Chapter 1100: The Replica of Death (1)
Now that the Ice and Snow Princess was helping Rex's forces—the walls of chaos monsters were crumbling apart, allowing more Supernaturals to leap inside and hinder the movement of the Human Army.
More and more Humans were pinned down to the ground.
But even then, the chaos monsters were robust, and the rate of the Humans managing to get inside the creek was way more than the amount of Humans the Supernatural was able to pin down, and this was a worrying matter.
On the other hand, Brigitta was also standing at the entrance to the creek.
She was observing the situation of the fight.
In addition to the Supernaturals gradually halting the Human Army's progress, Brigitta turned her gaze towards the creek—and found that there was a menacing horde of Passues waiting for them, poised to launch a relentless assault.
Due to that, even passing the creek, the Human Army was slowed immensely.
From her mental calculation, the Supernaturals would easily catch up to them at this rate.
"Not good," One of the army's commanders standing beside Brigitta commented, seeing the same thing as she was seeing. "We are only forcing ourselves into a bigger disadvantage—it would spill the doom of the entire army. Lady Brigitta, you do understand this, right?"
Upon hearing this, Brigitta clenched her jaw as she understood it perfectly.
Even if the Human Army passed the creek—the Supernaturals could easily follow them.
Not to mention, the Passues are not going to target the Supernaturals.
The Human Army found themselves in an exceedingly precarious position—as in a moment, they were going to be fighting both the Passues and the Supernaturals. Although the totem energy safeguarded them from death, it offered no protection against being held hostage.
Brigitta knew that this could lead to a disastrous situation.
However, even if she wanted to deviate from the plan, the Executor wouldn't approve it.
He wouldn't deviate from his plan, and the only path is forward.
'Tch! The Witch didn't even care about the army and headed to the Executor—seems like she was searching face instead of focusing on the war' Brigitta complained inwardly, knowing full well that the Witch is not to be trusted.
Despite the Witch seemed compliant, her guts were telling her otherwise.
She needs to keep an eye on her, especially whenever she is around the Executor's space.
It was big—the urge to go to the Executor and worry not about the army that is.
She simply couldn't do that to the army.
Looking at them being distressed as they were told to charge inside the Dead Man's Creek, it was unbearable for Brigitta thus she decided to garner her power again. Managing to recover from the fight against the Silverstar Pack, she could battle once again.
Blasting ahead, she decided to deal with the Passues.
Knowing that the Passues at the outskirts are not strong, it shouldn't be a problem for her.
However, she soon realized that even though the Passues shouldn't be as strong as those at the heart of the creek, they posed a threat unlike any she had faced. Not only did their front legs slice through the toughest armor easily—but their defenses proved exceptionally robust.
Brigitta had her eyes widened when her longsword clashed against a Passue.
She saw sparks flying across her vision.
Instead of cutting the Passue into two as she expected, her blade quivered violently.
Not even a dent was left behind by her strike.
Sensing the strength of her previous strike, the Passue she attacked redirected its attention, emitting a menacing buzz before launching a ruthless assault in her direction. Moreover—the buzzing sound it made drew the notice of others—and soon Brigitta found herself becoming the center of attention, swarmed by the Passues.
Despite being unable to differentiate which Humans are stronger, this was a different case.
Having to feel Brigitta's blow, the Passue instantly realized that she was strong.
It was her intention to help the Human Army advance further—and she achieved exactly that as the Passues turned to attack her instead of the other Humans, but she was not expecting to become the sacrifice for the army.
...
Meanwhile, oblivious of the situation of the army was the Executor.
Like a purple beam of power, the Executor pierced multiple walls made by the Shapeshifters.
He was fuming in anger as he did this.
Even though he was distracted by the fact that Rex had somehow gotten stronger and also—the looming danger from the Passue Matriarch, the Shapeshifters' plan was too blatant that it was easy to tell.
It was obvious that they were trying to lead him somewhere using these walls.
A toddler could've figured it out.
Every single time the Executor was heading in a certain direction, the walls blocked him out.
Surely, the Shapeshifters were leading him to the Passue Matriarch.
Aside from Rex, she was the only one who could defeat him.
Realizing that instantly made his blood boil, and his eyes turned bloodshot from that anger.
The Executor was not angry because of what the Shapeshifters were trying to do to him, but he was angry—because they were underestimating him too much to make their plan obvious, it was a direct slap to his ego.
Had they masked it better, then the Execoutr wouldn't be this wrathful.
Since they were in a vicious battle, it wasn't the wrong thing for them to try and kill him.
But underestimating him was a completely different approach.
As he tore through the walls with the force of a speeding bullet—each impact ripping open sizable breaches—the Executor unleashed volleys of chaos energy missiles, skewering the audacious Shapeshifters who dared to try and make a fool of himself.
Most of them were not from the third generation thus they died from a single hit.
Eventually—the Executor burst through the other side and continued his path forward.
Slaughtering the Passues leaping at him with his lethal claws, the Executor pressed forward until he confronted a towering cliff. He needed to climb it in order to reach the Symposium—so he did exactly that, digging his claws into the rock face and making his way up.
Reaching the top in a flash, the Executor continued onward.
