Cherreads

Chapter 72 - Instant Kill! Just How Strong Is Adrian Vale?!

(The Power Rankings reset today—let's push for the top again this week. Thanks for all the support! Here's an extra chapter as a thank-you for your love.")

Based on the country name carved on the gate—and the Will of Blue Star's announcement—everyone finally understood what that ancient pale stone gate actually was.

All the speculation snapped into place.

And the livestream chat exploded.

"DAMN—so this is Dragonia's Nation Gate?! It looks insanely majestic!"

"Look at the dragon totems on those pillars… THIS is what a Dragonia gate should look like!"

"Bro… don't forget—its real name is the Doomsday Nation Gate."

"Oh—right!! If even ONE Divine Domain creature enters… our world gets the same creature manifesting inside Dragonia at 100x quantity!"

"Everyone, are you in the shelters already? The official notice said take this seriously!"

"Haha, our district moved first. We're all gathered. Not gonna lie, this shelter's actually really good."

"And the wild part? I heard the state is covering all supplies for these days. That's insane."

"Tell me another country that can pull this off."

"DRAGONIA GOATED!! DRAGONIA FOREVER!!"

Behind the gate, the blue "portal" continued rotating—slow, steady, cold.

Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw also stopped joking.

Both turned serious, calmly studying the Doomsday Gate behind them.

"Guarding a Nation Gate…" Adrian adjusted his glasses, voice low.

Raven stepped closer, ran her fingers along the carvings, eyes glinting with curiosity.

"This thing… feels like it's been here for a thousand years. Who even built it?"

She narrowed her eyes at the rotating blue core.

But she didn't touch it.

Curiosity was fine—stupidity was not.

After another sweep of the area, she looked back at Adrian.

"Little guy. We've got about twenty-three hours before the invasion starts. Do we need to prepare anything?"

Adrian answered without hesitation.

"No."

Raven shrugged like she'd expected it.

"Mm. Thought so."

Truthfully, for Adrian, the Gate and the later ranking rewards didn't matter much.

He could probably ignore the Gate entirely and still be fine.

But… even if he looked cold and cruel—

deep down, Adrian wasn't someone who could watch civilians die and do nothing.

He'd been bullied by scum.

But not everyone was scum.

There were people he wanted to protect.

Like the convenience store owner who always slipped him extra wages.

Like the kids at the orphanage.

Like the old couples who'd offered him help when he had nothing.

Thinking of them, Adrian's lips curved—barely, almost invisible.

For them alone…

he wouldn't let a single Divine Domain beast step through that gate.

And Raven?

Even more so.

She looked detached, but her core was gentle too.

Real world: chaos worldwide… and Dragonia moves like a machine

The moment the Nation Gates appeared and the countdown began, every country started scrambling.

But as always—

while the world argued itself into paralysis…

Dragonia was already executing.

They didn't know where the manifested beasts would strike from.

So they did the simplest, most brutal solution:

Gather everyone. Protect everyone. Centralize everything.

No shelters big enough?

Convert them.

No time?

Make time.

Don't underestimate the country that earned the title infrastructure monster.

Stadiums. Opera houses. Major universities.

Expand, restructure, reinforce—turn them into mass shelters.

In national crisis, Dragonia moved like a single organism.

And when civilians in other countries were marching with signs screaming "Give me my freedom"—

Dragonia had already finished preparations.

Meanwhile, abroad?

Governments tried copying Dragonia's approach…

and immediately got crushed by reality.

Shelters were expensive.

Resources were limited.

And civilians refused to cooperate unless the state guaranteed food and safety.

So most nations collapsed into disorder.

Still, many leadership circles stayed confident.

Why?

Because their contestants got attribute boosts.

In their minds:

Stronger contestants = easy gate defense.

They believed their champions would stand like walls.

"One man guards the pass—ten thousand can't break through."

That fantasy lasted…

right up until the countdown hit zero.

Countdown ends — Nation Gate Event begins

The final hours slipped away.

