Epoch of Twilight

At that moment, Luo Yuan was floating mid-air at the height of tens of thousands of meters. Despite the height, the loud thud was still clearly audible.

He was worried that a huge impact like that would affect the stability of the Earth’s crust, causing an earthquake. He quickly plunged down through the air to check out what was happening.

As soon as he passed through the cloud layers, Luo Yuan saw a mushroom-shaped cloud rising into the sky.

Unlike a nuclear bomb that gave off heat and light, it was a snowy-white cloud that was completely made of water vapor.

The cracks on the layer of ice on the ground spread out like a spider web. It had been broken into pieces, causing countless cracks that made it look like a long, twisted dragon. Even the icebergs collapsed, crushed into smaller chunks of ice.

As soon as Luo Yuan landed, he felt the rain falling onto his skins - it was warm.

The region of impact was 15 kilometers wide while the radiation had spread out and affected the surrounding area of more than 50 kilometers away.

However, the gigantic beast seemed to have disappeared. Its body was completely covered by the high-temperature vapor but Luo Yuan could feel its presence when it moved as it would cause the ground to tremble with every step it took.

To avoid danger, Luo Yuan did not walk hastily towards its direction.

Fortunately, the vapor did not last long and in addition to the turbulent air caused by the impact, the vapor was cleared and turned into ice crystals, falling down gradually.

After a few minutes, he could vaguely see the figure of the gigantic beast.

It seemed to have gotten out from the hole that looked like a crater, struggling to move on the layer of ice.

Its movement was slow and cumbersome. However, its body gave off a terrifying aura on the layer of ice with each step it took, Luo Yuan could feel it. Against creatures that weighed at least ten million tons in weight, the solid layer of ice was as soft as a muddy ground.

Luo Yuan noticed that its limbs sunk into the ice. It caused the ice to crack into big pieces with each step it took. Compared to the gigantic beast, the ice miners were nothing.

The strength of the planet’s gravity was apparent. The movement of this ten million ton beast was greatly affected by gravity. Most of its strength was used to overcome the pull of gravity, causing its movement to be rather clumsy.

Luo Yuan smiled coldly.

He realized that he was affected by his initial thoughts. The interstellar creature was indeed strong and its movement caused damage that was on par with the force of a nuclear bomb. However, this did not mean that it had no weakness.

In fact, it was a fatal weakness.

Its mass was as heavy as a mountain. The gravitational pull in outer space was relatively weak. Therefore with its hulking mass, it could still overcome the pull on its weight. However, when it entered a planet with strong gravitational pull, it would find great difficulty in every step it took forward.

The gravitational pull on Earth had affected its innate ability to fly as it could not fly even when it was stuck in the ice. It seemed totally helpless.

However, with its abilities, it was still a threat to creatures under level nine. It seemed like there was a big gap between Level eight and Level nine creatures. When quantity surpassed quality, it would have no natural enemy on Earth. Perhaps this was the reason that it attempted to invade Earth.

He remained calm and did not launch an attack.

However, he had no confidence in his ability to defeat it. The difference between their body sizes would reduce the effectiveness of his attack. Once his opponent realized it, the rate of success would decrease drastically.

The gravitational force could only restrict its mobility but its abilities were not restricted.

As an interstellar creature, it had an innate ability to manipulate energy. By looking at its glowing body in the mist and the turbulent air surrounding its body, one could tell that this was a creature not to be trifled with.

In addition to his prediction ability, he could sense that the battle was a dangerous one. Despite having a strong defense system, he did not want to have a tough fight against such a powerful gigantic beast.

...

Looking at the gigantic beast that was about to get out of the mist, Luo Yuan immediately flew towards its direction. He observed it for a moment more to gather more information.

The gigantic beast landed on a region of Chuan Shu and within a few moments, Luo Yuan landed on the top of a mountain nearby. The reason he chose this mountain was so he could observe the beast and use it as a hiding spot because it was just in front of him.

There were some huge trees atop the mountain, each with tangled roots and obviously they had been ancient trees before the apocalypse hit. Nevertheless, these trees went dormant in response to the extreme cold brought by the nuclear winter.

Luo Yuan jumped to one of the tree branches, squatted down and looked towards the direction of the gigantic beast and at that moment, it lumbered out of the mist.

Although it was clumsy, its walking speed was not slow. Every step it took took it a distance of 200 meters. Regardless of how clumsy it was, it was not slow at all. In fact, if it continued walking faster and faster, it might reach supersonic speeds.

The layer of ice exploded, causing a stir in the atmosphere when it passed by. There was an ice storm from the chunks of crushed ice that gushed out from underneath its legs, exuding a terrifying aura.

