Chapter 151: The Problem with Han River

Edgar’s consciousness immediately entered the Soul Network.

For a brief moment, everything around him disappeared, replaced by a strange sensation of darkness and countless faint connections stretching through his mind.

Then his vision returned, and he was no longer looking through his own eyes.

Instead, he was seeing the world through one of the human-shaped Soul Guardians stationed at the subsidiary Fortress.

The skeleton stood silently near the top of the Fortress Wall, its empty eyes overlooking the settlement below.

Edgar slowly moved its head, and the first thing he noticed was the Fortress itself.

Everything appeared normal at first, with young soldiers patrolling the walls and workers moving between the buildings.

But then Edgar noticed something written across the ground outside the Fortress.

Large letters had been carved directly into the earth.

Edgar stared at them for several seconds before silently reading the words in his mind.

THE KING IS AWAKE.

His expression immediately became serious.

’...The King is awake.’

The words were different from the message he had found near his own Fortress.

Edgar’s eyes moved across the surrounding area through the Soul Guardian.

He carefully inspected the forest, the walls, and the ground around the Fortress.

Nothing seemed out of place, and the other Soul Guardians were also moving normally.

None of them appeared to be damaged.

Edgar switched his attention toward them, checking their memories through the network.

They had no idea who had written the message.

It was as if the words had simply appeared during the night.

’Someone managed to approach the Fortress without being detected.’

Edgar’s expression became colder.

His Soul Guardians were supposed to detect anything approaching the Fortress, yet whoever had left the message had managed to get close enough to carve those words into the ground.

Before Edgar could investigate further, another figure entered his field of vision.

...Osric.

The middle-aged man was standing near the main gate while speaking with several soldiers.

The moment he noticed the Soul Guardian looking toward him, he immediately walked over.

"My lord."

Edgar didn’t answer as he couldn’t.

Through the Soul Guardian, he continued watching Osric.

The middle-aged man seemed unusually serious. "You should come here yourself."

Edgar narrowed his eyes. ’So something else happened.’

He didn’t waste any more time, and Edgar opened his eyes.

The strange sensation of the Soul Network immediately disappeared, and his surroundings returned to normal.

He blinked several times before looking toward the sky. "...The Han River Fortress."

There was clearly more happening there than the message alone.

Edgar turned toward the nearby settlement and raised his voice.

"Gorilla Commander!"

A deep roar immediately came from the distance.

The enormous Gorilla Commander emerged from between several buildings, its massive body moving toward Edgar with heavy footsteps.

Edgar waited until it reached him before climbing onto its shoulder.

"Let’s go."

The Gorilla Commander immediately began moving toward the forest.

---

Some hours later, the trees around the Han River Fortress finally came into view.

Edgar jumped down from the Gorilla Commander’s shoulder before landing firmly on the ground.

The massive beast stopped behind him while Edgar continued walking toward the Fortress.

Osric was already waiting near the entrance.

The middle-aged man immediately stepped forward and bowed.

"My lord."

Edgar nodded before looking toward the ground.

"Who wrote those words?"

Osric’s expression became slightly uncomfortable.

"I don’t know."

He glanced toward the message that had been carved outside the Fortress.

"We noticed it after the Eternal Night began to fade, but none of the guards saw anyone approach."

Edgar narrowed his eyes. "Not even the Soul Guardians?"

Osric shook his head. "They didn’t notice anything either."

’How the hell did that happen?’

Someone had entered the area, left a message, and disappeared without triggering any warning.

He looked toward the surrounding forest. "Was there anything else?"

Osric hesitated. "Actually, my lord, a lot happened last night."

Edgar turned his attention back toward him. "Tell me everything."

Osric nodded.

"The first strange thing happened around the middle of the Eternal Night." He pointed toward the mountains in the distance.

"All the Nightmares around this area suddenly started moving."

Edgar’s eyebrows rose. "Moving where?"

"Toward the mountains."

Osric’s expression remained serious.

"It wasn’t a normal migration either. Thousands of them suddenly abandoned the surrounding forest and began rushing toward the mountains."

Edgar stared toward the distant peaks. "Did they attack anything?"

"No."

Osric shook his head. "They didn’t attack the Fortress or each other. They simply moved toward the mountains as quickly as they could."

Edgar frowned. ’Why would Nightmares suddenly gather in one place?’

Osric continued. "Then something even stranger happened."

"What?"

"There was a light."

Edgar turned toward him. "A light?"

Osric nodded his head with an unusual expression.

"Yes. It came from the mountains." He pointed toward the distant peaks again.

"For a short time, the entire mountain range was illuminated."

Edgar’s expression became confused. "During the Eternal Night?"

"Yes." Osric looked equally confused. "I don’t understand how it happened either."

Edgar stared toward the mountains.

The Eternal Night covered the entire world in darkness.

Even ordinary sources of light behaved differently during that period.

Yet something had produced enough light to illuminate an entire mountain range.

’What could possibly create that much light?’

Edgar’s thoughts immediately turned toward the strange Solar Crystal he had discovered in the Yamhad treasury.

But he quickly dismissed the idea. "This happened before the message appeared?"

Osric nodded. "Yes, my lord."

Edgar remained silent as the events were beginning to form a pattern, but he still couldn’t understand what connected them.

"What else?"

Osric hesitated again. "There were footprints."

Edgar immediately looked at him. "What kind?"

"I don’t know." Osric shook his head. "But they’re enormous."

Edgar’s expression became serious. "Show me."

The middle-aged man immediately turned around.

"This way."

---

Osric led Edgar away from the Fortress and toward the northern side of the settlement.

They passed several soldiers before eventually reaching the edge of the forest.

Osric stopped. "Here."

Edgar looked down as his expression turned blank.

Several enormous footprints had been pressed deeply into the ground.

Each one was far larger than a normal human footprint.

Edgar crouched beside one of them and carefully examined its shape.

The impression was deep enough to show that whatever had made it possessed tremendous weight.

He slowly followed the trail with his eyes, and the footprints continued through the forest.

Each step was several metres apart.

Edgar stood up and looked toward Osric. "Where do they lead?"

Osric pointed toward the distance. "The Han River."

Edgar’s gaze followed the trail.

The footprints disappeared into the forest before continuing toward the river.

For several seconds, Edgar said nothing.

He couldn’t identify the creature, and it definitely wasn’t a normal Nightmare.

And judging by the depth of the footprints, whatever had walked through this place possessed enough strength to crush ordinary creatures without effort.

Edgar slowly clenched his fists. ’What the hell happened here?’

Edgar stared toward the Han River as a cold feeling settled in his chest.

He had absolutely no idea what he was dealing with.