Nightblade (Darkest night)-Chapter 183: Trap

Despite the tranquil atmosphere within the City of the Damned, Morgan couldn't help but feel a profound sense of premonition.

Despite having spent several days in the middle rim, the inner rim of the city was still far off. No matter how much they moved, the distant obsidian wall seemed as distant as ever.

Morgan suspected it had something to do with the runes running along the water channels leading into the city.

It was a conclusion he'd arrived at after exploring the length of one of the channels that supposedly led into the city.

With every step along its banks, they took the runes etched into its surface pulsated strongly, glowing with an ethereal golden light.

The golden runes were imperceptible to the rest of the youths, but Morgan saw them clearly.

No matter how much they followed the channels, the distant wall still seemed further off in the distance. Every time they came to a stop, the incessant pulsing would come to a stop.

The small break of paradise they'd dispersed was slowly turning into an inescapable nightmare.

The small group had enough food to last them a while and water, but still, the lack of progress was starting to get to everyone.

They'd stayed in the same place for too long. And at times it almost felt like they were too comfortable with their current living conditions.

Talia was slowly becoming more aloof than ever.

Lucian had grown visibly quieter.

Perhaps the people who took the slow change in things best were the Talented. Even Amanda seemed unbothered by the slow developments.

Slowly, the others arrived at the same conclusion, but for Morgan, it was because of the looming threat of an envoy that Kazarax had mentioned.

While the others were only worried about the more immediate threats, the collective group was oblivious to the threatvehichbthey actually faced.

Morgab shuddered just thinking about it.

An envoy.

And as if things weren't bad enough, there was no obvious way he could reveal the existence of Velagrew and the coming envoy without sounding like a complete lunatic.

"Damn..."

The only other person in their group who had witnessed the power of a Lord was Emily. Only the Talented girl could fathom the immediate danger they were in.

Lords were being that literally defied the laws that governed the World so much so that they could create their own realms.

Realms that fell completely under their jurisdiction where their will was sovereign over all.

And one such being had turned its tyrannical attention to them.

The thought itself was quite jarring.

Just then a frantic shout echoed through the air and roused him out of his reverie.

Their small group had split into three groups of two and three.

Talia with Lucian, Samantha with Emily, and Morgan with Cassius and Amanda.

With Morgan injured, Amanda made up for his weaknesses. Sarenus was supposed to be their trump card, a last resort in case they were fighting a much more fearsome foe.

Three whistles rang out, the signal they'd agreed upon in case of an unexpected occurrence, an emergency.

"Let's move..."

The sound of snapping bones filled the air.

Cassius's eyes glowed a vivid golden orange, his muscles bulging.

His nails elongated, turning to gleaming obsidian claws, and the dreadlocks lengthened into a mane of fur.

His teeth elongated into glistening fangs, his face elongating into a long snout.

Within moments, the muscular teenager had morphed into a hulking eight-foot-tall beast.

Amanda and Morgan jumped onto his back, grabbing fistfuls of his fur.

With a low growl, the beast charged forward.

Cassius's beast form had undergone several changes.

His brown fur had turned a glossy black colour.

His massive form had grown much larger than before.

With a powerful kick, he leapt into the air, grabbing onto the side of a towering structure.

With a ferocious snarl, he dug his claws into the weathered surface, scaling the building within seconds.

Morgan and Amanda gritted their teeth hanging on for dear life.

With his enhanced hearing and acute sense of smell, Cassius locked onto the location of the other two groups.

"Judging from this sound and smell, it's Talia and Lucian that are in trouble."

Cassius leapt through the air, leaping wildly from building to building in a wild zigzag manner.

With low roar, he leaped off the side of the building, plummeting down the remaining distance.

The temperature in their surroundings plummeted drastically.

A moment later, Emily streaked towards them with Samantha in tow.

A layer of frost swiftly spread across the ground

The brunette girl unsteadily held onto Emily's hand,

the two of them zipping across the ground.

Morgan's eyes narrowed at the sight in front of them.

"What the hell?"