[02:59]

[02:58]

[02:57]

Then—

the final minutes.

[00:30]

[00:29]

[00:28]

Contestants worldwide tightened their grips, steadied their breathing, prepared for their "first battle after powering up."

"Divine Domain beasts?"

"Trash."

Then the last seconds.

[00:03]

[00:02]

[00:01]

The Will of Blue Star declared:

[NOTICE!! The Doomsday Nation Gate Event begins NOW!!]

[Contestants—defend your nation to the death!!!]

The world held its breath.

Then—

the earth started shaking.

Chicken Nation gets deleted in one charge

Inside the God-Nation Alliance conference room, leaders were grinning.

"Our contestants got All Attributes +20!"

"Same! +15!"

"Hah—look, look! They're already coming!"

The ground trembled. Dust rose like a storm.

Then the beasts finally appeared—

a black line at first… then a stampede.

The Will of Blue Star analyzed:

[Warning! Chicken Nation's Doomsday Nation Gate has detected Divine Domain creatures! Analysis complete!]

[Name: Rhino Water Buffalo (D-rank)]

[Traits: D-rank Divine Domain beast… its horn will teach every enemy what fear is.]

The livestream went quiet.

Then panic hit.

"D-rank…?! Isn't this the one Miracle Nation faced before?"

"But there are… so many…"

"That's at least ten!"

"Ten D-ranks charging together… even a C-rank wouldn't stop that!"

Chicken Nation's two contestants didn't retreat.

One shouted, arrogant:

"D-rank? Come as many as you want—I'll kill as many as you bring!"

They charged in.

Impact.

One second later—

it was over.

The stampede flattened them like paper.Chicken Nation had no contestants left to defend the gate.

No screams.

No fight.

Just instant death.

The Rhino Water Buffalo herd didn't even slow down.

They surged straight toward the Nation Gate.

The entire stream shattered.

"WHAT??"

"No counterplay? Not even one hit??"

"This is D-rank?? Are you joking?!"

"THEY'RE GOING INTO THE GATE!!"

And everyone remembered the rule:

One enters → the same creature manifests in the real world at 100x quantity.

A cold dread spread across the planet.

Because if this was "only D-rank"…

then what did a hundred look like in a city?

The domino effect — nations fall like paper

The same scene repeated everywhere.

Contestants started confident—

then turned blank—

then horrified—

then broke.

Even with attribute boosts, most contestants simply weren't built to stop charging herds and coordinated beasts.

Some countries got hit by C-ranks.

Some unlucky ones got hit by C+.

In less than an hour, huge portions of contestants were dead.

And once the gate defense collapsed—

the beasts charged through.

"HUMMMMM—"

Nation Gates rang.

Blue light spun.

Divine Domain beasts vanished into the portals—

and manifested in the real world at one hundred times the number.

That's when the true meaning of "Doomsday" arrived.

Real world: cities become slaughterhouses

Beasts appeared without warning—like they were summoned from nothing.

They scattered across countries.

Then moved toward the nearest living things.

Destroy. Kill. Eat.

A group of young protestors—still laughing about how "the government overreacted"—walked down a street.

They mocked shelters.

Mocked the threat.

Then—

white light flashed.

A low, monstrous bellow rolled across the road.

And the Rhino Water Buffalo herd appeared.

They locked on.

Charged.

The protestors didn't even have time to run.

They were crushed into meat.

Then the herd turned—

and charged again.

And again.

Nearby civilians finally screamed and fled.

But the scream only drew the herd's attention.

And the disaster spread into the city like a wave.

Across the globe, the same nightmare unfolded.

Modern weapons could kill D and C ranks—

but not fast enough.

Not everywhere.

Not when beasts manifested in countless locations simultaneously.

Troops were limited.

Response time mattered.

And people died in the gaps.

Within hours, death counts became unimaginable.

A true extinction-scale panic.

Hidden powers emerge worldwide

Then the "shadow world" stepped onto the stage.

