Chapter 1145: Slither of Fear

Morrow stared at the severed head for a split moment, feeling cold terror creep into her heart. The clean cut, the hollow emptiness of his dead eyes, the dark entrance into the tunnel behind...

Were... were they all dead? A whole cohort of experienced, battle-hardened Awakened warriors of the great clan Song, wiped out in such a short span of time without making even a single sound? Had a human done that? No, that was impossible. Only Whispering Blade would have been capable of slaughtering them in such a manner. But then, Madoc would never lower himself to play with his prey...

What kind of abomination was it, then? How had the dogs of Valor allowed a monster like that to live freely under their city?!New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

Then, Morrow scowled. Why was she scared? What was there to be scared of? Neither death nor Nightmare Creatures had ever frightened her before. Her people seemed to be shaken, too, so unbecoming of the elites of a great clan.

'A mental attack.' The creature must have been employing some kind of beguilement. She growled: "Activate the mental resistance enchantments!"

At the same time, she raised her hand and clicked her fingers, sending a devastating sonic shockwave into the tunnel. A deafening boom rolled through the production hall, and a fountain of stone dust and debris shot out of the dark entrance.

The Awakened of Song poured essence into the protective charms they carried. Instantly, it was as if they could breathe again... the memory of terror still lingered, though, gnawing at their willpower. There were twenty of them left, gathered in a circular defensive formation that had no blind zones, with the massive cage placed in the center. Morrow stared in the direction of the tunnel tensely, wondering whether her attack caught the creature or not.

When the echoes of the sonic boom died down and an unnerving silence settled over the production hall, she lingered for a moment, then gave the order to dismiss luminous memories. Trapped in a circle of light, they were too vulnerable. Instead of relying on natural vision, the messengers of Song sacrificed a bit of essence to activate enchantments that granted them the ability to see in the dark. Instantly, the whole production hall was unveiled before them. Nothing could escape their gazes...

A moment later, two things happened. First, a loud metallic click came from somewhere within the defensive formation... from the massive cage that contained the enthralled abomination. Second, a section of the production hall's ceiling suddenly collapsed, and armored figures poured through the breach.

A short time earlier, many levels above the production hall of the underground factory, Knight Amiran was standing in the middle of a wide corridor. He was surrounded by Awakened of Valor, who were stealthily moving forward. A woman in light armor fashioned out of abomination leather was making a report:

"Sir. We have dismantled the outer layers of the detection wards. The enemy should be right below us by now, but... moving further unnoticed will be hard. The elevator shafts are especially problematic."

He looked down, then nodded. "Try your best." His subordinate moved to return to her task, but at that moment, the floor trembled slightly. Amiran frowned. 'What...' Why would the enemy abandon caution now?

He raised his head to give an order, but at that moment, something flashed in the corner of his eye. Amiran swiftly turned, noticing the back of a small creature - some sort of a gremlin - scurrying into the darkness. His face darkened. "Our presence has been discovered."

There was another tremor, this one much stronger than the first. The worms had to be trying to collapse the wall of a tunnel in a hurry, hoping to escape. If so, he was going to have to disappoint them. Amiran had been planning to proceed further down quietly, even if it took more time. But now that such an approach was off the table, there was a need to accelerate things.

There was a sword on his belt, and a war hammer on his back. Unsheathing the sword and pulling the hammer from its loop, Amiran bellowed: "Warriors of Valor! With me!" Then, he called upon his Aspect and slammed the war hammer into the floor. A wave of crushing force traveled downward, piercing through multiple levels of the underground factory and opening a ravaged path to the main production hall.

Without a moment of hesitation, Knight Amiran grinned and jumped down into the dark breach. "Death to the enemy! Let no one escape!"