A massive shock wave exploded across the surface, rocking the city barrier as crackles danced into the air from the point of impact. The colossal blade crumpled at the tip and began to topple, but Eik simply let it dissolve into liquid that poured over the barrier, seeping through the small cracks where the shield had already been breached by the massive and concentrated assault.

The two smaller rods that followed finally broke all the way through, opening up a hole in the barrier that allowed Eik's forces to pour in and over the wall where they engaged the cultist guards who were stationed on the wall. More cultists were already arriving from the surrounding buildings, but they were killed almost by accident by the stray fire from the high-rankers. It would probably take at least a minute or two before the real defenders made their entry.

While they still had the freedom to do so, Eik's party chipped away at the now weakened edges of the crack in the barrier, opening it further. With the chaotic bombardment, it was difficult to tell how strong the opponents were but Eik was pretty sure that there had been a few A-rankers mixed in there. Not that they had lasted long against the combined force of the raiding party.

Frankly, the spectacle of more than a hundred A-rankers fighting side by side was even more spectacular than Eik had imagined. The pure violence was unlike anything he had witnessed before. He couldn't help but recall the first time he had truly watched a group of B-rankers fight during the great raid on the Lake Serpent back on Earth.

At that time he had thought that, surely, this had to be the epitome of strength. Crushing trees with superhuman abilities. How could it get more extreme than that? Well, turns out that hadn't been anywhere near peak of power.

Yes, he was obviously witness to his own power on a daily basis, but the combined might of this many high-rankers just could not compare. It was destruction incarnate. Entire buildings pulverized by stray attacks as if they were houses built with playing cards, deep and devastating scores carved into the earth by the simple swing of someone's sword.

It was mayhem.

Andihar, now in his golden armor, led the charge with the slab of metal he called a sword. Despite the size of that blade, he swung it with speed that Eik had trouble following with his eyes. His gigantification ability was really shown off as he grew to fifty times his regular size, the blade and armor somehow following along.

Like a force of nature, he crushed everything in his path, demonstrating just what kind of destructive force a true S-ranker could dish out. Energy waves from his swings tore through the city, hitting barriers along the way.

Clan Leader Gul stood on the back line with other casters from where he launched globs of pure darkness high into the air, black taint crawling through the streets wherever they landed, attacking cultists as they attempted to join the fray, smothering and corrupting them.

Anyone brought down by the dark soon rose to their feet once more, enveloped in the tar-like substance, now charging at their allies with howls from slobbering mouths like zombies.

Fuckin' hell.

As the battle really took off, Eik and his three sneaky buddies slipped into a darkened alleyway, the edges of the roofs blocking the light from the Apocalypse Canvas and casting them in shadow. Now was the time for the real operation to begin.

All four members of the rescue team were A-rankers and possessed movement skills so they reached the Arch Temple in less than a minute, despite it being quite far from the wall. Now that he had a chance to actually move through the city proper, Eik realized that it was even bigger than he had originally expected.

Luckily, while the stealth specialist had tracking abilities, the intimidating spire of the temple that rose high into the sky made its location unmistakable. Staying in the shadows was simply too slow, so instead they leapt from roof to roof at top speed, sailing across the urban environment like bullets fired from a high-powered rifle.

As they flew over the many monotonous buildings, they watched countless cultists rush toward the distraction behind them at speeds that greatly varied from F or E-rank and all the way up to A-rankers. Some of the high-rankers did seem to notice them above, but where four figures soaring in the opposite direction of the commotion could be considered suspicious, the direct attack on their outer wall was an emergency issue that took precedent above all else.

"Alright, guys," Eik called to the three others, carefully manipulated aura allowing his words to reach their ears properly despite the buffeting headwind. "You all have the barrier busters ready, right?"

All three answered in the affirmative. Barrier busters were extremely expensive, and Eik had invested a lot into making sure that they wouldn't run out. A barrier buster was a small but powerful device which, when held close to a stable barrier, could disrupt its integrity and cause it to become momentarily fragile and significantly more prone to collapse from attacks.

Barriers maintained by a skilled and high-ranked Awakened could be adjusted and manipulated to withstand the effects of a barrier buster and in some cases become nearly unaffected by the sway. Established and self-sustaining barriers, on the other hand, could not react to the external influence and tended to weaken considerably.

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These had been prepared in order to smoothen the invasion of the Arch Temple. Important as it was, in addition to defenders, it would surely be filled with such installations.

Nobody troubled them until they reached the temple. Having become at least slightly familiar with the layout of the gigantic temple, Eik led them to approach from the rear and went for one of the servant's entrances. It was a small door in the shadow of the building cast by the pulsating light of the Apocalyptic Canvas.

