Chapter 2233

2233 - The State of the Gate

"This...?" Robin's eyes widened to their fullest as he approached the cliff's edge.

The gate was still wide open.

Rooooar—

Within the first few seconds of his emergence, Robin spotted no less than five thousand nascent space beasts.

Considering the massive size of those creatures, one could imagine the sheer darkness and devastation Robin witnessed at that moment.

The battlefield had expanded tremendously.

It had spread to encompass the mountain where Robin lived, and beyond that as well.

Boom

Boom

Several indirect attacks landed on the mountain from a flying space beast trying to fend off the royal spirit master chasing it.

Each attack was enough to wipe out the mountain, but

Humm

A shining dome appeared for a moment, redirecting the attack back toward the beast itself, then vanished again.

Even without activating the Eyes of Truth, Robin could tell that the number of protective arrays on the mountain had increased severalfold since last time; without them, his place would not have remained.

Alongside those staggering numbers of nascent space beasts, Robin gradually began to notice other things.

For instance, there were now no less than twenty thousand imperial guards.

A large number of them moved in groups of 300 Guards, protecting each other and executing attacks and defenses together.

It was clear they were novices, yet they advanced through the field like tanks, selecting a beast, attacking it together, bringing it down, then dragging it away to be taken to the Slaughterhouse, after which they would return to the field together once more.

Alongside those human tanks, the remaining veteran Guards moved in much smaller groups.

The group no longer consisted of 25 Guards as it had three months ago; the number had dropped to 15, with only three from each squad.

These were the primary striking force of humanity.

But they were not the only ones.

Robin managed to count 90 Royal Soul Masters.

Fifty of them stood on the edges of the designated battlefield to prevent its spread and limit further damage to the planet, while the rest guarded the sky above the battlefield like a dome to prevent any beast from escaping.

And they all attacked any beast that came close, as a form of contribution to the suppression and assistance to the Guards.

There were also several fleets crafted by Note floating above and behind the Royal Soul Masters.

Their cannons moved swiftly and precisely, and the Admirals carefully selected their targets.

Whether they were striking the wings of the flying beasts or bombarding the limbs of the larger monsters.

They were even completely finishing off the strange beasts that were difficult for the guards to handle and kept fleeing.

Hoooom

A massive roar caught Robin's attention, and he immediately looked in that direction.

“..!!”

There was a space beast, far larger than average, breaking through the atmosphere upward.

A serpentine-type beast with several pairs of leathery wings.

Its aura was far higher than its surroundings.

“Is that a young space beast?” Robin widened his eyes.

That thing was exploiting its form.

Its true size lay in its length, not in the overall bulk of its body.

With a length of only a few hundred kilometers, it was clear that it was a space beast that had evolved not long ago, using its small size to slip through the gate along with the other nascent space beasts.

One of these required a person of overwhelming power to subdue!!

Quickly, Robin tracked the path of the young beast upward.

There was a Royal Soul Master standing there waiting for it.

But he wasn't enough.

He would definitely be injured or killed!

Robin quickly opened his mouth to say something to save that young man's life.

“…”

But he soon closed it.

He sensed something happening above.

Vroom

The air beneath the Royal Spirit Master formed into a giant fist.

Then

*Bam*

It came down on the face of the serpentine beast, stopping it and redirecting it downward.

“…Was that the Planet Spirit?” Robin let out a faint whistle. “It loves fists just like its owner.”

“It’s eaten a lot over the past few months because of your promise to give it a Crystal for every hundred killed, so the spirit has grown stronger and interferes often whenever it sees a scene like this.

Also, the planet itself has started attracting comets, meteors, and materials from outside its orbit.

Extremely hard and rare resources—it crashes them into empty spaces, swallows them, and grows larger.”

Theo explained.

Then he continued:

“The Planet Spirit swallows those meteors and slowly guides them to the planet’s core, so the planet’s overall size increases without us noticing anything on the surface.

According to estimates, Planet Donara has grown by 7% since we buried the first Crystal in it.”

“Hmm.” Robin nodded.

“That girl is showing her usefulness to tempt us into pouring more investments into her—nothing wrong with that.”

Then he smiled.

“No problem, increase it whenever possible. There’s nothing to lose in Donara, the bearer of The Gate and Holak’s personal planet.”

Theo nodded without argument.

Strengthening this planet would only bring benefit and cause no harm.

Had they not reinforced it earlier, it wouldn't have withstood the current wave of monsters at all.

"Thank you!!"

Robin smiled when he heard an excited little girl's voice in his ear.

Then he furrowed his brows tightly as he sensed a murderous intent.

The intent wasn't directed at him, but it was so strong that he felt a sting of danger.

He quickly looked in that direction.

*Whoosh*

Like a thread of sunlight at dawn, someone moved with immense speed toward the young beast that had just been struck by the Planet Spirit's blow and was still trying to regain its balance.

Then

*Zzzz*

As soon as they approached, a tremendous sound rang out.

The sound of a leaf being cut by a knife, but amplified thousands of times.

In the next moment, the giant serpent's belly split open.

*Slash*

Black blood rained down over the even blacker ocean like waterfalls.

"Aaahhh—!!"

The young beast let out a massive roar, then lunged to attack that hostile shadow with weakened force.

The battle continued for only a few more seconds.

The giant serpent had no chance.

Finally...

Robin's eyes settled on the person who had been fighting all along.

The one emitting that vile murderous intent.

It was Althera.