Chapter 690: [Bonus - 10/9] Everything Comes from the Water

Chapter 690: [Bonus Chapter 10/9] Everything Comes from the Water

Thoren did not look at the Mother anymore.

Behind him, the battle roared on. Iron and steel rang against flesh, and the Mother’s laughter rolled across the cavern, but his eyes were fixed on the black lake.

A slight furrow formed between his brows.

’Why does it never run out?’

He had been asking the wrong question. He had spent the whole fight wondering how to kill the Mother, how to cut it down faster than it healed.

But a body like that, stitched together from dozens of others, should have limits.

Every torn arm, every crushed skull, every gash that closed in a breath had to be paid for with something.

Flesh did not come from nothing.

His gaze slid across the black water, and he thought of the Weepers. Their tears had burned the stone.

The Tithe-Bearers had risen out of the lake with black liquid dripping from their bones. The Mother itself had walked out of it, and the same dark fluid ran from every wound it took.

’Everything here comes from the water.’

His heart beat faster.

That was when he remembered the Sluice Gate.

When he first arrived at the chamber, he had passed through a narrow passage, and at its end stood a massive stone gate with a lever beside it, taller than a man and thick as a pillar.

Rust and moss covered the mechanism, and a channel ran beneath it, feeding into the lake. He had glanced at it, wondered who would build such a thing in a place like this, and moved on.

A lever and a gate in an old ruin did not seem worth a second thought.

He had not thought about it again.

Until now.

’If the lake is feeding it, then the water has to be coming from somewhere. And if there is a gate, someone built it to stop that flow.’

’And if it is not important to control the water flow, they wouldn’t have built the gate in the first place.’

He took a deep breath and thought. ’I could be wrong.’

The theory rested on a lever he had barely looked at and a hunch he could not prove. If he was mistaken, he would waste one of his strongest undead for nothing and locked himself inside the cavern without any way of retreating.

Thoren’s jaw tightened.

’Let’s hope I’m not mistaken.’

He lifted his head and reached through the link and commanded the undead Storm Tyrant to move outside the cavern.

Across the cavern, the undead Storm Tyrant stirred. It had been dragging itself out of the shallows where it had landed, its armor dented and its hammer left behind, its soul fire burning low.

At Thoren’s command, it turned toward the entrance. It planted one huge hand on the ground, pulled itself upright, and began to move.

Each step was heavy and slow.

Its left leg dragged behind it, cracked at the knee. A trail of black water followed its body across the broken stone.

Nearby, an undead Scorpion Man was thrown into the air, its pieces scattering across the ledge.

The Mother’s arms swung wide, and a dozen more were hurled aside, striking the wall with sharp cracks.

The undead wolves darted in and out of its legs. The undead Horn Lizard King swung its cudgel again, and the Mother caught it in a single palm.

Jejeje.

The Storm Tyrant kept walking.

Thoren followed it with his gaze, his heart hammering, his fingers curled into a tight fist.

The undead Storm Tyrant dragged itself through the narrow passage, one heavy step at a time.

The noise of the battle grew faint behind it as it drew closer to the gate. The Sluice Gate stood at the far end.

Dragging its battered body out of the gate and facing the gate.

It lifted its head and looked at the lever.

Then it limped forward, planted its good foot on the stone, and closed both enormous hands around the handle.

Its fingers tightened and the rusted iron groaned.

Then, the undead Storm Tyrant pulled.

Nothing moved at first. The lever was stiff from years of neglect, and the weight of the gate pressed against it.

The undead Storm Tyrant’s arms shook. Cracks ran across its armor, and its soul fire flared hard.

Crack!

The sound of breaking bone echoed through the chamber. One of its forearms had split under the strain.

The undead Storm Tyrant did not let go.

It threw its whole body back, its cracked knee buckling, its bones grinding against each other, and dragged the handle down with every ounce of strength it had left.

Creeeak!

The lever gave way.

A deep rumble shook the walls. Dust poured from the ceiling, and the massive Sluice Gate began to close, scraping along its grooves with a long, hollow groan.

Back in the cavern, the Mother was in the middle of tearing a Scorpion Man in half when it heard the sound.

Its arms froze.

Dozens of eyes swung toward the passage, and for the first time since it had risen from the lake, they filled with shock.

Some widened until they seemed ready to burst. Others trembled and filled with tears. The mouths along its body stopped smiling and began to quiver.

"N-no...no..."

"Don’t...Close..."

"...I’m...mama...scared...darkness..."

The voices overlapped, high and cracked, thin as breath. The sorrow in them was so raw that even the undead Scorpion Men clinging to its body seemed to hesitate for a heartbeat.

Thoren’s chest tightened. He had never expected to hear such fear from the Mother.

He also felt a cold satisfaction slip into his heart, because he had been right.

’So the gate is the key.’

The Mother screamed.

The sound shook the whole cavern, a mix of fury and panic. Its body swelled, and the stitched flesh strained against the black threads.

The air around it grew heavy, and a wave of terrible pressure rolled outward.

Its arms lashed out.

Bang!

The shockwave hit the undead Scorpion Men first, sweeping dozens off their feet. The undead Horn Lizard King was torn from its shoulder and thrown through the air.

The undead Scorpion Men King was struck across the chest and hurled into a pillar. The undead rhinos were knocked sideways, and the wolves were flung against the walls with sharp yelps.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Its fists came down again and again, faster than before, harder than before. Undead Scorpion Men were crushed by the dozen, flattened into bone and splinters.

Black blood and shattered armor rained over the ledge. The Mother’s strength had risen sharply, and it fought like something with nothing left to lose.

The Mother turned toward the passage and lunged.

But in the chamber beyond, the Sluice Gate kept closing.

The last trickle of black water dried up. A moment later, the gate slammed shut, and silence followed.

Then, it began.

In the cavern, the black lake began to shrink.

Its surface trembled and sank. The water drew away from the edges of the ledge, exposing wet rock and white bones that had lain hidden beneath it.

The level dropped with every breath, fast enough that Thoren could see it, a dark tide draining into the depths.

The Mother stopped in its tracks.

Dozens of eyes turned toward the retreating water.

Jejeje.

The laughter that came from its mouths was no longer joyful. It was thin, fearful, and almost childlike.