Chapter 251: Right Behind You

The roar of the charging monsters shook the dirt under Evren’s boots. Across the apple orchard, over a dozen mutated crawlers tore through the green mist, their eight spiky legs churning up the grass as they rushed straight for the wooden gate.

Up on the wall, Garth and his mercenaries scrambled backward, their faces pale with fear. They gripped their crossbows with shaking hands, completely frozen as the ravenous pack bore down on the road.

"Stand your ground, or you’re dead!" Garth screamed at his men, his voice cracking with panic. But not a single mercenary stepped forward, and their fingers trembled over their bow triggers.

Evren didn’t waste a single second. He tapped his spatial ring, and his Frost-Bane Cleaver appeared in his right hand.

The massive steel blade glowed with pale blue frost, and golden arcs of lightning instantly danced along the cold edge. The sudden burst of raw power made the air hum with static, parting the green haze around him.

Beside him, Zephyra moved like a ghost gliding over the grass. She unclipped her shadow whip-blade from her belt, the segmented black metal uncoiling in her palm like a live serpent.

The first three crawlers leaped forward, their venomous jaws snapping inches from Evren’s face. Zephyra stepped into the shadows and vanished into thin air.

A fraction of a second later, she appeared directly above the beasts. Her shadow whip-blade slashed through the air in a whistling circle, each razor-sharp link burning with dark violet energy.

With three clean snaps, the whip-blade sliced straight through the crawlers’ necks. Black blood sprayed into the grass as their headless bodies crashed into the dirt, already dissolving into dark ash.

Four more beasts lunged from the left, trying to flank her position.

Zephyra landed softly on the turf and thrust her free hand downward. Sharp spikes of solid shadow shot up from the dirt, impaling two of the monsters through their armored chests and pinning them tight to the earth.

The remaining beasts snarled in fury, turning their red eyes toward Evren.

Evren took one calm step forward and swung the Frost-Bane Cleaver in a smooth arc. A blinding wave of golden lightning mixed with freezing frost exploded from the wide blade, slamming into the charging pack like a wave.

The lightning ripped through their armored shells, and the intense cold froze their innards solid. The monsters shattered into a thousand frozen chunks before their pieces even touched the ground.

Behind him, the old farmer and his granddaughter stared in utter disbelief. They sat frozen on the grass, unable to comprehend the sheer speed of the slaughter.

Up on the palisade, Garth dropped his broadsword with a loud clatter. His mouth hung wide open, his eyes bulging as he watched two lone fighters wipe out a swarm of high-level fissure monsters in less than thirty seconds.

"What kind of monsters are they?" one of the mercenaries whimpered, backing away from the wooden ledge. "Those things were tearing through stone walls like paper!"

Evren flicked the cleaver, shaking off the stray blue sparks. His Core Siphon passive kicked in right away, pulling a dozen glowing cores out of the ashes and streaming them smoothly into his ring.

Before anyone could catch their breath, a deep groan echoed from the center of the orchard.

The ground shook violently as the green rift tear suddenly expanded. The tear ripped open into a massive, jagged chasm, pulling dirt, apple trees, and fence posts straight into the glowing void.

Thick clouds of green spores started pouring out of the hole, hissing as they touched the soil. The nearby apple trees began to rot instantly, their leaves turning black and crumbling into fine dust.

"That’s a botanical chasm," Zephyra said, her violet eyes narrowing as she looked at the poisonous mist. "If those spores keep leaking, they will ruin the soil across the whole valley within an hour."

Evren looked down into the glowing tear, tightening his grip on his cleaver. "Then we don’t give it the chance. We drop in and take it down before it causes any more damage."

Zephyra gave a sharp nod, coiling her whip-blade back around her slender wrist. "Right behind you."

With a burst of speed, Evren and Zephyra sprinted forward and jumped straight into the glowing green chasm. They fell through a wild swirl of green void lightning and landed softly on a massive, petrified tree root suspended in mid-air.

The inside of the rift was unlike anything they had ever encountered before. Giant petrified roots twisted across an endless underground cavern, forming bridges and platforms over a dark, bottomless abyss.

Glowing blue and purple mushrooms lit up the jagged cavern walls, casting eerie shadows across the petrified wood. Thick thorned vines dangled from the distant ceiling like sleeping serpents, swaying gently in the rising drafts.

The air smelled of damp moss and sharp, metallic mana that made the skin tingle.

Evren gripped his cleaver, scanning the dark bridges ahead for beast signatures. "The mana density is climbing fast. Keep your guard up, Zephyra."

"Understood," Zephyra answered softly, shadows already wrapping around her dark leather boots. "Nothing moves on these upper bridges yet, but something large is sleeping down in the lower roots."

Right at that moment, loose rocks rattled loudly on the mossy ledge above them.

A loud gasp echoed through the quiet cavern, followed by the frantic sound of someone sliding down the damp rock face. "Whoa... look out below!" a young girl’s voice shouted as she tumbled off the slope.

The figure crashed through a thick patch of glowing ferns and landed on the petrified root platform with a loud thud, spilling a leather satchel of dried herbs across the wood. Evren and Zephyra spun around instantly, weapons raised and mana flaring in an instant.

The girl groaned loudly, rubbing her bruised nose as she pushed herself up on her hands and knees. Twigs and pine needles were stuck in her messy brown hair, and her hazel eyes were wide with panic.

Evren stared at her in complete, stunned disbelief, his cleaver slowly lowering toward the ground. Beside him, Zephyra’s eyes widened in rare bewilderment.

"Petal?!" Evren shouted, staring at the girl sitting on the roots. "What on earth are you doing in here?!"