A grey sky greeted Leon as he stepped towards Nexus's main gate. The massive black iron gate, carved with ancient runes, rumbled and opened on its own, recognizing his presence. Along the pathway, dozens of demonic soldiers clad in black armor stood ramrod straight in perfect formation.
"Good morning, everyone," Leon greeted with a respectful nod.
"Good morning, Lord Zero," they replied almost in unison, their voices echoing with respect before they returned to their statue-like, motionless positions.
Leon continued on his way, passing all the troops until he reached the second gate. There, his fellow Forest Guardian sentinels were already waiting: Voice, Mysterious X, Stone Sentinel, Iron Knight, Keen Observer, and Water Master. Almost everyone was there.
"Hey, Zero! Right on time as usual!" Voice greeted cheerfully, a wide grin etched on his face.
Almost everyone returned his warm greeting, except for one. Deathblade Dancer, who was leaning against the wall with his sword, turned his face away angrily and walked off without a single word, leaving behind an awkward silence.
"Don't mind him," Stone Sentinel whispered.
"He's been getting more and more unreasonable lately."
After a brief conversation about the guard schedule, Leon signaled his goodbye and walked towards the third gate. There, two figures were already waiting: Celestia, with her soft aura of light, and Marcus, the arena master, with his characteristic enigmatic smile.
"Zero, right on time as always," Celestia welcomed.
Leon approached them, his eyes full of surprise as he stared at Marcus. "Lord Marcus, what are you doing here?"
Marcus chuckled. "It seems they haven't told you, Zero. Lord Zenless and I sometimes guard here. We are also two of the five guardians of the third gate."
Leon was stunned. His eyes widened. "What? So all this time... No wonder your power is so extraordinary."
"Ah, don't exaggerate," Marcus retorted with a laugh.
Leon then looked around. "So, where is Raven?"
"Raven is on duty in the city with Zenless and another member," Celestia answered.
"Thank you for the information, Your Highness," Leon said with a slight bow.
Instantly, Celestia's face wrinkled in annoyance. "Leon, stop calling me Your Highness. We know each other. Just call me by my name."
Leon felt uncomfortable. "I can't do something so disrespectful, Your—"
"This is an order," Celestia interrupted, her eyes glowing slightly.
"Call me Celestia."
Very reluctantly, Leon finally nodded. "Alright... Celestia."
Celestia finally smiled with satisfaction. "There, now that sounds much better."
While they were chatting, suddenly the loud, repeated ringing of a warning bell shattered the silence of Nexus.
Marcus immediately turned serious. "Leon, with me! Your Highness Celestia, you stay here and guard!" he commanded without further ado.
The two of them shot off like arrows, leaving Celestia who immediately stood guard, and headed back to the first gate. The atmosphere had already changed to chaos. The soldiers who were calm earlier were now in a defensive formation.
"Report! Thousands of Mud Creature troops are heading towards us, Sir!" one of the soldiers shouted upon seeing Marcus.
Leon was shocked. "How is that possible? Who knows the location of this place?"
"Only one being knows and commands an army like this," Marcus answered, his face grim.
"K'tharrh the Hydra. He was the ruler of this land before we took it and defeated him. I didn't expect he could already rise again... though perhaps not fully yet."
"So what should we do?"
"For now, we hold back his forces. Take advantage of the fact that he's still weak, only deploying his troops. Leon, gather all the second gate guardians! Move now!"
Quickly, Leon, Forest Guardian, Voice, Mysterious X, Stone Sentinel, Iron Knight, Keen Observer, and Water Master gathered. Even the solitary Deathblade Dancer finally joined, though his face was still sour.
Outside the gate, a terrifying sight greeted them. A sea of creatures made of mud advanced like a tidal wave.
Marcus didn't say much. He tore off his shirt, revealing a muscular body covered in scars. With a loud shout, he shot forward and slammed his fist into the army.
"ABYSSAL STRAIGHT!"
BAMM!
With a single punch, he destroyed and dispersed hundreds of the mud creatures into splatters of earth. The others joined the attack. Forest Guardian ensnared them with his roots, Voice obliterated them with his sonic boom, while the others launched their respective attacks.
But it was futile. The creature troops slowly merged back together, rising as if they had never been touched.
"They can't be killed!" Iron Knight yelled, blocking an attack.
Leon observed carefully. His sharp eyes caught something—a faint glimmer of light inside each creature's body. A small purple crystal!
"Follow me!" Leon shouted. He charged forward, dodging mud claws, and stabbed precisely at the crystal on one creature.
CRACK!
The crystal shattered and instantly the mud creature completely stopped moving, turning into an ordinary mound of earth.
"Attack the crystal in their bodies! That's their core!" Leon ordered.
Hearing this, all the guardians changed their strategy. Deathblade Dancer leaped, each of his thrusts destroying dozens of crystals. Mysterious X, with deadly accuracy, darted around hitting his targets perfectly. One by one, the mud troops fell for good.
However, their victory was short-lived. All the shattered crystals were suddenly pulled towards a single point, merging to form a giant crystal. From within it, a single giant Mud Creature formed, letting out a terrifying roar. From its body, mud creatures were born endlessly and immediately swarmed forward.
They were pushed back again. Even though they now knew how to kill the small creatures, their numbers were endless because the giant kept producing them. It was also impossible to reach the giant, which was tightly guarded by an ocean of its own troops.
"We can't reach the big one!" Water Master shouted, already exhausted.
"We need another strategy!" added Forest Guardian.
Amid the confusion and despair, suddenly an arrow shot from behind them. The arrow didn't just destroy one creature, but it split the air and cleared an entire line of mud creatures in its path, opening a vacant route straight to the giant.
Everyone turned around, shocked. Marcus cracked a relieved smile.
"Finally," he said,
"reinforcements have arrived."
From a distance, two figures stood on a hill. The blinding sunlight behind them made their silhouettes look mighty. One figure held a bow, still in a firing position.
=== CHAPTER 33 END ===