Despite being on earth, it still possessed such immense power. Chuan Shu was located near the Reconstruction Area. It would be dangerous to allow the gigantic to move freely there. That was the main reason why Luo Yuan attempted to kill this beast.

Of course, it was also because the battle would be less risky with his prediction ability. His ability to teleport would also allow him to escape immediately when the opponent launched an attack.

...

The gigantic beast had the size of a diplodocus [1]. It had a long neck, strong limbs and a tail that weighed at least a few million tons in weight. Gravity had caused its tail to drag when it moved, leaving a long gully on the ice.

Of course, aside from its almost similar appearance, it was not comparable to a diplodocus. Compared to its tame personality, the gigantic beast was ferocious. Its body was a silverish-white in color and the prismatic-shaped scales on its body was glowing. The glowing lights were still visible even under such circumstances.

Its legs were sturdy and powerful and were covered in fully grown dark purple thorns. These thorns continuously glimmered, creating a mysterious yet terrifying atmosphere.

Luo Yuan noticed its neck for the first time. Compared to its body, without a doubt, its neck was slim. It was a fatal weakness for creatures like these to have such a slim and thin neck.

However, he took a glance at it and shifted his gaze. Its neck was truly slim compared to gigantic beasts of a similar level. On the other hand, if it was compared to Luo Yuan, the size of its neck would still be horrifying.

Moreover, its neck was fully grown with scales that released beams of light at the tips. It obviously had a strengthened defense. where it was releasing beams of lights there. Obviously, its defense system had been strengthened.

Despite the Zhanmadao ability to slash through most things, it was not almighty.

Luo Yuan had found out that its energy could defend against the slashes by the Zhanmadao to some extent. Accounting for the relationship between matter and energy, perhaps he had to look for high-density matter. High-density matter could not be found on earth as they were beyond the density of regular substances. In fact, it is so far from the density of conventional substances that it was denser than atoms that were compressed until it was as dense as a white dwarf or neutron star. Materials like these have already blurred the boundaries between energy and matter and should the process be reversed, it would release a great amount of energy.

As the gigantic beast got closer to the top of the mountain, Luo Yuan could feel that a horrifying aura approaching him and there the atmosphere changed to an oppressive one.

Sensing tremors in the ground, he controlled his aura, bringing it to a minimum and remained calm.

The mountain where Luo Yuan was hiding at was not too high - about 300 meters in diameter. Its height was almost the same as the gigantic beast. Encountering such a small obstacle, it was apparent that it had no intention to change its direction.

When it was walking towards Luo Yuan, it looked like a moving mountain.

By looking at its body language, it seemed that it was going to crash into the mountain directly. To interstellar creatures, matter on earth was probably too fragile and it could do no harm to them. It was lazy to lift its legs to skip this ’small slope’.

Soon, both of them got closer to one another. The next moment, the mountain had split into half and it sounded like an explosion. A flame was vaguely visible at the area of impact. Millions of tons of sand and thousands of tons of giant rocks flew through the sky as if they were light as a feather.

Luo Yuan’s body seemed to be affected by it, being blown away like the crushed rocks. However, the speed at which he was being blown away was obviously slower than the crushed rocks.

He activated his prediction ability and countless scenes flashed through his mind, showing all possible outcomes of the attacks.

His 17-point Intelligence allowed him to visualize the outcomes of the fight at a rate of 10 times per second.

After foreseeing the possible failures, his eyes eventually lit up.

He slightly moved his body to the left by one meter. He was then struck by a giant rock. His body resembled a golf ball and he quickly shifted his direction towards the head of the gigantic beast.

It seemed like the interstellar creature had sensed something. It tilted its head slightly and looked around in a moment of doubt. However, it did not notice Luo Yuan who was getting closer to it.

It was not strange though since both of them had a huge difference in size. It was similar to how humans could hardly notice a mosquito that was flying about silently. To the gigantic beast, Luo Yuan existence was negligible.

There were times when he was noticed but those were in the outcomes where he failed.

After a few seconds, Luo Yuan landed an attack on the gigantic beast’s nostrils.

With just one touch, Luo Yuan could feel that there was a destructive power that attempted to penetrate his bare hands, causing him to feel a strong sense of pain in his skin. Fortunately, both of them were separated as soon as they came into contact with one another. He avoided the attack and went into its nostrils.

Its nostrils resembled a double-laned tunnel and it was spacious. Even its nose hairs were five centimeters thick and they were as messy as weeds.

It was so dirty inside its nose and he could no longer see its original skin tone. It was so dark inside, seeing layers of dirt accumulated on its surface. However, these were not the usual excretions one would see as most of the dirt were dust and crushed rocks. It was not as disgusting as he had imagined it to be.

