The distant rumbling he had been following suddenly escalated into a deafening, earth-shattering noise.
It was no longer a vague, ambient thunder. It was an absolute, chaotic symphony of destruction. The concussive booms of earth being shattered were completely drowned out by a sound that made the blood instantly freeze in Sol's veins… a thrumming, vibrating, mechanical shriek that literally shook the purple leaves from the ancient trees and made his eardrums throb in rhythm.
Curiosity, a trait notoriously fatal to many webnovel protagonists, overrode his caution entirely. He completely abandoned the dead badger at his feet, tightened his grip on the Void-Oak spear, and moved silently toward the source of the noise.
He crept through the thick, violet ferns, the metallic scent of ozone growing so thick he could taste it on his tongue, until he reached the edge of a massive, blasted clearing.
What he saw dried the spit in his mouth instantly.
