Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 304: Battling the Divine sculpture

Chapter 304: Battling the Divine sculpture

Despite its hand already raised, ready to strike down in a bid to rip Ana’s life, it didn’t do so as its body trembled ever so slightly.

A guttural groan escaped its lips as it stood in place, its eyes trained on Ana’s back.

Just as the trembling finally stopped and the monstrosity made to strike down, Ana emerged from the memories shown to her by the purple gem.

Boom

As a crater formed on the altar, perhaps for the first time, the dust cloud cleared to reveal... nothing?

The creature glanced to the side to find Ana staring at it, a complicated expression etched on her visage.

"Thank you." She muttered softly before adding. "We’ll handle the rest so... you can rest now."

Kiiieee

As it attempted to move, its body froze in place before it slowly began to turn to ashes.

Before it could understand what was happening, all that was left was its head and so as even that was erased, what looked like the makings of a saddened smile appeared on its lips.

Ana remained in place even after the process was completed, her thoughts a mess as she pondered on the implications of the memory she’d experienced in the purple gem.

After a while, she recovered well enough to decide on what to do with the gem she was holding.

She pocketed it before making her way out of the cathedral, her next destination being wherever her teammates were.

***

Boom

Alejandro leaped out of the cloud of dust, his eyes trained on the armored sculpture brandishing an axe.

Apart from that, he also had to deal with two more, one of which was a bison sculpture while the other was the avian sculpture that had nicked him earlier on.

His attempts at interfering with their structures with his Earth domain were thwarted by the grotesque smiling Goddess sculpture standing at the center of the hallway.

With no other choice, he utilized his Heat and Lava domains but they were proving difficult to melt perhaps due to the strange regeneration afforded to the statues also by the smiling Goddess sculpture.

It was clear that until the Goddess sculpture was destroyed, the other sculptures would continue to harass him with Victoria not faring any better as a spear-wielding sculpture as well as a four-armed ape sculpture and yet another avian sculpture pushed her to her limits, not even offering her an opportunity to utilize her greatest strength; Spiritomancy.

Both knew what had to be done but it was easier said as the Goddess sculpture was guarded by four armored sculptures; An archer, a swordsman, a staff bearer, and a dancer.

"Lady Victoria!" Alejandro called out with the latter sparing a glance before utilizing a different strength as she projected her Will.

Chains of Twilight!

Embers of Twilight

Several black and white chains emerged from her shadow, ensnaring the sculptures for a moment with black and white flame tongues wrapping around the statues harassing Alejandro.

At the same time, she spoke up. "Open Sesame."

Four spirit gates opened out of which four High Spirits emerged.

As Alejandro utilized the window provided to him by Victoria to charge at the Goddess sculpture, The High Spirits also charged forward as well causing the target’s smile to shift to a more annoyed expression.

Immediately, her guards moved to prevent anyone from approaching but Alejandro was prepared.

As he exerted his will on the world, he disappeared in a heat haze, leaving the guards stunned long enough to be attacked by the High Spirits.

The Goddess’s sculpture raised her hand and clenched it, forming a fist.

Boom

It was almost as though an earthquake had hit as the hallway trembled incessantly, dust spraying from the ceiling as the integrity of the building was pushed to its limits.

Before Victoria and Alejandro could understand what was happening, the sudden shift in the corrupted aether caused them to grow frantic but it was already too late.

Bang

Two wooden dragons burst out from the ground with several trees emerging as well, turning the entire hallway into a forest reserve in an instant.

"This... how can a sculpture command the aether?" Alejandro could hardly wrap his head around this as he coated his fist in lava and struck at the first wooden dragon that attacked him, causing its head to tilt heavily to the side.

Victoria however wasn’t as clueless as she pondered the possibility of this happening as a result of the fact that the likeness was that of a deity.

She knew nothing about Mother Nature but from what she’d gathered so far from Platadoris’s nature to Alejandro’s account, the possibility that she was a deity at the realm of an Anti-God was very much possible and such beings, even in death exerted an influence on the world.

Considering the aether was corrupted, this could distort the state of things within the Elven city, thus, the addition of these two components could very much explain the statue’s capabilities.

However, it still didn’t explain how the sculpture managed to gain sentience in the first place or even how it wielded divine powers.

Regardless, none of those questions would help in resolving the situation and so she shifted her focus.

Exerting her will further on the aether, the ensnared sculptures were slowly crushed while the burning sculptures were left unable to move.

Meanwhile, Alejandro soon dispatched the wooden dragons summoned by the Goddess’s sculpture and without hesitation, charged at it.

As its expression shifted from vague annoyance to rage, she moved her clenched fist and tried to crush Alejandro but the latter moved quicker than she, dodging the attack before leaping into the air.

Though he had the opportunity, Alejandro didn’t immediately attack, a gesture that left the Goddess sculpture screaming as she dared him to attack but Alejandro wasn’t stupid.

This was the best part about his people’s sixth sense.

It allowed them to make out deceptions and at this point, the Goddess was utilizing one such deception.

So, instead of attacking the sculpture, Alejandro landed on her face and reached into her left eye, causing the Goddess to scream out in anguish.

At the same time, a strange green barrier that was previously invisible burst open, and without hesitation, Alejandro pulled out the Goddess’s eye which was embedded with a purple gem.

Immediately, everything fell apart, from the statues to the forest and even the hallway.

"Run!" Victoria exclaimed as she rushed to Alejandro’s side before making use of Twilight Steps to disappear from the collapsing structure.

They appeared from the end they had entered from, watching as the entire thing came crumbling down with a dust cloud erupting as a result.

"That was quite exciting," Alejandro remarked with a satisfied expression on his face.

Victoria didn’t bother with a response as she glanced at what he was holding, her eyes reflecting the purple gem etched in the alabaster eyeball.

It was quite an unsettling sight though it got her curious.

"What do you think it is?" Victoria inquired.

Alejandro glanced down at it before replying. "No idea but it doesn’t seem ordinary."

"It holds faint traces of divinity."

"Indeed, it does."

"I think we should..." Victoria trailed off as chatter of teeth threw her off track.

Her expression shifted as Alejandro remarked. "We should move."

"Mn, let’s."

With that, the duo immediately left the scene, unwilling to do battle with the creatures responsible for the chatter.