He could still feel the pain in his palm. Luo Yuan looked at it, and the surface of his skin was swollen. He was thrilled. Fortunately, the contact period was not too long. If it was, he might have lost his hand. The gigantic beast was indeed more fearsome than he had expected.

Luo Yuan dared not stay there any longer and quickly exited its nostril. Probably due to the fact that the interstellar creature had been living in outer space for a long time, it did not have the habit of breathing. Luo Yuan felt fortunate as his movement within its nostrils were not affected at all. Otherwise, its breathing would have caused a storm and be of trouble to Luo Yuan.

After walking for a distance of around 30 meters, Luo Yuan stopped and floated into the sky.

He looked above his head and took a deep breath. He breathed in for exactly three minutes, even his stomach began to bloat.

The next moment, highly pressurized air flowed out from Luo Yuan’s mouth.

A large amount of dust from the roof of its nasal cavity was blasted with gusts of wind that was level eight or nine. After the dust was blown away, the structure of the nasal cavity was exposed.

He observed carefully and soon, he could see a triangle-shaped skeleton.

"I guess this is the place. He never knew that creatures like these would have such a weak skeleton." Luo Yuan was relieved and thought in his heart.

He entered the gigantic beast’s nasal cavity as the nasal cavity was connected to the brain. Compared to other parts of the body, the brain was the most important organ. Once the brain was destroyed, it would cause death.

There was only a cartilage separating the nasal cavity and the brain and cartilage was located the peak. It was the weakest point and was also one that he could easily attack.

Fortunately, despite being an interstellar creature, there was no significant difference in their structure.

Luo Yuan wiped away the dust that accumulated on the surface of the triangle-shaped skeleton. His movement was gentle so that the gigantic beast would not be alarmed.

The skeleton was smooth. As he wiped gently, he could see its original color.

Luo Yuan noticed that the skeleton was not fragile. It had a crystal-like surface, smooth and shiny as if it was made completely of crystal. It would seem that the skeleton was actually quite tough. Its thickness was also beyond expectation as it was around 10 meters thick.

It was not easy to completely crack the bones and sneak into its brain before the gigantic beast had a chance to react.

"It seems that I must use my full strength in my attack." Luo Yuan thought in his heart.

Before the attack, he opened the attributes panel. Fortunately, he did not cancel the mission he got previously and it was still there. He immediately chose to accept it.

Then, he closed his eyes in an attempt to focus his mind. His muscles started bulging and goosebumps were visible to the naked eyes. The fluctuations in his energy could not be suppressed and were triggered by his powerful strength.

...

Breaking through the mountain, the interstellar creature that was still moving forward was slightly agitated. It felt insecure and stopped moving.

It looked anxious and doubtful. Its power became inconsistent, causing a flicker in its movement.

The electromagnetic fields in the air was distorted. They were moving against the gravitational force as countless auroras that were dancing in the air, even the crushed ice was floating in the air.

The next moment, its brain vibrated momentarily. Two roaring flames, along with a large amount of blood and crushed bones oozed out of its nostril. All of the odd phenomena stopped instantly as the flames got hotter.

"Roarrr!" The gigantic beast howled in pain and it was akin to the sound of a siren.

It was against the mother nature, having a giant creature like this roaring into the atmosphere. One would now know how threatening it was.

The sound waves formed a milky-white substance in the air. It seemed like the ice layer was being scraped off and even the mountain that was 100 meters away from it was affected. The ice on the surface was seemingly blown off and soon, the same thing happened to the frozen ground as well as the rocks beneath the layer of ice. After two seconds, the entire mountain disappeared as though it had never existed.

Similarly, Luo Yuan who was so close to the gigantic beast’s vocal cord could not avoid it.

Facing such a horrifying sound wave, even Luo Yuan had a terrible headache and his brain went blank. Thanks to his strong Physique which was even stronger than steel, he regained his consciousness in just a blink of an eye.

Looking at the cartilage that had split into half, without a moment of delay, he struck a blow with all the remaining strength he had in his body.

The blow turned red instantly and became white as it hit the target. The temperature had reached around 3000 degree Celsius. The next moment, a strong explosion took place at the point of impact, filling the entire nasal cavity with burning flames.

Feeling the resistance of the blow disappear when the cartilage was crushed, Luo Yuan was happy. Before the gigantic beast even managed to react, Luo Yuan, who thrown back by the recoil dug his heels into its skin. At that moment, his body was like a flash of lightning, penetrating into the gigantic beast’s brain.

Translator Notes:

[1] The diplodocus was a 30 meter long, 10-20 tonne sauropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic time period (165 - 145 MYA) that lived on the territory of the modern Western United States.