"I'm sorry, Grandfather…" Maxine muttered with tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Maximus said, patting her head and calming the path of knowledge.
Instead of feeling happy as his path of law finally broke through the bottleneck, Maximus only felt tricked.
With all odds against him, like a puppet played on strings, he seemed to be played like a clown.
Knowing this was what he wished, Maximus couldn't blame anyone.
It seemed that using the True Path was more risky than he thought.
Looking past the dense, chaotic energy, Maximus felt an unprecedented danger.
Compared to an Overlord, it was like a gigantic mountain overlooking the sky.
Seeing her grandfather was not angry, Maxine felt even more guilty.
If she hadn't been eating while they tested the orbital plane blaster, she might not have accidentally set off the overloading mode.
"It's not your fault. This was because of your grandfather…" Maximus said, not wanting Maxine to blame herself.
To use the overloading mode, Maximus had set up three authentication factors.
First was the initiation button covered in a protective layer.
Second was a complicated combination password that only he knew.
Finally, the essence of his path of law giving permission to fire.
If Maxine was fooled by fate to cross the first two authentications, then Maximus was fooled into completing it.
Stopping Maxine with his path of law, coupled with its sudden advancement, was like he had given her permission to fire.
Thinking of this, Maximus couldn't help but feel the horror of the True Path.
Even he, the bearer of the ability, was fooled.
Looking at the plane barrier quickly healing itself, Maximus heaved a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it didn't come to worse.
If the barrier hadn't closed, they would have had to face the unstoppable dark disaster in advance.
Thinking of the dense dark beasts going frenzied, Maximus quickly deduced that the Dark Beast Domain would soon undergo a massive catastrophe.
This time, it would not be a mere Tier 10 forming a beast wave but uncountable Tier 11 dark beasts.
Among them, there might even be multiple Tier 11 primal dark beasts.
Getting what he wished for at such a cost, Maximus felt helpless.
"Liam, contact all the talents to return to the stronghold. We have a major battle to face next…"
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Aeon Plane.
"The concentration of chaotic energy is increasing!"
Feeling the void rumble as the concentration of chaotic energy surged, all the Overlords were on high alert.
Even the Overlord of Beasts, Lazo, was awakened by the sudden change.
"No! The Aeon Plane was torn open!" Frir muttered solemnly, looking at one of his monitoring probes.
Although not as widespread as Maximus's monitoring bots, Frir's probes were more comprehensive.
According to his probe, a fabric of the Aeon Plane was torn open.
"Torn open? How could that be?"
Unless they attacked with full force, nothing inside the Aeon Plane could tear the plane barrier open.
As for an outside force, it was even more impossible.
If it was still possible to tear the plane barrier from inside, then from outside, even a Tier 13 dark beast could do nothing.
"It should be that kid," Sira said with a smirk.
Excluding all the absolutes taking action, only that kid could create miracles.
Coupled with the news that they had left a few years ago, Sira had a hunch that it was Maximus who caused this problem.
"Maximus?" Elvian suddenly thought. "It seemed highly feasible."
"We don't have time to worry about who or what caused the problem; we have a disaster to face," Frir muttered solemnly.
Outside, as a streak of light made of concentrated energy passed through the Aeon Plane, the dark beasts became frenzied as if smelling the most tempting bait.
Seeing it quickly vanish, they became more hysterical, charging toward the source of the concentrated energy.
Charging through the Aeon Plane, its self-protection mechanism quickly activated, erasing most of the dark beasts and repelling the stronger ones.
However, like a net, it had some discrepancies, allowing certain dark beasts to pass through.
The weaker they were, the easier it was for them to enter the Aeon Plane.
On the flip side, tier 12 dark beasts, like a matured fish caught in the net, couldn't pass through the defensive barrier of the Aeon Plane.
Still, with their large numbers and overwhelming power, some strings of the net were torn apart, allowing a few tier 12 dark beasts to pass through.
As for the tier 13 dark beasts, with their sheer size and power, as long as the Aeon Plane wasn't damaged as a whole, they couldn't enter.
Feeling enraged as it smelled a huge concentration of high-quality energy yet couldn't devour it, the tier 13 dark beast began to charge at the Aeon Plane.
One charge, two charges, three charges—despite the backlash of the Aeon Plane barrier, it seemed to forget pain, like a lower dark beast with thoughts only of destruction.
As a result, although it couldn't enter, the plane's defensive net became more and more damaged, allowing more tier 12 dark beasts to enter.
Seeing the waves of dark beasts invading the Aeon Plane, the Overlords' expressions darkened.
"1, 3, 5, 7… It's too much!"
With multiple tier 12 dark beasts invading, much less worry about whether the scattering array could handle the load; they might not even be able to handle it themselves.
Sira, the weakest among them, could barely contain a single tier 12 dark beast on her own.
"Lazo, you should know what to do," Frir said solemnly.
They weren't much better than Sira. Although they could handle two or three more, with the tier 12 dark beasts reaching over a dozen, only Lazo was their hope.
"Hmph! I know! Just put them in the array after I defeat them!" Lazo said coldly.
Although like an embodiment of sloth, he was still reliable when it came to crucial moments.
Looking at the dark beasts, his body began to inflate, increasing in size millions of times.
Like a bull, Lazo charged, facing a tsunami of dark beasts.
"For disturbing Lord Lazo's sleep, you have to die!"