How long has Angelina been away for?
Erin shifted her gaze away from the book in her hands to the Dark Dragon who prostrated beside her. At that moment, the Dark Dragon had shut her eyes and was sleeping. Erin had no intention of waking her mother up as she sensed the weakness in her. If her mother didn’t save her energy by sleeping, perhaps she wouldn’t have held on for so long. But even so, Erin felt like her mother’s flame of life was nearing its end.
“Mother…”
The moon princess called out to the Dark Dragon, closed her eyes, and leaned back on the cold wall again. For some unknown reason, Erin felt like she was losing her powers day by day. The heavy exhaustion engulfed her entirety. Not only that, but she also felt like her connection to the moon became weaker. The moon princess couldn’t help but feel worried and anxious. She hadn’t been to a land of Chaos like Rhode, so she didn’t know what all this meant. But even so, she felt like the Country of Darkness had likely sunken into huge trouble, so much so that the rule connection between her and the moon was blocked off.
“…”
Erin shook her head, trying her hardest to gather her consciousness. But for some reason, she began to feel sleepy over the days. Sometimes, she felt like she was having a fever and her head was in a complete mess. There were some instances when she didn’t know what exactly was running through her mind, or perhaps she wasn’t thinking about anything at all. Right now, she shivered weakly and didn’t even have the strength to lift her weapon. Fortunately, there were no other creatures except for the Dark Dragon in this prison, which was why she avoided being chased by critters. It would be humiliating if the moon princess were to be chased by a bunch of goblins or slimes.
I wonder if Angelina returned to His Majesty Rhode safely…
Gazing at the pitch-black dome, Erin focused her blurry consciousness and forced herself to consider this question. After all, no one knew whether the Undead Skeletal Dragon was guarding the true exit that led to the outside world or a tunnel that led deeper underground. If it were the latter, perhaps Angelina might not even be able to return to reunite with her anymore. Erin was clearly aware of Angelina’s strength. Even though Angelina was powerful as a vampire of her age, she couldn’t compete against the four legendary generals. If she faced an enemy who was more powerful than the Undead Skeletal Dragon, maybe Erin would never meet her ever again.
“Ugh…”
Her sense of fatigue grew stronger. Erin felt her heart pounding. Not only that, but her blood also rushed inside her body and her vision turned blurry. The burning heat in her continued to surge. She closed her eyes and leaned on the slippery, ice-cold stone wall. It was only this chilly sensation that barely decreased her high body temperature. But she didn’t know how long she could hang on for. She was certain that this wasn’t the result of her mental or physical injuries, but her body’s reaction instead—the connection of the source of Order.
As a moon princess, it went without saying that Erin was an inhabitant of Order and one at the highest level. Due to that reason, after losing the support of Order and rule, the effects she felt were much stronger than ordinary people. This was also why in the battle against Chaos, most ordinary people survived, while formidable beings like Alice and Marlene had no choice but to flee or deal with their own deaths using reincarnation.
I wonder how His Majesty Rhode is doing…
While Erin felt giddy, this thought cropped up in her mind all of a sudden. She couldn’t help but reveal a beautiful smile.
That strange world… I heard from His Majesty Rhode that was where they came from? How amusing. But it’s a pity that I didn’t have enough fun while I was there. If there’s another opportunity, I wonder if His Majesty Rhode will be willing to bring me there for a tour again… A fascinating, interesting, and unknown world. No adventure is more fun than that… If it were possible… But… I feel so sleepy…
Erin closed her eyes gradually.
… I shall take a nap then…
“Everyone, don’t stop! Move! Hurry!”
Rhode snarled, swinging the pitch-black sword in his hand and streaking dazzling blade rays across the air. The two mysterious, rotten, and putrid creatures before him were sliced into halves, before being struck by razor-sharp blade airwaves. Mini Bubble Gum raised her right arm before her. Several light beams emanated from her palm, blasting the ground to scatter the dense fog and reveal the dirt path behind. Icy Snow continuously released arrows from her bow. The arrows flitted across the air like a wild storm, scattering the dense fog farther ahead. Along with terrifying screams, pitch-black figures collapsed to the ground one after another. Filthy blood and stench dispersed from their bodies, leaving one nauseous.
