Chapter 622 - 622: Return of the Shadow

Chapter 622: Return of the Shadow

[TL: Asuka]

[PR: Ash]

The group came to the depths of the abode, where a stone arched gateway that was big enough to let a few horse-drawn carriages pass stood. The liquid coral on the ceiling spilled rainbow upon the gateway, illuminating patterns of lightning, claw, petals, branches, insects, and complex runes. Roy had no idea what went into making this gate. It was smooth to the touch, and chaos energy swirled around it.

All Roy did was approach the gateway, and his blood was starting to respond. It started to dance and floated behind his shoulder, converging into star-shaped light. The closer he was to the gateway, the more lights were conjured.

The moment he touched it, the stones around, the river above, the fluorescent plants, the witcher, the Elders, and Regis were illuminated by a beam of magical yellow light. The runes, in an ouroboros pattern, danced. The Elder Blood had activated them, and they flew out of the bright gate. The shimmering stars and runes danced in the air, and the four thought they were standing in the galaxy, a scroll of beauty unfurling before them.

In the center of the light was that gateway, and it felt solemn. Sacred. Roy let out a gasp of astonishment, then he turned to the Unseen Elder. He glanced at the arm that was hanging outside the armor.

dTarher...

CienSiss...

The Elders’ blood pact was turned into a tattoo that clung tightly on the arm. Once they made a successful return to their homeland, Roy could use this mark to command all 328 higher vampires throughout the Continent. Once twenty years had elapsed, the mark would disappear.

***

“Trayche, Sif, are you ready? Do you need to pack before you leave or leave some messages behind for your kin?”

The Elders looked calm. Almost aloof, even.

“We have nothing to pack.”

“We have left... the important messages... in their bloodline... They will know... naturally.”

Roy wasn’t happy with just that. He took this chance to ask all the questions. “After your departure, will there be a new Unseen Elder to take over this place?”

Sif looked at him and answered impatiently. “It takes... at least... a thousand years... for life to evolve... enough to turn... into an Elder... There will not... be an Elder... for a hundred years.”

Roy heaved a sigh of relief. That means this place and the gate belong to me after this. With this gate’s power, I can team up with Ciri and Eileni and travel through worlds with a team of people. “I played a game with that cunning merchant a few years ago, and I won through sheer luck. Perhaps we can defeat it together,” Roy said, licking his lips.

Trayche gave Roy a warning look. “The mysterious merchant... does not have... a permanent address... This world... and the multiverse... are its trading spots... Once we return... we will ask... our kin... to settle this score.”

So sending these Elders back home is also setting that bastard up for a trap. Roy felt happier hearing that. He hoped these powerful vampires could teach that skinhead a painful lesson. “So what’s your homeland like? What’s special about it?”

“You will know once you are there... Do not push your luck, witcher... No more questions...”

Roy turned his attention to the barber-surgeon, still in awe and fear.

He waved his hand. The woman darted back into the wooden house and quickly packed up her stuff. She only afforded Roy a single glance throughout the process. Roy’s charm that was usually enough to captivate anyone, lost its magic.

“Most humans give us offerings, and we ensure their safety.”

“Humans need your protection? What kind of danger is out there?”

And then a stream of freezing winds howled through the woods. White mist rose into the air, blocking the sun, the woods, and the house around them.

“Stand there and don’t move, witcher,” Trayche and Sif said, as if they were facing a dangerous enemy.

Roy could feel danger overwhelming him. He heard a thud coming from the mist, as if something heavy had just buried itself into the soil. The woods and even the ground underneath were shaking. The air was starting to shiver, and beasts howled in panic and despair.

The birds perched on the trees screeched and flew into the mysterious mist. Roy then saw something he would never forget. As if a ship were breaking through the sea, a gigantic silhouette appeared in the mist far away from them. Is that Behemoth?

***

That was a monster hidden in the mist. It was nearly a hundred feet tall, and from afar, it looked like a mammoth in ancient times. It had six towering legs covered in gray fur holding it up. The monster, as a whole, felt asymmetrical, but there were countless tentacles on its head and its body. Upon closer inspection, the monster’s back was covered in a layer of fur as strong as needles, and inside it was covered in something like an insect’s maw, crunching all the time.

The beast speared the mist with its tentacles and slowly pulled back. On the tentacles were the carcasses of beasts, and they looked like shish kebabs. The tentacles popped the corpses into the monster’s maw, and the monster started to crunch on its food. The blood that flowed out of its maw spilled into the mist and drenched the earth underneath.

***

Behemoth. It’s scarier than an eldritch god.

***

“Child of the Elder Blood, the universe is a big place. You were lucky enough to be born in a peaceful world where humans rule,” Sif said. Returning to his homeland unlocked his emotions, and he couldn’t hold back his excitement. “In your world, most human children can live through their childhood, despite its constant disasters and infighting, but things are different in our homeland. Humans are weak. They are born to the bottom of the food chain, and they must survive by becoming the vassal of powerful species. Not even our tribe can make the rules here. The true rulers of this world are the sea of powerful monsters that came with this mist. If humans and us bloodkin are to live, we must fight since childhood. We must keep moving to safer places and survive through deadly battles.”

A crimson glint gleamed in Sif’s eyes. “Our homeland is a lot deadlier, but it’s more interesting.”

“Now it is time for you to leave, witcher,” Trayche said. A patch of black smoke covered the woman from head to toe and held her in midair. “This is not your battle. Behemoth’s saliva can harm even our immortal bodies, let alone mortal ones. We’ll need at least ten Elders to take it down, so we have to set off and reunite with old friends. You do what you have to.”

The Elders leapt and turned into slivers of smoke. They then darted deep into the mist. Roy held his breath and stared at the beast. As if feeling Roy’s stare, the beast suddenly turned to the witcher. Within the tentacles was a pair of eyes as bright as white suns. Within those eyes was a desire to destroy and consume everything.

***

It’s an incredible and powerful beast. If I kill it, I can get tens of thousands of EXP. Dismayed, Roy took out a blue diamond carved like a rose. It was Brisingamen, Freya’s treasure. The diamond was the size of his fist, and it shone as brightly as the summer sun.

And it was also buzzing violently. Time to go home. If I stay here, Freya and Melitele will think I broke my word and ran to another world to escape the White Frost. That will cause unnecessary problems. Besides, the mark of the bloodline is a waypoint. I can first deal with the problems back at the witcher world before I come back to this thing.

Roy had made up his mind, and he opened a second Worldgate. He could do that twice a day with the power of Guardian. A tentacle fell from the sky, hurtling at Roy.

A crimson beam flashed, and the tentacle was split in two. It fell to the ground, turned into a cloud of smoke. Behemoth’s furious roar pierced the mist. When it rumbled the ground and came to where Roy was, the puny prey was already nowhere to be found.