Chapter 193: Horde Of Gredemons

Having no other choice, the three continued deeper into the hidden dungeon, hoping to find a monster whose blood could be used to imprint the Riftstone. However, no matter how many Warrior or Exalted monsters they encountered, none of them possessed a single drop of blood.

As the minutes passed, Natia’s and Gideon’s expressions grew increasingly grim.

Eventually, the forest opened into the vast clearing dominated by jagged stone pillars that rose from the earth like the fangs of some enormous beast.

Natia had taken only a few steps between the pillars when she suddenly stopped.

Gideon halted beside her, his brows drawing together as he noticed the stiffness in her posture. Before he could ask what was wrong, a terrible sensation gripped his heart, making his breath catch in his throat.

An overwhelming terror flooded their minds, stripping away their ability to think clearly and leaving their bodies trembling beneath its weight.

Cold sweat trickled down Natia’s back as she pressed a hand against her chest, her silver sword slipping from her fingers and clattering against the broken ground. She tried to take a breath, but the pressure seemed to tighten around her heart, forcing a groan from her throat before her knees finally gave way.

Gideon fared no better. His bow fell beside him as he clutched his chest, his face draining of color while he struggled to understand what was happening. He attempted to call out to his sister, but the words refused to leave his mouth, and he collapsed onto the ground beside her.

Stella, however, remained standing.

She lifted her gaze toward the towering pillars, and her eyes soon settled on a figure standing atop one of them.

The being possessed a humanoid shape, with its arms folded across its chest as it looked down upon the three intruders. Its face resembled a hard, purple bone mask, and two twisted horns formed from purple energy protruded from its forehead.

A faint amusement lingered in its pale eyes as it watched Natia and Gideon struggle against the inexplicable terror overwhelming them.

"Gredemon..." Stella mumbled, the unfamiliar word slipping from her lips before she could stop it.

She frowned and tilted her head, wondering where the word had come from, as she could not recall ever hearing it before.

"What does that mean?" she asked herself.

Stella considered the creature for a moment before raising her chin and asking, "Do you bleed?"

The gredemon’s expression changed slightly as it tilted its head, apparently surprised that a mere human would address it so casually.

"Who are you to dare ques—" it began, its voice carrying an unmistakable note of contempt.

"Ah, whatever," Stella interrupted, waving her hand dismissively before drawing her sword.

The gredemon’s pale eyes widened, and its amusement vanished beneath a sudden blaze of fury. To be dismissed so casually by a human was an insult it couldn’t tolerate, and the energy surrounding its twisted horns flared violently as it launched itself from the pillar.

The creature closed the distance in an instant, its body descending toward Stella with enough force to tear the air. It raised one clawed hand, preparing to tear through the insignificant human who had dared to disrespect it.

Stella merely smirked.

"How kind."

Thick crimson smoke rolled from her blade as she swung it sideways, and faint streaks of lightning flickered through the swirling Aura. The gredemon’s fury was instantly replaced by shock as it sensed the power gathering along the sword’s edge, but by then, the attack had already been unleashed.

A wide arc of Aura swept through the clearing, moving so swiftly that an ordinary human would have struggled even to perceive it.

The crimson crescent passed through the space between Stella and the descending demon, then continued onward without slowing as it tore through the jagged stone pillars behind its target.

An explosion thundered across the clearing.

The nearest pillars split apart, their upper sections collapsing as fragments of stone rained down upon the broken ground. The force of the attack continued through the clearing, leaving deep cuts across the earth before the crimson smoke finally began to disperse.

The gredemon let out a pained screech, and its body separated into two pieces before crashing to the ground. Dark blood poured from the severed torso, spreading across the stone in thick streams that reflected the dim light above.

Stella glanced at the corpse with satisfaction before lowering her sword.

"Now we have all the blood that we need," she said.

However, before she could take another step toward Natia and Gideon, she sensed an attack approaching from her side.

She raised her sword just in time to intercept the incoming blade, and the clash sent a sharp metallic ring echoing between the pillars. The attacker recoiled from the impact, landing several steps away as Stella turned to examine it.

Another gredemon stood before her, its skin a deep, blood-red color and a blade protruding from each elbow. Its face possessed no visible mouth, while a single horizontal blue eye stretched across the upper portion of its head.

Although its appearance differed from that of the first creature, the fear radiating from its body was unmistakably similar.

The gredemon trembled as Stella met its gaze, then attacked again.

Her expression remained calm as she swung her sword to the side, forcing the demon away before striking it with a second attack. The impact lifted the creature from the ground and sent it tumbling through the air, leaving its body momentarily exposed.

Stella stepped forward and swung again, her blade coated in dense smoke Aura that crackled with faint lightning. The sword passed through the demon’s torso as effortlessly as a knife cutting through a vegetable, severing flesh and bone before the creature could recover.

