Chapter 39 Coming of the herald
Vandal noticed some writing on the wall. It was written in red, and upon closer look, he frowned.
“This… this feels like blood. Dried blood,” Jaclyn noted as she touched the writing, but she could not understand it.
“This place gives me the creeps. Damn, this is not our job as enforcers,” Chan said as he stared around hysterically, looking at every shadow and reflection as if it were out to get him.
Vandal kept looking at it and realized he could not read it. It was another language. But I can read it with my left eye. That is strange. It spoke about an extremely powerful demonic clan called the Abshum Herald, a clan known to consume until nothing remained. A shiver ran down his spine as he continued to read.
The clan had conquered the entire earth, but their leader suddenly vanished. With no one to lead them, their vicious nature drove them to turn on themselves, eating and consuming one another until no one had heard from them for a million years.
Sabine noticed Vandal mumbling to himself.
“Vandal, are you okay? Can you read it?”
Vandal drew Sabine closer and whispered in her ear, “Yes, but you have to keep it to yourself.”
“Okay. What does it say?” Sabine asked.
“It says this place was connected to a race of powerful creatures called the Abshum Herald, demons who consume, annihilate, and destroy anything they come across, but somehow ended up turning on themselves until they caused their own annihilation.”
The six of them walked further in and realized that there were three streams of water, with the middle one being the largest.
“There are footsteps in the middle stream, meaning that Ophelia probably went down there. We will first capture her and leave before we consider anything else,” Mael finally spoke weakly as he leaned on Jaeden and Hutrar for support. He was still pale, but he had decided the mission was far too dangerous to continue, especially with all the descendants dead except one.
“How about the tomb location?” Yazmeen asked.
“There is no point. Clearly, the sect underestimated the danger level of this ruin. It is far too dangerous for us to keep going. A lot has happened already.” Mael coughed with great effort. Speaking was strenuous for him.
Everyone agreed with Mael’s suggestion, but they still instinctively looked toward Vandal.
“Okay, we will do that. But I think if she proves too difficult, we should kill her too,” Vandal said after some careful thought. He remembered how viciously she had attacked Mael, how she seemed like a completely different person.
“No, we cannot. She is the only descendant of a holy father we have left, probably the only one who can prevent us from being executed for failing this mission,” Mael said.
“I support Vandal. If it comes down to her or us, we should put our lives first if we cannot capture her,” Sabine said.
“Hmmm, of course you would support Vandal,” Yazmeen said with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
“What do you mean by that, Yazmeen?” Sabine retorted.
“Oh, nothing. There is no need to have your claws out,” Yazmeen replied with a sly smile.
“What is that smell? Does anyone smell that?” Chan’s nose caught it first, a faint whiff of blood.
It grew stronger the deeper they went, and the tension in the air became more apparent. Chan’s heart clenched tightly as he surveyed the surroundings.
Finally, the stream came to an end. There was a wall with a nearly dried pool of blood.
Ophelia sat next to the blood pool, staring at the group of six in shock. It was obvious she had never expected them to make it this far.
“Master… they actually made it here!”
Master?
There was another person here?
Vandal and the others felt their hearts jump.
Following Ophelia’s gaze, their attention shifted to the blood pool, where air bubbles were rising.
Hu~
The remaining liquid and fresh blood drained like a funnel into a tiny hole, and Vandal’s heart skipped a beat.
A terrifying aura appeared in the next instant. Its flow was so vicious and virulent that it forced blood into everyone’s mouth.
Plop. Plop.
Yazmeen and Jaclyn could not withstand the pressure and dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
Inside Vandal’s body, his half-giant blood awakened and surged through his veins, blocking the pressure.
Sabine, Hutrar, and Jaeden struggled, while Mael tried his best to resist. He remained half-kneeling, attempting to stand but failing. Blood began to seep slowly from his neck as the wound reopened under the pressure.
“Youngsters, how dare you disturb my feast? Today, you shall add to this blood pond and help me recover my resonance energy and vitality.”
A cold, chilling female voice echoed through the cave.
A woman with long silver hair slowly rose from the nearly empty pool. She was naked, her eyes pitch black like endless darkness. She smiled, revealing rows of sharp, needle-like teeth. Her gaze fixed on the group as she moved toward them, her skin slick with blood. From her back and ankles, green tentacles unfurled and writhed slowly.
“Hehehe… I told you you would die… I told you… I told you… hehehe… die… die,” Ophelia laughed maniacally.
That was when Vandal noticed she was wearing a glowing necklace. It looked like the one she had accused Jaeden of taking. When had she taken it back?
“I cannot die here…” Yazmeen fell to the ground, unable to lift her face under the chilling aura.
I need to buy more time. “What are you?” Vandal asked.
The silver-haired woman ignored him.
“What do you want with us?” Vandal asked again. She ignored him.
“Please forgive me, miss!” Jaeden, at the front, began begging in fear just as she was about to touch his head.
“Jaeden, how dare you beg this… this creature?” Mael struggled to say.
Jaeden did not respond.
Always stand on the stronger side. That was Jaeden’s law.
He did not want to become food for a monster.
“My name is Lamishtu, and I am the Herald of Deceit, devourer of infants,” she finally answered, though not to Vandal. Her gaze remained on Jaeden as she touched his jawline.
Vandal stiffened as the word “Herald” registered.
Alarik’s warning echoed in his mind, clear and urgent, telling him to beware if he ever encountered one.His gaze hardened on the silver-haired woman as the realization settled. This was something far more dangerous than they had expected.
“Will you serve me?”
“Yes, I will. I am willing,” Jaeden said quickly.
“What should we do?” Sabine panicked and looked at Vandal. “I don’t know why I still feel calm in this situation. The pressure is not that heavy on me either. This is very strange,” Vandal thought.
He could feel a fighting intent surge within him, a hunger to fight. For some reason, her aura did not terrify him. It excited him.
Vandal suddenly reached out and touched Sabine’s shoulder. Her heart trembled, and she felt lighter. His resonance energy flowed through her body, helping her block the pressure.
She circulated the energy, then touched Hutrar. Color returned to his face as he felt relief. He did the same, passing it to Mael, who then passed it to Yazmeen, who passed it to Jaclyn. They were finally able to stand more steadily.
“How dare you raise your heads? I shall sacrifice you all!” the silver-haired woman’s voice echoed through the cave, and the expressions of the five changed drastically.
Her killing intent felt like a massive drill boring into their souls.
This has to be a trick. If she wanted to kill us, she would have done so already. Why is she not killing us? Vandal thought. He decided to gamble.
“You old witch. Why do you talk so much? Why not kill us all and be done with it?” Vandal said coldly, his eyes locked onto hers.