Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3160

Sunny and Nephis could have eradicated the Nightmare Creatures that populated the slaughtered city. In truth, they could probably have slain every abomination in America. Even the unknown Cursed One who was presumed to dwell on this continent was not an insurmountable challenge — in fact, their track record of battling Cursed Creatures was quite spotless so far.

Perhaps Nephis wanted to avenge the destruction of her family, as well as too many other families to count.

But they had not come to America to fight this time.

Fighting a Cursed abomination on Earth could very well cause it irreparable damage. The planet itself would be fine, but billions of humans still populating it could perish.

Take America, for example... the massive volcanic eruption caused by the calamity that had happened here caused temperatures to drop across all Quadrants. The natural disasters that followed were devastating. If not for the fact that humans had caused several such cataclysmic events themselves in the past, and therefore knew how to survive them, they could have gone extinct by now.

New abominations would emerge from the Nightmare Gates eventually, anyway — if the whole continent wasn't swallowed by the Dream Realm even before that. Besides, slaying endless hordes of Nightmare Creatures and battling a Cursed One was going to take time they did not have. They had come here to find the Seed, not to hunt abominations. So, no matter how meaningful this place was to Nephis, they had to move stealthily instead of engaging in all-out slaughter.

She was looking at the ruins with a distant expression on her face, white sparks dancing in the depths of her eyes.

Sunny looked at her with concern and asked quietly:

“What are you thinking about?"

Nephis remained silent for a while, then sighed and pulled her gaze away from the lifeless remains of the city.

"..The price of failure.”

She paused for a moment and added in a deeper tone:

“And the merit of trying, anyway."

Immortal Flame and Smile of Heaven must have known that they would most likely die here. They had been mere Masters, after all. Even if no one had ever seen a Gate like the one that opened in America, they understood how terrifying the Nightmare Creatures that emerged from the apocalyptic Gate would be.

And yet, they still attempted to stall them so that more people could survive.

America still fell. Countless lives were still lost. But not quite as many as would have been without their efforts.

But would the world have been better off if Immortal Flame and Smile of Heaven had chosen to save themselves instead of helping the civilians?

There was no way to tell. Broken Sword might have been still alive. The Sovereigns might never have turned on each other. There could have been no Godgrave, no Dream Plague...

Nephis might not have grown up being hunted like an animal and watching her clan slowly wither and die.

The world would have definitely been different... unrecognizable, really. But better? Sunny was not sure.

He gripped her shoulder briefly and looked away.

“All I can say is that if I were in their place... I probably would have made the same choice."

The soldiers of the Evacuation Army had known that many of them — maybe most of them — would not return from Antarctica. But that did not stop them. An overwhelming enemy was nothing new in the Age of the Nightmare Spell. Humans faced insurmountable odds all the time, but they still had to continue fighting.

Cassie, who stood nearby with her hand resting on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer, turned her head slightly at that moment.

"It's strange."

She hesitated for a moment, then raised a hand and briefly touched her blindfold.

“The Cursed One... I cannot sense it."

The Nightmare Gate was hidden in the very heart of the continent, a thousand miles away. But to someone as sensitive as Cassie, such distance was not an obstacle. Even if she could not learn anything about the Gate Guardian, she should have been able to feel an echo of its presence, at least. Sunny frowned.

Come to think of it, he did not feel anything, either. America was that thing's territory... its influence on the world should have already begun interfering with his Will, by now.

But while the atmosphere of America was oppressive, there was nothing.

The three of them were suddenly uneasy. An enemy who instilled fear with its mere presence was a dangerous foe. A being who concealed itself so utterly that even its power could not be felt, though... that was a far more frightening adversary.

An ambush predator was meant to be weaker than a true hunter, but it was also far deadlier.

“Let's proceed cautiously."

Leaving the ruined city and all the Nightmare Creatures that populated it behind, they rushed inland. By now, the strain of remaining in the waking world was pressing on them heavily, and as they moved closer to the source of the unimaginable devastation, the Call of Nightmare grew louder and louder, almost impossible to resist.

The Call of the apocalyptic Gate that had opened in America decades ago was unlike anything Sunny had ever endured. It was powerful, magnetic, irresistible... if not for the harrowing experience of witnessing the true Tomb of Ariel, he would have been tempted to succumb to it entirely. But everything paled in comparison to that terror.

They saw more destroyed cities on the way. They saw wreckages of military machines and signs of a desperate struggle, as well. The forces of humanity seemed to have been instantly overwhelmed, having offered little resistance — how could they, when the enemy had been of a much higher Rank?

The whole continent was like a graveyard... an empty, desecrated graveyard drowning in ash and blackened ruins. It was the sight that sent chills running down Sunny's spine, as if he was looking at an ominous depiction of what all of the world would look like one day soon.

They crossed a desert and a grand canyon that split the earth like a festering wound. They crossed a rocky mountain chain, as well. Finally, descending into vast lowlands, they moved across them with as much speed as they could muster.

And then, they finally found the Nightmare Gate that had stolen this continent from humanity.

It towered above the world like a great pillar of darkness, visible from hundreds of kilometers away. But as they drew closer, its true width was revealed. The abhorrent fissure swallowed several kilometers of the desolate plain, its seething darkness moving eerily in the absence of light.

They found the Cursed abomination that guarded the Gate, as well.

It lay on the ground in front of the vast fissure, its flesh itself like a mountain. There were countless limbs, an endless expanse of pale flesh, and a terrible maw that could swallow entire Citadels...

And blood. There was a sea of black, fetid blood surrounding the ghastly behemoth, soaking the barren land and forming a dark and motionless lake.

"Its name was Desolation."

As Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie stared at the dead god in stunned silence, a voice resounded from their side.

Flinching, Sunny turned and saw a man sitting on a slab of broken concrete — even though there had not been anyone there a moment before.

The man was wiping his hands with a piece of cloth, the fabric soaked with black blood. There was a subtly revolted expression on his face, and a detached coldness in his eyes.

Sunny also saw his own reflection on their mirror-like surface.

He grimaced.

"Look who decided to show up. How the hell did you..."

“How did I manage to kill that thing without destroying half of the planet?"

Mordret shrugged with seeming indifference.

“It wasn't that difficult, really. I simply lured it into my Mirror Realm and killed it there."

He smiled darkly and threw the cloth away. Rising, Mordret inhaled deeply and massaged his shoulder with a hint of displeasure.

"Granted, it was merely the sparing the planet part that was easy. The killing itself was... ah, it was quite unpleasant."

He bowed slightly to Cassie and then turned to face Nephis.

“I would prefer it if we didn't linger. The smell is quite dreadful.”

She studied him for a moment.

“So, you've decided to join us in the Nightmare, after all?"

Mordret remained silent for a short while, then looked around and smiled slightly.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify