Chapter 1168: Greater Infernal Predator [Part 1]

Chapter 1168 – Greater Infernal Predator [Part 1]

Lux stood several meters away, Runa unconscious against his chest, his armor cracked, hair ruined, face dusty and bloody.

He looked back toward the mountain.

Deep beneath it, something collapsed with a distant rumble.

A section of earth sank.

Dust rose above the trees.

Vaelor looked at Lux.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then the former knight lowered his head.

Not like a slave.

Not like a servant.

Like a warrior acknowledging another.

"Thank you."

Lux adjusted Runa against his chest. "Save it until everyone is safe."

His eyes moved toward Eve.

Her bloodied palm.

Her exhausted face.

Vaelor’s injuries.

Then Runa.

"We’re not done yet."

His red eyes narrowed.

Vaelor stared at him.

"Not done?"

A roar answered for Lux.

It came from beneath the ruined mountain. Deep. Ugly. Hungry.

Eve flinched in Vaelor’s arms.

Vaelor turned toward the collapsed fortress.

For one second, nothing happened.

Then another roar came from somewhere deep beneath the ruins.

A third answered it.

Then a fourth.

A fifth.

More.

The sounds overlapped until the entire collapsed fortress seemed to be roaring.

Vaelor’s expression changed. "No..."

The ground rumbled.

Lux shifted Runa higher against his chest while watching the mountain of shattered stone.

Something moved.

A thin gray arm suddenly pushed through a gap between two broken slabs.

One of the low-level demons crawled out from beneath the ruined fortress.

Its body was emaciated, its spine curved unnaturally beneath stretched skin. Its jaw split open sideways as it dragged itself over the rubble, claws scraping against stone.

Then another emerged from the same opening.

Another pushed through a collapsed doorway.

Three more crawled from a shattered underground passage that had been exposed when the fortress caved in.

Three.

Seven.

Twelve.

Twenty.

Lux stopped counting.

They poured out of the ruined fortress.

Some climbed over broken walls. Others squeezed through fractures between collapsed stones. Several crawled from the exposed underground tunnels, their limbs bending at unnatural angles as they scrambled desperately toward the surface.

One of the ceiling-crawlers emerged upside down beneath a fractured archway, apparently refusing to abandon its preferred method of locomotion even though its ceiling had technically become a pile of rubble.

Then more appeared behind it.

Dozens.

Possibly far more still buried inside.

The entire ruined fortress seemed to vomit demons into the open air.

They were the strays that had nested inside it for years, drawn there by the immense dark energy saturating the fortress. They had survived by feeding on the power leaking from the extraction formation, the royal enchantments, the ancient wards and, unknowingly, the restorative energy constantly being drained from Eve.

Now their sanctuary had been destroyed.

The formation was gone.

The energy sustaining them had disappeared.

And every starving creature trapped beneath those ruins was being forced out at once.

They were furious.

"Fantastic." Lux coughed. "Homeless demons."

Then every creature stopped.

Heads turned. Toward Eve.

Her restorative power was leaking.

After centuries of extraction, the moment the formation broke, her natural energy had begun spilling freely into the surrounding air. Warm. Pure. Nourishing.

To starving demons, it was the smell of a feast.

One demon inhaled.

Its many eyes widened.

Another opened its mouth.

Then another.

Vaelor understood. "Eve."

His arms tightened around her.

The first demon screamed.

The others answered.

The forest exploded into movement.

Vaelor backed away.

His gaze swept across their surroundings.

Too many.

He was barely standing after centuries of imprisonment, compulsory combat, Lux’s attacks, the royal guards, repeated magical launches across the chamber, and having a piece of architecture shoved through his stomach.

Eve couldn’t walk.

Runa was unconscious.

Lux’s Dark Healing had stabilized him, but it hadn’t magically erased every injury. His regeneration was working, yet his body had limits.

Fighting this many in their current condition wasn’t bravery.

It was suicide. "We need to go!"

Lux stared at the approaching demons. "No."

Vaelor looked at him.

Lux carefully lowered Runa beside a tree.

Vaelor’s crimson eye narrowed. "What are you doing?"

Lux straightened.

A low-level demon lunged from the darkness.

His hand snapped outward.

Telekinesis caught it midair.

Its body stopped.

Lux clenched his fingers.

The creature slammed into a tree hard enough to crack the trunk. "We’re not leaving them."

Vaelor stared at the horde. "They’re demons."

"They’re hungry." Lux’s eyes moved toward Eve. "And now they’ve tasted her energy."

He understood what happened next.

If they escaped, these things wouldn’t simply shrug and return home.

They’d hunt.

Maybe Eve.

Maybe anyone carrying traces of her blood.

Or perhaps they’d scatter through the Mortal Realm looking for substitutes.

Villages.

Travelers.

Children.

Random mortals unlucky enough to live near the mountain.

Lux extended his hand. "We need to kill them all."

Greed answered.

A massive black-gold magic formation ignited beneath his boots.

The ground trembled.

Vaelor’s expression tightened.

Eve weakly raised her head.

Lux’s Greed sigils spread across the forest floor, forming concentric circles around a symbol Vaelor didn’t recognize.

He smiled. "Summon."

The formation opened.

Something underneath reality inhaled.

The demons stopped.

Their hunger disappeared.

Instinct finally caught up with stupidity.

The portal bulged.

A tentacle emerged.

It was enormous.

Black-purple flesh covered in irregular armored ridges dragged itself from the summoning formation. Another tentacle followed.

Then another.

Each appendage had mouths.

Not one.

Many.

Circular mouths opened along their lengths, lined with rows of hooked teeth that folded inward.

The central body emerged last.

It resembled an enormous swollen abyssal mass standing nearly twenty feet high, supported by thick tentacles. No visible eyes decorated its upper body. Instead, a single vertical mouth ran down the center of its torso.

That mouth opened.

Far too wide.

More teeth.

Naturally.

[Summoning Successful.]

[Name: GORMAW, THE BOTTOMLESS MAW.]

[Classification: Abyssal Devourer.]

[Sin Affinity: GLUTTONY.]

[Grade: Greater Infernal Predator.]

[A predatory Gluttony-aligned entity originating from the digestive trenches beneath the Feast Pits. Gormaw metabolizes demonic flesh, corrupted mana, curses, residual infernal energy, and most substances Master would reasonably prefer not to touch.]

[Temperament: Enthusiastic.]

[Dietary Restrictions: The concept appears offensive to it.]

Lux stared.

Gormaw’s mouths drooled.

"That’s disgusting," Vael commented.

One tentacle wiggled happily.

Lux sighed.

The low-level demons began backing away.

Too late.

Lux pointed. "Feeding time."

Every mouth on Gormaw opened.

The forest became very quiet.

Lux’s finger shifted toward the horde. "They’re all yours."

Gormaw screamed.

Not angrily.

Excitedly.

It launched itself forward.