ONLINE: Blades of Eternity-Chapter 320: OLD MISSION RESURFACED!

The dense air of Deadroot Jungle pressed down on them like a living thing. The strange quiet that always accompanied this part of the forest made every step echo with eerie clarity. Kaelen walked in front, his senses flaring cautiously, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of the Blade of Eternity. Kelvin trudged beside him with his scythe strapped across his back, still aching from the third Juggernaut training. Eirana, as poised and quiet as ever, led from the rear, her eyes sweeping the surroundings with warrior discipline.

They were just a few minutes away from the jagged rocks that formed the mouth of the Nullcarvers’ hidden cave when a sudden ripple surged through Kaelen’s mind.

Ding!

His system chimed.

[Old Mission Reactivated – Primary Threat Update Detected.]

[Objective: Eliminate the Chaos Twins – Aron Dragonyx & Selene Dragonyx.]

[Status: Reissued due to confirmed proximity and potential hostile intent.]

[New Rewards:]

[– Chaos Suppression Title]

[– Affinity with the Pandora increase]

[– All boons increase by 5]

[– Book of heroes technique reveal +1(Random)]

[– Faction Affinity Boost (Nullcarvers)]

Kaelen halted abruptly, his breath catching in his throat. His brows furrowed in disbelief as he reread the system prompt.

The Chaos Twins? Here?

Kelvin immediately noticed. "Yo. What’s up with you? Your face just dropped."

Kaelen turned slightly, eyes still glazed from the system interface. "I just got a mission update... one I thought was long gone."

Kelvin blinked. "What kind of mission?"

Kaelen’s voice darkened. "It’s to eliminate two people—Aron and Selene Dragonyx. The Chaos Twins."

That name caught Kelvin’s attention. "Dragonyx? You mean your family that betrayed both you and your parents?"

Kaelen nodded slowly. "They’re not your typical family members. Those two... they’re monsters in human skin. I encountered them once back at the Pacesetters Academy. They infiltrated the academy grounds during when I just return from a pilgrimage. Alongside an aged man—probably an elder in the family or something worse—they caused a massacre. They weren’t after power, prestige, or revenge... they were after me."

Kelvin’s grip tightened on his scythe. "So they’re tracking you again?"

Kaelen’s gaze darkened. "Apparently. The system wouldn’t issue this unless they were close."

Eirana, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke. Her tone was calm but firm. "Then we’ll deal with them... if they show up."

Kelvin turned to her, surprised by how nonchalant she sounded. "You don’t seem concerned. These two sound dangerous."

"They are," Kaelen affirmed, shooting her a curious glance. "They’re Chaos-touched. Aron uses cursed binding chains and brute force, while Selene manipulates chaos resonance and sound. The last time they fought, they tore through Pacesetters’ outer shield like it was nothing."

Eirana stopped walking. Her eyes met Kaelen’s, hard as flint. "I understand. But let me ask you something—can you kill them now?"

Kaelen paused. "...Not yet."

"Then don’t lose focus. Right now, your tribe—my tribe—is on the verge of collapse. Those who gave you refuge, who trusted you with our secret techniques, are possibly dying right now while we talk about what-ifs."

Her words struck home like a dagger wrapped in silk. Kaelen exhaled slowly, realizing she was right. The Chaos Twins were a threat, but they were not the threat right now.

He nodded. "Alright. The mission can wait. But if they show their faces..."

Kelvin’s eyes gleamed. "We clip them."

Eirana turned, her dark hair flowing behind her as she resumed the lead. "Then let’s keep moving. The Nullcarvers won’t save themselves."

As they pressed forward, the distant mouth of the cave began to form through the thick underbrush—a jagged scar in the jungle’s side, lit faintly by the flickering mistlight inside.

Unseen by them, high in the canopy, a faint chuckle echoed in the trees.

Selene tilted her head, still crouched in the shadows.

"They’re talking about us," she whispered.

Aron smiled slowly. "Good. Let them tremble a little longer."

"It was good that we followed those morons into the Deadroot forest, never believed we could pick up his scent so fast" Selene said with a light smile on her face.

"Well let’s just make this count before those ’morons’ will catch on" Aron said as he prepared himself to move along with Selene

And so, the hunt was just beginning.

Meanwhile, the deeper they went, the stranger the air became. There was no birdsong, no rustle of leaves—only a thick, unnatural silence that weighed on their eardrums. A mist rolled through the underbrush like living fog, curling around their boots and whispering against their armor like claws brushing skin.

Morris, Lila, Guinevere, and Ethan were trekking through a particularly narrow ravine carved deep within the heart of the Deadroot Forest. The ancient trees arched like watchful sentinels above them, their bark blackened and slick with condensation, their roots gnarled like the hands of the damned.

Morris tapped the blinking rune compass in his hand again, frowning. "It’s still pulling us north-east. That should be Kaelen’s signature—strong, fluctuating... but it’s weird. I can’t feel anything."

Lila muttered, her voice low with frustration. "No ambient mana. None in us, none in the air. It’s like we’re walking through a corpse of magic."

Guinevere’s eyes shimmered faintly with elemental sensitivity, but even she shook her head. "Even spirit sense is muffled. I’m blind out here."

