Chapter 172: Blessing

The sound beneath the earth became louder.

A deep, rumbling hiss echoed across the battlefield, so powerful that the stones beneath Edgar’s feet vibrated with it.

The cracks widened rapidly, and the ground suddenly collapsed beneath several Nightmares who barely managed to leap away before disappearing into the darkness.

Edgar didn’t wait to see what was coming.

"Hera!"

He immediately rushed toward her.

The Soul Guardians surrounding Hera moved at the same time, forming a wall of bodies between her and the widening cracks.

Edgar pushed through them and grabbed Hera, pulling her into his arms as another tremor shook the Fortress.

"Hold on."

Hera wrapped her arms around his neck as Edgar jumped backward, carrying her away from the collapsing ground.

The Headless Commander and Nightmare Giant moved with them.

Several Soul Guardians spread out around them and raised their weapons toward the enormous opening.

Then something moved inside the darkness.

At first, Edgar thought it was another part of the ground collapsing.

But the movement was far too deliberate.

A massive head slowly emerged from beneath the earth.

The battlefield fell silent.

The creature’s head alone was larger than some of the buildings inside Edgar’s Fortress.

Thick black scales covered its enormous skull, each one reflecting the pale light of the moon like pieces of dark metal, while two massive golden eyes opened slowly on either side of its head.

A long tongue slipped between its jaws.

The creature was a snake but calling it a snake felt wrong.

Its head was so enormous that Edgar couldn’t see where it ended and the darkness beneath the earth began.

Two long horns curved backward from its skull.

The creature finally lifted its head completely from the ground.

The earth cracked beneath the movement.

Nightmares began retreating.

Some of them didn’t even wait for orders and simply ran into the fog, while others dropped their weapons and stared at the creature in terror.

The Nightmare King, however, spread his arms.

"At last!" His voice echoed across the battlefield. "I have been waiting for you."

The enormous serpent slowly turned its head toward him.

The Nightmare King smiled. "Guardian of the Norwood Mountains. Great Serpent Azhurak, Holy Spirit of Strength."

Edgar’s eyes widened slightly.

Gordon had once told him about the enormous creature they had seen in the Norwood Mountains.

He had described seeing a massive head emerging through the fog, so large that they couldn’t even determine how big the rest of its body was.

At the time, Edgar had thought Gordon might have exaggerated what he saw.

But now...

’Was this the creature Gordon was talking about?’

Edgar looked up at the enormous serpent.

Azhurak’s body was still hidden beneath the earth, but even the portion that had emerged was enough to make Edgar understand how terrifying its true size must be.

The creature slowly raised its head toward the sky.

Its red eyes reflected the full moon.

For several seconds, it simply stared at it.

The Nightmare King watched with anticipation before turning toward Edgar.

"I brought you the blood of the Sea God."

Hera stiffened in Edgar’s arms.

Edgar’s expression immediately became serious.

The Nightmare King continued speaking to the enormous serpent as though he were making an offering.

"She carries the blood you need."

Azhurak’s head slowly turned.

Its enormous eyes moved away from the moon and settled on Hera.

Edgar immediately stepped backward and placed himself between them, shielding Hera with his body while the Soul Guardians tightened their formation.

The serpent stared at him.

Edgar could feel a strange pressure coming from them.

The Nightmare King pointed toward Hera again.

"You can have her." His smile widened. "In exchange, give me the strength to rule this world."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Azhurak began lowering its head.

The enormous serpent moved with frightening slowness.

Edgar took a deep breath. His eyes suddenly shifted downward.

’The body...’

Through the Soul Network, he quickly looked at the ground surrounding the Fortress.

Azhurak’s enormous body was moving beneath the battlefield.

And directly beneath it was one of Edgar’s gravity runes.

Edgar’s eyes narrowed.

He had created the gravity formations to control the battlefield, but he had never imagined that something this enormous would step directly over one.

He immediately connected to the Soul Network.

’Now.’

One of the nearby Soul Guardians moved without hesitation.

It sprinted toward the gravity rune and slammed its hand against the activation point.

The Green Nightmare Stone embedded within the rune began glowing.

Then another rune activated. The gravity formations connected together in a chain.

BOOM!

Azhurak’s enormous body was suddenly dragged downward.

The serpent let out a deafening roar as its massive head jerked toward the ground.

The Nightmare King stumbled. "What?!"

Edgar didn’t waste the opportunity.

He immediately picked Hera up in a princess carry and rushed away as the serpent thrashed violently behind them.

