novelraw Chapter 79 : Cleave of the Cyan Blade
Chapter 79 : Cleave of the Cyan Blade
Selene’s POV
The goblins rushed us again, a tide of gnashing teeth and claws.
But Darius was no longer the man dragged down by curse and weakness. His steps were lightning, his sword a streak of light. Cyan mana pulsed around him, every swing radiant, as if the air itself bent to his will.
One stroke — and a dozen corrupted split apart.
Another — and their bodies vanished, dissolved into the land before they could even strike.
I stood frozen, breath caught in my throat. For month I’d watched him slow, wither, lose to time. Yet now… this wasn’t a revival. This was rebirth.
My Darius… is stronger than ever.
The shaman’s mocking smirk had vanished. His crooked staff shook as he stumbled back, wide-eyed. He hissed something guttural, snapped his fingers — and the goblins that remained melted into the ground, fleeing.
But there was no escape.
“Running?” Darius’ voice thundered like steel striking steel. His aura flared, crackling, cyan bleeding into the air. His blade raised, his teeth bared.
“You dared aim at my son.”
The ground itself quaked as he surged forward.
The shaman turned, desperate, bolting into the shadow of the mountains — but too slow.
Darius’ blade fell.
With a roar, he cleaved not just the shaman, but the very mountain behind him. Rock screamed, stone split, a scar stretching hundreds of meters carved into the land itself.
For one heartbeat, silence. The shaman was gone, obliterated. The mountain lay in two halves.
Then—
The cut began to stitch itself back together. Jagged stone seams pulled closed like torn flesh knitting. Within moments, the mountain stood whole again, as if nothing had happened.
I felt my stomach twist, icy dread crawling through me.
Darius lowered his blade, still blazing cyan. His chest heaved, not with exhaustion, but fury.
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I stepped closer, forcing calm into my voice.
“Darius… we can’t stay.”
His eyes snapped to mine, still burning. Then he followed my gaze to the mountain, its silent, unnatural mending.
Something more dangerous than goblins stirred inside.
Together, we turned. We had to get out.
The corrupted land had shown its teeth — and even with all our strength, I knew… we were still only scratching its surface.
The corrupted woods were quiet — too quiet. Even the buzzing gnats and distant howls had stopped. Only the crunch of our boots and the faint hum of cyan mana from Darius’ body broke the silence.
Then the air shifted.
A shadow blotted out the moonlight.
I looked up—
And froze.
A sunflower.
But not a flower. Its stem was a tower, crooked and sickly, rising higher than the mountains themselves. Its massive “face” sagged downward, yellow petals wilted and blackened at the tips, and its center was stitched with thick, dark lines. Hollow pits where eyes should be… and a mouth torn open, crooked and sewn shut again, only to rip apart once more.
The stench of rot rolled across the land.
My knees trembled. Even I, Selene Valemont, who had slaughtered armies, who had leveled fortresses with flame — I felt the ice of despair crawl up my spine.
Darius tensed beside me, sword raised. Cyan mana flared, but it was nothing compared to this.
The thing tilted its monstrous “face,” and a voice, hollow and scraping like rusted metal on stone, rumbled through the land.
“Elf… mana…”
Its head lowered, the stitched pits staring straight at Darius.
“How… did you gain it…?”
Darius snarled, gripping his blade. “That’s none of your concern, monster.”
The ground split. A grotesque vine lashed down, coiling around Darius’ entire body. Bones cracked — snap, snap, snap — as the vine squeezed.
“DARIUS!” I screamed, my mana flaring uselessly, gravity magic pulling at the vine but not budging it an inch.
The sunflower loomed closer, its voice crawling into my skull.
“Answer… or he breaks.”
Darius coughed, blood trailing down his lips, but he forced a grin.
“Run, Selene. I’ll hold it—”
“No!” Tears blurred my vision. “Don’t you dare—don’t you dare leave me!”
I fell to my knees, magic trembling in my veins, and shouted,
“Maori! It’s because of the goddess’ reincarnate—our son’s goddess gave him an elf core!”
The being froze. The vines stopped tightening.
Slowly, the stitched mouth tore wider, jagged and trembling, until the sound that came from it was not laughter nor anger, but something else.
Grief.
“...so. She… lives again…”
The hollow pits dimmed with something almost human.
“Tell her… Mara still… here.”
The vines loosened. Darius dropped to the ground, coughing violently, clutching his ribs. I grabbed him, pulling him up, tears burning down my cheeks.
The sunflower monster straightened, towering above, its shadow swallowing the land.
Then, without another word, it turned and vanished into the horizon, vines dragging into the soil until only silence remained.
I held Darius, still trembling. His bones creaked as he tried to breathe, but he managed a bitter laugh.
“Selene…” his voice rasped, “...that thing… it wasn’t even fighting us.”
I shook my head, clutching him tighter. I knew. I knew it wasn’t showing us its strength. Only… grief.
And the name it spoke still echoed in my mind.
Mara.