Its corpse fell to the ground in two pieces, and dark blood splashed across the uneven ground.

Stella briefly examined the remains before turning toward her companions.

Natia and Gideon lay unconscious where they had fallen, their weapons scattered beside them. Whatever these beings were, their mere presence seemed capable of overwhelming ordinary minds with raw, unrestrained fear.

Stella’s gaze slowly rose toward the jagged pillars.

More figures stood atop them, their silhouettes differing wildly from one another. Some possessed elongated limbs and hunched backs, while others had twisted horns, misshapen heads, or bodies covered in strange growths. Their skin ranged from deep red to violet, blue, and colors that seemed almost unnatural.

Her eyes sharpened as she tightened her grip on her sword.

The gredemons began to screech and growl, their voices overlapping until the clearing filled with a cacophony of hostile cries. Then, as though responding to a silent command, they launched themselves from the pillars and rushed toward her from every direction.

Some descended directly from above, their claws extended toward her head and shoulders, while others charged across the ground with their weapons raised. The stronger among them carried enough power to threaten an Exalted swordsman, and a few radiated pressure comparable to that of a Lord.

However, none of that mattered before Stella.

She moved forward without hesitation, her sword tracing a crimson line through the air as the first wave reached her. One swing severed the limbs of two approaching demons, while a short turn of her wrist sent another blade flashing across the neck of a creature attempting to attack her from behind.

She stepped between their attacks, allowing their claws to pass through empty space before retaliating with precise cuts that opened their bodies from shoulder to waist.

Whenever a demon attempted to overwhelm her with brute force, she redirected its strike and countered before it could regain its balance, while the crimson Aura surrounding her sword sliced through flesh and bone with terrifying ease.

A large gredemon descended from a pillar with both arms raised, its heavy fists aimed at crushing her from above. Stella shifted one foot backward and lifted her blade, meeting the descending attack with a single upward swing that split the creature from its abdomen to its head.

Its two halves passed on either side of her before crashing against the ground, and she continued forward without sparing them another glance.

Another demon lunged from her left, only for Stella to turn and sever its head with a short horizontal cut. She followed the movement by pivoting on her heel, allowing the momentum to carry her sword into the next gredemon before it could bring its claws down.

There was no wasted movement in her fighting style, nor did she rely on unnecessary displays of strength. Each step placed her where she needed to be, and every swing ended with another enemy falling apart beneath her blade.

The gredemons continued attacking, their screeches growing louder as more of their kind joined the assault, but the outcome never changed.

Those with strength comparable to that of Exalted swordsmen could barely withstand a single exchange, while the Lord-ranked ones lasted only a few.

Her crimson Aura swept across the clearing again and again, cutting through the monsters and tearing apart anything in its path.

Within minutes, the overwhelming chorus of roars and screams began to fade.

One final gredemon attempted to retreat toward the pillars, but Stella crossed the distance before it could escape and cut it down with a single swing. Its body struck the ground, sending a final splash of dark blood across the stone.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Stella stood amid the devastation, her sword lowered at her side as she surveyed the remains of the battle. Most of the nearby pillars had collapsed, and the ground had been split open by the force of her Aura, leaving deep fissures that stretched between the scattered corpses.

Dark blood seeped from the severed bodies and flowed into the cracks, gradually spreading across the broken earth until the entire clearing seemed stained beneath a vast, dark mirror.

Stella exhaled softly and began walking toward Natia and Gideon.

However, she had taken only a single step when the dark blood beneath her boots suddenly rippled.

She stopped and lowered her gaze, her brows furrowing as another ripple spread across the blood-covered ground.

"What is happening now?" she mumbled in an annoyed tone.

From a distance, the dark blood filling the clearing resembled a gigantic mirror laid across the earth, reflecting the shattered pillars and the twisted silhouettes of the surrounding trees. However, the ripples moving across its surface did not resemble those caused by falling debris.

Stella narrowed her eyes and watched as the ripples spread farther across the blood, distorting the reflections of the ruined clearing. The surface bulged in one place before sinking again, as though an enormous body were gliding beneath the dark liquid.

She tightened her grip on her sword and followed the movement with her gaze, watching the disturbance travel across the clearing before disappearing beneath a thicker pool of blood.

Then, eventually, she noticed the outline of a long, sinuous shape moving beneath the surface.

Stella’s expression grew serious as she studied the creature winding through the blood.

"A serpent?" she mumbled.

As though waiting to be called, the dark blood rose from the ground and spilled downward as the head of an enormous serpent protruded from it.

Blood surged upward at seven other spots, and seven more heads emerged from the mirror of dark blood.

The slithering hisses of the eight-headed serpent filled the area as it fixed its gaze on the only being capable of matching its strength.