body plummeted toward the center of the Giant Wood Forest below like a Meteorite, carrying with it world-destroying power!

"RUMBLE!"

An earth-shattering sound exploded.

Astra’s massive, mountain-like draconic body hadn’t actually struck the ground.

It abruptly halted its descent hundreds of meters above the kilometer-tall ancient tree.

But the terrifying pressure from its descent alone was like millions upon millions of tons of seawater crashing down from the heavens, slamming violently onto the tranquil primeval forest!

"WHOOM!"

It was as if the entire world had been put on mute.

Centered on the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree, all sound within a radius of several kilometers was utterly erased in that instant.

Immediately after, a visible, transparent shockwave centered on Astra swept out madly in all directions!

"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"

Within a radius of several thousand meters, countless hundred-meter-tall giant trees were like brittle, rotting wood before this unstoppable pressure.

Their trunks began to crack and splinter from the middle, inch by inch, before shattering completely.

Their massive canopies, as if seized by a great, invisible hand, instantly disintegrated into clouds of green dust that filled the sky!

The earth groaned and trembled violently.

Enormous, Abyssal-like fissures spread wildly across the ground, tearing the entire forest to shreds.

And at the base of the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree.

The hundreds of tree spirits that had been gathered there vigilantly were met with instant, utter annihilation.

These beings, formed from plants and Natural Energy, had not a shred of resistance against this pure, Catastrophe Level Dragon Mighty that originated from the very peak of the Life Level.

Their bodies suddenly froze stiff.

Their faces, made of vines and leaves, were instantly filled with a primal terror that stemmed from the very depths of their souls.