Free Web NovelChapter 162: Scouring the Dead Range
The Dead Range is completely different than the Fire Swamp.
No mud. No trees. No water bodies that hide monsters beneath the surface. This place offered a different kind of hostility. The air was cold; seeping into the bones as if it were a warning of what cold deaths coiled in this desolate plain.
Stone stretched in every direction, adding nothing to the pale grey scenery.
Mountains, dozens of them, pierced the sky like spears and cast shadow through their valleys.
In fact, the shadows stretched unnaturally far, shrouding more space than they should.
And the silence that choked this place was the worst of it all.
Every footstep rang out like a hammer on an anvil; the echo bounced across the flat stone and then died somewhere in the valleys between those towering peaks. A kicked pebble sounded like a shout. An exhale became a distant whisper.
As Kai and the others moved through it, they were forced to hear every sound they made
Forced to understand that every monster hiding in the shadows could hear their noises.
In the spaces between shadows—the narrow gaps where one boulder leaned against another, or the crevices that split the stone plains like old scars—something seemed to move. Eyes. The weight of a gaze that pressed against the back of the neck and vanished the second one turned to face it.
Kai and the others could feel it, but they couldn’t see it.
Nothing was there. Nothing visible; the naked eye found only stone and shadow.
But this made them glad that they stuck together first.
Bryan was curious—as to how the mana ores would manifest within the Dead Range. He was surprisingly a curious person, so his urge to explore was quite strong. Dorian also wanted to explore, but for a different reason. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
He wanted to find out whether there would be Awakened Monsters with tasty blood.
Having the Divine Bloodline of an Empusa made him thirst for blood.
Of course, his comfort drink was the blood of young men, but he could substitute it for other blood as long as there was mana in it, and more importantly, has to be male. Drinking the blood of steel-tusked boars for days was boring.
It’s time for him to change up his diet.
But despite their wants, the two stuck close to Kai and Bree.
At least until they get the hang of the place.
The Dead Range was uncharted territory; unmapped, untested, and utterly foreign to the four of them. They agreed to scout together first, to learn what this wasteland had to offer—before splitting up and doing whatever they wanted to do.
For now, they moved as a single knot of caution, threading through the desolation.
"It’s so dim in this place, I can barely see," Bryan complained, and then glanced to Dorian. He smacked his lips in displeasure when he saw Dorian’s red eyes glow brighter. "Lucky that your Divine Bloodline allowed you to see in the dark."
"Not as good as his, though," Dorian nudged his chin at Kai.
Ahead, Kai was leading the way while holding Bree’s hand, making sure that she wouldn’t stray.
From the very start, Kai chose the Dead Range to hunt specifically because it was dark. And as the First Son of the Primordial Night, he thrived in darkness. Had it not been for the change of circumstances, he would be hunting here from the start.
Regardless, it was a good idea to change the hunting field.
During the night, the Dead Range was even darker, and that’s even better for him.
The valleys between the mountains lay drowned in shadow—choked with hidden alcoves and overhangs that could conceal a dozen ambushes. Perfect lairs. Ideal hunting grounds for the creatures that prowled this darkness, where only a handful of Supernals could see in the dark.
By all logic, Awakened Monsters should have been thick here.
Prowling the shadows, drawn by the isolation, the cold, and the perfect spots for ambushing.
But they found nothing.
Specifically, Kai found nothing. No tracks in the dust. No presence. No distant howls.
It was almost like the entire Dead Range was desolate.
Am I missing something? I can’t even glimpse a single Awakened Monster.
Kai’s eyes glistened with mana as he summoned Perion silently in the darkness and sent him to scout the area without the others realizing. He wanted to find one Awakened Monster to get rid of this unease inside of him.
"Where are the Awakened Monsters?" Bree whispered as she looked around—trying to peer through the darkness. "I can’t even sense mana in the area."
"Maybe they’re smarter than the steel-tusked boars," Dorian replied. "Observing our moves first before preparing a plan to attack."
"They are Awakened Monsters, not a Star Beast," Bryan said incredulously. "At most—they’d be as smart as a monkey. I seriously doubt if they could plan an attack. Animals are dumb. It’s why we’re the dominant species in the world!"
"Animals are not smarter than us, but they’re not that dumb," Dorian sneered. "Perhaps, some are even smarter than the intelligence in your hollow brain."
"Fuck you say to me?"
"What are you going to do? Stab me with your horns?"
"Don’t test me, or I might do it."
"Be quiet," Kai glanced over his shoulder sharply—warning them that this wasn’t the time to play around. Dangers could strike at any moment. "It’s too desolate for comfort, which means there’s a predator here."
Back in the Fire Swamp, awakened monsters thrived on the outskirts.
Two species dominated that area.
