An invisible point of gravity appeared in the sky, stretching the earth as if a domain had been deployed, causing the permafrost to slowly shift.
Snow and trees were the first to fly into the sky. Accompanied by a deafening roar, the mountain range was visibly torn apart. The continuous peaks shattered, transforming into massive rocks that lifted off.
Beneath the moonlight, the world was collapsing.
"This is genuinely romantic." Mobius's eyes became hazy. She had witnessed destruction many times, but watching the figure in front of her, she couldn't help but cross her legs.
This was the exhilaration brought by evolution. For her, who had seen Ryan when he was weak, this pleasure was even more intense.
It was the sight of a man climbing up step by step, mastering the power of a god with a mortal body. The earth shattered in his hands, and the path of evolution was seemingly endless!
Ryan didn't know Mobius was thoroughly impressed. He simply maintained a detached expression, watching the mountain range being pulled up by the roots, revealing what lay beneath.
You like digging holes to hide? I was just too lazy to waste effort on the periphery. Did you really think you could escape?
Ryan was well aware of his own power. Destroying a city was effortless. Accumulating enough strength, tearing a continent apart was within his grasp, but the Earth was his home base. No one actively demolishes their own home.
As expected, the density here is far greater than anticipated.
After lifting the mountain range, Ryan instantly saw over a dozen thick, pure white, wriggling maggots—no, they looked more like tree roots, because even with the entire mountain lifted, he couldn't see the end of these things.
The dozen thick roots were deeply embedded in the earth. They spread in the direction he had come from while extending northward in the other direction. In terms of visual impact, the roots here were much thicker, and the smaller tendrils spreading from them were several circles thinner.
They squirmed, fighting against gravity, yet were slowly being pulled out.
"Mobius, what do you think?"
"Uh, this thing is more like a plant's root system. The second root from the left is very similar to the specimen analyzed earlier. Specific data requires slicing for observation." A trace of fanaticism appeared on Mobius's face. This was also a form of evolution.
"But I can conclude that the peripheral roots extend from here. You can imagine what the entity that emits these roots must look like."
The bizarre Honkai Beasts had vanished, all consolidated into a single entity, maintaining its essence while evolving in an unpredictable direction.
Ryan naturally trusted the expert's judgment. This was the reason he had brought Mobius along. He looked at the second root on the left and indeed saw the densely packed, suction-cup-like mouths.
That confirmed that the 'Beast' still had other purposes.
"Step back. I'll collect some Honkai Beast factors for you. Does that count as repaying the debt?"
"Dream on. That only counts as today's interest." Mobius scoffed but ran faster than anyone else, flying into the high sky in the blink of an eye.
This snake was cowardly to a fault. She was the first to run during the Herrscher of Constraint incident, only to be accidentally injured by Kevin.
"Just for today, I won't mock you."
Accompanied by the sound of the earth cracking, Ryan's gaze sharpened. He saw the ground shattering loudly. Under the moonlight, a swaying, massive net was opening beneath his feet.
Roots—continuously spreading and connecting roots. This location was hundreds of kilometers from the edge. As their 'superior' was exposed, they surged toward him.
Ryan stood thousands of meters in the air, watching the earth crack open into a spiderweb spanning hundreds of square kilometers. From this fragmentation, the rising giant net converged toward the sky.
The grandeur before him was indescribable. Mobius watched, her eyes twitching. Regardless of its strength, a mass of this size, if it were to slam down, would flatten a small country.
"It's like I poked a rat's nest. Is the reaction this intense?"
Ryan overlooked the earth. He twisted his wrist and slammed his upturned palms down.
Falling Star of Heaven.
Ryan was essentially taking a mountain range, sucking it into the sky, kneading it into a sphere at the gravity point, and then slamming it back down.
He watched the giant net meet the meteorite. As the ground beneath subsided, it slowed the impact's descent, accompanied by a grinding sound. Dense, large mouths even grew out, chomping wildly at the meteorite.
The speed slowed, and the volume shrank, but as a second 'meteor' dropped onto the top of the first, all resistance became futile.
"Rats, get back into the ground!!"
His right leg slammed down like a hammer. Ryan, who was only about 1.8 meters tall, was negligible in this spectacular scene, but the force he unleashed made him unquestionably the center of attention.
