Chapter 1569: Familiar Energy

Eccar stood there for a long moment and reflected on his failure. Fighting was one of the few things he had always done well.

In a battle he could trust his instincts and rely on his strength without needing complicated plans or careful words.

He was not good at explaining himself, and he never considered himself particularly skilled at thinking through elaborate strategies.

What he knew best was how to fight and destroy whatever enemy stood in his way.

His power as an Earth Dragon gave him tremendous physical strength and incredible durability, while his connection to the earth allowed him to draw power directly from the land beneath his feet.

As long as he fought on solid ground, almost anywhere in any world, Eccar could fight with incredible strength.

But what had all that strength accomplished now? He had failed to protect the people who trusted him.

He had sworn to keep them safe but they still died while he fought outside the dome.

Eccar lowered his head and let out a long breath, feeling completely helpless and lost.

"Then what am I worth if I can’t even protect the people I swore to protect?"

His eyes slowly returned to the large hole in the ground.

If the pilgrims had been dragged down there by the creature that attacked them, then there was little reason to believe they were still alive.

However, Eccar refused to accept that conclusion without seeing the truth for himself.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to hold onto the smallest piece of hope he still had. Until he saw their bodies he could not assume they were dead.

Maybe the pilgrims had survived the attack. Maybe they were injured and trapped somewhere below. Maybe they were waiting for him to find them.

That possibility was enough for Eccar to immediately move toward the opening and jump inside without wasting another second.

His body dropped rapidly through the darkness. The walls of the tunnel rushed past him as he descended deeper into the earth, and loose stones broke away beneath his feet and tumbled into the darkness below.

Eccar twisted his body in midair and reached toward the wall, using his claws to slow his descent whenever he could.

The tunnel curved several times as it descended, forcing him to push away from one side before catching himself against the other.

Cold air rushed against his face while the distant sound of falling stones echoed far below him.

After several seconds, the darkness finally opened into a much larger space.

Eccar saw the ground approaching and bent his knees before landing heavily on the stone floor. The impact sent a dull tremor through the cavern and kicked dust into the air around him.

Eccar slowly straightened and looked around. He had entered an enormous underground cave.

Strange lights illuminated the darkness from every direction. The walls and floor contained countless unusual stones that emitted a faint glow from within, some shining with pale blue light, some gave off dull green and violet hues.

Their light reflected across the uneven stone surfaces and created an eerie glow that made the cavern look almost otherworldly.

There was no obvious source for the light, and the stones themselves seemed to pulse faintly as though something inside them was alive.

Eccar frowned as he studied the strange environment. "What is this place?" He had traveled through countless caves and underground passages before but he had never encountered anything quite like this.

Still, he did not stop. The pilgrims were more important than the strange surroundings.

Eccar moved deeper into the cave while calling out for them and carefully listening for any response.

His footsteps echoed across the enormous cave, yet no one answered.

He continued forward until a familiar sensation suddenly touched his senses. Eccar stopped. The strange feeling did not come from the stones around him. It came from something deeper within the cave.

A dark and twisted energy spread through the air, the moment Eccar sensed it his entire body became tense.

He knew that energy.

His breathing became heavier as old memories surfaced in his mind. It was the same foul presence he had felt before, the same power that belonged to... the Chaos God.

The realization hit him hard. The Chaos God was here. The very being responsible for destroying his village and slaughtering everyone he loved had returned to his path.

Eccar remembered his wife, his son, the people who had once filled his village with life before the Chaos God took everything away from him.

Those memories had never truly disappeared, no matter how much time had passed.

Anger began spreading through Eccar’s body. His fists tightened until his knuckles creaked. His jaw clenched as he stared into the darkness ahead.

The fear and helplessness he felt moments earlier disappeared beneath a much stronger emotion. He no longer cared about the strange cave or the danger waiting somewhere ahead. He only wanted to find the source of that energy.

If the Chaos God had taken the pilgrims, Eccar would find them and tear through them.

Eccar continued deeper into the cave. The strange glowing stones became more numerous as he advanced, casting distorted shadows across the walls.

The Chaos energy also grew stronger with every step. Eventually, Eccar saw a large silhouette standing at the far end of the cave.

He stopped and stared at it.

The figure was enormous and vaguely humanoid. It stood taller than any ordinary human with broad shoulders and thick limbs covered in coarse fur.

Its hands ended in long, curved claws, its legs carried the heavy shape of a powerful beast.

But its most disturbing feature was its head. Instead of a human face the creature had the face of a mole rat, complete with a blunt snout, small dark eyes, prominent teeth, and twitching whiskers.

The combination of a massive humanoid body and the grotesque animal face made the creature look unnatural even by the standards of the monsters Eccar had fought before.

The Chaos God slowly turned toward him.

Its small eyes fixed on Eccar. Then the creature smiled.

The expression looked disturbing on its mole-rat face. Its lips pulled back to reveal rows of sharp teeth and its whiskers twitched around its snout.

The smile looked almost amused, as though the creature had been waiting for Eccar to arrive.

Eccar’s blood boiled.

His hands tightened into fists as memories of his wife and son flashed through his mind. All of it returned at once.

The Chaos God continued smiling.

Eccar stared directly into those dark eyes.

His anger reached a level he had not felt since the day he lost everything.

"You..." His voice came out low and filled with hatred.

The creature’s disturbing smile widened.

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