They were not aware of its origin. So, they soon stopped paying any more attention to it and resumed their journey. A few minutes later, a great pressure descended upon them. It was so much that it became difficult for them to even breathe normally. It was the pressure of a higher lifeform on inferior beings such as them, a being who is so far ahead in the path of cultivation that his mere presence is capable of affecting their spirits from hundreds of kilometers away.

Right then, those who were sleeping woke up with a start. Children started crying while adults had horrified expressions on their faces. According to them, they had watched different kinds of nightmares where they or their loved ones were being devoured by hideous beings.

The old man realized who those hideous beings were. They were the horrors that the messenger was telling them about. He himself tried to sleep immediately after that but met with the greatest nightmare of his life. In his nightmare, all of his children that were alive till now were being chewed apart by black-colored hideous beings. It was as if his greatest fear was exposed in his dream.

From then on, sleeping had become forbidden for them all. All of them knew innately that it was due to the presence of that existence who is responsible for the pressure they were feeling right then.

It was a couple of minutes later after the presence's descent that things truly escalated. A white flash occurred along with a vibration in the ground. With that, the suffocating pressure they were feeling also went down by a few notches.

Since then, it had been almost seven hours. All of them had arrived at a single conclusion in that duration on their own without even consulting each other.

An epic battle of colossal proportions was taking place somewhere in the east. Two unfathomable beings were constantly colliding with each other in a life-and-death battle. It was between the presence who was responsible for their worst nightmares and something else they had no idea of, something that was capable of fighting that presence for more than seven hours without being defeated.

As for why they arrived at such a conclusion related to the magnitude of the battle, it was the time delay between the flashes and the vibrations. By calculating the difference, they deduced that the battle was taking place more than four hundred kilometers away. A battle whose aftereffects could be seen and felt for hundreds of kilometers, they could not imagine its magnitude at all.

As for the identity of the nightmare presence, they had some educated guesses about it. They were guessing that it was the leader of the demons. Only leaders were worthy of such power. As for the identity of the being who was fighting him, they had no idea. Many thought it to be Tamat but the old man who was much more knowledgeable and experienced than his people didn't even think about this possibility.

Just as the old man was thinking about it, a sonic boom was heard from above them. Many looked up and hope blossomed in their hearts.

Seeing their behavior, the old man only shook his head. There was a reason he did not think of Tamat as the combatant in the east. He didn't even consider him as a possibility. In his early days when he was an ambitious man, he had much interest in the Great Battle of the Moon. In order to satiate his curiosity, he read many records about it.

He knew the details of that battle. He knew how much destruction they inflicted upon the landscape. In that battle of the era, moon literally rained hell upon them. The old man shuddered at the mere thought of this. He could not imagine the conditions that his human ancestors faced during that event. He thought that maybe their conditions must also had been somewhat like what they were feeling.

Thinking about that and then feeling the vibrations from the ground, the old man could not help but give a despairing smile. Even Vashulkomoor could not hold a candle against the beings in the east, much less the sovereigns. They would fall like flies if they dare to interfere in the battle. The old man was truly worried for them.

What frustrated him the most was the identity of the second participant. He knew that no human was strong enough to fight in such a battle. If there was no human then there was only one choice remaining.

Something happened right then. The red-tinged bright flashes sharply increased in frequency so much so that one could be seen after only two seconds and it was quickly approaching the one-second mark. By then, the forest would remain illuminated continuously and they would constantly feel intense vibrations in the ground.

But that thing did not come to pass and the white flashes also stopped. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Just when they were about to release breaths of relief, it happened. A white flash so bright that one ran the risk of blindness if he dared looked at it directly, occurred. All of the people present in the forest had to close their eyes or cover them with their hands. It was so bright that everything became white for a few seconds. All the other colors had faded.

This bright white light could not be called a flash at all. It was akin to a great white source of light like the sun. It was as if another sun had appeared in the east. It lasted for a few seconds before slowly fading away.

It was then that the weary migrants opened their eyes and looked toward the east. For a few seconds, they remained still with bated breaths, waiting for another flash to occur. But no such thing happened even after waiting for ten seconds. It was then the people realized another thing. The pressure from the demonic being they were feeling for the past few hours had disappeared all of a sudden.

Realizing that, many burst into cheers. They had tears rolling down their cheeks as they smiled and laughed widely. The great battle of the era had ended. The nightmare demon had finally been defeated after seven hours. People laughed and hugged each other in happiness. Many immediately laid down to fall asleep.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT, YOU FOOLS. THINGS HAVE NOT ENDED YET." A loud shout resounded throughout their cheers and stunned them. The ones who were trying to sleep also jumped in surprise. The old man almost tore his vocal cords apart as he shouted for people to prepare themselves.

