CHAPTER 157

CHAPTER 157: 

The air was thick with humidity, the scent of damp earth lingering as the Phoenix Vanguard trudged forward through the ruins of the Forest of Crossroads. But that wasn't all they could smell they could smell the kraken guts and meat and slimly liquid all over them it smelt like rotten fish. The silence of the land was broken by complaining and death threats to duck as they walked through but what they didn't know due to their bickering was by the distant sounds of unseen creatures skittering in the shadows. The deeper they went, the more unsettling the atmosphere became. Even the wind carried an unnatural stillness.

Akame groaned as she pulled yet another slimy chunk of Kraken flesh from her hair, her face twisted in absolute disgust. "I swear, if I ever see another lake, another squid, another ocean creature I am burning it to the ground." She flicked the remaining piece away, her lips curling in a snarl. "This is disgusting."

Akari, who was equally traumatized from the Kraken explosion, grumbled under her breath as she tried to wring out her damp clothes. "I swear, this is Kouki-kun's fault for being so injuered. If he were here, he'd have set that damn thing on fire before it even touched us."

The group went quiet at the mention of Kouki.

Meiyo's fingers twitched slightly, but she said nothing.

Hakashi, still limping slightly but carrying himself with the usual arrogance, smirked weakly. "Well, we could've had it worse. At least we're alive."

Kaito scoffed. "Barely."

Duck, who was walking ahead, rolled his shoulders. "Alright, alright, enough bitching. We've got about half of the forest left to cross before we reach Phoenix Kingdom territory. Let's just focus on getting through without another monster trying to turn us into a snack."

Akame, still grumbling, suddenly clicked her tongue in thought. "You know… I still can't believe that traitorous bastard actually lived in this place when he was eleven."

The air grew colder.

Meiyo's pace faltered for half a second.

Rika raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "You mean Noboru?"

Akame nodded, arms crossed. "Yeah. We've all heard the story. Back when he was just a kid, he got tossed into the the forbiddon region fwhich became the Dragon kingdom and the Crossroads were part of it and he did it with nothing. No supplies, no weapons. Just him and his 'freakish' inhuman strength." Her lips curled in distaste. "And somehow, that trash survived."

Akari scoffed. "It was luck. Nothing more. A fluke. Maybe some low-tier monsters were around back then, and he just managed to sneak by."

Kaito snorted. "Yeah, but that fluke of a kid turned into a nightmare strong enough to challenge even the Kingdom's strongest. Not exactly something we can just ignore."

Meiyo's jaw clenched, her hands tightening into fists at her sides.

She hated hearing his name.

Hated it.

Even now, after all these years, she could still hear the whispers, the murmurs of her thoughts that haunted her who dared to pity him. Who dared to say that Noboru—the disowned disgrace, the monster, the beast—was wronged.

No.

Her parents were right.

The Kingdom was right.

Noboru was never supposed to exist.

"Enough," Meiyo said sharply, her voice cutting through the conversation like a blade. "We don't waste time talking about it."

Her red eyes flickered with a dangerous light, and for once, no one argued.

The group pressed on.

The silence stretched, only the distant rustling of leaves accompanying their steps. The twisted remains of the old kingdom's ruins loomed overhead, barely visible through the thickening mist. The further they walked, the heavier the air became, thick with something unseen.

Something watching.

Then

A clicking sound.

A rapid, unnatural series of clicks and chittering.

Meiyo's body tensed. Her Sky Hawk power was still failing her not activating if she tried to force she would have backlash again because her body wasn't ready to use it yet. But she didn't need her enhanced sight to know something was wrong.

Rika, who had been weirdly quiet, suddenly froze. Her violet eyes darted through the mist. "We're not alone."

A sharp THUMP echoed through the air.

Then another.

Then

The trees moved.

Hundreds. No, thousands of glimmering, reflective eyes appeared in the darkness, shifting, creeping forward.

And then

The swarm attacked.

They came from everywhere. The trees, the shadows, even the cracked remains of the ground. Monstrous spiders, ranging from the 5th Dimension to the 12th, their bodies massive, their legs sharp as blades, their fangs dripping with venom. Some were the size of wolves, others the size of carriages, and some—some—towered over them like moving nightmares.

Hakashi was the first to react, despite his injuries. He shoved Meiyo back as a spider lunged at her, his fist glowing with golden light as he punched the creature in the face, sending it flying. "No time to freeze up, babe!"

Akari barely dodged as another spider tried to sink its fangs into her shoulder, her body twisting mid-air as golden energy slashed through the monster's skull. "Oh, HELL NO, I HATE SPIDERS THEY ARE...!"

Kaito unleashed a blast of blood magic, sending crimson spikes impaling multiple creatures at once. "There's too many of them!"

Rika clicked her tongue, her shadows slashing through the creatures effortlessly, but for each one she cut down, more kept coming.

Duck unleashed a powerful sonic burst, causing several of the spiders to explode instantly—but even that wasn't enough.

Meiyo's breathing was uneven. Her hands trembled. She had to fight.

She had to—

No.

She had to do more.

Her body ached. She wasn't ready. She knew she wasn't ready.

But it didn't matter.

She had to.

Thanks to the adrenaline she managed to go into the Sky Hawk state. Her golden-blue eyes burned as she forced the Sky Hawk's power to surge through her veins.

The wind exploded around her.

Her body flickered, disappearing then reappearing in mid-air.

A massive golden magic circle engulfed the battlefield.

And then

The storm came.

Blades of wind ripped through the horde, tearing spiders apart like paper. The storm she created shredded through hundreds in an instant, her wings of energy illuminating the battlefield as her sword sliced through creatures twice her size.

She was winning.

She was killing them all.

Until

The ground shook.

Something massive loomed beyond the swarm.

A shadow.

A presence.

The spiders stopped.

The mist twisted unnaturally.

And then

The spiders mother came.

It was angry.

It's children was being killed by thier snack

"Unacceptable." It roared as the tree were flung from the ground from the air pressure released from the roar.

And with it the Broodmother stepped forward.

It's glory for all to see.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen.

Not a 12th Dimensional monster.

Not even a 13th.

This thing… was higher.

An Aberration from the Blessed Age.

A nightmare beyond reality itself.

And it was hungry.

Its massive body towering over even the tallest trees clicked as it observed them, its eight golden eyes burning with something alien, something unknowable.

The Phoenix Vanguard froze.

Even Meiyo, still in her Sky Hawk state, could feel it.

A monster far beyond them.

A living calamity.

The Broodmother had arrived.