Prelude to Battle
The ones charging at the very front were the Molten Burrow Beasts and Netherflame Firebats coming from the lava zone.
One was heavy and grounded, the other light and aerial — one yin-cold fire, one blazing heat. Their coordination was flawless.
The enormous bodies of the Burrow Beasts rolled forward like siege engines. Every time their claws tore into the ground, they sent dozens of tons of scorching molten lava spraying outward. Meanwhile, the Netherflame Firebats wheeled in the sky, spewing streams of blue-white ghostly flames, trying to seal off the team's movement routes.
"TISK, the ground is yours!" Fa ordered in a deep voice. At the same time, her right-hand short blade slid free, releasing a biting chill.
"Lin Ya, support him!"
"Leave it to me!" TISK gripped the Earthshaker Warhammer with both hands. The blazing vine wrapped around the hammerhead was encased in his metal magic, blazing with dazzling light.
He planted his feet firmly, muscles bulging, then spun violently and slammed the hammer down!
Earthshaker!
BOOOOM——!
A heaven-shaking roar exploded. With TISK at the center, visible circles of yellowish-brown energy ripples surged outward crazily.
The ground impacted by this force instantly shattered. Large swathes of hard black crystalline rock broke apart like tofu, tumbling and rolling.
The foremost several Molten Burrow Beasts were directly flipped into the air by this enormous force. Their gigantic bodies rolled over and over in midair, the molten lava armor on their backs cracking from the impact and exposing the fragile flesh beneath.
Ice Shackles!
Fa raised her left hand lightly. A blue magic circle slowly materialized in the air.
She poured ice-element mana into the array. Instantly, several enormous chains made purely of ice element extended from the circle, accurately wrapping around the airborne Burrow Beasts.
Biting cold rapidly spread, freezing their limbs solid and at the same time extinguishing the molten streams flowing across their bodies.
"Burning Vine — go!" TISK roared.
The blazing vine flew from his hand and coiled around the ice-bound Burrow Beasts.
Under the enhancement of Fa's ice magic, the vine abruptly erupted with power beyond its normal limit — raging flames exploded!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of terrifying explosions instantly blew the Molten Burrow Beasts into charred, blackened fragments.
Lin Ya's animated roots shot out from the ground like tentacles, accurately binding the ice-locked Burrow Beasts.
Not only did they pin the monsters in place, the roots also absorbed surrounding ground energy, rapidly growing into thick, sturdy wooden barricades that blocked the follow-up charge of the remaining Burrow Beasts.
Waltz of Bow and Arrow
While the ground battle raged, the Netherflame Firebats in the sky launched their assault.
Their numbers seemed endless, their movements lightning-fast. The fire cloud they formed blotted out the sky. Dense balls of ghostly blue-white flame rained down from above.
"Leave them to me!" Arya's eyes were resolute. She drew her Storm Bow into a perfect full moon.
Her archery had long reached the realm of perfection. Every draw of the bow was accompanied by the howl of wind elements and the dazzling flash of light elements.
Tempest Arrows!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Dozens of wind-element condensed arrows streaked across the sky like meteors.
They split apart in mid-flight, turning into countless smaller spiraling wind arrows that accurately pierced every single Netherflame Firebat.
The wind arrows tore through their bodies, disrupting the fire element inside, extinguishing them instantly.
Arrows of Light!
Arya drew again.
This time, a pure arrow of concentrated light shot toward the densest concentration of firebats.
The arrow detonated in the air, scattering into hundreds of beams of light like celestial maidens scattering flowers.
Wherever the light touched, the Netherflame Firebats wailed and disintegrated into motes of glowing dust.
However, it seemed as though there was an endless supply of firebats — more and more kept pouring in.
"Rex, I need fire support!" Arya shouted.
"Support in position," Rex's calm voice replied.
He raised his left arm. The palm instantly reconfigured into a compact ion cannon.
"Nanodrone swarm — launch! Ion cannon — charging!"
Following Rex's command, hatches on his back opened.
Hundreds of nanodrones poured out like a swarm of angry hornets.
They swiftly formed up in the air, creating ice-element matrices that unleashed dense barrages of ice-crystal projectiles.
The ice barrages collided violently with the firebats' ghostly flame balls in midair, producing ear-piercing sizzling sounds.
After a brief charging period, the ion cannon fired a thick blue beam that brutally tore a huge gap through the fire cloud, opening up a much wider field of fire for Arya's arrows.
Chapter of Shadow and Venom
At the same time, the Crystal-Armored Venom Scorpions and Void Electric Jellyfish from the purple crystal forest, along with the Shadow-Realm Hounds and Void Gazers from the twisted space zones, silently closed in.
