Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 160: The Nightmares of the Vault

"I said seal the door, Rurik. Not weld it to the molecular structure of the universe."

Lucien pinched the bridge of his nose. He was standing in the main hallway of the East Wing, watching Rurik work.

The Wolf Lord had taken the order "secure the nursery" very literally. He had ripped a massive iron gate off a dungeon cell, dragged it upstairs, and was currently using his lightning magic to melt the hinges onto the nursery doorframe.

Sparks flew everywhere. The smell of ozone was thick in the air.

"It needs to be tight!" Rurik shouted over the crackling electricity. "If air can’t get in, ghosts can’t get in! That’s science!"

"That is suffocation," Cassian corrected, walking by with a stack of spell-scrolls. "Please leave a ventilation shaft, you oversized battery. The children need oxygen."

Inside the nursery, the vibe was tense.

Primrose was sitting on the floor, braiding Clover’s ears to keep the nervous rabbit calm. Caspian was pacing, his trident humming with blue light. Leonora was sharpening her sword, the scraping sound making Jasper wince every three seconds.

"Is the bad man coming back?" Silas asked from the blanket fort. He was clutching his mug of cocoa like a shield.

"No," Primrose said fiercely. "And if he does, Uncle Rurik is going to turn him into a toaster."

"I heard that!" Rurik yelled from the hallway. "And yes! I will!"

Real Jax stood by the window, peering out into the eternal twilight of the Obsidian Jungle. He felt... useless. Everyone here was a Warlord, a King, or a Spirit. They could summon storms and shadows.

Jax had a sword. And a really good recipe for stew.

"You’re brooding," Luna whispered, stepping up beside him. She handed him a strip of dried meat.

"I’m not brooding," Jax lied. "I’m... scanning for threats."

"You’re wondering why you’re here," Luna corrected gently. "Jax, you stopped an assassin with a steak knife. You don’t need magic to be dangerous."

Jax looked at her. "Yeah, but a steak knife doesn’t work on ghosts, Luna."

Before Luna could answer, the floor beneath them vibrated.

It wasn’t an earthquake. It was a deep, guttural growl that seemed to come from the bowels of the earth.

Every candle in the room flickered and died.

The Cellar Door

Deep underground, Lord Malachi stood before the Shadow Vault.

The door was massive, made of a metal that absorbed light. It was covered in warning runes that glowed a faint, angry red.

DANGER. DO NOT OPEN. THE HUNGER LIES WITHIN.

"Superstitious nonsense," Malachi muttered, his hands shaking as he inserted the heavy iron key. "Lucien was too weak to use this weapon. But I am not weak."

He turned the key.

CLICK.

The sound echoed like a gunshot.

The heavy doors groaned open.

Malachi expected an army of soldiers. He expected demons.

Instead, a cloud of black smoke rolled out. It smelled of rot and old nightmares. It swirled around Malachi’s ankles, cold and sticky.

Then, the smoke began to take shape.

It formed wolves with too many eyes. Snakes made of oil. Tigers with exposed ribs and teeth like needles.

The Nightmares.

They didn’t growl. They whispered. Thousands of voices overlapping in a cacophony of madness.

"Feed... us..."

"Go," Malachi commanded, pointing a trembling finger toward the ceiling. "Go to the East Wing. Find the Boy. Kill everyone else."

The shadows surged forward, ignoring him. They flowed up the stairs like a reverse waterfall of darkness.

Malachi smiled. He had done it. He controlled the Vault.

Then, one of the smaller shadows paused. It looked like a deformed panther. It sniffed Malachi’s leg.

It didn’t bow. It bit him.

"Ah!" Malachi kicked it away. "Obey me, you filth!"

The shadow hissed, its eyes glowing red. It scampered up the stairs after the others.

Malachi touched his leg. He was bleeding. And the blood... was turning black.

The First Wave

In the hallway, Lucien froze.

His violet eyes widened. He felt it. A rupture in the estate’s magical core.

