novelraw Chapter 381 380: The Last Battle
Chapter 381 380: The Last Battle
His fingers tapped lightly against the map.
"The eastern regions still need stabilization. Resistance cells remain active in the lower territories."
Mhazul rolled his shoulders.
"Then we'll crush them."
Lysaria tilted her head slightly, glowing eyes narrowing.
"They're already terrified of us."
"Good," Gander said quietly.
The hall fell silent again.
Outside the palace windows, the capital city stretched endlessly beneath the afternoon sky.
Soldiers marched through the streets.
Black banners fluttered above towers.
And across the entire continent...
Alix's empire continued to grow.
----
Far in the eastern region of the Ereborn Continent, beyond ruined fortresses and burned battlefields, the last resistance of the Bregion Empire remained hidden beneath the mountains.
Deep underground.
Buried beneath layers of stone and formations.
A massive cave stretched through the heart of the mountain like an underground world of its own. Mana lamps carved into the walls cast dim blue light across thousands upon thousands of weary faces.
Cultivators filled the cavern.
Soldiers.
Wounded veterans.
Nobles stripped of their lands.
Families who had escaped the fall of the empire.
Nearly a hundred thousand people were hiding there.
And all of them looked exhausted.
Fear lingered everywhere.
Not the fear of losing anymore.
That had already happened.
This was the fear of being hunted.
At the deepest part of the cavern, inside a heavily guarded chamber reinforced with barrier formations, the remaining Spears of the Empire gathered around a stone table.
Only five remained alive.
Once, there had been twenty.
Now the empire's greatest warriors had been reduced to this.
Jheven, the First Spear, stood at the head of the table. His once immaculate armor was scarred and cracked, one shoulder stained dark from old blood that no cleansing spell had fully removed.
His face looked older than before.
Not from age.
From defeat.
Beside him sat Resna, the Fifth Spear. A tall woman with short silver hair and tired eyes, quietly sharpening a thin curved blade across her lap.
Across from her stood Orara, the Ninth Spear, leaning against the wall with folded arms. His expression was grim, jaw tight as he listened.
The remaining Fourth and Sixth Spears stayed silent near the edge of the chamber, both visibly worn down from months of constant retreat.
No one spoke for several moments.
The atmosphere felt suffocating.
Finally, Jheven broke the silence.
"We've reached a dead end."
His voice echoed heavily through the chamber.
No one argued.
Because everyone knew it was true.
Jheven slowly looked around at the others.
"Sooner or later," he continued quietly, "this cave will be discovered."
His expression darkened.
"And when that happens… the Three Calamities will come."
The moment those words were spoken, the room changed.
Fear became visible.
Even the Fourth Spear unconsciously tightened his grip on his weapon.
The Sixth Spear lowered his eyes slightly.
No one wanted to face them.
Not those monsters.
Not again.
Orara let out a bitter laugh.
"Three damned nightmares." he muttered
Resna stopped sharpening her blade.
Her voice came out low.
"I still remember what happened at Blackstone Valley."
The room fell even quieter.
No one interrupted her.
Resna's eyes grew distant.
"Grathum alone destroyed three fortress walls by himself."
Her fingers tightened slightly around the blade.
"He walked through bombardments like they were rain."
The Sixth Spear grimaced.
"I saw him crush a Tier 6 cultivator with one hand."
"And Virela..." Orara muttered darkly.
His jaw tightened.
"That serpent wiped out an entire aerial division before they even saw her."
The memory clearly still haunted him.
"The sky started screaming before she appeared."
Even now, remembering it made his skin crawl.
Virela the Stormrend.
The Sky Serpent whose wings could split the air itself.
By the time soldiers heard the sound...
They were already dead.
Jheven closed his eyes briefly.
"And Zurrak..."
At that name, even the mana lamps seemed colder.
The Fourth Spear spoke for the first time.
"Don't say that thing's name lightly."
His voice carried genuine unease.
Zurrak the Abysshowl.
The Void Warg.
An assassin that tore through space itself.
Entire commanders had died without even realizing he was near them.
One moment alive.
The next...
A claw through the chest from behind.
Orara rubbed his face roughly.