Even though Rhode was mentally prepared, he didn’t expect the situation of the Country of Darkness to be this terrible. Shortly after they moved off, they faced the encirclement of thousands of undead creatures that were influenced by Chaos. Under the influence of Chaos, the undead creatures became much stronger and more dangerous. Moreover, as they lurked in the Chaos fog, they became true ‘undead’ creatures. No matter how they were slashed to halves or chunks, as long as they weren’t smashed into bits, their broken and severed body parts would fuse together into their original state, returning into brand new undead creatures that continued their relentless attacks.
Rhode didn’t have any countermeasure against these annoying undead creatures. The extent of damage caused by Chaos on the Darkness Capital was nearing the breaking point of Order. Judging from the speed of fusion of these undead creatures, they were as though situated in a land of Chaos right now. In this case, Rhode couldn’t eradicate them at all. The only thing he could do was to dash toward the tunnel as quickly as possible. Then… He would leave the ‘then’ to later!
“Angelina, how much farther?!”
“That… I…”
Angelina scanned her surroundings that were enveloped in white fog. Unsure if they had entered the hinterland, the fog here seemed much denser, where she could see nothing up to 10 meters ahead. Rather than saying Angelina relied upon her vision, they were better off counting on Icy Snow’s Pathfinding Beam to lead the way. But the problem now was that the fog was so thick that they couldn’t figure out the exact situation around them and estimate the specific distance.
“… I’m not too sure, Master.”
Angelina had no choice but to give up. Almost at the same time, the Pathfinding Beam shivered abruptly as though it were disrupted. Looking at this scene, Icy Snow sulked.
“Big Brother, the coordinates are unstable!”
“Hurry up! Don’t stop! Everyone, run as fast as you can!”
Another undead creature pounced on Rhode as a swinging blade sent it to its death. Rhode’s expression changed entirely. Of course, he knew what Icy Snow meant by the unstable coordinates. Icy Snow’s Pathfinding Beam was fired to the destination. It was as though one tossing out a signal generator and using a radar to scan for signal waves to determine the location. And now, the Pathfinding Beam was unstable, which meant that the influence of Chaos was getting stronger. Meanwhile, the tunnel was also getting increasingly shaky. If Rhode’s group couldn’t enter the tunnel in the shortest time possible, perhaps the tunnel would disappear at the next moment. When that happened, Rhode would be in a tough spot.
Upon hearing his orders, the group sprinted as fast as they could. Anne and Mini Bubble Gum also stopped assaulting the undead creatures, but activated a wind barrier and holy shield instead, shrouding everyone from the attacks as they sprinted up the mountain slope.
“Over there!”
The group almost reached the end of the Pathfinding Beam. Halfway up the hill, the fog became less dense, bringing a wider vision for everyone. At that moment, Angelina finally spotted the tunnel that emanated a dazzling light and yelled out. Right now, their group was less than 50 meters away from the tunnel! But at the same time, the tunnel began to sway like a translucent mirage in the desert. Looking at this scene, Rhode’s heart sank. This was the behavior of Order that was under attack. It seemed like the tunnel couldn’t hang on much longer!
“Full speed ahead!”
Rhode said, stretching out his arm and pointing at the tunnel. The azure halo circulating around him vanished abruptly before appearing in the middle of the tunnel. Along with the shine of Rhode’s Order halo, the trembling, translucent tunnel stabilized.
“Hurry!”
Upon hearing his command, Icy Snow leaped into the tunnel like a nimble cat, followed by Angelina and Anne. Mini Bubble Gum and Cassidy were the only ones who followed Rhode closely and faced the omnipresent undead creatures. As they picked up speed, thousands of undead creatures pursued Rhode. Without Cassidy and Mini Bubble Gum guarding their backs, perhaps they would be held back by the undead creatures and couldn’t flee in time.
“One last time. Cassidy, repel them! Bubble, get ready to cast your shield!”
“Got it!”
Upon hearing Rhode’s command, Cassidy nodded. She unsheathed and flourished her sword ahead!
Along with this attack, the undead creatures that swarmed their group like a torrent retreated instantly. The power of contrast was unleashed at that very moment, forcefully stopping the undead creatures’ pace. But shortly after, they gave chase again.
Mini Bubble Gum raised her arms immediately in response. A golden barrier emanating close to Rhode’s nose stopped the undead creatures. Rhode turned around without any hesitation, carrying two young ladies in each of his arms, before vanishing in a black lightning bolt and dashing into the tunnel!
Boom!
Almost at the same time, the sturdy barrier was smashed into bits by the undead creatures. Then, the gloomy, pitch-black army swarmed the tunnel like a violent tide!