"Salsa, go dark!" Fa ordered.
"Understood!"
Salsa's soul form detached from her mechanical cat body, turning into a streak of shadow that melted into the surrounding darkness.
She approached the Crystal-Armored Venom Scorpions without a sound.
Their shells were extremely hard, almost impervious to physical attacks.
However, Salsa's shadow magic could precisely locate their weak points.
Shadow Hunting Hawks — summon!
Dozens of shadow-constructed hawks flew out from Salsa's shadow.
Their talons gleamed with eerie light as they accurately tore open the gaps in the scorpions' armor, injecting corrosive shadow energy directly into their organs.
Skeleton Soldiers — go!
Hundreds of skeleton soldiers crawled up from the ground.
Wielding bone swords, they fearlessly charged the scorpions, using their bodies to restrict the monsters' movements.
Although the skeletons' attacks did very little damage, they bought precious time for Salsa.
Darkwolf Knights — deploy!
Ten knights riding shadow direwolves charged out of the void.
Wielding long spears, they weaved through the scorpion swarm at incredible speed.
Dark-element magic continuously exploded from their spears, shattering the scorpions' armor.
"Zhamisi, your turn!" Salsa's voice sounded over comms.
"Received!"
Zhamisi rushed out from the rear, Venomfang curved blades in hand, moving with serpentine grace.
Dance of the Venom Serpent!
She weaved through the swarm of Crystal-Armored Venom Scorpions at blinding speed.
Every beautiful arc of her blades was accompanied by sprays of deadly venom.
The poison not only corroded their armor, but ate straight through their flesh.
The scorpions wailed in agony, struggling desperately, before finally dissolving into pools of black sludge under the relentless venom.
At the same time, Yuyuer's Dragonbone Gem Staff blazed with brilliant blue light.
Using water magic, she created wide fields of mist across the battlefield.
These mists not only obstructed the enemy's vision, but also provided excellent cover for Zhamisi.
Illusion: Realm of Nothingness!
Yuyuer's crystal orb radiated hazy light.
The surroundings distorted.
The mental interference waves of the Void Electric Jellyfish and Void Gazers were absorbed by the illusion, rendered ineffective against the team.
"Now!"
Celestia's six wings snapped open powerfully.
Her figure turned into a flash of lightning.
Dance of Wind and Thunder!
She moved at incredible speed among the Void Electric Jellyfish and Void Gazers.
Her short blades flickered with lightning.
Every swing was accompanied by explosive thunder.
The cores of the electric jellyfish were precisely shattered; the eyes of the Void Gazers were disrupted by her psychic magic.
In the end, they all disintegrated under the thunderous assault.
Symphony of Brutality and Ice
In the iceberg region, the Frost Construct Golems and Polar Ice Pythons also launched their attack.
Their assaults were heavily ice-based, capable of freezing almost anything.
"Kayla — go!" Fa ordered.
"ROOOAR!!"
Kayla let out an earth-shaking roar.
Her body rapidly grew larger, covered in a thick layer of frost-iron ore.
**Thunderfrost Annihilation Behemoth — Transformation!**
The Thunder Claw in her hand burst with dazzling lightning, merging with the frost-iron ore, transforming her into a giant beast woven from thunder and ice.
With utterly barbaric momentum, she charged straight at the Frost Construct Golems.
Thunder Claw!
Kayla's Thunder Claw smashed down onto a Frost Construct Golem with deafening force.
The clash of lightning and ice caused huge cracks to spread across the golem's body.
She attacked again.
The lightning on her Thunder Claw detonated violently, blasting the Frost Construct Golem into fragments.
At the same time, the Polar Ice Pythons attacked, spewing freezing mist in an attempt to encase Kayla in ice.
However, her Thunderfrost Annihilation Behemoth form possessed extremely strong resistance to ice attributes.
The freezing mist felt like nothing more than tickles to her.
Thunderfrost Storm!
Kayla roared once more, spinning her massive body.
Lightning and frost power fused into a gigantic storm that swept up all the surrounding Polar Ice Pythons and shredded them into pieces.
Rhea Medusa's Taunts
Even during the most intense moments of the battle, Rhea Medusa still sat leisurely on the black boulder, watching the show.
From time to time she would toss out disdainful taunts.
"Tsk tsk, Kayla, your speed is way too slow! Hurry up or I'm actually going to fall asleep!"
"Salsa, where's your Shadow Demon Dragon? Still not summoning it? Or are you afraid to let it show its face?"
"Fa, your ice magic still isn't pure enough! That Burrow Beast should've been turned into an ice sculpture directly!"
