Chapter 262: An Ominous Arrival

In the meantime, while Regaleon might have missed the change in the temple’s shadows, he did not fail to miss the lapse in Aelric’s composure.

He noticed that the playful youth had suddenly fallen silent, his emerald gaze fixed on the crimson foliage beyond the doorway. Also, tge languid ease that usually softened his expression had disappeared, leaving him unnervingly alert.

"Aelric, what is it?" Regaleon finally asked after some time while furrowing his brows.

The question drew the others’ attention. Their expressions remained grave, their earlier astonishment swallowed by the solemnity the situation demanded.

Aelric did not answer at once; instead, he continued studying whatever lay beyond the temple, as though the forest had begun speaking in a language only he could understand and this sudden disposition of his just made the whole ordeal even more mystifying and foreboding.

Before them, the surviving Ratchyrs remained huddled on the stone floor. Their oversized ears swivelled independently, gathering echoes from the pillars and broken walls while clicks mapped the space around them.

For several moments, nothing changed as the Netherytes continued reeling from the impact of Aelric’s attack. Then, all at once, the colony suddenly fell silent and in an utterly horrifying manner, every Ratchyr turned its snout towards the same direction as Aelric.

The movement was so sudden and synchronized that it seemed less like a decision than a command obeyed by dozens of bodies at once.

Their heads lifted, and a series of clicks began to reverberate through the chamber with an intensity bordering on fervour. The sounds grew louder, overlapping in a chorus that made the ancient stonework seem to vibrate.

The group’s apprehension sharpened. They had already been uneasy when Aelric abruptly stopped speaking, but seeing the Netherytes mirror his attention made their unease deepen into something close to dread.

Whatever could excite the Ratchyrs while making Aelric look so grim was unlikely to bring them good fortune. In their experience, when a dangerous creature welcomed something, it was rarely because it intended to share its meal.

"Aelric, come on. Talk to us," Veyrath urged, turning towards him. Agitation threaded his voice, accompanied by a strain of fear he would usually have buried beneath his eccentricity or something like that. "What in the Nether Lands is happening?"

Had Veyrath not managed to preserve a semblance of composure, he might have rushed over and shaken the answers out of Aelric.

Fortunately, even panic had its limits when one remembered how irritating the recipient of such shaking could be. Veyrath kept his hands to himself, though his fingers flexed impatiently around his Soul Essence.

Aelric remained still for heartbeats, watching the shadowed recess beyond the doorway. At last, he turned towards the group.

This time, there was no trace of his customary languor in his face, and his voice, when he spoke, carried a severity that silenced even Veyrath.

"The situation has just gotten a whole lot worse." He announced ominously and immediately, the atmosphere turned even more tensive than before.

Just before anyone could ask what he meant, a sound emerged from a dark recess behind a collapsed section of masonry. The broken stones there formed a jagged heap, and thick darkness filled the gaps between them, concealing whatever might be lurking within.

CLICK! CLICK!! CLICK!!!

The sound resembled the Ratchyrs’ calls, yet the difference was unmistakable. These clicks were measured, deliberate, and unnervingly deep, like the slow striking of stones inside a cavernous tomb.

Each note travelled through the temple’s masonry, washing over the group like a tide before returning in layered echoes, making it impossible to determine the source’s precise position.

The moment that noise sounded, the colony reacted seemed to erupt like a volcano which suddenly had the chance to cause an inferno after years of slumber.

A wave of squeaks rippled through the Ratchyrs, but their behaviour changed more dramatically than their calls.

Several lowered their heads towards the floor, while those nearest the dark recess backed away from it, retreating from the carnage despite having gathered there only moments earlier.

Others simply flattened themselves against the stone, their limbs drawn close and their ears angled towards the hidden presence.

The display was so peculiar that the group momentarily forgot their own predicament. Only moments earlier, the Ratchyrs had charged them with the confidence of a ravenous horde. Now, they behaved like attendants awaiting the arrival of a sovereign.

Caelestra’s brows knitted together. Her fingers tightened around her Treasure Chest, and the silver-haired Merchant leaned forward slightly, careful not to shift her feet against the gritty floor.

"It seems they’re afraid of something," she said, voicing her observation but it was quickly disproved by the green-eyed youth.

"No." Aelric’s reply came at once. "Not afraid... Welcoming."

The correction was quiet, but it carried none of the dry amusement that usually coloured his remarks. His tone was cold and impassive, stripped of the sardonic indifference they had come to recognize.

There was something almost clinical in the way he spoke, as though he were identifying an approaching catastrophe rather than discussing another creature in the temple.

A chill travelled through the group.

If the Ratchyrs feared the newcomer, their behaviour might have been understandable. But they were welcoming it, lowering themselves in apparent deference while their calls grew increasingly eager.

That meant the presence in the darkness was not merely another predator intruding upon their territory. It was something the colony recognized, perhaps something it served, followed, or depended upon.

Regaleon shifted his grip on his weapon, his gaze moving from the submissive creatures to the shadowed recess. The passage beyond the collapsed masonry remained utterly still, yet the darkness seemed denser now, as though the scarlet light from outside had lost the will to enter it.

He could hear the faint scrape of claws against stone, the uneven breathing of his companions, and the last echoes of those deep clicks fading through the chamber and the faint sound of beating wings.

Aureleah’s posture changed almost imperceptibly. Her shoulders settled, her knees loosened, and her attention narrowed to the black gap between the fallen stones. Around her, her Shadow Cloak acted like a dark camouflage, swirling with darkness as it concealed her figure beneath layer of shadows.

The silver-haired Assassin did not ask another question. Whatever approached, she understood that the first warning might also be the only one they received.

Vaelorin tightened both hands around his staff, careful to avoid repeating the mistake that had provoked the colony. Even Kaeloris had abandoned his usual expression of scholarly curiosity; his mouth was pressed into a thin line, and his eyes remained fixed on Aelric, searching for reassurance that the youth clearly had no intention of providing.

Aelric’s emerald gaze never left the recess.

For once, he did not complain about being forced to fight, nor did he offer some cutting observation to ease the tension. His silence was more disturbing than any warning he might have given.

Yhe group had witnessed enough of his knowledge and power to understand that he rarely reacted without reason. If he considered this presence dangerous, then they had little cause to disagree.

The clicks sounded again, deeper this time, and the Ratchyrs answered with a chorus of eager squeaks. Several continued pressed themselves lower against the floor, leaving a narrow stretch of stone between the colony and the dark recess, as though instinct alone had taught them to keep the way clear.

Caelestra swallowed, her usual mercantile composure faltering at last. "If what they’re welcoming can inspire such dread within them," she murmured, "then I wouldn’t want to see what they are capable of doing to us."

"Believe me," Aelric said, his eyes still fixed on the darkness, "you wouldn’t."

The words offered no explanation, only a glimpse of certainty so bleak that Regaleon felt his own caution harden into alarm. Whatever waited beyond the broken masonry had altered the behaviour of an entire colony without revealing so much as a silhouette.

And if even Aelric regarded its arrival with such grave attention, then the group had every reason to fear what would emerge from the shadows...