Chapter 171: An Unrestrained Outlet

"Now..." The Nightmare King’s golden eyes returned to Edgar. "Let’s see what you choose to protect."

Edgar didn’t answer immediately.

His attention remained fixed on the Fortress wall, where Wavin stood with one arm wrapped around Hera and a knife pressed against her neck, while the battle continued to rage around them.

The sight of blood covering the battlefield and the broken body of the Gorilla Commander beneath the wall made his expression grow colder.

The Nightmare King watched him carefully. "You’ve spent so much time building this Fortress, gathering soldiers and creating those strange creatures from the dead."

He looked around the place as his flashed arrogance.

"Yet all of that strength has become meaningless because there is one person you cannot afford to lose."

Edgar finally looked at him. "You talk too much."

The King smiled faintly. "Then tell me what you intend to do."

Instead of answering, Edgar quietly extended his consciousness through the Soul Network.

Hundreds of presences immediately filled his mind, from the Commanders fighting around him to the Soul Guardians stationed throughout the Fortress.

He searched through them until he found three Guardians positioned on the opposite side of the wall from Wavin.

They couldn’t see Hera from where they stood, but Edgar could see everything through the network.

The Nightmare King noticed the slight movement of Edgar’s hand. "You’re planning something."

At the same time, Edgar kept his eyes on Wavin. "Why her?"

The question made Wavin’s smile fade for a moment.

"You’ve been inside my Fortress for a long time," Edgar continued. "You could have sabotaged the walls, poisoned the food, or attacked the civilians while everyone was distracted. Instead, you waited until the King arrived before taking Hera. That means she was always the objective."

Wavin didn’t answer.

The Nightmare King did. "She is the reason I came personally."

Edgar’s eyes narrowed. "What does she have that you need?"

"That is something you don’t need to know."

The answer only made Edgar more suspicious.

He looked toward Hera, who was still struggling against Wavin’s grip, and noticed something that hadn’t made sense until now.

If the Nightmare King simply wanted to destroy his Fortress, Hera wouldn’t need to be alive.

Whatever he wanted from her was important enough that even now, with Edgar standing directly in front of him, the King was taking care not to let Wavin hurt her.

Edgar slowly raised his hand.

The Nightmare King immediately became alert, but Edgar lowered it again.

"Fine," Edgar said. "I’ll give you what you want."

Hera’s eyes widened. "Edgar..."

The Nightmare King smiled.

"At last."

Edgar began walking toward him, leaving his Commanders behind.

Through the Soul Network, however, he gave them a silent order to remain where they were.

The Headless Commander lowered its sword, while the Nightmare Giant stopped beside the crater where the Gorilla Commander had fallen.

The Nightmare King seemed satisfied. "You finally understand the difference between courage and stupidity."

Edgar ignored him and stopped several metres away. "Let her go first."

The King glanced toward Wavin.

"Bring her down."

Wavin pulled Hera toward the stairs leading from the Fortress wall.

She resisted at first, but the knife against her neck forced her to move, and Edgar remained completely still as they descended.

Every instinct inside him told him to attack, yet one mistake could put the blade through Hera’s throat.

When they finally reached the bottom of the wall, Wavin shoved Hera forward.

A Soul Guardian immediately caught her.

That was the moment Edgar had been waiting for.

’Now.’

Three Soul Guardians emerged from behind the wall at once.

One seized Wavin from behind while another knocked his arm aside, sending the knife clattering onto the stone.

The third Guardian pulled Hera away from him, and for a brief moment, Wavin was completely surrounded.

Wavin’s expression changed.

"You..."

His voice carried none of the weakness Edgar had heard from him before.

Black veins suddenly spread across his pale skin as his body twisted violently.

Bones pushed against his flesh, his fingers lengthened into claws, and the familiar human appearance began peeling away like a thin layer of skin.

Hera stumbled backward as Wavin grew taller.

"What are you?"

The creature looked at her with crimson eyes.

"A Nightmare."

The transformation finished with a sickening crack.

The young man who had lived inside Edgar’s Fortress was gone, replaced by a thin, twisted creature with elongated limbs and black flesh covering its body.

It looked at Edgar and smiled as though the entire deception had been nothing more than a game.

Edgar’s expression remained calm. "I suspected something was wrong with you."

Wavin laughed. "And yet you still trusted me."

"That was your mistake."

"No." Wavin’s smile widened. "It was yours."

The Nightmare King suddenly moved.

