Before this moment, it seemed as though everyone could feel a faint confusion winding around their hearts. As if something had been overlooked, some unimportant matter tossed to the back of their minds.
Without realizing it.
It was like walking along just fine, only to suddenly get accosted by a gym salesperson. From that instant onward, you forgot what you had even gone out for.
It seemed like they had forgotten something, yet nothing appeared to be wrong.
Because... Huai Shi had pulled aggro far too well!
The moment he used the Heavenly Gate as his defense, layering armor upon armor around himself, it had been inevitable that everyone would have to prioritize attacking this Ascender with taunting abilities.
And then, without meaning to, they got carried away.
The thing that truly mattered had been behind him all along.
Before death arrived, he had flawlessly fulfilled his duty and mission—serving as the final line of defense and buying Vulcan the crucial time he needed.
And beyond Huai Shi, across the vast battlefield, who knew how many Ascenders were fighting without regard for their lives, repeatedly driving the mad advance of the fallen nation back into hell and blocking the terrifying figures pressing forward.
As for Vulcan...
He had simply been too fast.
Less than fifteen minutes had passed since activation!
The King of Creation from the Roman Lineage, sovereign of forging and flame—when that abundant divinity began operating through Prometheus' Fire, countless miracles and transformations were born from the furnace.
Like ten thousand rivers flowing into the sea, he commanded the endless changes within the matrix, seamlessly connected them to the Great Arcanum, and drove a pillar from the Present Realm into this hell!
Now, just as the Heavenly Gate array completed its mission, it ruptured from within. Surging flames