"Lin Ya, your plants are too weak! They're not even as hard as my fingernails!"
Her mocking remarks made everyone both angry and helpless — but at the same time, they ignited even fiercer fighting spirit.
"Shut up, you damn old monster!" Kayla roared, the electric arcs on her Thunder Claw surging even more violently.
"Hmph! I'll make you eat those words!" Salsa's voice was filled with fury.
She poured shadow energy into the crystal orb in her hand.
Shadow Demon Dragon — descend!
A young-adult-form Shadow Demon Dragon burst forth from the void.
Its body was woven from shadow and frost, and it let out a heaven-shaking roar.
Every breath the demon dragon exhaled carried devastating attacks of frost and shadow, sweeping clean huge swathes of monsters around it.
After a fierce battle, the team finally eliminated all the monsters.
They panted heavily, bodies bearing varying degrees of wounds.
"Haa… finally over."
Kayla returned to her beastkin form, plopped down on the ground, and breathed heavily.
"This isn't the end," Rhea Medusa's voice drifted over.
She was still sitting leisurely on the black boulder.
"This is just the appetizer."
"The **real** strong enemies…"
Rhea Medusa jumped down from the boulder.
"…are still deeper inside."
Everyone looked at Rhea Medusa, expressions grave.
They knew — the deeper they went, the more dangerous it would become.
And Rhea Medusa… still showed no intention of actually fighting.
Instead, the familiar wicked, wild, anticipatory grin curled across her lips:
"You actually won? Then keep moving forward! I hope the next wave… brings something with a bit more bite!"
She took big strides once again, leading the way toward the even deeper parts of **Starfall Land** — toward the core region where energy fluctuations grew even more chaotic and violent.
Fa and the others exchanged glances.
In each other's eyes they saw the same mixture of helplessness and urgency:
Helplessness at this willful bodyguard / aggro-puller, urgency because time was slipping away and the unknown lay ahead.
Kayla looked toward that even more twisted core region that seemed to hide endless secrets.
A fierce flame burned steadily in her beast pupils—
No matter what is waiting inside… Father, I'm coming!
The team rallied their spirits, carrying a trace of exhaustion but even more condensed battle intent, following closely behind Rhea Medusa as they stepped deeper into the curse of Starfall Land.
And this shattered spacetime seemed to sense the intrusion of these uninvited guests — quietly beginning to brew an even more terrifying storm.
Nine Lives to One, or Ten Deaths with No Return
The carnage of the battlefield lay spread behind them like an apocalyptic painting drawn in blood, shattered bones, and glowing energy residue.
Broken monster corpses were scattered everywhere — some still steaming, others still radiating the eerie afterglow of annihilated elements.
Fa's group panted as they quickly wiped the filth from their weapons, warily scanning the surroundings.
However, as they advanced deeper into the middle zone of **Starfall Land**, that earlier feeling of countless things lurking and watching greedily from the shadows… strangely receded.
The twisting waves at the edges of spatial rifts calmed.
The low roars and hisses deep within the crystal forests fell silent.
The entire area sank into an unsettling, oppressive stillness after the intense battle.
Rhea Medusa suddenly stopped walking.
Hands on hips, she looked around at this excessively quiet ruin.
Disappointment and dissatisfaction were written openly across her face.
She kicked away a piece of shrapnel that had been blasted here by residual energy.
The stone rolled into a small spatial rift and was instantly crushed into powder by invisible grinding forces.
"Tch! Bunch of spineless cowards!"
Her scornful voice rang out clearly even in the chaotic energy winds.
"They were roaring so loudly just now, but the moment things went bad they all scurried back into their holes? Since when did the monsters of **Starfall Land** become this pathetic? My joints haven't even warmed up yet!"
She shook her head, glancing over at Fa's group with a teasing tone:
"You little ones fought pretty decently, but what a shame the opponents were so trash. Let's go, keep moving. Hopefully something decent will jump out later — don't make this trip too boring."
Fa gave a slight nod.
A sharp glint of vigilance flashed deep in her star-like eyes.
She instinctively felt that the monsters hadn't truly fled in fear — they were lying in wait, biding time for a more lethal opportunity.
But now wasn't the time to investigate.
Finding the whereabouts of Kayla's father and — more importantly — the crucial **Star Fragment** was the top priority.
"Maintain alert formation. Continue advancing," she said firmly.
Her steady voice cut through the dead silence.
The team set off once more.
Their footsteps echoed monotonously on the broken rocks.
The deeper they ventured into the middle-to-late regions of **Starfall Land**, the more suffocating the environmental pressure became.