"Those aren't Tier 6 monsters anymore," he muttered. "They're disasters wearing flesh."
No one disagreed.
The terrifying part was not only their strength.
It was the fact that fighting even one of them required at least two Peak Tier 6 cultivators just to hold the line.
Not win.
Just survive.
And now those monsters served under someone else.
A silence full of despair settled over the chamber.
Far outside the room, the faint sounds of civilians echoed through the cavern. Children crying softly. Soldiers moving supplies. Healers tending the wounded.
The remnants of an empire hiding underground like frightened animals.
Resna finally spoke again.
"So what now?"
Jheven opened his eyes slowly.
For the first time since entering the room, uncertainty appeared in them.
"I don't know."
The admission hit harder than anyone expected.
Because Jheven had always known what to do.
Always.
But now...
Even the First Spear looked lost.
The Sixth Spear slammed a fist against the stone wall.
"So we just wait here to die?!"
His voice echoed violently through the chamber.
"No," Orara snapped back immediately. "March out there and do what? Fight three calamities and an army that already conquered an entire continent?"
The Sixth Spear clenched his jaw but said nothing.
Because deep down...
He knew Orara was right.
Jheven slowly looked down at the map spread across the table.
Every marked location... Gone.
Every stronghold... Captured.
The empire no longer existed.
Only scattered survivors remained.
Then suddenly...
One of the guards outside rushed into the chamber, breathing heavily.
"Sir, first Spear!"
Everyone turned instantly.
The guard's face was pale.
"We lost contact with the outer scouts."
The room froze.
Jheven's expression darkened immediately.
"How long ago?"
"Less than ten minutes."
Silence, terrible silence.
Then.., far above the cave ceiling. A deep sound echoed faintly through the mountain.
Not an explosion.
Not thunder.
Something worse.
A long, high-pitched scream of wind tearing across the sky.
Every face inside the chamber lost color.
Orara slowly lifted his head.
"...Virela."
And for the first time in months...
True panic spread through the last survivors of the empire.
The scream of tearing wind echoed again across the mountain.
Louder this time.
The entire cavern trembled.
Dust rained from the ceiling as panicked voices spread through the underground refuge like wildfire.
"They found us!"
"The monsters are here!"
"Protect the civilians!"
Outside the meeting chamber, soldiers began running through the tunnels in chaos. Barrier formations lit up one after another, glowing lines spreading across the stone walls.
Then came another sound.
The mountain itself shook.
BOOOOM!
Part of the cavern ceiling collapsed somewhere far above, followed by hundreds of terrified screams.
The Sixth Spear's face paled.
"...Grathum."
Jheven moved instantly.
"All Spears with me," he ordered sharply. "Get everyone battle ready. Move the civilians deeper underground."
The remaining Spears immediately rushed out of the chamber.
The moment they entered the main cavern, chaos unfolded before them.
Thousands of cultivators were scrambling into formation while civilians fled through side tunnels. Healers dragged wounded soldiers away while commanders shouted themselves hoarse trying to maintain order.
Then the mountain exploded.
A section of the cavern wall erupted inward in a shower of molten rock and shattered stone.
A gigantic figure stepped through the breach.
Grathum Ironsurge.
The Magma Troll's body looked like a living volcano. Rivers of molten magma pulsed beneath layers of black stone-like skin, while smoke poured from his shoulders with every movement.
His massive war hammer dragged behind him, melting the ground itself.
Behind him surged an army of monsters.
Wolfkin.
Ogres.
Serpent warriors.
Insectoid soldiers.
Thousands upon thousands flooding into the cavern like a black tide.
And above the shattered ceiling...
A colossal serpent circled through the storm clouds outside the mountain opening.
Virela the Stormrend.
Her massive wings tore sonic booms through the air every time they moved.
Lightning danced around her body.
Wind screamed across the battlefield.
Then came the worst part.
A soldier suddenly froze mid-run.
His eyes widened.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Something invisible tore him apart from behind.
Bodies began dropping one after another. No warning, no sound.
Only death.
"Zurrak..." Orara whispered.
The Void Warg had already entered the battlefield.
Panic exploded completely.
"Hold the line!" Jheven roared.
Lightning erupted around his body instantly.
BOOM!