As the one-hour countdown came to an end, only one second remained.
Every human inside the tower held their breath.
On the 50th floor, a massive projection displayed the outside world. Since the knights had successfully conquered the first 50 floors, the 50th floor had been designated as a safe zone. The upper floors remained untouched.
Then the final second passed.
00:00:00
A tremendous rumbling sound suddenly erupted.
The entire world trembled.
The daylight that had existed only moments ago suddenly vanished, replaced by darkness.
Yet something was wrong.
It was night, but the sun was still in the sky.
It continued to shine brightly, yet its light could no longer illuminate the world below.
Then the stars appeared.
Countless stars illuminated the dark sky, shining with an unnatural brilliance.
BOOOOM!
Thunder roared across the heavens.
The ground continued to shake violently.
Then the temperature began to fluctuate.
One moment, the atmosphere became unbearably hot.
The next, it instantly turned freezing cold.
The sudden changes were unbearable. People experienced scorching heat and extreme cold almost simultaneously.
Then something even more terrifying happened.
The stars in the sky began to fall.
As they drew closer to the Earth, the temperature rose to unimaginable levels.
Plants withered and melted like candles held over a flame.
The oceans began to dry up.
And then—
The bodies of the knights began to melt.
The Northern King thrust his hands toward the sky, creating an enormous Ice Domain that spread over the army.
The moment the spell was cast, the army was finally able to catch its breath from the scorching heat.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
The scorching energy radiating from the falling stars was not something that could easily be pushed back.
In less than five seconds, cracks began to spread across the Northern King's Ice Domain.
CRACK!
The entire domain shattered.
By then, the stars had drawn even closer.
The weaker members of the army, those who were unable to protect themselves, were instantly killed.
To be precise—
They melted.
As the stars continued drawing closer, even the strongest warriors struggled to remain standing. They were panting heavily, desperately trying to endure the unbearable heat.
Then—
The Northern King's Divine Beast, the Ice Dragon, suddenly took flight.
With a thunderous roar, the Ice Dragon released an overwhelming wave of freezing energy.
The chilling force collided with the falling stars.
BOOM!
In an instant, the stars were completely frozen.
The scorching energy radiating from them died down.
And then, deprived of their terrifying heat, the frozen stars came crashing toward the Earth.
Right after that, the Southern Divine Beast, the Golem, slammed its hands against the ground.
BOOM!
The earth shook violently as a massive crack tore open across the ground, swallowing the falling stars one after another.
With this, the army breathed a collective sigh of relief, believing that the catastrophe was finally over.
But they had forgotten one thing.
The Sun was also a star.
And it was coming toward them too.
Albeit much slower than the others, the Sun was steadily drawing closer to Earth.
Seeing this, the Northern King immediately commanded his Divine Beast to freeze it.
But the Ice Dragon remained still.
It didn't even glance in his direction.
Then—
A loud, piercing shriek echoed through the heavens.
The Divine Beast of the East, the Fire Phoenix, suddenly took flight.
It flew directly toward the approaching Sun.
And then—
It swallowed it.
As if the Sun were nothing more than a mere snack.
The sight was so unbelievable that the army could barely comprehend what they had just witnessed.
The Phoenix's body wasn't even half the size of the Sun, yet it had somehow swallowed the entire celestial body.
The truth was even more astonishing.
The Phoenix possessed a terrifying suction force.
As it opened its mouth, an immense force erupted from within it, distorting the Sun itself and pulling it toward the Phoenix.
The enormous celestial body warped under the force before being completely swallowed.
The Sun—
vanished.
The world continued to tremble.
The very sky itself began to rip apart.
Those who had been born in A.O. watched in awe and terror as the impossible scenes unfolded before their eyes.
Many felt as though they were trapped inside a dream.
No—
A nightmare.
A nightmare that could very well become their last.
The sky continued to crack.
And then—
The heavens came crashing down upon the Earth.
The sky itself was falling.
The ozone layer, the clouds, and everything else that existed above the Earth began descending toward the ground.
Under the immense force of their descent, everything became liquefied.
A colossal wave formed in the sky and came crashing down like a tsunami.
Horror was evident on everyone's faces.
How were they supposed to defend against something like this?
Then—
The strongest territorial beast finally emerged.
An ancient and mythical creature that had not been called upon even during the Dungeon Outbreak.
It ruled over its territory.
Every living being within its domain was bound to obey it.
Even monsters were not excluded.
The King of the Seas.
MEGALODON.
For the first time since its evolution, it emerged from the depths.
And its size was now ten times greater than it had originally been.
Its enormous fins moved once.
BOOM!
With a single powerful flap, the Megalodon launched itself into the sky.
Its fiery-red eyes gazed down upon everything.
It looked as though it stood at the very top of the world, looking down upon all other beings as if they were beneath it.
This was the second appearance of the greatest beast on Earth.
The Unclassified.
MEGALODON.