Chapter 64

The moment Cypher and his elite ‘Ghost’ vanished into the cave’s darkness, Hector and ‘Shadow Blade’ began their true hell.

“Hold the barrier! It must never be breached!”

Hector roared and swung his sword. With each pass, a blue aura exploded, ripping through the rotten bodies of the dead. The hardened steel blades forged by the dwarves sliced the dead’s bones like tofu, and the aura-amplifying armor designed by Rian pushed his strength beyond its limits. But the enemy was endless.

Cut one down and two more crawled up from the black lake. The waves of dead that trampled over their comrades’ corpses and tore at flesh dashed forward like a black tidal wave. The lullaby of the Weeping Tree constantly gnawed at their minds, and the bog’s poisonous miasma seeped through wounds into their veins, rotting flesh.

“Graaah!”

A scream tore out from the corner of the defensive line. One soldier was felled as an undead seized his ankle, and dozens more pounced like hyenas. The horrific sounds of armor tearing and flesh being ripped away echoed.

“Damn it!”

Hector wanted to save his comrade, but he couldn’t. The moment he left his post, this fragile defense would collapse. He swallowed his grief and only swung his sword at the enemy before him. This was the fate of the shadow, fulfill the lord’s orders, even if the deaths of comrades must be used as stepping stones.

“Hold! If we fall, those snake bastards won’t come back alive! Even if we die here, we’re buying time for them to finish the mission!”

Hector’s shout was not mere command. It was a solemn vow that burned his and his men’s souls.

Meanwhile, Cypher and his ‘Ghost’ who had plunged into the cave faced a completely different kind of hell.

The cave’s interior was not a naturally formed space. The walls writhed like the entrails of a living creature, dark red, vein-like cords pulsing ominously. The floor was slick with viscous fluids, and the air reeked of blood and rot, thick with the aura of plague.

“Spread out. Find any traces.”

At Cypher’s low command, the three Ghost silently dispersed into the dark. They moved without a sound, traversing walls and ceiling as they searched.

Then the lead Ghost’s foot found empty air. It was a trap cleverly hidden in the floor.

“Gah!”

Before he could even scream, dozens of bone spears sprung from the floor and impaled him through his body. With his last breath he managed to fire a flare from his belt. A red flash briefly lit the cave, their signal to warn the others.

“Stupid bastard.”

Cypher clicked his tongue and, instead of mourning, plunged deeper into the darkness. A trap meant there was something to guard at the end of the path.

After some distance they finally reached the deepest part of the cave, a vast cavern. There they witnessed the heart of all this calamity.

In the cavern’s center, the massive roots of the Weeping Tree were tangled into a monstrous mass of flesh that looked like a gigantic heart. The mass throbbed irregularly, and on its surface countless human faces appeared and vanished, screaming in agony.

And embedded in the center of that flesh was a huge ‘Plague Crystal’ that seemed to suck in pitch-black darkness. That was the control tower directing this swamp, the tree, and the dead.

‘Dragon’s Heart…! Just like the report! If we can get that…!’

Cypher’s eyes flashed with greed.

But a guardian stood before the crystal: a gaunt priest who seemed to be one of the ‘plague apostles’ of the Ashen Worm cult. He had his hand on the crystal, murmuring incomprehensible incantations to infuse it with power.

“At last you’ve come, uninvited guests.”

The priest spoke in a grotesque voice, as if he’d known they would come, without turning around.

“For ruining our great lord’s garden, your souls will repay the debt as fertilizer.”

At the priest’s gesture, dozens of shadows writhed up from the cavern floor and walls like living creatures. They were not the dead, but Shadow Wraiths, beings forged from pure malice and the aura of plague.

“Dispose of them.”

Cypher ordered the two remaining Ghost. They launched themselves at the wraiths without hesitation. Dark energy and shadow magic collided, and the cave was swept into a whirlwind of chaos.

Cypher seized the opening. His sole objective was the ‘plague crystal’. He slithered across the ground like a snake and silently approached the priest’s back. From the tip of the dagger in his hand, a corrosive dark energy shimmered up.

At the moment he thrust the dagger toward the priest’s throat.

The priest turned with a strange smile. His face was not human, dozens of insects writhed together, merely mimicking the shape of a human face.

“How foolish.”

A sound burst from the insects’ mouths in unison. The priest’s chest split open, and dozens of black tentacles shot out, crashing over Cypher.

At the same time, outside the cave.

“Guh!”

Hector was impaled through the shoulder by a bone spear from the dead. His defensive line had long since fallen, and fewer than half of his men remained.

“…Is this the end?”

Watching the tide of death surge toward him, Hector gave a bitter smile.