Earth's Greatest Magus Chapter 2440 Danger

The ominous warning from Cthulhu echoed in Ery's mind, forcing him to halt mid-step.

His instincts scread that continuing forward would be a fatal mistake.

His heart pounded as he processed the weight of the ssage. There were only two known Khaos Champions: the ruthless Drow Kieran, who claid Ezekiel's War Gate, and Talaro, the fearso grand magus who controlled the Death Gate. Ery felt certain it was the latter who had co for him.

All his instincts scread at him to avoid a direct confrontation. mories of Ezekiel's relentless pursuit through spatial portals surged forth, reminding him of how close he'd co to death in that encounter. And now, Talaro, a figure shrouded in even greater nace, was after him.

Ery's mind raced, calculating the possibilities. He couldn't simply run—Talaro's mastery over space and the ability to track and follow his waypoints would render any straightforward escape futile. Assessing his options, Ery knew he needed a more strategic approach. He imdiately began burrowing deeper into the earth, the loose sand and compacted layers of rock enveloping him as he descended. The suffocating embrace of the desert offered so solace; here, he could conceal his presence, even if only temporarily.

In the anti, Ery turned to VIA, to seek any information bout Talaro.

The response was swift yet disheartening.

Talaro Malic's na surfaced in VIA's data streams: a warrior who had ascended to the rank of high priest and founded the Void Stalker order. His loyalty to the Abyss Queen Azzhara was absolute, and his missions carried the highest level of secrecy. Unfortunately, this left Ery with little concrete information about the enemy he faced.

However, VIA managed to intercept recent transmissions—distress signals from the Magus Alliance reporting the arrival of an elven mothership at the moonbase. The latest update confird a grand magus elf breaking through the Hobase portal.

"That's him, he blocked my way out!!" Ery muttered grimly. Caught between an elder dragon hunting him and the looming threat of a Khaos Champion, Ery's anxiety spiked. He was running out of options, and the odds stacked against him were overwhelming. But VIA delivered one piece of good news: reinforcents from the Magus Alliance were expected to arrive within an hour, their goal to engage the dark elves' mothership. Among them, Ery hoped, would be soone capable of standing against Talaro.

With grim determination, Ery began to devise a plan.

#####

Not long after, the elder dragon was finally able to track him, its senses honing in on Ery's location.

ROAARRR!!!

The earth above him trembled violently as the dragon unleashed a salvo of fireballs. Massive explosions rocked the ground, turning rock and soil into a collapsing cascade. The sandstorm that raged across the desert only added to the chaos, obscuring visibility and churning the landscape into a roiling sea of debris. Ery shot upward, breaking through the crumbling earth with his light wings flaring brilliantly. He darted into the storm, his body weaving through the turbulent winds as he sought to outpace the monstrous beast.

The dragon, however, was not so easily shaken. Its colossal form surged through the storm with terrifying speed, each powerful wingbeat cutting through the gale. Its roars were deafening, a proclamation of its intent to annihilate him. Ery glanced back, his heart sinking as he saw the fiery glow of its maw preparing another attack.

Knowing he couldn't outrun it, Ery acted swiftly. He hurled a [Cthulhu Bomb], the chaotic energy spiraling through the air before detonating in a spectacular eruption of otherworldly force. The explosion couldn't hurt the fiery beast, but its poison effect montarily disoriented the dragon. The reprieve was short-lived, but it gave Ery the precious seconds he needed to gain distance.

The reprieve was short-lived. As Ery surged forward, a figure materialized in the distance, directly blocking his path. The air around the figure rippled with the oppressive weight of spatial magic.

It was Talaro.

The dark elf's presence was suffocating. Dressed in dark robes adorned with glowing runes, his aura was a black void that seed to swallow all light around him. A cold smirk played on his lips as he regarded Ery with predatory eyes.

"I finally found you," Talaro said, his voice calm but brimming with nace.

As expected, Talaro closed the distance between them in an instant, his presence warping the very air around him.

To Ery's surprise, The elder dragon, a relentless pursuer re monts ago, now halted abruptly, landing with a low rumble on the cracked sands. Its massive body coiled with unease, its fiery rage tempered into deference at the dark elf's presence.

The sight sent a chill down Ery's spine. For the mighty dragon to yield without resistance spoke volus about the authority Talaro commanded, adding yet another layer of peril to Ery's predicant. Talaro's gaze turned toward Ery, and suddenly his piercing eyes narrowed with a frown.

It appears he just realized sothing. But Ery quickly replies by swiftly activating his [Twilight Transformation], his body surging with newfound strength and speed. His claws shimred with light energy as he charged at Talaro with everything he had.

The dark elf sidestepped effortlessly and with a flick of his wrist, Ery was encased in a spatial prison—a translucent barrier that shimred faintly in the air, locking him in place.

"I'll break this apart!" Ery howled, channeling his wolf's innate ability. His muscles bulged as he slamd against the invisible walls, but the prison held firm, unyielding to his efforts.

With a grunt of frustration, Ery unleashed his wolf-imbued howl once more, focusing every ounce of his strength into the attack, but even his Immortal Gate couldn't shatter the force surrounding him. The spatial prison held firm, mocking his every effort.

Ery's body remained suspended within the crushing grip of the spatial prison, his muscles straining uselessly against the invisible force. Despite the agony etched on his face, a sudden, unexpected calmness overca him as he said.

"Alright! You are much stronger than I expected! Is there no way we can talk this out?"

However, his captor showed no interest in engaging in a dialogue. Talaro's piercing gaze was as cold and unyielding as he raised his hand.

The spatial prison responded instantly, its walls closing in with an audible hum. The air trembled as the invisible force compacted Ery's form. The pressure intensified in re monts and then ca the sound—an audible, sickening crunch that echoed through the desert. The prison collapsed inward completely, crushing Ery's body into a crimson mist. Blood splattered the invisible walls before they dissolved into the ether, leaving nothing behind.

Talaro turned to the massive elder dragon, "You fool… " Talaro hissed, his tone filled with disdain. "This was only a clone."

The dragon, as mighty as it was, lowered its head slightly as if acknowledging the mistake.

####

Far beneath the surface of the desert, nearly a hundred miles away, the real Ery exhaled a shaky breath. The clone's destruction fed back into him, its final monts providing a grim tapestry of what he was up against. It had been a calculated risk, one that confird several troubling truths. Talaro wasn't just powerful; his abilities extended to levels Ery hadn't anticipated.

Although his true clone only had about 70% of his strength and was at Immortal Gate Stage 8, he could still sense how powerful Talaro's spatial prison was.

It was also confird that the dragon followed Talaro's orders, aning finding a chance to make them fight each other was not an option.

The most worriso discovery, however, was Talaro's advanced spirit-reading ability. Despite Ery's deliberate infusion of a massive amount of Khaos energy into the clone—enough to emulate his presence convincingly—the dark elf had seen through the ruse effortlessly.

This, paired with Talaro's ability to teleport vast distances, such as his leap from the Hobase to the battlefield miles away, left no doubt: hiding was no longer a viable option. Yet despite the overwhelming odds, the gamble wasn't without rit. The clone had bought him precious ti and delivered critical insights about his adversary

"Ti for Plan B," Ery thought, steeling himself for what was to co.