No one knew whether the rumbling earthquakes came from continuing underground explosions outside the city, or from some unknown evil creature making its entrance.
Following Luvia's instructions, Shade did not go out. Instead, he rested peacefully and waited for the situation to develop, while a steady stream of outside intelligence was gathered at the Golden Music Hall.
After black Rifts repeatedly appeared in the night sky and among the trees, monsters that did not belong to this era emerged one after another. A "Tyrant Beholder," believed to have gone extinct in the early Fifth Epoch, even appeared southeast of the woodland. What set this Underground World monster apart from ordinary members of its Same Race was that, once sufficiently ancient individuals reached adulthood, their eyes would transform into Sage Level Relics.
That was probably one of the reasons for their extinction.
After a rift from an unknown era emerged in the night sky, merely one tentacle extending from behind it had already blocked the Time Rift itself. The horrifying black tendril was as insubstantial as black mist, but when it swayed through the air and reached toward the city below, a single touch melted a gap in the Defense Ritual protecting the city.
The Paradox Worms tried to enter the city through that gap, but all turned into black mist upon approaching the tendril. The black tendril extended downward through the breach, assimilating any matter it touched into part of itself. It melted through a rooftop and absorbed a family of five inside the house, then melted the entire floor before continuing along the ground toward the surrounding buildings.
It was like a writhing black pillar of heaven extending from the night sky. Even the Paradox Worms no longer wished to touch that black tendril.
The Church's Keepers of Secrets