Chapter 88: A Two Way Attack
"Things will be difficult for you tonight."
Edgar kept looking at her without a change in his expression.
He slowly asked, "How do you know that?"
Semele gave a small shrug. "I’ve lived long enough to recognize the signs."
Edgar opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He didn’t know how he was supposed to react to her words or her presence.
No matter how he looked at it, the lady was suspicious from head to toe.
’Why is she so beautiful, though?’
As he looked at her side profile, he wondered before shaking those thoughts from his head.
’Beautiful women have caused the downfall of countless kingdoms.’
He had read enough history to know that appearances were often the most deceptive weapon.
Noticing his prolonged silence, Semele turned her head slightly. "What are you thinking about?"
Edgar answered without hesitation. "I’m wondering whether you’re trying to deceive me."
Rather than taking offense, Semele laughed softly. "What an honest child."
"I’m not a child."
"Compared to me, you are." Her smile widened ever so slightly.
Edgar narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "What are you, Grandma?"
The lady still didn’t get offended and only patted the seat beside her. "Come sit."
Edgar let out a sigh and finally sat down beside her, albeit he did put some distance between them.
"Have you never heard of the Theban family?" Semele asked, tilting her head slightly.
"No," Edgar replied. "Are they important?"
"Not anymore," she replied, shaking her head.
A trace of nostalgia flickered through Semele’s crimson eyes. "They disappeared a very long time ago."
"..."
Edgar tried to remember the family from his memories, but he had no idea who they were.
"Were they important?" Edgar asked, looking at her.
"They were." She nodded her head. "Though the only good thing they ever did was hoard money."
"That’s not a good thing."
"To me it is," she replied with a smile. "I have been living a comfortable life because of them."
Edgar gave her a look. "You are weird."
A clear, melodious laugh echoed across the quiet courtyard, causing even a few nearby citizens to glance in their direction.
"You really don’t know how to flatter a woman, do you?"
"I wasn’t trying to," he responded, shrugging his shoulders.
Semele looked at him and said quietly, "Your body is radiating a comfortable warmth."
Her crimson eyes lingered on him. "I could feel the warmth from hundreds of kilometers away."
’...Is this why you came here?’ Edgar wondered before another thought struck him.
’How fucking strong is she?’
He had no way of verifying whether she was telling the truth.
But if she wasn’t lying, then the woman sitting beside him was far more terrifying than he had imagined.
He forced himself to remain calm. "...Warmth?"
Semele nodded. "You probably don’t notice it yourself, but your warmth is different from this flame."
She leaned closer until Edgar could feel her breath on his face. "The fire warms the body, but you warm the soul."
Edgar got startled and stood up, stepping away from her. "I should go."
Without waiting for her response, he turned around.
"Any ghost-type deity can only die if attacked in the heart," Semele said from behind. "That’s their only weakness."
Edgar paused for a second before he nodded his head slightly. "I will keep that in mind."
He walked toward the Fortress Wall as a thought rang through his mind.
’Does that headless Nightmare count as a ghost deity?’
If it did, then how did she know about the Nightmare?
’...What the hell is up with her?’
Edgar grumbled inwardly as he reached the top of the Fortress Wall.
His gaze immediately fell on the youngest boy, Wavin, who was patrolling the place.
’Hmm?’
Edgar quickly noticed something wrong with the boy.
"Are you alright?" he asked, walking closer.
The boy coughed lightly and smiled.
"Just under the weather, my lord."
"...Come here."
Wavin obediently stepped closer.
Edgar placed the back of his hand against the boy’s forehead.
His eyebrows immediately knitted together. "You’re burning up."
"It’s nothing, my Lord."
"No. Go get some rest," Edgar ordered. "I will stand guard."
The boy wanted to argue, but Edgar gave him a stern look.
He could only nod and walk down the Fortress Wall.
The other soldiers who were guarding the place nodded their heads in approval.
Once the boy was gone, Edgar focused on the murky grey-black fog, which had thinned a lot.
The Eternal Night would take over at any moment.
Edgar rested both hands atop the weathered stone battlements.
His eyes remained fixed on the thinning curtain of murky grey-black fog stretching across the horizon.
The world had become unnaturally quiet.
Even the restless rustling of leaves had ceased.
It was as though the entire forest was holding its breath.
’It’s beginning...’
Through the Soul Network, Edgar could feel the positions of all five Soul Guardians.
They were all in the places he had assigned beforehand.
His grip on the battlement unconsciously tightened.
No matter how many preparations he made.
No matter how many defensive structures he built.
The uncertainty before every Eternal Night never disappeared.
The last traces of grey mist dissolved.
The darkness beyond the Fortress suddenly deepened.
"...It’s here."
The air pressure changed.
The ⟨Unbroken Fire⟩ burning within the Fortress suddenly flared several feet higher before settling down once more.
Far below, conversations between the citizens gradually died away.
Everyone returned to their houses and locked them from the inside.
Edgar closed his eyes and relaxed slightly.
At the same time, he changed his vision to Soul Guardian Five.
The skeleton remained perfectly concealed behind a cluster of broken boulders several hundred meters from the Fortress.
Its soul flames stared unblinkingly into the endless darkness.
In the darkness of the night, glowing red eyes slowly began to open one by one.
’...What the fuck?’
When Edgar focused, he found the place where the Nightmares were coming from.
...They were all crawling out from inside the earth like demons from hell.
One after another, blood-red eyes emerged across the forest like stars appearing in the night sky.
Finally, Edgar saw the headless monster emerge as well.
He severed the connection and yelled, "Incoming!!"
"UOO HAA AHH!!"
From the other side of the Fortress, the shouts of ape-like Nightmares echoed.