"Tch! More Passues, there are an endless amount of them here," He complained inwardly.
Despite knowing that the Passues were the guardians of the Symposium of Upper Divinities—the sheer amount of them still shocked him. Throughout his journey to reach here, he had already killed more or less a hundred of them.
But that didn't seem to dent their numbers as a hundred more came from the shadows.
With a dash, he pierced the swarm of Passues once again.
However, there were two Shapeshifters a distance away who were watching the Executor.
"Just as what Lyra anticipated, he took the bait"
"Yes, indeed... She knows the Fifthborn more than us, so we shouldn't be surprised"
"If the Royal Black Prince arrived, then the Fifthborn should basically be as good as dead"
"No, we can't underestimate him. As the Executor, he should have more than meets the eye"
"Maybe, but nevertheless, his risk of death was increased now,"
"For that, I absolutely agree..."
Both of them were engaged in discussion while looking at the Executor from afar—devious smiles playing on their lips as it seemed the Executor had fallen into their trap perfectly, he didn't even realize it as continued forward.
With a shift of focus, they directed their attention elsewhere.
A lingering trail of chaos energy was left behind by the Executor as he passed the place.
Not too far from the cliff the Executor had climbed was a cave.
It was tucked away in a forsaken corner, narrow and ensconced in secrecy where even light dares not linger. Its entrance, marred by the passage of unkind ages is veiled by the tendrils of shadow, with fissures that crawl like dark veins through its ancient stone as if it has been rent asunder by the force within.
Flanking this forbidding threshold stand two knights, hewn from the living rock.
One is carved from pure black stone while the other is from pristine white stone.
Their stoic faces are eternally watchful of the entrance.
Clad in stone armor adorned with golden filigree that gleams with a ghostly light, each grips a sword forged of gold—a silent challenge—to any who would dare disturb the sanctuary of this cave, or perhaps the opposite, stopping the being inside to destroy the sanctuary of the world outside.
Judging from its current state, nothing ventured into it for thousands of years.
A place of solitude without life anywhere near it.
But then, a sliver of chaos energy was swept by air and found its way near this cave.
Crack!
As the air of chaos energy reached their vicinity—the two imposing knight statues abruptly sprang to life. Illuminated glyphs etched across their imposing frames flickered—and with a seamless motion—their golden swords—once defiantly crossed to block the cave entrance shifted effortlessly apart, clearing the path with a solemn resolve.
One could see a faint golden glimmer in their stone eyes as they did this.
It was only then that darkness unfurled from the cave like a sinister shroud.
Since the barrier maintained by the two imposing knights crumbled, a pair of malevolent eyes—brimming with deadly intent—pierced the shadows. Their ominous gaze bore into the souls of all who dared to behold them, a harbinger of the unfathomable evil lurking within.
Exuding more darkness, the ground in front of the cake began to darken visibly.
Soon, a shadow streaked out of the cave with extreme agility.
A movement that was so fast that the shadow was already far away before the impact of its dash creaked the cave's entrance entirely with a loud crashing sound. Out of anything, such a scene displayed that whatever came out of the cave was a monster amongst monsters.
Upon hearing the crashing sound in the distance, the Executor turned and frowned.
But that pause didn't last long as he was being swarmed by the Passues.
'Hmm...? Is it just me, or are they getting stronger?' the Executor pondered in confusion.
Previously, a single swing could dispatch any Passue in his path, but now it took two strikes—The Executor thought nothing of it earlier, but as he progressed further, it became evident that the Passues suddenly got stronger.
Just this realization alone struck a weird occurrence for the Executor.
Even though the Passues were extremely strong, there were none of them that could cast a spell or possess an active ability. Strengthening themselves was not possible for them—and that is why the increase in power came as a weird occurrence.
Gritting his teeth, he seethed with more power, disregarding his weakened state right now.
He hacked left and right, killing all Passues fiercely.
As he did that—one Passue that was stronger than the other managed to come from behind and caught the Executor off guard. He couldn't react in time, and the Passue was aiming for his vital spot with its strike.
Realizing that he was in trouble, the Executor was about to unleash something but stopped.
Under his very own eyes, the Passue abruptly stopped, and so did the others.
Shifting his eyes to the side, he noticed the Witch's arrival—her cursed energy stopping all of the Passues in their tracks. Her outstretched arms were shaking under the immense strain of controlling them all, showcasing that it took an immense effort to keep the Passues in check.
In fact, she wouldn't last for another five seconds.
But it was plenty enough for the Executor to go to safety and avoid that lethal attack earlier.
After he makes a tactful leap to the Witch's side, the Witch lets go of the Passues.
"Continue supporting me in reaching the Symposium with all your might, and I'll make certain that your joy will be endless, Witch," the Executor commented, eyeing the Passues warily. He was relieved that the Witch managed to reach him.
Despite expecting Brigitta, the Witch is also more or less the same as her.
Nodding firmly, the Witch quickly infused the Executor with her potent cursed energy.
Both were preparing to go through the horde of Passues.
However, when they were to advance, their body abruptly stiffened and their pupils dilated.
An unnatural sight happened that made them react like this.
"W- What's happening? The Passues," the Witch sucked in a cold breath. "They stopped?"