The massive manifestation of might continued to spit out crystalline projectiles that poured down upon the cult forces like an unforgiving torrential rain storm. Only the still intact city barrier protected the low-rankers from near instant death but also prevented them from confronting the invaders on equal ground.

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 46]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 47]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 4…]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 51]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 52]

With the amount of casualties and collateral damage, Eik's ability levels had already begun to tick up. Even if the high-rankers from the Alliance were the ones to finish off a cultist, Eik would still gain experience credit as long as the automatic attacks from Apocalypse Canvas assisted in the kill. And Apocalypse Canvas was still at a level low enough to gain a significant amount of bonus experience compared to higher leveled abilities such as Profound Toxin.

And judging by the messages, the second distraction squad had also engaged the enemy.

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 112]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 113]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 114]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 183]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 184]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 125]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 126]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 127]

"The door might be protected, so let's be ready with the barrier busters," Eik whispered as he went for the handle. It swung open on well-oiled hinges, an echoing crack as metal snapped the only indicator that it had had a conventional lock. At this point, Eik was simply too strong to even notice that it was there. "Never mind, it seems like we're good."

They rushed in. Time was of the essence right now. Ideally, they got out with the oracle before the distraction team bailed, but that wouldn't be too long. With every minute that passed, the cult forces would grow more powerful as more and more high-rankers joined in.

Even with the titanic crowd pummeler that Apocalypse Canvas was, A-rankers and above would be capable of creating barriers and other defensive abilities that could keep away the pelting of the smaller shards, at least for a bit. Not to mention once the S-rankers began to show up.

It was difficult to say exactly how many S-rankers were present in Luna right now. Probably not that many, since Moon Shall Swallow had many other large bases scattered across the Unified Mass that also had to be protected, but at least a few, right?

There was a reason why the Nidafjeld Alliance hadn't already launched an all-out attack on the cult to wipe them out once and for all.

Even with two S-rankers and more than a hundred A-rankers, the distraction team likely wouldn't be able to last for much longer than a few minutes before they were at risk of being overwhelmed—a scenario they wished to avoid at all costs. And they had attacked under the cover of night with no warning.

An organized and prepared assault would have been revealed by spies long before it even began. And no civilization was willing to throw their talented Awakened into the meat grinder just for the fragile hope that it would reduce cult activity until they managed to rebuild.

Because that was the reality of it. Even if, hypothetically, Luna was obliterated this night, there were many other lairs around the cosmos where new seeds of corruption could easily take hold, renewing efforts to awaken the Lord of the Moon.

They needed legitimate insider information from a knowledgeable source to root out the core of the cult and actually dismantle the preparations for the ritual. And that's why they needed to find the oracle and get her out.

"Coming up ahead will be a narrow passageway. The oracle is almost certainly going to be held somewhere on the upper floors, out of the way of the daily affairs of the temple. Hannan," he said to the stealth tracker as she appeared by his side. "start looking for anything that's—"

Almost the moment they made it through the servant's outer door, a short but keening noise sounded as a heavy door slammed shut in front of them, a barrier whirring into existence along with it. "Barrier busters!" Eik commanded, pulling out one of his own.

"The exit is sealed as well!" the healer called, tension evident in his voice. No panic, however. Working with A-rankers was something else. "Some kind of mechanism must have reacted to our entry!"

"All right, let's break through that as well since we're stuck here anyway," Eik decided. "There's a good chance we'll be coming back out this way, so let's clear it!"

Eik's barrier buster hummed energetically in his hand as he held it up to the semi-transparent shield which quickly began to vibrate and undulate. "Go!" he called as a momentary surge of Backflow slammed his stats skyward and a wicked curved, katana-like blade appeared in his palm.

At the same moment that the stealth specialist rammed a dagger enveloped in blazing white into the barrier, Eik slashed diagonally across, shattering it with the crunch of breaking glass. The barrier on the exit broke as well.

All four of them reflexively protected their ears with aura against the booms of destruction within the tight space of the temporary prison.

"Now doors!"

Flowing smoothly through the movements, Eik switched out the katana for a gauntlet fitted with a single, wicked spike along the knuckles. His first punch took out a large fragment of the solid door. The stealth specialist timed her attack perfectly between his, bringing them into a rhythm of consecutive strikes until the security door crumpled before them. A few seconds later, the other door suffered the same fate.

Once an Awakened hit A-rank and higher, man-made objects began to reach the limit of what they can take. Some S-rank craftsmen, a rank that was nearly unheard of among non-combatants, could create ultra-durable items, but they were few and far between.

Almost nothing constructed, like a door, could withstand the combined might of two A-rankers. Especially not when Eik was included in the mix.

"All right, let's go, lets go! Hannan, see if you can locate the oracle. Look upward! Let's hurry. That trap will definitely have alerted them of our presence!" Eik hissed as they rushed forth, the darkness of the corridors swallowing them.

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