The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

For years to come, people would still consider the things that happened in the Listen Wastes on the 7th day of the 3rd month of the Double Land Calendar year 12,691 as a symbolic event of the upcoming war.

Today, the Three Great Countries announced that they changed the calendar. After more than ten thousand years, the powerful countries in the world decided to change it.

1st day of the 1st month of the New Era Calendar Year 1.

They called it the New Era. There's just one reason. The opening of the seven continents of the Great World Imperium was getting near. Right now, the great barrier in the Demon's Land was turning weak to the point that they could pass through it. They also announced to everyone the invasion of the Demon's Land.

They knew that they couldn't hide it forever. The demons that were sealed in the Listen Wastes were going to be free. The barrier wouldn't be able to hold it for a long time.

Everyone was shaken when they heard the news about the demons. A large country had already fallen into the hands of those demons, and they were going to continue their conquest soon. That's why the countries that were close to Listen Wastes formed a meeting to talk about the demons.

Even god-level powerhouses would be forced to join the battle as two god-levels already died in the Listen Wastes. They knew that they had to work together to avoid great casualties.

Year 1, 22nd day of the 1st month of the New Era Calendar...

The Mechanic Country managed to defeat Sy and Distrok. Both nations were large countries and housed god-level powerhouses. This win solidified the Mechanic Country's position as one of the top large countries.

This piece of news also gathered the attention of people across the whole continent of Giza. The military power of Mechanic Country was overwhelming.

Aside from that, the Mechanic Country announced that they were going to send their forces to fight the demons. The demons were too far from them, so they wouldn't feel the war for the time being. Only people in the eastern part of the continent would feel the war against demons.

Also, the Three Great Countries wouldn't let the demons go to the western part because they didn't want to bring the war to their side. They will fight the demons in the eastern part.

It means that the eastern part of the continent will become a battlefield.

...

In the Prison World...

Bang!

Souta stepped forward inside the huge cell. He saw a man with messy black hair and a huge physique. The man was full of scars across his body, and he didn't have any clothes to cover his body parts.

Thick and heavy chains were binding his four limbs. The chains were 1 meter thick and had enchantment all over it. Violet-colored veins were thumping in this skin as if it were going to burst at any moment.

The man lifted his head and looked at Souta. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Who are you?"

This one was speaking the Nurman language, so Souta could understand him.

Souta didn't answer the man as he kept observing him. Even though this man was tightly bound and looked exhausted, Souta could feel thick bloodlust coming out of his body.

'This man was poisoned...' Saya's voice sounded in his mind.

'Yeah...' Souta nodded at her. He approached the man and swung his sword.

Swoosh!

The chains fell, and it caused a loud sound in the whole room.

The man shook his body, and every chain fell down. He was freed, and he didn't know why. He looked at Souta and asked, "Why?"

"I don't need anything from you except for one thing... I freed you because I want you to wreck havoc in this world," Souta said to the man.

"I've been in this world for more than thirty years, and this is the first time that I got freed from those chains..." the man said while looking at the thick chains on the ground. He then explained, "But I don't think I could do it. I've been poisoned, and it seeped into my mana pool, so I couldn't use my peak strength to do what you want."

"I know that you've been poisoned, but it's fine. Just do what I tell you... I've already freed all the prisoners above, so follow them..." Souta said to the man before he turned around and left the room.

He went to the other cell and slashed the door once again.

Bang!

The man simply followed Souta and watched him go to the other cell. The way Souta cut the door made it look like it wasn't tough at all. Aside from the sharp sword, he also realized that Souta possessed great strength.

The person inside the second cell was a thin old man. The old man was a demi. A grasshopper demi. Some parts of his body were like grasshoppers.

This type of demi looks more like a monster than him. The only difference was that they couldn't evolve or form a monster orb. There were other demis that looked like monsters.

The only basis for being a monster wasn't the appearance but the characteristics that allowed it to evolve and create a monster orb. That's what makes a creature a monster.

"Hehe~ I'm finally free... After 46 years..."

The old man laughed as he stretched his body. His condition was the same as the man before, but the bloodlust that he possessed was thicker.

"Be careful. That man is Franklin. A mass murderer that killed all the people in an entire nation before... He enjoyed killing and fighting more than anything else."

The man said while looking at the old man warily.

The old man raised his eyebrows as he looked at the naked man behind Souta. "You know me?"

"Who wouldn't know a dangerous man like you?" The man replied.

"Oh, I see now... I remember you too." The old man smiled and said, "You're one of the rebels that fought the Great Astley Empire decades ago, right? Torkez is one of the people who give the empire so much trouble. So you got defeated too..."

"Yeah, my homeworld became a subsidiary world of the Great Astley Empire. Our population is being controlled, and men in our world are being forced to work just like in other subsidiary worlds." Torkez nodded with a gloomy expression.

The old man who was named Franklin glanced at Souta and asked, "And who might be our savior. No ordinary man could enter this place easily."

Souta glanced at him and said, "Just go away and kill all the guards up there. Your appearance makes me disgusted."

Franklin and Torkez were both naked. The guards stripped out their clothes so that they couldn't hide anything.

"Oh! I'm getting curious..." The smile on Franklin's face grew wider.

Souta turned around and went to the last cell, but then he stopped and looked at the two. "Just do what I tell you... I will find an antidote to the poison in your body later."

"Oh...? If I don't do it, then what will happen to me?" Franklin spoke with a smile on his face.

"I'll kill you," Souta said before he turned to the last cell. He slashed his sword on the door just like before.

Franklin and Torkez were curious about the person inside it, so they looked over. Everything was isolated inside the prison. They couldn't even hear anything aside from their breath and hearts. It was too quiet, so they didn't know everything that was happening outside.

But then... what they saw inside the last cell shocked them. It wasn't a person but a thirty-meter-tall giant creature, a creature with greenish scales and sharp claws. It had a pair of wings on its back and a pair of horns on top of its head.

It was a dragon...

'To think that there's a dragon in this kind of place...' Saya's voice sounded in his head.

'It's not surprising. According to Lydia, the Great Astley Empire had a record of slaying dragons.' Souta replied to her as he approached the dragon.

Just like the two prisoners before, the dragon's limbs were bound by thick and heavy chains.

Franklin and Torkez were shocked when they saw the dragon inside the cell. They didn't expect it at all. A legendary creature was before their eyes.

The dragon opened its eyes as Souta approached it. It slowly opened its mouth and said, "Are you one of them...?"

"No, how can you not feel it? I'm a monster just like you... A monster."

Souta said this using the monster language, and it shook the dragon.

"How can you use the- no, don't tell me you had?" The dragon said in shock as it raised its head and looked at Souta.

"Oh? A third evolution..."

Souta guessed, as he couldn't feel anything from the dragon aside from a little bit of best feram. He also realized that he was wearing the [Bracelet of Silencing] that could hide his energy. Yuko only felt it because of their connections.

"I'll free you..."