Chapter 1412: My Army’s Back

Noxhart saw through their plan, of course.

But darkness was everywhere, and the shadows offered perfect cover. It could attack from any direction and retreat into them whenever it pleased.

Unfortunately for Noxhart, this was also the ideal battlefield for Goddess Catheryn.

"Here I come!"

Noxhart’s voice suddenly rang out from inside the shield.

This time, it appeared closer than ever, practically in the middle of the group. It flung the energy sphere already formed between its antlers downward, sending the pitch-black orb straight into the crowd.

Without waiting to see the result, Noxhart sank into the darkness and slipped back out of the shield.

The counterattack came a moment too late.

All twenty-four of Ataneya’s fox tails swept out at once, while energy spheres from Kaelira and the others converged from different directions. Their barrage swallowed the dark energy Noxhart had left behind, but Noxhart itself was already gone. The attacks chasing it slammed into the inside of Seraphine’s shield instead.

Boom!

Broad gray ripples spread across the barrier.

Ataneya sucked in a sharp breath and carefully drew back her tails. Several of the tips had turned red from the impact. She looked down at them, then glared at the spot where Noxhart had vanished.

"My tails are all red!"

Her voice brimmed with resentment.

"Why is it such a coward? It won’t even fight us head-on!"

Hidden in the darkness, Noxhart heard every word.

A coward?

Afraid to fight them head-on?

Fine.

Then this deer would show them a head-on fight!

"I get it now!"

Noxhart’s voice rang out again.

This time, it appeared directly outside the gray shield and slammed both front hooves onto its surface. The impact spread through the barrier. Everyone inside suddenly felt their feet grow heavy, and several narrow cracks split the ground beneath them.

Seraphine closed her eyes.

Primordial Death Energy gathered along her arm, stretching above her palm until it formed a gray-black arrow. The tip locked onto Noxhart’s chest. With a faint sound like a vibrating bowstring, it shot forward.

Sensing danger, Noxhart tried to pull away.

But both front hooves seemed glued to the gray shield. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t lift them from the surface. Energy flared between its antlers as darkness spread outward beneath its hooves, trying to erode whatever held it in place.

Before it could finish the attack, pairs of eyes opened throughout the surrounding darkness.

Umbral Servitors emerged from the shadows in great numbers, surrounding Noxhart. Each figure was composed of dense darkness, and they were almost indistinguishable from one another.

Catheryn had possessed one of them.

Far from alarmed by the dark army, Noxhart smiled.

"My army’s back."

It turned toward the people inside the shield.

"Want to give them a try?"

It had clearly mistaken the Umbral Servitors for its own summons. Even the completed energy sphere between its antlers slowly dispersed.

Standing behind it, Catheryn reached a hand over Noxhart’s shoulder and waved to the others with a smile.

Black energy rapidly swelled in her other hand.

The surrounding shadows poured into it, dimming the light around them. The pressure radiating from the sphere grew heavier and heavier until even Noxhart sensed something was wrong.

Since when had it possessed this much power?

Noxhart had only just begun to turn its head when Catheryn thrust the sphere forward.

They were too close.

The dark energy smashed straight into Noxhart’s head. Faced with the sudden danger, it instinctively raised a shield. A translucent black barrier snapped into place around its body, and a razor-sharp spatial edge sliced through the center of the energy sphere, splitting it in two.

One half shot past Noxhart into the distance.

The other breached the shield and struck it squarely in the face.

The explosion was trapped inside the cramped barrier. With nowhere to escape, its force ricocheted repeatedly between Noxhart and the shield. The first impact had barely ended when the rebounding energy struck it again from the side.

Noxhart took hit after hit until black light filled the entire shield.

The others didn’t let up.

Now that they had caught it, they couldn’t give it another chance to escape into the darkness.

Seraphine dismissed the wide shield protecting the group. The gray power rapidly contracted, forming another barrier around Noxhart’s original shield and sealing it between the two layers.

Then she pressed her fingers downward.

The gray shield imprisoning Noxhart descended and slammed into the ground. Primordial Death Energy seeped from the barrier’s inner surface, slowly eroding Noxhart’s defenses.

The smoke from the explosion finally cleared.

Noxhart stood in the center of the shield, its face even blacker than before. Its body had always been pure black, but the scorch marks were unmistakable, and smoke curled from the edges of its antlers.

It breathed heavily as its gaze passed over those surrounding it.

Deep within its antlers, a new energy quietly stirred.

A cloud appeared inside the shield.

Then came a second, followed by a third. More and more clouds rose around Noxhart’s feet, wrapping its body in layer after layer until no one could see it anymore.

Everyone closed their eyes and focused on sensing it.

Noxhart’s presence was still inside.

They couldn’t wait any longer.

Every second they delayed gave those clouds another chance to change.

Seraphine dismissed the outermost shield. The instant the barrier vanished, the energy spheres everyone had prepared flew in from all directions and struck Noxhart’s remaining shield at once.

A crisp crack came from deep within the clouds.

The defense shattered.

Kaelira immediately hurled the magenta energy sphere in her palm into the center. It passed through the broken barrier and detonated inside the clouds. Magenta flames expanded in every direction, and the shock wave swept away all the mist obscuring their view.

Catheryn didn’t reveal herself.

She remained hidden in the darkness, alert for anything unexpected.

By the time the explosion subsided, every cloud had been blown away.

Noxhart had escaped, just as they expected.

But even though everyone had anticipated it, Kaelira’s expression still darkened when she saw the empty center of the blast.

She didn’t dismiss the next energy sphere in her hand. Instead, she slowly turned in place, searching for wherever Noxhart might appear next.

The others remained just as vigilant.

Seraphine gathered everyone together again and raised the gray shield, blocking every direction an ambush could come from.

Elsewhere, Ethan finally opened his eyes.

Instead of Auri greeting him, he found a sphere of time energy flying straight at his face.

While he had been unconscious, Vesperhart had continued fighting the four little girls. It had plenty of chances to kill them, but remembering Noxhart’s instruction to "leave them some hope," it had never truly used its full strength.

Even so, Auri and the others had managed to wound it.

That pushed Vesperhart over the edge.

How dare these little brats hurt it?

Time power rapidly gathered between its antlers. Rather than continuing its attack on Auri, it hurled the energy sphere at Ethan the moment he woke up.

Auri’s eyes widened.

They had been fighting just fine a moment ago. Why was it suddenly attacking Dad?

She tried to intercept it with her branches, but the energy sphere had already reached Ethan.