Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem - Chapter 1348

Capítulo 1348: Terror

Boots hammered stone. Armor scraped. Breath tore at lungs already raw from ash.

Marwen ran with her squad tight behind her, ten brave warriors reduced to a line of panic threading through broken streets. The city they had memorized no longer existed. Walls were gone. Streets ended in pits. Corners led into open air or piles of crushed masonry.

The girl who had dropped her spear kept close to Marwen’s right, fingers clawed into the captain’s cloak as if it were the only thing keeping her upright.

“I-it’s ‘him,'” she whimpered between gasps. “Isn’t it…?”

Marwen did not slow.

“Yes,” she said. The word felt heavy in her mouth. “Only one entity fits the description of what we’ve seen.”

The girl’s already pale expression went icy. “The Primordial Villain…”

Marwen nodded once. Her jaw locked as they vaulted a fallen beam and splashed through foul water that pooled where a street used to be.

Such rotten water was a sign of undead rampaging, best evidenced by the numerous filthy corpses scattered around. A battle took place here, where humanity had defeated the undead minions.

But alas…

It was only a small victory.

“The reports were already bad,” Marwen hissed. “But they were old.”

She risked a glance upward through a gap between buildings. Smoke twisted in strange patterns. The air itself felt wrong, thick and reluctant.

“He shouldn’t have been able to kill Archmage Harel,” the girl whimpered.

“Yes… Reports said that Queen Morgana easily overpowered him the last time they met. She’s definitely stronger than Lord Harel, but I feel the gap shouldn’t be so big… The Villain killed Lord Harel with his own spell!”

“…”

No one spoke after that.

They ran with faces set hard, eyes forward, mouths drawn into pale lines. Even the veterans looked stripped down to instinct, their movements clipped and efficient. Fear did not make them wild beasts, but it most certainly made them quiet.

They rounded a corner and nearly slammed into another squad coming the opposite way.

A dozen of them, moving fast and upright, hope still written on their faces.

The man at their head had a scar splitting his eyebrow and a fresh smear of rot on his shield. He broke into a grin when he saw her.

“Marwen!” he called. “Good timing. We just cleared a nest of nasty undead two streets down. Give me a report of your situation!”

Her mouth opened, and the words tore out.

“Turn around!” she screamed. “Run! All of you, run now!”

The man blinked, shocked to his very core. He knew Marwen as a bright, brave, and upright woman.

Such cowardly behavior did not fit her.

“What? Captain, get a grip. The enemy is inside the walls, and Elvardia took the walls, but we can still-”

There was no warning spell. No chant.

Yet, despite that…

The street folded.

Not cracked. Not shattered.

It split into layers.

The ground beneath the other squad sagged and split, forming two equal layers that rose together. For a breath, there was empty space between them. Then both layers slammed together.

Before they met, extremely cruel, sharp spikes pushed out from the stone faces.

Marwen gasped. “No!”

Her old friend and his squad were caught in the center. They were his targets.

The man’s shield jammed sideways, and his boots lifted from the ground as the walls closed in, trying to resist. “Defend! Protect yourselves!” he shouted.

But it was useless. He and his subordinates vanished between stone, and what came next were a dozen screams of utter agony as they were punctured from a hundred angles and flattened at the same time.

The impact came next.

The street became a single solid block.

“Ahhh!!! He’s following us!” the girl who dropped her spear screamed with a heart overcome with fear. “I can’t do this…” She dropped to her knees and clutched her head with both hands, unable to bear the terror any longer.

Marwen staggered back. Her sight blurred. She could still hear it. Many screamed long enough for breath to tear their throat raw before it stopped.

Then the stone groaned.

Cracks raced across the surface.

With a violent shudder, the layers split apart.

A single body burst free.

Her friend crashed onto the street on one knee, blood running down his armor in lines. Spikes had torn into him, but the stone had failed to finish the work. His armor and Vitality were simply too sturdy.

He sucked in air through clenched teeth and forced himself upright.

He looked up.

Marwen followed his gaze.

Above them, the black-armored figure hovered, unmoving. The red lights behind the visor were fixed on the man below as if he were an object left unfinished.

The durable warrior roared as he tore a javelin from his back. “Damn you! You’ll pay for this!” he screamed as he aimed his throw.

But then, stone flowed around his boots.

It locked him in place up to the calves.

Before he could wrench free, the air above him distorted. Lances of compressed wind and blades of water screamed downward in tight succession.

He raised his shield and slammed it into the ground, bracing with his trapped legs. His mouth opened wide as he forced the words out.

“[Unbreakable Wall]!”

Light flared along the shield’s rim as the first impact hit.

Marwen turned away.

She did not wait for the attack to end. She did not look back to see if the spell held.

Deep down, she already knew.

“Move!” she barked, forcing her voice steady. She grabbed her lieutenant’s arm and shoved him toward the left passage. “Take half that way. Now!”

He hesitated for a fraction of a breath.

Then he nodded.

“Yes, Captain. It’s been an honor.”

She reached down and pulled the terror-struck girl by her ponytail, forcing her to stand. “We will live!”

With teary eyes, she nodded.

Marwen’s hand trembled once. She crushed it into a fist and ran, leading the remaining soldiers into the narrow alley.

The alley narrowed until shoulders brushed stone on both sides.

Marwen ran anyway.

Her breath rasped loudly inside her helm. The walls pressed in with laundry lines overhead.

She glanced back.

Above the rooftops, the black-armored man hovered.

For a heartbeat, he remained still.

Then the helm turned.

The red lights shifted and fixed on her.

Marwen’s stomach dropped so hard it felt like the ground had vanished beneath her feet.

‘So he’s chosen us…’ the thought passed through her without sound.

‘At least I gave half my squad a chance at life.’

Her legs kept moving. Stone blurred past. The alley bent left.

Then she shook her head once.

‘No.’ Her teeth ground together. ‘I owe it to my father and mother. To both my fallen and living comrades.’

She forced her stride longer, harder. Her pulse pounded in her ears.

Shapes appeared ahead.

Another squad burst into the alley from the far end, shields raised, weapons out. They looked fresh, looking like recruits who were trying to dodge duty by hiding away from the enemy.

They failed.

Marwen’s eyes widened.

“No!” she breathed.

She didn’t slow.

“Turn around!” she screamed louder than ever in her entire life. “Run right fucking now!”

They froze instead, startled by her tone and animosity. “Captain Marwen, what-”

There was no time.

Marwen dropped her shoulder and whispered, “Please forgive me, kids… May the Goddess have mercy on my soul.”

Mana surged through her legs and spine.

Marwen forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“[Frenzied Tackle]!”