"Edgar!"

"Don’t look back."

The ground exploded behind him.

Azhurak screamed again, its enormous body twisting against the artificial gravity.

Trees near the Fortress were torn from the ground as its coils smashed into the earth.

The Nightmare King stared at the creature in disbelief.

"No..." His expression slowly changed.

"Stop!" He rushed toward Azhurak and raised both hands. "Calm down! I brought you what you wanted!"

But Azhurak didn’t listen.

The ancient serpent lifted its head and looked around the battlefield.

Its golden eyes swept across the Nightmares.

BOOM!

Dozens of Nightmares disappeared inside its mouth before the serpent violently shook its head.

Several others were crushed beneath its enormous body as it slammed against the ground.

The Nightmare King froze.

"No!" He rushed toward it. "Those are my soldiers!"

Azhurak ignored him.

Another group of Nightmares tried to escape, but the serpent’s tail swept across the battlefield and sent them flying through the air.

The Soul Guardians weren’t spared either.

Azhurak’s head snapped toward them, and a powerful gust of air erupted from its mouth as it roared.

Several Guardians were thrown backward.

Before they could recover, the serpent struck.

Its enormous jaws closed around them, crushing their bodies instantly as their Soul Energy scattered across the battlefield like glowing fragments.

Edgar watched through the Soul Network.

One presence after another disappeared.

His expression darkened.

The Nightmare King looked horrified. "This isn’t what was supposed to happen."

He stared at the serpent as it continued destroying everything around it.

"You were supposed to give me your power!"

Azhurak didn’t even seem to understand him.

It was simply a beast.

An ancient and unbelievably powerful beast that had awakened hungry, angry, and surrounded by creatures it didn’t recognize.

The Nightmare King finally realized the truth.

He had brought a monster into the middle of his own army.

And now he couldn’t control it.

"This is impossible..."

Azhurak suddenly turned toward him.

The Nightmare King stepped backward.

"Wait."

The serpent opened its enormous jaws.

The Nightmare King immediately jumped away as the creature snapped at him.

BOOM!

Its teeth smashed into the ground where he had been standing only moments earlier.

The King flew backward and landed heavily on his feet.

His expression became furious.

"You useless beast!"

Azhurak answered with another roar.

The entire Fortress shook.

Edgar used the distraction to move farther away with Hera, but the Nightmare King suddenly turned his head toward him.

His eyes met Edgar’s.

The rage in them was no longer directed at Azhurak.

It was directed at him.

"You!"

The Nightmare King vanished.

Edgar immediately sensed him through the Soul Network.

"Take Hera."

A nearby Soul Guardian stepped forward.

Edgar handed Hera to it and turned around just as the Nightmare King appeared in front of him.

BOOM!

Their fists collided.

The impact sent a shockwave across the battlefield, throwing loose stones into the air.

Edgar dug his feet into the ground and held his position.

The Nightmare King pushed against him with overwhelming strength.

"You ruined everything!"

Edgar gritted his teeth.

"You brought the monster here."

"You were supposed to die!"

The King suddenly swung his other fist.

Edgar ducked beneath it and drove his sword upward.

The Nightmare King twisted away, but the blade still cut across his side.

Golden blood sprayed onto the ground.

The King roared and struck Edgar across the chest.

Edgar flew backward and crashed through a broken stone wall.

Before he could recover, the Nightmare King was already upon him.

But this time Edgar didn’t retreat.

He stepped forward.

Their battle resumed beneath the moonlight while Azhurak continued tearing through the battlefield behind them.

Every movement of the ancient serpent caused another section of the Fortress to shake.

Edgar could feel everything through the Soul Network.

More Soul Guardians were disappearing and Nightmares were being slaughtered.

The Fortress he had spent so much time building was being torn apart around him.

And then Edgar noticed something else.

The moon was moving.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, it was beginning to descend toward the horizon.

The Nightmare King noticed it too and expression suddenly changed.

He looked toward the sky.

"No..."

Edgar blocked another attack and watched him carefully.

The King stared at the moon as though he had just realized that time was running out.

"No, no, no!"

His voice became desperate.

"The moon is moving away."

Edgar’s eyes narrowed.

The Nightmare King looked back toward Azhurak, then toward Hera, and finally at the moon again.

Everything he had planned depended on tonight.

But the night was ending.

The moonlight was beginning to weaken.

And for the first time, the Nightmare King looked genuinely afraid.

"We don’t have much time left."