MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 455: Aetherlock

The soldiers stationed just outside the military base hurriedly retreated, their figures vanishing through the shimmering barrier that encased the entire installation.

This barrier was the Aetherlock, an advanced military shield.

Rumored to be impervious to all but the most devastating assaults, it was said that only beings on par with the Supreme Monarchs possessed the strength to breach it.

What truly set the Aetherlock apart, however, was its unique capability: it completely repelled all forms of chaos energy, rendering it unable to penetrate the base.

This impenetrability was precisely why the military forces had been positioned outside the shield, there was simply no way for anything imbued with chaos energy to pass through from outside.

Soldiers surged toward the military base from every direction, some soaring through the air at blistering speeds, propelled by desperation and instinct.

In that moment, discipline collapsed.

The carefully issued commands from earlier disintegrated into chaos as military formations scattered and dissolved.

Floating islands trembled, then plummeted.

Structures crumbled into ruin.

Shards of stone and massive boulders rained from above like wrathful meteors.

The war that was meant to be waged outside the protection of the Aetherlock had now erupted within its bounds.

It became a free for all.

Aircraft ascended swiftly into the sky, their hulls thrumming with power as energy surged through their cores.

With calculated precision, they unleashed a relentless barrage from above.

Beams of concentrated light sliced through the chaos like divine retribution.

Bullets forged with pure mana and intent whistled downward in an unending storm.

Yet, for every demon or abomination that fell, another emerged, stepping forth unflinchingly from the ever-widening portals, as if death itself meant nothing.

A colossal, behemoth-like abomination let out a thunderous roar, its voice rending the sky and shuddering through the very fabric of the air.

Its serpentine body stretched for hundreds of meters, a monstrous silhouette coiled like an apocalyptic serpent poised to swallow the sun itself.

Then, its gaping maw snapped open, and raw energy began to convulse within, gathering in wild, volatile waves.

Heads turned sharply.

Eyes gleamed with urgency. Wills steeled in an instant.

A commanding voice shattered the tension:

"Barrier!"

In response, power surged from every direction as mages soared into the sky.

Each extended their hands, chanting in unison as arcane sigils ignited, barrier spells manifesting like radiant shields against the incoming devastation.

But the behemoth-like abomination paid no heed to the barriers or the scrambling mages, it simply unleashed its wrath.

With a deafening roar, the amassed energy surged forth in an instant, released without hesitation.

The very air split apart as a colossal beam of raw destruction tore through the sky, the wind shrieking in protest as it passed.

A thunderous boom followed as the attack slammed into the first barrier.

It didn't hold, it didn't even resist.

The barrier vaporized on contact, erased as though it had never existed.

The second barrier formed in its path, glowing brightly, but it was equally futile.

The energy beam ripped through layer after layer, shattering each spell with terrifying ease.

By the time it reached the final barrier, the blast had lost some of its momentum, but not enough.

The last shield cracked violently, barely holding before the beam finally dispersed, its remnants scattering like dying embers in the wind.

"Bring it down"

Another voice rang out, sharp, commanding, absolute.

In the next instant, the sky thundered as soldiers launched upward, their forms blurring into streaks of motion.

They encircled the massive abomination without pause, and unleashed their assault the moment they arrived.

Aura. Mana. Elemental fury. Spiritual energy.

All erupted in unison, brilliant and violent.

A piercing, guttural screech tore from the creature's throat, its cry laced with agony so fierce it shattered eardrums and cracked stone.

But the resistance was brief.

The light in its monstrous eyes flickered, then vanished.

Its massive form plummeted from the sky like a falling star.

When it struck the earth, the ground convulsed.

An earthquake rippled out for several kilometers, the sheer weight of the corpse carving a crater into the battlefield, final, unmoving, and dead.

But before the soldiers could even redirect their focus to their next targets.

More behemoth-like abominations emerged, identical to the one they had just slain, each stepping through the yawning portals with dreadful purpose.

Then came a sharp whisper of power.

[Dark Magic: Death Command]

A human soldier suddenly appeared atop the still-warm corpse of the fallen beast, his cloak billowing from the surge of mana gathering around him.

Dark sigils pulsed beneath his feet as he raised his hand, eyes glowing with eerie brilliance.

Mana roared at his command, and in a single, chilling second, the behemoth's massive body convulsed, then rose.

Brought back to life, but no longer its own.

Now bound in servitude.

Without wasting a breath, the soldier pointed forward, his voice cold and resolute.

"Kill them"

The reanimated abomination turned, its once mindless gaze now sharp with cruel purpose, ready to face its kin as a weapon of the very force it once sought to destroy.

The sky blazed with the fury of unleashed magic, dazzling spells painting the heavens in a chaotic dance of light and destruction.

Elemental storms clashed above, roaring with unrestrained power, while tendrils of chaos energy slithered through the air, corrupting everything they touched.

[Healing Art: Vitality Resurgence]

High above the battlefield, an elven mage hovered, his hands aglow with radiant energy as ancient incantations spilled from his lips.

A warm, golden light cascaded downward, weaving through the chaos like a lifeline.

Wounds began to mend, skin knitting partially, bleeding staunched, shattered bones held in place by threads of light.

Though the healing was incomplete, it was enough.

Enough to keep soldiers on their feet.

Enough to dull their pain.

Enough to let them fight another moment longer.

And in this war, sometimes a moment was everything.

The elven mage, breath ragged from constant casting, reached into his space ring to retrieve a mana potion.

His fingers barely brushed the vial when:

Thwip.

An arrow pierced clean through his temple.

His glow dimmed. His body went limp.

He plummeted from the sky, lifeless.

Some screamed.

Others didn't even notice.

Far below, the culprit stood with a twisted grin curling across his face, a demon cloaked in shadows, bow still humming from the shot.

He vanished into the chaos.

His arrows were silent, precise, and ruthless, always aimed at those whose focus faltered for even a heartbeat.

Another deranged smile tugged at his face as he loosed yet another arrow, this one streaking toward a human soldier's temple.

But just as it was about to land, the human's hand flickered.

Snap.

Without even turning, he caught the arrow mid-flight. A heartbeat later, his fingers tightened.

The arrow shattered like glass.

Silence rippled through the air for a moment, as if the battlefield itself held its breath.

It was Corporal Samuel.

His sharp eyes locked onto the source of the lethal shot, sharp and cold.

The demon, realizing it had been exposed, didn't hesitate, it melted into the shadows, attempting to vanish into the chaos.

But before it could disappear, Samuel was already there.

In the blink of an eye, he materialized beside the fleeing fiend.

With a single, precise punch to the head, the demon's skull shattered from within, an explosion of dark fragments spraying outward.

Its lifeless body collapsed with a heavy, sickening thud against the blood-soaked earth.

He bent down and picked up the bow.

It came with no physical arrows, instead, streams of concentrated energy coalesced and shot forth like deadly spectral arrows.

A cold smile curved on Corporal Samuel's lips.

Without hesitation, he chose to adopt the demon's own ruthless tactics.

Shadows writhed beneath his feet, twisting and shifting.

Then, with a sudden flicker, his presence vanished, an ephemeral ghost within the chaos.

From nowhere, mana arrows rained down relentlessly upon demons caught off guard or lost in their bloodlust.

Around him, the other training officers moved like shadows of their own.

They blinded enemies with sand thrown into eyes, laid cunning traps, and struck with any means necessary, underhanded, brutal, efficient.

No one flinched or hesitated.

This was war.

Not a duel of knights or paladins bound by honor's code.

Here, there was only one law:

Kill or be killed.