CHAPTER 298: ROT IN THE SHADOWS

Deep within the luminous sanctuary of his crown core, Caius sat cross-legged in silent meditation, suspended in an ocean of radiant solar fire and abyssal void mana. The dual forces orbited his core in perfect, serene harmony.

Without warning, a delicate spatial ripple tore through his mental link, an urgent whisper vibrating directly from the Queen Mother residing in the Hall of Ten Thousand Eyes.

“My Sovereign... the outer webs have shivered. Five stealth entities have breached our northern perimeter, bypassing the kinetic compression wards and gravity traps of the First Gate’s Plaza of Death. They slip through the sub-spatial shadows like whispers of decay.”

Caius’s golden-and-obsidian eyes snapped open, a cold, lethal glint cutting through the ambient light.

"Target lock threads activate," Caius commanded, his voice echoing back through the mental link into the subterranean hall. "Notify Old Bones. Kill four, but ensure the lead entity is captured alive."

Beneath the Arachne Pyramid, the Queen Mother and her four princesses struck the master lines of the divine scrying pillar. Millions of translucent spatial silk threads radiating across the bedrock hummed in unison. Instantly, a massive thread lattice lit up across the domain, transmitting micro-vibrations that mapped every inch of the northern territory. Within seconds, the spatial grid locked onto five faint, invasive signatures weaving through the rocky gorges toward the inner provinces.

This content has been misappropriated from NovelPhoenix; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

High on the battlements of the citadel, Old Bones received the mental coordinate pulse. His silver-grey eyes burned with cold, predatory intent.

Turning to the one hundred and three Shadow Assassins standing silently in his shadow, Old Bones raised his hand. "Five intruders. Captain-tier rot-shadows have slipped past the gate."

With practiced efficiency, Old Bones divided his force into five hunting cells. Four strike teams of twenty assassins melted into the darkness, leaping into the shadow ley-lines to hunt down the secondary targets. Old Bones himself took the remaining twenty dark elf assassins to intercept the primary target, the fastest signature cutting deepest into their land.

Flitting across sub-dimensional shadows like ghost-wolves, Old Bones’s strike cell activated their Wolf-aspect hyper-scent perception. The clean, mountain air faded beneath their senses, replaced by the unmistakable, putrid stench of ancient rot and corrupted shadow-mana.

They materialized along the high cliffs overlooking a narrow stone ravine, completely silent against the jagged rock.

Below them, leaping from shadow to shadow with unnatural, fluid speed, was the lead intruder.

It was a nightmare forged of dark magic, a Ruinborne Shadow Adept, a high-tier captain of the Nerathil rot horde. Its emaciated, towering frame was encased in a jagged, armor-like carapace of blackened, spiky rot-chitin. Tendrils of shadow hung from its gaunt limbs like weeping willow branches, and from beneath an angular, beast-like skeletal mask, a pair of fiery crimson eyes gleamed with cruel, command-level intelligence.

It moved with deceptive stealth, believing its shadow manipulation made it invisible to the domain’s scouts.

High above, Old Bones’s lip curled into a razor-thin, cold smile. His phantom daggers hummed softly at his waist as his twenty assassins unsheathed their blades, their silver eyes locking onto the dark creature below.

"The beast thinks it hunts in the dark," Old Bones whispered, his voice dissolving into the wind. "Show it who owns the shadow."