Mysterious elites, secret masters, abnormal beings—

people who were supposed to exist only in myths and rumors—

began slaughtering Divine Domain beasts.

In Eastern Isles: a man with white hair and glasses walked through ruins with a briefcase.

The beast sensed danger and tried to flee—

but the man blinked behind it.

The briefcase unfolded into a black spear.

One strike—brain pierced.

A C- rank died instantly.

Elsewhere: an old swordsman, thin as bone, moved like lightning—

one slash split a C-rank in half.

He flicked blood off the blade, calm as water.

In Miracle Nation: a black, laughing monster tore through C-ranks like tissue.

In another place: a red-armored figure floated in midair, raining metal blades into a field of corpses.

The world finally realized:

Monsters weren't the only "unreal" thing on Earth.

Humans had monsters too.

And yet… Dragonia stays calm

But while the world burned—

Dragonia looked almost peaceful.

No cities collapsing.

No streets turning into abattoirs.

No emergency feeds filled with screaming.

People were sheltered.

Protected.

Organized.

It was like Dragonia lived in a different timeline.

Why?

One reason only:

Dragonia's contestants were too strong.

Back to the Divine Domain — Dragonia gets hit first… and Adrian deletes an A+ beast

The instant the Nation Gate Event began—

Dragonia also got its first intruder.

A roar rolled across the forest.

Not a normal roar.

It was like a shockwave.

Trees along the sound path snapped and shattered.

The ground trembled.

Then—

it arrived.

A massive white tiger, over ten meters tall even on all fours.

Snow-white fur.

Dark stripes.

A golden "king" mark on its forehead.

The Will of Blue Star analyzed:

[Congratulations! Dragonia contestants Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw encountered a Divine Domain creature! Analysis complete!]

[Name: Hanging-Gold White Tiger]

[Rank: A+]

[Traits: A+ Divine Domain apex predator… the true ruler of the forest. Anything it marks dies.]

The chat lost its mind.

"A+?! Are you insane??"

"Why do other countries get D and C… and we open with A+?!"

"If that thing enters the Gate and manifests x100… how much are coffins right now??"

"Wake up—A+ isn't A. It's a different universe!!"

Adrian didn't care.

To him—

A, A+, whatever.

It was food.

He moved first.

In a single breath—

his Kagune exploded outward.

It pierced the White Tiger's flesh instantly.

The tiger twisted, barely dodging a fatal hit—

but it still screamed as the pain tore through it.

Adrian didn't stop.

Second strike. Third. Fourth.

Then he blurred forward.

His right arm transformed—

a black-red dragon claw.

Before the tiger could react—

Adrian's claw came down.

"SLASH—!!"

Blood erupted like a fountain.

The tiger's body collapsed.

An A+ apex predator—

decapitated.

Adrian calmly retracted his Kagune, removed his glasses, wiped a single droplet of blood off the lens, and put them back on.

Only then did the livestream regain the ability to speak.

"…?"

"…Huh??"

"Was that… a one-shot??"

"BRO THAT'S A+!! YOU JUST DELETED IT!!"

"Why was the centipede fight harder than this??"

"I'm numb. I can only type 666."

Even Raven Shaw inhaled sharply.

She could handle A+…

but not like this.

Not this casually.

Not this fast.

Just how strong is this little freak now…?

Even Dragonia's hidden masters, watching from the real world, went silent.

They'd opened the stream thinking:

Maybe we'll get a chance to fight too.

Instead, they saw Adrian erase an A+ like trash.

And one thought spread through every mind:

There won't be any leftovers for us.

Then the warning hits early — S-rank incoming

Just as the celebration was peaking—

the atmosphere shifted again.

This time, the Will of Blue Star didn't wait for the enemy to appear.

It spoke like an alarm.

[NOTICE!! Detected: Dragonia contestants are about to encounter an S-rank Divine Domain creature!! Prepare for battle!!!]

The chat froze.

The world held its breath again.

Because if Adrian can instant-kill A+…

what kind of monster is an S-rank?

To be continued…

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