Chapter 984: The First Song
Chapter 984 – The First Song
He yanked it back so hard it slammed into another monster, and both fell into the waiting claws of the reanimated Thorn Wolf.
By the time they finished that chamber, Grivven had added two more corpses to his collection.
[Temporary Unit Added: Hollow Vine Maw X1]
[Temporary Unit Added: Charcoal Thorn Wolf X1]
Five soldiers now.
The Debt Collector Ghoul rode at the front on a corpse-wolf, flanked by two crawlers, one Vine Maw crawling along the ceiling like a disgusting chandelier, and another Thorn Wolf stalking beside him with dark-gold debt chains glowing around its ribs.
Sira looked at the little formation.
"That is horrifying."
Gula tilted her head. "It’s also organized."
Lullaby yawned. "Workplace."
Lux nodded. "Exactly."
Ely gave him a look. "Please don’t call that workplace."
"I’ve worked with worse."
Everyone looked at him.
Lux smiled faintly. "Hell finance."
No one asked further.
Wise.
The deeper path bent upward, then sideways, then through a cleft in the stone where old fire had melted rock into glassy black veins. The restored springlight continued to follow Ely, but it grew thinner in places. Whenever it dimmed, Ely touched the wall, and the silver-green glow strengthened again.
The mountain was listening to her now.
Not completely.
There were still dead spots.
Places where the ash remained stubborn. Corners where the air felt stale and old, as if the mountain had forgotten how to breathe. In those places, Lux kept closer, his gaze scanning every crack. Yue’s spear tip would angle slightly. Sira’s claws would flex. Gula would stop joking. Lullaby’s sleepy aura would spread just enough to slow anything that moved too suddenly.
But the summoned soldiers handled the worst of it.
At one narrow bridge over a ravine filled with black roots, something massive climbed up from below.
A Stonebark Centipede.
Thirty legs.
Three mouths.
A back covered in burned crystal plates.
It rose with a grinding shriek and lunged at Ely first, drawn by living mana.
Lux’s eyes sharpened.
Grivven screamed with delight before Lux could even speak. "Premium debtor!"
His whole corpse squad attacked.
The ceiling Vine Maw dropped onto the centipede’s head, wrapping dead limbs around one mouth. The Thorn Wolves slammed into its sides, biting at leg joints. The crawlers crawled under its body and gnawed at the softer root tissue beneath. Grivven leaped from his mount and landed on the centipede’s back, cane hooking into one crystal plate.
"Asset Seizure Hook!"
The cane yanked.
A burned crystal plate tore free with a shriek.
The centipede bucked violently, slamming Grivven into the wall. The ghoul bounced off, cackled, and landed upside down on the ceiling.
"Pain accepted as partial payment!"
Lux watched for two seconds.
Then sighed.
"Too slow."
He flicked one finger.
Voracitas appeared, spinning through the air.
It struck the centipede’s exposed back where Grivven had removed the plate.
The monster convulsed.
Lux snapped his fingers again.
The dagger ripped free and returned to his hand.
The corpse squad surged into the opening.
The centipede collapsed in pieces moments later.
Grivven landed on top of its head and opened his ledger. "Account closed."
Gula whispered, "He is growing on me."
Lullaby nodded. "Like mold."
Grivven turned. "Mold with revenue!"
Lux pointed forward again. "Shrine."
"Yes, boss!"
The ghoul saluted with his cane and urged his stolen corpse soldiers onward.
The path changed after the centipede.
The tunnel widened into something less like a cave and more like a buried cathedral made by roots. Stone pillars rose between ancient trees that had grown through the mountain’s hollow interior. Their trunks were vast, black at the base but silver at the tips, as if life had returned from above and was slowly descending.
The monsters grew fewer.
Or perhaps they knew enough to avoid the debt parade.
Either way, their progress became steady.
They passed old elven carvings half-buried beneath ash. Figures with long hair and open hands. Trees with seven roots. A spring beneath a mountain. A woman standing between a forest and a wall of fire.
Ely slowed each time she saw them.
Lux noticed.
But he didn’t push.
The path narrowed again, this time between two walls covered in silver-green veins. The air grew warmer. Not from fire.
From memory.
A faint sound drifted through the passage.
Music.
No words.
Just a low, distant melody that made the roots pulse in rhythm.
Lullaby lifted her head. "Song."
Yue nodded. "We are close."
Grivven, for once, lowered his voice. "Boss, hidden valuables ahead."
Lux looked at him. "Define valuables."
"Ancient resonance. Sacred mana. Old oath residue. Also possibly shiny things."
Lux’s expression sharpened. "Oath residue."
Ely looked at him. "The debt?"
"Likely."
The melody grew louder as they entered the final passage.
Here, the monsters made one last attempt.
Not many.
But desperate.
A dozen small ash wraiths rose from cracks in the floor, thin as smoke, faces stretched in silent hunger. They were not physical enough for claws or teeth alone. They rushed toward Ely in a swarm.
Lux lifted his hand.
But Grivven was faster.
His ledger opened. "Unpaid spirits!"
The corpse soldiers lunged, mostly passing through the wraiths uselessly.
Grivven clicked his tongue. "Annoying clients."
Then he bit his own thumb, smeared black ichor across the ledger page, and shouted, "Unpaid Interest!"
Dark-gold chains of script flew into the air, wrapping around the ash wraiths. The spirits slowed, their smoky bodies becoming thick and sluggish, as if burdened by centuries of fees.
Sira stepped forward.
Her claws flashed.
She cut through three wraiths at once, each slash splitting smoke into fading sparks.
Yue’s spear spun beside her, the bronze-jade blade slicing with pure physical force supported by technique, not external mana.
Gula skewered one wraith against the wall with her fork-spear, then twisted until its smoke-body unraveled.
Lullaby raised her pillow-hammer and brought it down with both hands.
Softly.
Almost gently.
The impact made no loud boom.
Instead, the wraiths within range simply slowed... slowed... and fell apart as if they had forgotten why they were angry.
Lux watched the last wraith rush him.
He did not summon mana.
He did not even raise a dagger.
He caught it by the face with his bare hand.
[Sovereign Absorb]
The wraith froze.
Lux’s eyes glowed. "Not yours."
The ash inside it peeled away, revealing a tiny spark of silver-green memory. He pulled the corruption out, crushed it in his palm, and let the clean spark drift toward the walls.
The mountain breathed.
The melody became clearer.
Grivven shut his ledger. "All hostile accounts closed, boss."
Around him, the reanimated corpse soldiers stood in a ragged formation, broken but functional. Five soldiers including the debt collector. Ugly. Efficient. Completely inappropriate for sacred elven grounds.
Lux looked at them.
Then at the path ahead. "Good."
He turned to the others. "Let’s just follow the path."
Ely looked forward.
The final door stood before them.
Not a door of wood or stone, but intertwined roots forming an arch, glowing with soft silver-green light. Beyond it, a shrine waited in a circular chamber open to the hollow heart of the mountain.
At the center stood a stone platform surrounded by water channels.
Above it, roots descended from the unseen canopy like strings from heaven.
And carved into the far wall was the same symbol they had seen in the book.
The First Song.
Ely whispered, "The shrine..."