On the road ahead, several figures wearing dark masks surrounded Lucian and Talia.

Lucian stood in front of Talia, shielding her from the unknown assailants.

Talia was bleeding from a wound on her side, her eyes staring into the distance in a daze.

Cassius roared, charging into the midst of the youths.

Several

He lunged through the air flinging several figures aside.

A split second later, a massive figure hustled through the air, crashing into Cassius.

Morgan's eyes widened slightly, his mouth falling open in surprise.

"Crap!"

Cassius massive figure absorbed the jarring force from the impact, the violent force hurling them off Cassius' body.

With unnatural agility, the creature lunged across Cassius' back snapping at both of them wildly.

Morgan threw the creature an amused look.

Glowing emerald eyes stared back at him, a savage hunger gleaming in their depths.

Morgan instinctively grabbed Amanda pulling her out of harm's way, then kicked off the massive figure's snout with a low shout.

He flipped, pulling her close to him and carrying her with him.

"Interesting..."

Morgan had noticed something interesting.

Although it'd been for a brief moment, his eyes had met the creature's eyes and in their depths he'd seen a flicker of something unique.

Human intelligence.

The opponents they were up against were not part of the city of the Damned.

Morgan grinned, then controlled their descent, into a rough tumble, instantly springing to his feet in front of Amanda.

"Are you hurt?"

Amanda groaned, then slowly shook her head limping to her feet.

"Have you noticed?"

Amanda hissed in pain.

"That we're being attacked by a bunch of weirdos,

of course I noticed."

Morgan chuckled.

"No, these guys...they're Talented."

Amanda's eyes narrowed in surprise.

She scrutinized the charging figures then gasped.

Her baffled expression quickly turned to an excited grin.

"You're right."

Lightning crackled from here fingers tips.

In the next moment, she rushed forward.

A through stream of lightning streaked through the air, crashing into the surprised Talented.

A startled shout rang out through the air.

"Shit! It's Amanda!"

Morgan's gaze shifted to the figures around Lucisn.

With Cassius's entrance, the organized Ambush had been broken up.

Several figures had been frozen from the ground up locking them in place.

"Well atleast she didn't kill them," Morgan thought belatedly.

Emily was moved with uncanny speed, her figure blurting through the air and an eerie ghostly chill following in her wake.

Several Talented found themselves incapacitated before they'd even had time to process what was happening.

Of course, there were a few outliers that simply broke through the ice with brute strength, then continued their assault, but Wmily could simply incapacitate them once more.

Samantha turned out to be quite a threat herself.

In the short span of time that had passed, she'd become truly terrifying at wielding the ever-present tenebrous spear that she carried around with her.

Her precision was also quite astounding; the shift of the dark spear always connected with the back of an opponent's head or pressure out, putting them out of the fight for the time being.

Morgan glanced around, his eyes zeroing in on Cassius.

The Biological type Talented was perhaps the most terrifying of the bunch.

Cassius moved with ruthless determination, beating down otBiological-typetype Talented that dared lunge at him.

He overpowered them in strength and speed, breaking their very will to fight him.

It was quite the breathtaking sight.

Given the time they'd spent in Tenebris,

it was easy to forget how much time had passed, but now Morgan was starting to realize just how much they'd grown in the span of time they'd spent in an obscure dimension.

"Why are we even fighting? Why did they attack Lician and Talia in the first place?"

Morgan turned back tothe two, edging closer to them.

"You take care of things here, " Morgan shouted, breaking into a sprint.

From the look on their faces, Talia was dazed for some reason, and Lucian was barely holding on as well.

That alone was quite strange.

Morgan could imagine the two scions struggling against a ragtag group of Talented, not with their newfound control of umbralis.

And yet, that was exactly what was happening.

The Talented surrounding Lucian were already bleeding from several places, but despite their injuries, they wore spiteful grins, and the scion instead breathed heavily.

Morgan strained slightly, springing off the ground with inhuman ease.

A split second later, he landed next to Lucian.

"What happening?"

On his arrival, Lucian's expression darkened.

"You shouldn't have come here. It's a trap."