BOOM—RUMBLE—
With a dull, prolonged sound like a thunderclap, the meteorite finally struck the ground, splashing a giant, wave-like shockwave mixed with storm and debris, slicing outward like a knife.
Complete annihilation.
Mobius, standing beneath the moon, licked her lips. She stared at the shattering giant net, waved her hand to brush away the rising dust, and raised her head.
Hmph. This god-like man was still straddled and chewed on by me, unable to fight back even once.
"The size is immense, but the combat strength is not as strong as that skeletal giant." Ryan showed no sign of pride. For the current him, smashing hundreds of square kilometers of permafrost, let alone the entire Siberia, was within his ability.
The only advantage was that this thing was so massive that consuming it with the Authority of Blood would take too much time.
Too weak. Too weak to be worth so much effort and time.
Whoosh—
The air shrieked. Ryan's expression subtly changed. A streak of azure quickly disappeared in the sky.
BOOM!!
Beams of light pierced through. The cracks, violently shaken by the meteorite, either turned into muzzles, incessantly firing lasers that shattered the sky, or morphed into large mouths full of razor-sharp teeth, snapping at the sky from countless directions.
Mobius's smile instantly froze. These attacks were not aimed at her, but their power was truly astonishing. Hundreds of beams swept back and forth, and giant mouths, each larger than a small house, continuously snapped.
There were too many—so many that it looked like hundreds of paintbrushes depicting an apocalyptic scene. Just as she was forced to climb higher, a streak of azure light dimmed the moonlight, turning the night sky into day.
Lightning Slash.
Lightning coalesced into a blade, slicing across the night sky. The Authority of Thunder roared. If this were a few years ago, the city of Canghai would have been cut in two.
After the blade passed, countless lightning arcs spread out. Mobius saw a sea of thunder rolling beneath her. The swaying roots were cut in half, and the sea of thunder annihilated the severed parts.
It was magnificent and vast, staining her body an azure blue. Mobius didn't just marvel. Concentrating her gaze, she looked down and saw something within the hundreds of clean cross-sections.
That is...
"Undigested Honkai Beasts." Ryan saw it too. Inside the roots were remnants of limbs and torsos. Their size and shape clearly belonged to Honkai Beasts.
He had sliced the outer part before, and it contained only pure energy. Just as Mobius suspected, these were the main conduits.
Honkai Beasts weren't pure energy. Digestion, followed by infusion into the ends—this was also part of the consumption process. But were these ends on the outside or on the inside?
The contracting pupils reflected the sea of thunder and the remnants. Realizing this was crucial intelligence, he understood why the detectors showed them as scattered dots. Once the surface was broken, they were revealed to be continuous roots.
"The energy concentration is internal. The dots on the detector map are 'digestion' residue. This area isn't even interference; it's simply that the energy is concentrated into a single mass, making it difficult to distinguish each part!"
Mobius's certain voice rang in his mind. As the expert in this field, Ryan didn't need to doubt.
"I see. The seed has already been planted. Its greatest characteristic is its astonishing digestive power."
He looked up at the boundless snowfield. Based on this theory, the entire Siberia had become one giant mouth. It was no longer a case of big fish eating little fish; it was swallowing everything in one gulp.
Unexpected, yet imaginable. Ryan realized he had only startled less than a tenth of the root system. His expression grew even more serious.
Since it's all one entity, why does only this area show a reaction? Isn't it supposed to grow everywhere?
The answer was unknown, but Ryan knew it was far more complex than just creating a bigger, stronger Honkai Beast. And the current reaction was intense enough.
Wuuu—
The pure white roots turned pitch black. They passed through the remnants of the sea of thunder. The tips were no longer hands but transformed into giant axes and greatswords. From a distance, they looked like a slowly closing Persian daisy, enveloping Ryan in the center.
Blades flashed, imbued with immense power. Giant blades whizzed past him, forcing the man to dodge erratically. Occasionally, he deflected them with Gravity or severed them with a lightning blade.
Hardening ability.
Ryan pursed his lips, sidestepping a great hammer smash. He raised his right hand, freezing a scythe-like blade above his head. A whip kick smashed a giant sword, sending sparks flying. Then, looking around, wave after wave of attacks surged toward him.