He didn’t attack Edgar.

He went straight for Hera.

Edgar reacted immediately, disappearing from his position and appearing between them.

The King’s fist struck Edgar’s crossed arms, and the impact sent him skidding backward across the ground while the Soul Guardians surrounded Hera.

The Nightmare King stopped several metres away.

Edgar straightened slowly.

Now he understood.

The King had never needed to defeat him through brute strength.

He only needed to create one moment where Edgar’s attention was divided, and Hera was the perfect weapon for that purpose.

"You weren’t testing whether I’d choose my Fortress or Hera," Edgar said.

The King smiled. "I wanted to see what you would sacrifice to save her."

Edgar looked toward his remaining Commanders.

They were exhausted and covered in wounds, but the Nightmare Giant was still standing, its massive chest rising and falling heavily as it stared at the King.

Edgar sent a command through the Soul Network. ’Protect Hera. Nothing gets near her.’

The Soul Guardians immediately tightened their formation around her.

Then Edgar turned back toward the Nightmare King and raised his sword.

"You’ve already killed one of my Commanders." His gaze hardened. "You won’t get another."

The Nightmare King glanced at the fallen Gorilla Commander before looking back at Edgar.

"You still don’t understand."

"Then explain it."

The King didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked toward the moon hanging above the fog, its pale light barely reaching the blood-covered battlefield.

"The reason I waited until tonight..." His golden eyes slowly returned to Hera. "...is because the moon has finally reached its full strength."

A deep rumble suddenly came from beneath the Fortress.

The ground trembled.

Edgar’s expression changed as cracks began spreading across the battlefield, and the Soul Network erupted with warnings from the Guardians stationed underground.

Something was moving beneath them.

The Nightmare King smiled. "This entire area is nothing but my place for accession."

The rumbling grew louder as Dust fell from the walls.

Hera looked toward Edgar with fear in her eyes.

Then something enormous struck the ground from beneath.

BOOM!

The entire Fortress shook. Edgar stared at the cracks spreading through the earth.

For the first time that night, even the Nightmare King looked toward the ground with anticipation.

Whatever was beneath the Fortress was finally waking up.

The ground beneath Edgar’s feet suddenly split apart.

A deep crack raced across the battlefield, passing between the corpses of Nightmares and Soul Guardians before reaching the outer wall of the Fortress.

Stones fell from the wall as another violent tremor shook the entire structure, and several people inside the Fortress screamed as buildings began to shake.

Edgar immediately connected to the Soul Network. ’What’s happening underground?’

The Soul Guardians stationed beneath the Fortress sent their senses through the network, and what Edgar saw made his expression change.

The cracks weren’t spreading randomly.

They were forming a pattern.

A massive circular shape was slowly appearing beneath the Fortress, with ancient lines buried deep inside the earth beginning to glow with a faint red light.

Edgar had never seen those markings before.

"What is this?" he muttered.

The Nightmare King laughed quietly. "You really don’t know."

Edgar turned toward him.

The King was staring at the ground with an expression Edgar had never seen on his face before.

He looked excited.

"How long has it been?" the King murmured, almost speaking to himself. "Hundreds of years?"

"Wavin," Edgar called.

The Nightmare standing on the Fortress wall looked toward him. "Do you know what’s happening?"

Wavin smiled. "You really don’t know?"

"Answer me."

Wavin looked down at the cracks beneath the Fortress.

"I don’t know exactly what is waking up." His smile widened. "But I know why the King came."

Edgar’s eyes narrowed.

Wavin continued, "Your Fortress was built over an ancient seal."

Edgar’s expression turned grim. "A seal?"

The Nightmare King finally spoke.

"Not just a seal." He stepped closer to the enormous crack. "It is a prison."

The battlefield became silent.

Edgar stared at him. "What is imprisoned beneath my Fortress?"

The King looked toward him. "Something that existed long before the Nightmares."

The ground suddenly erupted.

BOOM!

A massive column of black smoke burst from beneath the battlefield.

Nightmares screamed and scattered in every direction.

Even the strongest creatures among them retreated from the cracks.

Edgar immediately understood something was wrong.

The Nightmares were afraid.

Whatever was beneath the Fortress wasn’t their ally.

It was something they feared.

The Nightmare Giant roared and moved toward Edgar.

The Headless Commander positioned itself between Hera and the battlefield.

The remaining Commanders gathered around them as the ground continued breaking apart.

Then a sound came from beneath the earth.