Realm Lord
Chapter 74: Beyond The Walls

Chapter 74: Beyond The Walls

They stumbled over one another desperately, each faltering step bringing them closer to the archway. Their feet trembled beneath them, muscles burning with exhaustion as the chittering horde approached from behind, a moving wall of corrupted carapaces that blocked out the horizon. The sound of countless termite legs scraping against stone created a horrifying symphony that seemed to grow louder with each labored breath they took.

Arthur’s lungs burned as he dragged Aziel’s increasingly limp form alongside him. Sweat trickled down his face, stinging his eyes and leaving glistening trails through the grime that coated his skin. His companion’s weight grew heavier with each passing moment, Aziel’s consciousness wavering as blood continued to seep from his mangled foot, leaving crimson smears across the ancient stone path.

’Come on, we’re so close... come on!’

Arthur’s thoughts were a desperate mantra, pushing his screaming muscles to their limit. They were only ten feet away from the archway now, but the termites were gaining ground rapidly, their relentless pursuit never faltering or slowing.

Just as they were mere feet away from the entrance to the city, Arthur felt it—his dark sense, he detected something stepping into his shadow... a termite, its mandibles poised to strike.

Arthur’s heart spiked painfully in his chest as panic flooded his mind, time seeming to slow as adrenaline surged through his system. He felt the darkness flood around the body of the termite, responding to his fear like a living extension of his will. In that moment of purest terror, he wished desperately that the darkness would consume the creature, that it would kill it, that it would protect them both when he could not...

And then, it happened.

The termite died.

Shocked, Arthur spun his head around, his movements seeming sluggish and dream-like in the midst of his surging adrenaline. Multiple thin spikes made of what appeared to be condensed shadow had emerged from his own shadow, skewering the termite in a display of lethal precision. The dark appendages quivered for a moment, as if alive and taking satisfaction in their kill, before fading away like smoke on the wind, allowing the termite’s lifeless body to collapse to the ground with a dull thud.

Both Arthur and Aziel stared in shock and wonder, momentarily forgetting the dire situation they were in. Questions forming and dying on their lips before they could be voiced.

It was Aziel who broke the spell, his eyes widening as he glanced past Arthur’s shoulder at the approaching swarm.

"Arthur, no time—let’s go!" he screamed, his voice cracking with urgency.

The shout snapped Arthur back to reality, the peril of their situation crashing down upon him once more. He looked forward with renewed determination and dragged them toward the archway with what little strength he had left, Aziel’s blood-slick hand clutching desperately at his torn shirt.

’Oh shit.’

The termites were only feet away now, their grotesque mandibles snapping at the air as if already tasting their flesh. With a final surge of desperate energy, Arthur and Aziel tumbled forward, falling gracelessly into the confines of the city walls. They hit the ground hard, the impact driving what little air remained from their lungs, and quickly spun around on the floor, backs against cold stone as they prepared to defend themselves against the inevitable onslaught.

But the attack never came.

Shock overtook them as they beheld the wall of termites standing absolutely still just outside the threshold. The creatures remained motionless, staring menacingly, their pincers snipping together in what almost seemed like frustration—but not one dared to move even a single step closer to the archway.

"T-they won’t enter the city?" Aziel stammered, barely in control of his breath as he looked at Arthur with disbelief written across his features.

Arthur stared back, equally shocked, his mind struggling to process this unexpected development.

"How did you know they wouldn’t enter the city?" Aziel pressed, his eyes wide with wonder.

Arthur gulped, his throat dry from exertion and fear. "I—I didn’t."

Silence hung between them for a long moment, the only sound the distant clicking of termite mandibles and their own ragged breathing. Then, suddenly, Aziel let his head rest against the stone beneath them and broke out into a fit of delirious laughter, the sound echoing off the empty buildings surrounding them.

’Why won’t they enter the city?’

The question burned in Arthur’s mind as he watched the termites swarming at the edge of some invisible boundary. It didn’t make sense unless... there was only one conclusion he could think of—they were afraid of the city. Or more accurately, of something lurking inside it.

The realization sent a chill down Arthur’s spine. They had escaped one danger, but he couldn’t help but feel they might have entered another, much more damning peril. Something powerful enough to keep the corrupted termites at bay despite their ravenous hunger—what could inspire such fear in these mindless destroyers?

Arthur and Aziel lay there for several long minutes, Aziel laughing like a maniac and taunting the frustrated termites while Arthur’s mind raced with dark possibilities. The weight of his new discovery—the shadow spikes that had manifested from his own darkness—added another layer of uncertainty to their already precarious situation.

Finally, they decided to get up and cautiously explore the city, both silently acknowledging that they had little choice but to move forward. Their immediate needs were pressing—food, water, shelter, perhaps medical supplies for Aziel’s grievously wounded foot.

Their search through the city was painfully slow as Arthur had to support Aziel’s weight, the lightning-wielder’s face growing paler with each passing minute. Nonetheless, they scoured the empty, desolate cobblestone streets of what had once been a thriving community. The skeletal remains of vendor shops lined the thoroughfares, and most of the buildings were collapsed or on their way to ruin, stone facades crumbling like rotting teeth in a dying mouth.

Most structures contained nothing but the desolate memories of what once was—and the bodies. So many bodies, in various states of decay, frozen in their final moments like macabre statues. Some appeared to have died in fear, others in resignation, but all served as silent testimony to whatever catastrophe had befallen this place.

After hours of searching with nothing to show for it, they found themselves back on the streets, exhaustion weighing on them like lead cloaks.

"Damn it!" Aziel yelled out, frustration boiling over. "How is there nothing!? Absolutely NOTHING!?"

Arthur was in no mood to entertain his companion’s outburst. Part of his mind was just as upset as Aziel, while another part remained cautiously frantic about the worries that had been building since they entered this forsaken place. The shadow manipulation, the termites’ refusal to enter, the corpses—it all pointed to something unnatural, something that set his nerves on edge.

They kept stumbling through the empty streets, hope dwindling with each passing moment, until Arthur suddenly stopped them in their tracks. Slowly, he turned his head to look at Aziel, who stared wide-eyed at the massive structure looming before them, its spires reaching toward the sky like grasping fingers.

"Well, there’s only one place left to go," Arthur said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"The castle," Aziel breathed, the words hanging in the air between them like a physical presence.

The words made Arthur feel nervous, a cold dread settling in his stomach. He couldn’t help but feel that the castle held all his worst fears—and perhaps, all the answers they sought. Its towering presence seemed to watch them, patient and ancient, as if it had been waiting for their arrival all along.