In their happiness, they had forgotten that a flash is not the only sequelae of a collision. It was always accompanied by shockwave vibrations in the ground. Seeing the immensity of the last flash, the old man feared that they would be hit with something worse this time.

And he was not wrong in his guess. A few seconds later, a literal earthquake hit them. The earth started shaking the grojnd strongly and almost all of the people present lost their balance. Those who were holding something were secure while those who had not managed to brace fell. Similarly, some of the horses grew so restless that they managed to free themselves from the trees and ran over a couple of fallen men. Their status was unknown.

Several wagons and carriages were upturned and many trees fell. Small cracks could also be seen on the ground here and there. The earthquake was so intense that none of them had ever witnessed something like that in their entire lives.

The earthquake continued for many minutes as the earth kept shaking. In addition to the earthquake, a yellowish-red glow could be seen in the sky from the east. It was as if someone had set a large part of the forest in the east on fire. Everyone became curious about it.

The old man became a bit brave after seeing that nothing was happening to his tree. His tree was also taller and thicker than the rest. Using his cultivation, he quickly climbed the tree and reached the top. Then, he looked toward the east and caught sight of a line of yellowish-red spots just where the sky met with the ground and they were rapidly shifting. Those spots were the source of the glow. It seemed to him as if the entire horizon was on fire.

Although it was a moonless light, the glow was enough for him to identify those moving spots. In addition to that, it was not cloudy. The dim light of stars was also aiding the old man slightly in identifying those black spots at the distance.

In fact, using his knowledge of geography, it was very easy to determine their identity from a distance even if it was the dark of the night and they were not glowing themselves. What was needed was some kind of light source, even if it came from the stars.

As the old man recognized them, the color drained from his face. As the earthquake was fading, he raised his shaking hand and pointed toward them with a horrified expression.

"MOUNTAINS!! THOSE ARE THE ERUPTING MOUNTAINS. EVEN THE MOUNTAINS ARE SHIFTING. DAMN IT."

Many people below him were surprised at his shout but when they heard it fully, they had a similar reaction just like that of the old man. The last collision was so great that the entire mountain range was shifting and an earthquake was created. It had turned an entire region of mountains into a volcanic area

The earthquake faded at last after a minute as the mountains also stopped shifting. Some color returned to the old man's face at that and he climbed down the tree.

He looked around and observed his people. Some were showing frightened expressions while some showed an expression of relief. Some of the wagons were also turned over and some people were injured. He still had a sense of unease. The air pressure had fallen sharply sometime ago. Just as he was about to order them to do something, it was then that it hit them.

ROARRRRRRRRR

A great inhuman roar reached them along with massive shockwaves. The gusts of wind were so intense that empty carriages and wagons started rolling on the ground. Many trees were uprooted from the ground. Similarly, almost all of the people in the now scattered caravan lost their footing and were swept away in the shockwaves as the wind was knocked out of them.

Some collided with the trees badly while some collided with each other. Several tried to hold whatever they could grab for support. Modicum was successful in taking control of their bodies while some only injured their hands. The females could not spare their hands at all so, they were affected the most.

The mothers hugged their children tightly in order to protect them from injuries as they shielded them with their bodies. But they were not able to protect them from the effects of the continuous roar.

The great roar was so loud that they all went deaf in the next second after it reached them. In addition to that, all of them had started bleeding from their ears, eyes, and noses.

Blood streamed down their faces and necks as they started feeling extreme pain in their ears, eyes, and noses. They were also hit by strong vertigo and went dizzy. Even the little infants and children were no exception. Their mothers' hearts shattered as they looked at their beloved who were bleeding from their orifices.

Tears rolled down their cheeks as they hugged their bleeding infants tightly to give them some motherly warmth. Their bodies kept suffering from various injuries. They were helpless there. They could not protect their children from something like that.

Fortunately, those aftereffects lasted for a few seconds, unlike the terrifying earthquake that had lasted for minutes. People started getting up from the ground, many were injured. But some did not get up at all, their condition unknown. Not even a twitch could be detected from them.

The old man also got up from the ground. He did not even bother wiping off the dust from his face. With a lifeless expression, he stared at the ground with his eyes unfocused. He had just realized the identity of the second combatant.

So, it is a beast. It is the damn ancestor of Vashulkomoor. We are dead. The old man thought as his legs weakened and he fell to his knees. He had lost whatever little hope he had previously completed. He grabbed his head with both of his hands as he sunk into the abyss of despair. They were doomed. The end was near.