ONLINE: Blades of Eternity-Chapter 322: THE LEECH UNLEASHED!

Bang!!

The last of the beast's mangled remains crumbled into a trail of withering mist as Kaelen pulled his Blade of Eternity from its chest. The beast's body disintegrated at his feet, collapsing in a hiss of fog and ash. The echo of battle still rang in the cavern air, but for now—it was quiet.

Kaelen exhaled, steam pouring from his mouth.

Eirana's voice broke the silence, sharp and hurried.

"Come! We need to get inside, quickly."

Kelvin gave a subtle nod, spinning his Scythe of the Abyss once before resting it against his shoulder.

"Right behind you."

The trio moved fast, Kaelen and Kelvin with blades still glowing, their senses on high alert. Eirana led them deeper through the broken stone path that curved through the cliffs and rocky protrusions. The stone markers, once beautifully etched with Nullcarver symbols, were scarred, defaced, and smeared in dried black mist.

Then came the sight that hit all three like a weight.

The Nullcarvers' settlement—once rumored to be a serene sanctuary carved into nature itself—now lay in ruins. Towering stone huts were reduced to cracked stumps. Tunnels that once lit the settlement with glowing crystals were now dark and shattered. The air hung heavy, like smoke without flame.

Kaelen narrowed his eyes.

"…Where are the Nullcarvers?"

Kelvin tensed beside him.

"This place feels… hollow."

"No…" Eirana whispered, pain swelling in her voice. "They couldn't have…"

But she didn't finish the thought. Instead, she moved forward with desperation in her stride. Kaelen and Kelvin fell in beside her, weapons ready. They pushed through the debris, bypassing broken totems and empty homes, diving deeper into the heart of the ravaged sanctuary.

Then they heard it—a soft, hoarse cry for help. It was distant, but unmistakable.

Eirana stopped in her tracks.

She spun, eyes wide. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"That's Grandmother!"

They broke into a sprint.

As they turned a final corner, Kaelen skid to a halt—his blade immediately rising to a guard stance. Kelvin flanked left instinctively, scythe twirling. Eirana charged without hesitation.

In the middle of the collapsed central plaza, surrounded on all sides by towering ruins and smoldering mist, were the last surviving Nullcarvers—a small cluster of them, battered and wounded, huddled around an ancient woman standing tall despite her ragged form.

Eirana gasped.

"Naena…"

Her grandmother—Naena, the revered elder of the Nullcarvers—stood wielding her famed twin sabers, though their radiant glow had vanished entirely. Her robes were torn, her breathing shallow. Her white hair was stained with blood. Around her were six surviving Nullcarvers, each defending themselves with dulled weapons or broken tools.

And closing in on them were four massive Mist Sentinels—towering creatures, twice the size of the ones Kaelen and Kelvin had faced before. Their forms pulsed with a sickly violet glow, armored in thick mist plating, their faces featureless save for the glowing red slits where eyes should be.

Naena barely held her footing.

"Stay back!" she snarled at the beasts. "I am Naena of the—!"

The closest Sentinel lunged, mouth unhinging with a hiss that echoed like a death knell.

But it never reached her.

BOOM.

A burst of azure light exploded through the side of the plaza as Kaelen teleported in mid-stride, slamming his Blade of Eternity into the creature's jaw with godlike speed. The force ripped through the Sentinel's head, splitting it from crown to chest in a single, gorgeous arc of blue flame.

Mist exploded outward like blood.

Kelvin followed instantly, swinging his scythe in a wide sweep that tore through the legs of two other Sentinels before they could react. Black abyssal tendrils erupted from the torn earth and dragged one of them down screaming into a rift in the ground, never to be seen again.

The fourth beast turned toward Eirana, who met it without fear. Her silver sword glowed bright again, her Qi burning fierce and wild. She leapt into the air, twisting mid-flight, and drove her sword clean through the monster's head, riding it down as it crashed into the dirt.

Silence returned.

Naena blinked, stunned. She looked up at her granddaughter, then at the two familiar boys standing amidst the corpses of the Sentinels, mist still peeling off their weapons.

Kaelen stepped forward, flicking blood off the edge of his blade.

"You're safe now. Let's finish this."

Kelvin raised a brow, his voice casual despite the carnage.

"Guess we arrived just in time."

Eirana dropped to her knees beside her grandmother.

"Grandmother Naena… we came back. We learned the Qi… we did it."

Naena's cloudy eyes softened as she reached a trembling hand to her granddaughter's face.

"You've… grown stronger, child. But we are not safe yet. There are more coming. And I fear that the leech has already succeeded in what he invaded us for

"What do you mean grandmother?" Eirana asked with a confused look on her face. But Naena expression became more solemn as she replied. "The Leech might have used brute force to release his other half from the seal. Now, there might be no stopping him"

There was a moment of grim when Naena said those words before Kaelen turned his gaze toward the deeper tunnels beyond the plaza, where the leech is sealed as darkness loomed and the mist thickened once more.

"We'll hold them off," he said firmly.

Kelvin smirked, cracking his neck.

"Let them come, or more precisely let it come."

From the shadows above, far hidden in the cracks of the cavern walls, Aron and Selene watched.

