Chapter 432: Protective Shadow As he expected, every one of the people on the walls were dead. Their heads had been cleanly ripped off their bodies... or rather chomped. The air smelled metallic, like the forest had exhaled blood into the wind. The stone beneath their feet still held faint streaks of crimson where the bodies had fallen. "What a horrifying monster," Mira muttered as they stood in front of the large bell situated at the top of the wall. The bell was thick and meant to ring across the valley in case of emergencies or invasion... a final warning system. There was a headless corpse with its hands frozen on the rope as if he had tried desperately to pull it before his head was torn away. "It seemed like this person wanted to ring the bell but got eaten before he could..." Mira added, her voice was much lower now. "I told you guys Wendy was real," Mynes said with a smile... but the smile was fake. The slight tremor in her hand and the stiffness around her eyes... she was terrified. Not of the monster itself, but of Azel seeing her scared. She tried to keep her shoulders squared, projecting confidence she didn’t actually feel. "Should we congratulate you for figuring that out?" Mira deadpanned, giving Mynes a pointed glare. "Right now we have to avert our full focus to our mission." "Okay, okay..." Mynes muttered, letting the façade drop a little. She exhaled, took a steadying breath, and lifted her arms. Instantly runes poured out of her body... flowing from her fingertips like glowing streams of ink, wrapping around her forearms and spiraling into the air. Some runes were cold and sharp like ice; others were warm like embers. She was preparing every defensive measure she had. Azel, meanwhile, was pacing around the wall, his boots crunching over grit and old blood. "How are we going to find it?" he muttered to himself. The monster moved in shadows... without scent and even without presence and nobody knew if she was attacking the wall of the Aegis Empire at the same time. If she could blink between shadows, she could be anywhere. He had tried sensing her earlier when they approached the wall, but he hadn’t felt a thing... not until she appeared on Mira from thin air. He didn’t expect sensing to save them now. He approached the lookout station again and crouched down. "And the lookout gear is destroyed..." he said, almost to himself. His fingers brushed over crushed metal and glass fragments. But then he paused. "The lookout gear is destroyed?" He leaned in closer. The station itself wasn’t touched, but the primary vision scope... thick enchanted glass reinforced to withstand beasts was torn apart. He looked at one of the remaining pieces: a small directional underpiece that still pointed outward. "I thought it only chomped off heads," Azel murmured. "So it took down the lookout gear too?" Something clicked in his mind. "Did she want nobody seeing something?" Mira and Mynes glanced toward him but didn’t interrupt. It was, unfortunately, the monster’s unlucky day. Azel inhaled and closed his eyes. ’Erblim, borrow me your sight.’ A thin pulse of light flashed behind his eyes. His vision shifted... zooming and extending far beyond human limits. He stood straight, planted his feet exactly where the lookout gear pointed, and the world expanded before him. Past the trees... Past the fog... and past the unnatural shadows. His sight landed on a cave. It was dark and almost completely hidden if not for Erblim’s sight. And in front of the cave stood a shadow... it was massive and crouched low like an animal guarding something precious. That shadow was Wendy and the wisps of darkness that had dispelled when Mynes blasted it slowly entered the shadow’s body. ’Does it have something that it’s protecting?’ he wondered. A territory? A nest? A prisoner? An egg? Information? He didn’t know. Then... The monster’s shadow-face suddenly lifted and looked straight at him. Even through divine sight, the gaze hit Azel like a tidal wave. A cold spike of fear ran down his spine... a primal warning that he was being hunted. The shadow opened its maw and the darkness surged. A ball of shadow shot outward directly toward the remnants of the lookout gear. Azel broke his sight link and moved aside just as the shadow slammed into the gear, the force exploding it into a storm of splintered wood, bent metal, and shards that rained across the wall. Mira and Mynes instantly snapped to battle stance. Azel pointed toward the distant stretch of forest, somewhere beyond the densest part of the Blood Zone. "The monster is there... It’s guarding some kind of cave." Mira nodded, her expression tight. "Good work." Mynes placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling a bit too hard with her relief barely concealed. "What would we do without you?" Before Azel could reply, a rattling sound echoed from the other side of the wall. A wooden elevator lifted to the top with a creaking chain noise. A soldier stepped out... he was older and experienced, with a badge pinned to his uniform. He opened his mouth to greet the guards but froze as he saw the corpses. "What the fuck...?" His eyes darted to Mira, Mynes, and Azel. When he recognized Mira, he immediately bowed. "Ah... Knight Commander Mira." He swallowed hard. "Please... what happened here?" "These soldiers saw something they weren’t supposed to see and were killed by the monster," Mira said without hesitation. "Report to your superiors and have them dispose of these bodies while replacing the guard rotation. We will deal with the monster." The soldier stiffened, nodded sharply. "O-on it, Knight Commander." He turned, hurried back to the elevator, and yanked down a lever. The wooden contraption shot downward with a roar of gears. "You’re really famous," Azel remarked, glancing at her. Mira blushed slightly and immediately jumped off the wall, avoiding his gaze. Mynes saw her opportunity instantly. "Hey, I can’t jump like you guys... Can you hold me?" she asked sweetly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 Azel looked around. The soldier’s elevator was already gone, and the elevator on this side was completely crushed turning into twisted wood and tangled rope. He sighed, then lifted Mynes into his arms bridal-style. "Hold on tight..." he warned. Mynes’ face went completely red. ’I didn’t think he would really carry me...’ she thought, staring up at his jawline as her heart pounded. ’He’s really cute...’ They dropped from the wall, wind rushing around them. They landed gently in the grass below. He looked down at her. "Aren’t you getting off?" "I wouldn’t mind if you carried me the whole way... like I was a princess, yunno." Mynes said hopefully. Azel dropped her immediately. "Ouch!" She flopped onto the ground, rubbing her waist. "How rude." Mira, standing nearby, looked like she was using every ounce of discipline not to burst out laughing. "Fuck you," Mynes muttered as she stood. Mira just smirked. Then Mira drew her sword, the mood shifting instantly. "Focus... We’re going deep into the Blood Zone. If we don’t stay focused... we might die."