Prime Originator

"What's different from this Demonic Energy?" Aria asked curiously.

Leon paused for a moment before he broke the necks of two Wingrats, killing them in the process.

Afterward, he took out an empty glass bottle and locked his divine sense onto the Demonic Energy in the rat carcasses before extracting them with Divine Will, filling up the bottle.

"There's some sort of powerful law behind it," Leon explained.

Shortly after he sealed the bottle, three pairs of eyes gazed at the clear glass bottle in his hand in wonder.

"This is the Demonic Energy you speak of, Prince Leon?" Princess Thessalia asked while gazing at the red mist within the sealed glass bottle.

"Yes, that is correct. This is Demonic Energy." Leon nodded before he said, "Be careful. This overbearing Demonic Energy can also cause you to lose your mind and go berserk too."

Once this was said, Princess Faelyn quickly pulled her third eldest sister back with trepidation.

"It's true. There were many berserk humans back at the Great Wall!" Princess Faelyn said to her third eldest sister.

Meanwhile, Leon had a hard time connecting the dots between the Demonic Energy sealed with the bottle and the past Cataclysms.

Most of the rats' physique changes came from the unstable Artificial Spirit Energy, including their evolution of intelligence.

This coincided with what he knew of the last Cataclysm.

"What are you thinking about?" Aria tightly hugged Leon's arm in question. "I want to hear your thoughts."

Leon smiled wryly.

He caressed her soft cheeks gently and said, "I was thinking that maybe the great solar flare that occurred during the last Cataclysm 512 years ago wasn't the root cause of the beasts' evolution."

"That's true."

Aria agreed while holding Leon's hand on her cheeks, continuing to enjoy his caress before inputting her opinion, "It doesn't make much sense for a strong burst of Solar Energy to cause drastic changes to the world. After all, we are exposed to Solar Energy every day."

"That's right. However, it's a different story if the remnant Artificial Spirit Energy-producing ancient relics in the world received that burst of Solar Energy to mass-produce more Artificial Spirit Energy."

"Hold on."

Princess Faelyn interrupted, "Doesn't that mean the Demonic Energy has nothing to do with the Cataclysm?"

"According to the tribe's history records, the beasts were very aggressive during the last Cataclysm—but not to the point of going crazy berserk like this." Third Princess Thessalia inputted in realization.

There was a huge discrepancy between the current rats' behavior and the previous cataclysmic event.

Leon nodded.

"The beasts might have been exposed to small amounts of the Demonic Energy during the last Cataclysm." He said.

Aria pulled away from Leon in a startled manner before staring into his eyes.

"Doesn't that mean the rats have been exposed to a much higher amount of Demonic Energy compared to the beasts during the last Cataclysm? What's going to happen once the Great Solar Flare occurs again?" She asked.

"Perhaps all life will be exposed to Demonic Energy and go berserk. However, if we can locate the source of the Demonic Energy and destroy it before the Great Solar Flare occurs, perhaps we can avoid the worse from happening." Leon said objectively with solemness.

Princess Thessalia and Princess Faelyn creased their brows with a heavy feeling.

It came to their attention that the upcoming Cataclysm will be far, far more fearsome than the last Cataclysm.

The Demonic Energy robs their reason and intelligence, rather than increasing it!

"Another thing to point out is the frequency of the Cataclysms. Until this point, we've only known about Cataclysm that occurred 512 years ago and the one 10-thousand years ago. Except for these two Cataclysms, there has been no mention or records of any other Cataclysms occurring during this past 10-thousand year period—"

Awooo!

A distant howl interrupted Leon's words.

Everyone shortly turned their gazes towards outside the forest before glancing at each other. After a quick nod, they headed up onto the vine wall and joined the elven warriors.

"What's the current situation?"

"Your Highness, we're about to be overwhelmed by the rat tide. Your orders, please." An elven warrior informed with a crumpled expression.

Princess Thessalia gazed down at the new mountain of rat carcasses that had quickly piled up during their short discussion away.

Beyond the forest was just a field of grey, occupied by the numerous Wingrats rushing over.

After a quick nod, she turned to Leon.

Before Princess Thessalia could make a formal request for his assistance, Leon waved his hand and sent out a surge of flames, sweeping away the rats below.

Squeak! Squeak!

The carcass mountain was reduced to black ashes as Leon watched the surviving rats desperately escape from the wave of flames chasing after them.

Shortly after, Leon and the others fixed their sights in the distance, scanning left and right for the source of the howl they heard earlier.

"Where did that mighty howl come from? I don't see anything except rats, rats, and more rats." Faelyn commented while squinting her eyes to look as far as possible.

Shortly after, everyone's pupil narrowed on a specific hill of rats that suddenly got flung into the skies, revealing a big three-tailed wolf underneath.

Awooo!

The big three-tailed silver wolf howled furiously.

It slammed the ground repeatedly with its mighty paws, quaking the earth and crushing hundreds of rats before it rolled painfully on the ground to shake off the numerous rats on its body!

Thousands of rats were quickly crushed underneath the weight of the three-tailed silver wolf's oversized body.

The arrival of the three-tailed silver wolf immediately drew a portion of the rat tide away from the vine walls as they all swarmed towards it!

"It's a Transcendent-level beast!" An elven warrior exclaimed.

"It's not just any Transcendent-level beast! It's the Skysilver Beast King from the nearby low-rank tribe!"

"What's the Skysilver Beast King doing here? What about its tribe?" An elven warrior asked.

Princess Thessalia frown.

Elvengarde rarely interacts with the surrounding beast tribes outside the Great Forest. However, she had interacted with the proud Skysilver Beast King before.

Although they did not get along, she should put aside their difference and help each other out in times of trouble.

"The Skysilver Beast King looks like it is in trouble. It might be a Transcendent-level beast, but it won't be able to handle the rat tide alone. We need to help it."

"Wait, sister. Something seems wrong with the Skysilver Beast King." Faelyn pulled on her sister's arm.

Hearing her baby sister's words, Princess Thessalia paused to study the furious Skysilver Beast King tearing the rats apart and devouring them with its fangs while its eyes glowed with redness.

"The Skysilver Beast King has gone berserk!" Princess Thessalia realized.