Ethan, however, was the anomaly among them. His steps were light, unnaturally quiet. His form melted with the shadows, and the mist—rather than hindering him—coiled around him like an extension of himself. His twin daggers glinted dully at his hips, pulsing faintly with ethereal mist-light.

"You guys feel like you’re choking out here," he said, glancing over his shoulder with a small grin. "But me? I feel like I’ve never been more alive."

Lila eyed him warily. "Your mist affinity... it’s adapting to this zone, isn’t it?"

Ethan gave a slow nod. "Whatever’s in this forest—it doesn’t just cancel normal mana. It’s mist-aspected, primal and hungry. And my core... it’s drinking it in like a sponge."

Before anyone could respond, a thunderous snarl tore through the stillness.

From the side of the ravine, a ripple tore through the mist. With a sudden flash of silver claws and twisting tendrils of flesh, a Mist Beast—towering, feline-shaped with six eyes glowing blue and a maw that twisted sideways—lunged at them.

"Get down!" Morris roared, stepping in front of Lila and Guinevere, his blade half-drawn even though his mana was choking inside him.

But Ethan was already moving.

In one breath, he vanished.

Mist erupted as he reappeared directly above the beast, both daggers unsheathed. He didn’t hesitate. With a cross-slash, he drove both blades deep into the beast’s skull—daggers shimmering with concentrated mist energy.

A howl of pure agony burst from the creature as Ethan flipped backward, dragging the mist with him. The beast convulsed, twitched, then collapsed with a sickening thud that sent small rocks tumbling down the ravine wall.

For a moment, no one moved.

Then Guinevere exhaled sharply. "You’ve... grown terrifying, Ethan."

He smirked faintly. "The forest plays favorites."

Lila gave him a side-glance. "Don’t let it go to your head."

Morris crouched by the beast’s remains, inspecting the lingering traces of essence that disintegrated into mist. "This is just a scout, probably. A real Mist Beast pack would’ve swallowed us whole."

Ethan nodded. "Then we need to keep moving. Fast. We’re too exposed out here."

Guinevere glanced down at the rune compass again. "Kaelen’s close. I can feel it—barely. We’re maybe two miles off, and the terrain ahead slopes down. If he’s with the Nullcarvers like we suspect, then that’s where the dwelling should be."

Lila adjusted her cloak, her eyes already scanning the treeline ahead. "Then let’s move. Whatever’s going on out here, it’s bigger than we thought. And Kaelen might already be in the thick of it."

With that, the group picked up their pace—silent and swift through the mist-thick woods, following the flickering pulse of Kaelen’s presence and the ominous pull of fate.

–––

The twisted roots that crawled along the earth thinned as Kaelen, Kelvin, and Eirana reached a jagged slope lined with obsidian-black stone. The air had shifted here—charged, heavy with unease. Looming ahead was the vast mouth of a cave, a gaping maw shrouded in an unnatural darkness that stretched far beyond the eye could see.

Eirana came to a halt just in front of it, her fingers curling into tight fists. "This is it," she whispered, her voice tinged with dread and anticipation. "The Nullcarvers’ heartland..."

Kelvin glanced around, instinctively reaching for his mana—only to feel nothing.

Kaelen, too, felt the void. His connection to mana fizzled like a shorted spark. The Pandora magic sealed tight within him was still present, but the flow—unreachable. Yet something else pulsed beneath his skin: the residual Qi they had refined during their brutal training—raw, visceral, and now more important than ever.

Suddenly—

RRRRRRRRRRROOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!

The bellow that erupted from inside the cave was inhuman. It wasn’t just one voice—it was dozens. Howls, shrieks, snarls, and something deeper—an ethereal drone like wailing spirits trapped within monstrous throats.

The ground shuddered violently, a series of low tremors cracking through the rocky ground. Dust fell in cascades from the trees above. The very mouth of the cave seemed to pulse, breathing like a sleeping beast on the verge of waking.

"They’re inside..." Eirana’s voice dropped low. Her eyes narrowed, and a dangerous resolve settled in her face. "Those monsters of the mists... they’ve made it in."

Kaelen didn’t hesitate. His stance dropped as he pulled his Blade of Eternity from it’s sheathe, the metal ringing with a suppressed fury. "Whatever’s inside that cave, we’re not running this time."

Kelvin’s fists tightened around his scythe which is imbued with pure Qi energy, golden streaks wrapping his arms like glowing chains. "Let’s show them what the Juggernauts taught us."

Eirana, sword already unsheathed, stepped ahead, lightning crackling around her boots, despite her lack of mana. Her Qi sparked violently through her limbs, more volatile than ever before. "Then we go in together. For my people. For Naena."

Another deafening roar echoed from within.

Then—

THUD.

THUD. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

THUD.

Something massive was approaching... closer. Louder.

The ground burst open at the edge of the cave entrance, as a twisted, hulking form—still obscured in the shadows—began to emerge. Its silhouette was warped with antlers made of bones, and its body oozed with mist that dripped like blood.

Kaelen took a step forward, his eyes glowing faintly with Qi light.

"Let it come," he muttered.

And then—

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!!

A piercing shriek exploded out of the cave mouth as a dozen glowing eyes flared into view which just implies that the moment of reckoning have befallen the trio.

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