There was no skill, just the simultaneous attack of hundreds of 'hands.' A single hand-slash of lightning cleared the surrounding area with a crisp thunderclap. Watching the black fragments fall, Ryan gradually lost his patience.
It's endless! The roots were inexhaustible even just in the southeast direction. Even if he chopped them into countless pieces, the residual energy would still—
The surrounding giant hands suddenly retracted. Ryan saw countless fragments, large and small, floating around him. They were the pieces he had just severed, and the remaining energy drove them to attack.
Recycling waste, burning themselves out in their final light.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
The air was filled with piercing sounds, like ten thousand arrows firing simultaneously. Tens of thousands of black fragments flew toward him. No one could evade this level of saturation fire. Fortunately, Ryan didn't need to bother. He raised his index finger.
"Domain Expand."
The Authority of Constraint spread in all directions, causing the fragments to freeze neatly in the air.
All kinetic energy was constrained. A second later, the pitch-black fragments were stained with a layer of red.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like a long string of firecrackers igniting, dense explosions rang out continuously, the released energy slamming against the constraint limit, and then in the next moment—
A hundred swords slammed down!
The recently scattered 'Persian daisy' converged, engulfing Ryan in a series of fireballs. Mobius, who had retreated to an altitude of ten thousand meters, clenched her fist, preparing to descend to help, but her steps paused again.
A ball of flame ignited in the center of the 'flower,' pushing it open slowly but resolutely, like an arm wrestling match. As the gap widened, the giant, blazing figure in the center became clearer.
It was unprecedentedly massive, over three hundred meters tall. It was thicker than any root. The hundreds of greatswords that slashed against its forearm were slowly pried apart, making Ryan in front of the chest seem insignificant.
Dong—
A shockwave swept out, pushing the converging Persian daisy completely open. Ryan was expressionless. He watched the black color recede. Hundreds of sandworm-like mouths opened, the energy spheres gathering inside them twinkling like stars.
He raised his hand and twisted his waist. The blazing giant behind him performed the same motion, except its palm wielded a lightning-shrouded long-handled glaive. With Ryan, it swung down fiercely.
"Cleave!"
The air was split in two. The lightning blade traced a crescent, plunging into the Ural Mountains and carving out a sheer canyon.
The earth was cut in two. Everything in the path was severed. The residual electric arcs annihilated the fragments, and Ryan ignored the roots behind him. He lifted his foot, moving in sync with the giant, heading north.
No matter what blocked the way, the long-handled glaive swung back and forth. His pace remained slow and steady.
Ryan was operating a 'Gundam'—no, more accurately, remotely controlling the blazing giant with the Authority of Domination, breaking through thorns and clearing the path.
Though seemingly slow, each step covered hundreds of meters. Compared to him, the roots looked tiny and couldn't stop the repeatedly cleaving glaive.
"This is truly exaggerated. This must be more powerful than anyone's Overclocked Supremacy Surgery," Mobius muttered under her breath, feeling the visual impact was overwhelming.
The giant wielded the lightning blade, severing the roots—the smallest of which could swallow a tank whole. Ignoring the encirclement, it relentlessly marched north, leaving only a trail of burning footprints in the air.
She instinctively wanted to follow, to witness this spectacle, but logic kept her rooted to the spot.
There were too many roots. They might not kill her, but continuous attacks would certainly exhaust her. She felt it would be a sin to force Ryan to turn back and cover her.
"Go tell Mei that the net can be closed. Everyone must gather together. Do not disperse. The time to witness the result is approaching. A hypothesis is slowly becoming a possibility."
Just then, the voice in her mind broke her hesitation, making Mobius suddenly realize her mission was over.
She had the intelligence and the conjecture. Now was the time for verification. Judging by the attack she had witnessed, even Kevin would have difficulty breaking through.
She looked down at the tactical terminal, frowning, "Communication interference?!"
"It seems that Honkai Beast has also been fused into the entity. That's not surprising."
Kevin and Andavich had worked hard before, only removing a few base stations. This monster, using its root system as a medium, had spread the interference source to hundreds, even thousands, of locations. Forget communication; even the map was distorted.
"Give me two hours." Mobius dared not delay. She turned and flew away, but paused slightly after a hundred meters. "After we gather, what do we do?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
The giant swung its dual blades fiercely, slicing a thousand-meter mountain, along with the black wall made of roots, in half.
"Follow Me!"