Selene clenched her jaw.

"He didn't hesitate. Not for a second."

Aron's voice was low.

"Kaelen isn't who he used to be. That power… that sword… we're going to need more than just brute force to take him."

Selene looked down once more as Kaelen walked side by side with Kelvin and Eirana, heading deeper into the Nullcarvers' inner sanctum.

And for the first time… she hesitated.

The air still hung heavy with the residue of battle. Broken mist creatures dissolved into ash and vapor. The survivors—Kaelen, Kelvin, Eirana, and the weakened Nullcarvers—huddled in the damaged heart of the settlement, trying to recover from the carnage. Flickers of blue and black liquid mana still hummed around Kaelen and Kelvin, crackling gently in the silence.

Naena stood with the support of Eirana, her sabers sheathed now, her face lined with exhaustion and an ancient grief. Her eyes, cloudy with age but sharp with memory, locked onto Kaelen.

"I fear we might no more be just dealing with remnants of corrupted spirits," she said softly. "This... this infestation. It's not natural. It feeds on more than life or Qi. It feeds on despair… and something far deeper. This might that it would soon be ressurected"

Kaelen's brow furrowed. "You mean—?"

Before she could answer, the entire cavern shuddered violently.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The earth cracked under their feet. Rock faces split open with thunderous groans. Loose stones from the ceiling came crashing down, striking the ruined plaza in shards. The tremor wasn't just an earthquake—it was as if something ancient had awakened beneath them.

Then it came.

A roar—unlike any Kaelen had ever heard—tore through the cavern. It wasn't just sound. It was pure, vengeful hatred, clawing at the soul with invisible fangs. It struck like a lance through their hearts, a banshee's howl that chilled even the flame within Kaelen's core.

Kelvin's scythe was in his hands before he even realized it. "What the actual hell was that?"

Eirana's face paled. "That didn't come from above… it came from below."

Then—

CRAAAAAAAASH!!!

A streak of darkness—fast, jagged, and primal—burst out of the deep abyss at the far end of the tunnel, cutting through the shadows like a dagger. It didn't head toward Kaelen and the others, however. It shot up toward the rocky ledges above where Aron and Selene had been silently observing.

BOOM!!!

The stone wall exploded into fragments as the dark projectile struck the ledge. Aron and Selene were launched like dolls from the impact, their bodies spinning through the air before crashing into the far walls with an audible CRACK.

Kaelen and the others flinched.

"Someone was there!!?" Kaelen asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Either way, something just hit them," Kelvin muttered, stunned.

From the settling dust and shattered stone emerged a creature like no other.

It wasn't tall. It wasn't armored. And yet, it radiated something far more dangerous than any beast Kaelen had faced.

Its body was elongated, slick, and amorphous—as though constantly shifting. Like mist given muscle. Dozens of thin, black tendrils extended from its back, twitching like they were tasting the air. Its face had no eyes, only a wide, lipless mouth that split across its skull, filled with needle-like teeth that shifted as it moved. At its core was a single glowing red mass, pulsating with what could only be described as hunger.

Naena staggered back, eyes wide in pure terror.

"No…" she whispered. "It can't be… It's the Leech. It has ressurected"

When Kaelen heard her, he immediately became incredibly grim as he stepped forward, gripping the Blade of Eternity tighter.

"Is there anything we should know about this leech before we try to fight this thing?"

Naena's voice shook. "It's a parasite that devours not flesh, not just mana… but identity. It consumes names, memories, meaning. It turns your very soul to mist and feeds on it."

Kelvin's expression darkened.

"You're saying it eats souls?"

"No," she whispered, "it erases them."

The Leech slowly turned its attention downward. Toward Kaelen.

And in that moment, it smiled—not with joy, but as if recognition passed between them.

Kaelen's blood froze.

"It's… it's looking at me."

The Leech's tendrils retracted, then lashed forward all at once with unnatural speed, cracking the air as they shot downward.

"MOVE!" Kaelen shouted.

The group scattered as the tendrils impacted the plaza, each strike splintering stone and sending geysers of debris skyward. Kaelen rolled, slashing three incoming tendrils in mid-air, his blade howling with blue fire.

Kelvin was already airborne, his Scythe of the Abyss twirling like a whirlwind of death, deflecting attacks while forming an abyssal barrier between the creature and the wounded Nullcarvers.

Eirana grabbed Naena and dove to safety, shielding her grandmother with her own body as the mist rippled with aggression.

From the distant corner, Selene—bruised and bleeding—pulled herself upright. Her eyes locked onto Kaelen, now glowing with aura and wrath, dancing with blue streaks as he clashed blades with the monstrous tendrils.

"Aron…" she hissed, helping her brother to his feet.

Aron coughed blood, glaring at the Leech through blurred vision. "That thing... It's hunting him but still dared to attack us."

Kaelen's voice rose like thunder.

"Kelvin, Eirana! Protect the Nullcarvers. I'll hold it off!"

And with a roar of defiance, Kaelen surged forward, blade gleaming, mist parting before him due to the armor that is slowly materializing on him as he met the Leech head-on—steel against nightmare.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com