The stellar energy permeating the air was no longer an invisible wave — it had turned into thick, heavy sludge.
Every breath felt like inhaling razor-sharp ice shards, stinging every nerve ending.
The broken islands around them grew even denser.
Spatial rifts twisted, writhed, and opened/closed like living things, spewing not tiny beams now, but high-energy jets capable of vaporizing steel in an instant, and soul-freezing polar tides.
The sense of temporal disorder reached its peak:
A gigantic meteor remnant bizarrely "fell upward" in reverse right before their eyes;
An already annihilated battlefield phantom flickered by at hyper speed like fast-forwarded footage;
They could even glimpse blurred afterimages of their companions moving at different points in time.
Visual and perceptual chaos made heads spin and stomachs churn.
The "path" beneath their feet had long since disappeared.
All that remained was perilous leaping between relatively stable spatial fragments.
And along the edges of these floating fragments, in the crevices of giant crystal clusters, in the corners of congealed lava… horrifying sights began to appear in great numbers —
Corpses.
Not freshly killed.
These were long-desiccated, petrified, or grotesquely warped by chaotic time laws.
They lay scattered everywhere like carelessly discarded trash.
The sheer **number** far exceeded even the worst expectations.
Human skeletons twisted in unnatural angles, as though crushed by unimaginable force before death.
Elven skeletons lay beside the rotten, broken fragments of once-elegant longbows.
Dwarven bones were often found next to warped, deformed mining picks or shattered axe hafts.
There were even gigantic skeletons of unidentifiable races, as well as countless grotesquely mangled, shattered monster remains.
This was a road of thorns paved entirely with death.
"Heh, **Starfall Land** sure has a lot of 'tourists'," Rhea Medusa said casually.
She kicked aside the enormous skull of a flying monster half-embedded in a dark-purple crystal cluster like she was kicking away an annoying pebble.
"Every year there are always some idiots who don't know the height of the sky, or some extremely unlucky bastards who somehow stumble into this hellhole."
How did they get in?
She shrugged, utterly indifferent.
"It's a mystery. Some were chasing powerful monsters and accidentally charged straight into a spatial storm, getting sucked into a dimensional rift.
Some triggered broken hidden teleport arrays while exploring ancient ruins and got dumped right here.
Others were sailing on the Endless Storm Sea and got swallowed by a sudden 'Stellar Vortex,' ship and all, and woke up on the edge of some island without understanding what happened.
In short — the spatial laws here are as broken as a sieve. Every so often a 'leak' connects to the outside world and lets these poor bastards slip in.
But well…"
A cold smirk curled her lips.
"Getting in is easy. Getting out is hard. Ninety-nine percent of them just become fertilizer for this wasteland."
She paused, pointing with a slender finger at the extremely unnatural twisting wound on a human corpse.
"Look at this — classic spatial distortion tearing injury. Probably got caught in a vortex and was instantly shredded into pieces by countless tiny spatial rifts.
The ones who can reach this deep — outside of here, which one of them isn't a powerhouse? At the very least they're at general or archmage level.
But unfortunately…"
Rhea Medusa's tone carried faint mockery.
"The dangers of **Starfall Land** aren't something you can handle with just brute force or lots of mana.
Unless—"
She deliberately emphasized the words, amber eyes flashing with pride,
"—you possess a **Star Fragment**. That thing can suppress the surrounding spatial turbulence, allowing the holder to move through here as freely as a fish through water.
Or…"
She lifted her chin slightly,
"—you're someone like me — a true inheritor of stellar legacy, able to directly command the source laws and completely ignore this chaotic energy.
Otherwise… coming in here is **nine-lives-to-one**.
No — **ten deaths with no return**."
Listening to her explanation while looking at the tragic corpses scattered everywhere, it felt like a million-ton block of ice had been dropped onto their hearts.
The terror of this absolute death zone was branded into their minds in the most direct, cruel way possible.
Suddenly —
Kayla, who had been walking on the flank and maintaining maximum vigilance the whole time, had her beast pupils contract violently!
Her huge body froze in an instant!
Her gaze was magnetically locked onto a relatively open black crystalline rock platform not far away, surrounded by enormous dark-purple crystal clusters.
There, scattered across the platform… lay **three** particularly large and sturdy skeletons!
The shape of the bones, the structure of the joints — everything screamed **powerful beastkin**!
And what made Kayla's blood almost freeze solid was —
On the arm bone of one of them… was an armband!
Half-buried in dust, yet still clearly recognizable — the roaring wolf-head emblem of the **Blazing Claw Empire**!
Scattered next to the armband were several shattered metal badges bearing the insignia of the Imperial Legion…