Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 411: A giant illusory hand

Chapter 411: A giant illusory hand

The wave of destruction was quick, so quick that it caught Victoria off guard despite her preparations against it.

"Master!" Douglas called out instinctively as he tried to touch her but Victoria stepped away while shaking her head, gesturing for him to stay away.

The Wanderers Key’s whispers assaulted her senses, revealing images of the void that stood as a tapestry hiding the mysteries of something beyond understanding.

Victoria didn’t dare try to ponder the mysteries or even spare them a thought as common sense told her it would spell the end of her life.

Her breathing erratic, she wobbled about using one hand to hold the key while the other hand held her wrist.

It almost seemed like she was carrying something unbelievably heavy despite its mundane appearance.

Douglas watched her struggle, his expression contorted with worry as he found himself unable to do anything to help.

Forming a fist, he forced himself to remain on standby as he knew rushing forward now would only add to Victoria’s troubles.

Meanwhile, Victoria soon managed to regain a stable stance, inches away from reducing the distance between herself and the Blackgold gate by a meter.

Taking deep breaths to calm her nerves, Victoria pointed the Relic in the direction of the gate before twisting it to the side.

Immediately, like it had unlocked something, there was a click after which the Blackgold gate slowly swung open, revealing what lay within.

With greenery stretching as far as the eyes could see with a blue sky, it looked like the gateway to a new dimension.

Taking a deep breath, Victoria glanced at Douglas. "Go on, quickly."

Douglas met her gaze and nodded before shifting his attention to the opened gate.

As nervousness tried to overwhelm him, Douglas took a step forward and then another, quickly realizing that the effects of the antimagic runes had been offset.

With that sorted, he unleashed his Power before dashing forward, moving so fast, Victoria could only see a blur before he disappeared into the scenery behind the gate.

"Now we wait," Victoria muttered with bated breath only to pause as she sensed something.

The next moment, right in front of her, a crack in space emerged out of which bright purple light pulsed with life.

Then it grew larger and larger until it resembled a portal a Greater Spirit would need to enter the material world but whatever was coming from beyond the portal was no Spirit as Victoria nearly fainted from the pressure she felt.

Barely keeping herself conscious as she knew fainting now would lead to the worst possible scenario, Victoria instinctively reached for Evernight, utilizing it to maintain a sense of calm as she proceeded to open a spirit gate once again, setting a certain black cat loose to perform its task.

Seeing its Mistress distressed, Opal didn’t hesitate to act even though it also sensed whatever was beyond the crack.

It leaped forward and as fast as possible, utilized its thread to sew up the breach in space before pulling at the thread to close it.

However, just as it did so, the threads went taut and a second later, broke.

Both Victoria and Opal were left speechless by this as it hadn’t happened because the breach was too difficult to close.

No, it was because, at some point, a giant illusory hand with mystical symbols that caused intense migraines just staring at them had emerged, holding on to a portion of the breach and trying to pull it further apart.

Instantly, a sense of dread fell over everyone present.

***

As the golden flames erupted on the battlefield, engulfing the girls with the intent to burn them to a crisp, Nadia chanted.

Effectus moratus

Though the flames wrapped around herself along with Ana and Arwen, none were met with the incredible heat that was to be expected leaving the Gryphon hovering over them annoyed.

Setting apart Nadia as the target, he unleashed five abilities at a go, causing a gravitational force that warped space-time to emerge around their location, causing the girls to be held in place, unable to move.

Sensing danger, Nadia didn’t hesitate to chant again.

Abrogatio

However, the Gryphon cared not what she chanted as his luck became absolute, ensuring that everything he did would surely work in his favor no matter what while at the same time, a disintegration beam appeared at his beak and powered by purification, shot forward at the speed of light.

The girls didn’t get a chance to call out to Nadia as the light beam struck her position.

A moment later, the entire field was bathed in a bright golden glow.

***

Meanwhile, Alex prepared to make his first move as he stared at Enoch, the latter grinning as he waited for him to start.

Then he spoke. "Perhaps you might like to make the first move, your majesty?"

Enoch paused. "Why?"

"I would like to get a visual understanding of the game before making my move."

Enoch’s expression fell further.

It seemed he was prepared for Alex to make a mistake which he would capitalize on.

"Sneaky." Enoch snorted while sticking his tongue out before adding. "Fine then."

Instantly, his childish demeanor was gone, replaced by the aura of what one could only describe as a gamemaster with a plan.

In a deep and deliberate voice, he began. "I am... a horde of rats. Plague-inducing, flesh biting..."

As he spoke, Alex began to feel sick, his skin turning a sickly green revealing the veins underneath as he staggered back, almost falling only to be caught by Elena.

Enoch felt slight discomfort seeing him being tended to by Elena but said nothing, merely waiting for their return move.

"Alex," Elena called out worriedly.

"I’m fine. Don’t worry." Taking deep breaths to calm his erratic breathing, Alex struggled back to his feet, inspecting himself to find several bite marks on his skin.

It would seem the Emperor hadn’t joked about the imagined phenomenon affecting the opponent’s body.