Even though the steel-tusked boars are far weaker than the fish monsters, their habitats barely overlapped—one stuck to the mud while the other in the murky water. And this division was why both species could be found roaming in separate groups across the outskirts.
Supernals are their only problem.
Naturally, that same logic should apply to the Dead Range.
One species would be in the valleys, and the other should be on the mountain peaks.
But Kai found not a single one of them.
And that meant there was a predator that had been hunting this particular area with ruthless and clean efficiency, sparing not a single creature. Not even their carcasses could be found. For it to wipe out every Awakened Monster in the area meant it was incredibly strong.
Kai wouldn’t be surprised if it was a Star Beast, so they need to be careful.
He was quite sure that the Star Beast here isn’t inferior compared to the ones in Fire Swamp.
"Do you think a Star Beast managed to slip out of the inner area?" Dorian asked, peeling both eyes open to see—any incoming danger. Only Kai and he could see in the dark, so he must be really alert.
"Probably," Kai nodded. "Let’s continue and see if we can find an Awakened Monster."
Five minutes passed, and the group had been going in one direction.
By now, they had certainly covered more than five miles at a cautious run, passing a handful of mountains and going through multiple valleys. And yet, there was still no sign of life in the area.
Until this moment.
Dorian’s eyes snapped to the side.
In the distance, he saw two glowing red eyes peeking from the elongated boulder.
He couldn’t quite see what it really was, but he saw bones.
’Beast Skeletons?’ He thought inside.
Considering the terrain and the name of the cultivated cloud—he would not be surprised that the Awakened Monsters in this place would be Beast Skeletons. In fact—it would be fitting. Dorian opened his mouth, about to inform Kai, but stopped.
A frown crept to his face.
Dorian was blatantly staring at the skeleton with his own eyes, but it didn’t register with him.
Instead, its red orb eyes were fixated on Kai.
Just then, Kai swept his gaze around and landed on the elongated boulder where the skeleton had peeked from earlier. And to Dorian’s surprise, the skeleton actually pulled back. Hiding behind the cover of the boulder.
Almost as if it was hiding from Kai, or scared of Kai.
’What in the underworld is going on here?’ Dorian’s eyes widened in surprise. ’I’m fully aware that Awakened Monsters are mostly experimental animals, so their animalistic instincts are there, helping them feel emotions, including fear. But an undead monster has no fear since it was already basically dead.
’How come this skeleton was afraid of Kai?’ He thought in deep contemplation.
Seems like the reason they couldn’t find anything was that the Awakened Monsters in the area were mostly wiped out, and the remaining ones are scared of Kai. ’We’d be wasting time if we keep going like this.’
On the other hand, Kai saw Perion on the mountain to his left.
He shook his head, signaling that there were not many Awakened Monsters in the area.
Just as he was about to change strategy, his senses flared at a sudden spike of energy.
A flicker of energy that rippled across the foothills in the distance. It was faint, barely anything against his senses, but it was there. And after hours of trudging through this barren silence—haunted by unseen eyes and finding nothing but rock and cold wind—even a flicker was more than enough to stimulate him.
Kai turned to the others.
And like him, the others had also stopped and looked in the direction of the energy pulse.
Bryan’s horned head cocked slightly in the direction, nostrils flaring like a bull.
Dorian’s tongue wet his lips, eager to find out what emanated this pulse.
Bree met Kai’s eyes and gave the barest nod, deciding that it was worth checking.
Nodding his head, Kai slashed the air with his hand—gesturing for them to follow before he broke into a run, angling sharply toward the source of the pulse. The stone plain blurred. Just a minute later, or maybe less, the terrain shifted underfoot; rising into a short but steep incline.
All four of them climbed it with quick, sure movements.
And at the crest, they stopped and swept their gazes ahead.
Before them lay quite a big clearing. Dead trees ringed its edges; their trunks were splintered—their branches frozen in twisted angles, and around their bases were dark spots as if the leaves that these dead trees once had stained the ground black when they fell.
It was a remnant of a forest that died a long time ago.
"Is it just me, or does the Dead Range seem bigger than the Fire Swamp?" Dorian muttered.
"I think so, too," Bryan nodded. "It’s definitely bigger."
Bree pointed at something resting at the heart of the circular clearing. "I think the energy pulse came from that thing over there," She said, eyes narrowing to focus on what it was. "It looked like a rock. Maybe something inside it?"
"Maybe..." Kai’s eyes also narrowed at the broken white rock.
It was slightly elongated at the top—and even from this distance he could tell the surface was unnaturally smooth. His first thought was an egg, or something close to one. Can’t be an egg—the material looked too thick to be a shell. Is it rock or maybe bone?
Kai didn’t know what it was, but since they were already here, might as well check.
