Chapter 90: The Mountain Begins to Break
The roar faded.
But the ground continued shaking.
RUMBLE...
CRACK!
Another section of the Crimson Highlands collapsed in the distance.
A cloud of dust rose above the trees.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Hundreds of Imperial soldiers stood frozen.
The rescued villagers stared toward the mountain in terror.
Even the monster warriors who had survived the confrontation looked afraid.
Kael turned toward Colonel Gareth.
"We need to evacuate."
Gareth didn’t argue.
"How many?"
"Everyone."
The Colonel looked toward the mountain.
"That could take hours."
Kael shook his head.
"We don’t have hours."
Gareth immediately raised his voice.
"ALL UNITS!"
His command echoed through the valley.
"Abandon the southern positions!"
"Prepare for immediate withdrawal!"
"Protect the civilians first!"
Officers began shouting orders.
Wagons were turned around.
Horses were brought forward.
Healers gathered the wounded.
Soldiers formed defensive lines around the villagers.
For once...
The Imperial Expedition Corps moved as one.
There was no argument between the main force and the Black Dragons.
No noble titles.
No branch-family disputes.
Everyone had the same problem.
The mountain.
Kael’s Warning
Darius approached Kael.
"What did you see down there?"
Kael remained silent for a moment.
He didn’t want to explain everything in front of hundreds of soldiers.
"There is something beneath the mountain."
"Something old."
Darius waited.
"And?"
"It was sealed."
Darius’s expression hardened.
"The thing causing the monster migration?"
Kael nodded.
"Yes."
Walter approached.
"And you broke the seal?"
Kael looked at him.
"No."
"The seal was already breaking."
That answer didn’t make Walter feel better.
The Ironhorns
Rokan approached.
His massive body towered over the surrounding soldiers.
Several Imperial soldiers raised their weapons.
Kael immediately held up his hand.
"Lower them."
The soldiers hesitated.
Then obeyed.
Rokan looked toward the mountain.
"We must leave."
Kael nodded.
"Your people can travel with us."
Rokan looked surprised.
"You would allow that?"
"You helped rescue the prisoners."
"We’re not leaving you behind."
Rokan stared at Kael for several seconds.
Then he lowered his axe.
"My people will remember this."
Kael turned away.
"Just get everyone out alive."
The evacuation began.
But the mountain wasn’t waiting.
The first monsters appeared from the forest.
A pack of horned wolves burst through the trees.
Soldiers raised shields.
"Hold!"
The creatures charged.
BOOM!
The Imperial line met them.
Steel clashed with claws.
Kael watched carefully.
These monsters weren’t attacking with purpose.
They were terrified.
They were trying to escape.
One wolf broke through the line and ran toward the civilians.
Kael moved.
Night Aura wrapped around his legs.
He disappeared.
BOOM!
He appeared beside the creature.
His sword struck the ground in front of it rather than its body.
Ice exploded upward.
The wolf stopped.
Kael looked directly into its eyes.
"Go."
The creature hesitated.
Then turned...
And ran.
Walter stared.
"You let it go?"
Kael nodded.
"They’re fleeing."
"They aren’t our enemy."
Darius looked toward the mountain.
"Not yet, anyway."
The evacuation continued for hours.
During short pauses...
Kael trained.
Not because he had time to waste.
Because he knew something worse was coming.
He moved away from the main force.
His sword rested in his hand.
Night Aura appeared around his legs.
He activated it.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then released it.
He repeated the process.
Short bursts.
Controlled breathing.
No wasted energy.
Again.
Again.
Again.
His previous battle had taught him something.
Power wasn’t the problem.
Control was.
Kael suddenly moved.
BOOM!
He crossed twenty meters.
Stopped.
Turned.
Another burst.
BOOM!
He crossed the distance again.
This time...
He added Light Magic.
The acceleration increased.
But his legs immediately became heavier.
Kael stopped.
He breathed deeply.
"Still too much."
He tried again.
This time he used less light.
The result was smoother.
Night Aura accelerated him.
Light sharpened his movements.
Neither power overwhelmed the other.
Kael nodded.
"Better."
Kael looked toward a fallen tree.
He raised his hand.
Ice spread across the ground.
Then Night Aura gathered around his legs.
He moved.
Instead of running directly...
He stepped onto the ice.
His body slid forward.
Night Aura propelled him.
Light sharpened his balance.
He curved around the tree.
Then he launched himself upward.
Kael landed on a branch.
He stared down.
The technique wasn’t perfect.
But it worked.
A combination of his ice movement and Night Aura.
Fast.
Efficient.
Hard to predict.
The system appeared.
Technique Created Night Frost Step
Combination:
Ice Movement + Night Aura
Effect:
Allows rapid movement across ice while using Night Aura for sudden acceleration and directional changes.
Current Mastery:
1%
Warning:
Excessive use may cause muscle fatigue.
Kael smiled faintly.
"Useful."
Then the mountain roared again.
His expression immediately became serious.
There would be time to improve it later.
By sunset...
The expedition had moved nearly ten miles from the Crimson Highlands.
But the mountain was still visible.
The sky above it had changed.
Dark clouds gathered unnaturally.
Lightning flashed without thunder.
A strange red glow appeared between the mountains.
Colonel Gareth stood beside Kael.
"I’ve never seen anything like that."
"Neither have I."
Gareth looked toward him.
"What did you find below?"
Kael hesitated.
"Something from the ancient war."
The Colonel’s expression changed.
"You mean the Demon War?"
Kael nodded.
"Possibly."
Gareth looked at the mountain again.
"Then the Emperor needs to know immediately."
"Agreed."
A horse was prepared.
Kael wrote a report.
Not everything.
But enough.
To His Imperial Majesty
The monster migration in the Crimson Highlands is not natural.
An ancient underground structure has been discovered.
Evidence suggests the existence of an ancient seal connected to the Demon War.
The seal is deteriorating.
I strongly recommend immediate investigation by Imperial scholars and high-ranking military personnel.
The region should be considered unstable.
—Kael Asterion
The messenger took the letter.
"Ride without stopping."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The horse disappeared down the western road.
That night...
Kael sat beside the campfire.
The mysterious egg rested inside its protective case.
He looked at it quietly.
The mountain had shown him something that had existed before the Empire.
Something connected to dragons.
Something connected to demons.
Something powerful enough to make monsters flee.
Then—
Thump.
Kael looked down.
The egg pulsed.
Not once.
Twice.
Thump.
Thump.
A faint silver line appeared across the shell.
Kael reached toward it.
The system appeared.
Unknown Object Reaction
Energy detected:
Ancient
Source:
Unknown
Correlation:
Crimson Highlands — Confirmed
Kael’s eyes widened.
The egg wasn’t simply reacting randomly.
It had recognized something.
Something beneath the mountain.
Before he could investigate further...
The silver light disappeared.
The egg became still.
Kael stared at it.
"You know something..."
"...don’t you?"
No answer.
Back in the Crimson Highlands...
The ground opened.
A massive crack split the mountain from peak to base.
Ancient stone structures collapsed into the abyss.
Then...
A hand emerged from beneath the earth.
Black.
Enormous.
Covered in ancient markings.
It gripped the edge of the mountain.
Something began pulling itself upward.
Far away...
Every monster in the Highlands stopped moving.
The Ironhorns lowered their heads.
The wolves fled.
The stone trolls disappeared into caves.
Even the creatures that had never known fear...
Ran.
Because whatever was awakening...
Wasn’t simply another monster.
It was something the monsters themselves remembered.
Something from a war that history had forgotten.
And beneath the mountain...
A voice whispered for the first time in thousands of years.
"Finally..."