"He opened it," Lucien whispered. "The fool actually opened it."

"Opened what?" Rajah asked, drawing his flaming sword.

"The Vault," Lucien said, his voice dropping to a terrifying calm. "Rurik. Finish the door. Now."

"On it!" Rurik slammed his fist into the metal, fusing the last hinge.

Then, the lights went out.

Not just the candles. The bioluminescent moss outside the windows went dark. The magelights in the ceiling died.

Total, absolute darkness.

Then came the scratching.

Skritch. Skritch. Skritch.

It was coming from the walls. The floor. The ceiling.

"Light!" Rajah roared.

He flared his aura. A massive burst of orange fire illuminated the hallway.

The Warlords gasped.

The walls were crawling. Hundreds of black, oily creatures were swarming toward them. They looked like liquid shadows, shifting forms between beast and nightmare.

"Hold the line!" Leonora shouted, kicking the nursery door shut behind her. "Don’t let them touch the wood!"

---

Chaos erupted.

Rajah swung his sword, sending arcs of fire into the swarm. The Nightmares shrieked when the fire hit them, dissolving into smoke, but more just poured over their remains.

Rurik was a whirlwind of lightning and axe-blades. He smashed a shadow-wolf into the floorboards.

"They don’t have bones!" Rurik complained, frustrated. "It’s like hitting pudding! Angry, biting pudding!"

Cassian stood in the back, firing precise bolts of green acid. "They are semi-corporeal mana constructs!" he analyzed loudly. "Physical attacks are 40% less effective! Use elemental damage!"

"I am trying!" Caspian yelled. He was currently stabbing a shadow-shark with his trident. "But there is no water here! The air is too dry!"

Suddenly, a massive shadow-bear lunged out of the darkness, bypassing Rurik. It headed straight for Luna, who was holding her frying pan like a shield.

"Luna!" Primrose screamed from inside the room.

But before the monster could reach the rabbit, a streak of fire shot through the air.

THWACK.

An arrow, wrapped in an oil-soaked rag and set ablaze, slammed into the Shadow Bear’s face.

The monster roared as the oil caught fire, spreading rapidly across its oily skin. It thrashed and dissolved.

Real Jax stood on top of a decorative chest. He held a bow he had scavenged from the armory. He didn’t have magic. He had physics.

"Oil!" Jax shouted. "They’re made of oil or something similar! They burn faster than normal shadows!"

He grabbed a bottle of high-proof brandy from a side table, stuffed a rag in it, lit it with a candle, and threw it.

SMASH.

The Molotov cocktail exploded in the middle of the swarm. The blue flames roared, creating a wall of fire that the Nightmares refused to cross.

"Ha!" Rurik cheered. "The soldier is smart! Burn them all!"

---

Inside the nursery, Primrose was pressing her hands against the door, reinforcing Rurik’s weld with her own nature magic. Vines grew over the iron, sealing the cracks.

"Are they winning?" Vali asked, trying to peek through the keyhole.

"Yes," Primrose lied. "They’re winning big time. Go back to the fort."

Orion poked his head out of the ensuite bathroom. He was soaking wet and looked annoyed.

"The plumbing is making noises," Orion announced. "Gurgling noises."

Primrose froze.

The plumbing.

"Orion," Primrose said slowly. "Get out of the bathroom."

"But my hydration—"

"GET OUT!"

Orion scrambled out of the tub just as the drain exploded.

Black sludge geysered out of the bathtub, hitting the ceiling. It wasn’t water. It was the Nightmares. They had traveled through the pipes.

"They’re in the room!" Arjun screamed, grabbing a pillow to defend Silas.

The sludge poured onto the floor, reforming into slick, black monstrosities.

Caspian (who had stayed inside to guard) spun around. "Get behind me!"

He summoned a shield of ice, blocking the first wave.

But they were coming from everywhere. The fireplace chimney. The cracks in the floorboards. The shadows under the beds.

"Vali! Jasper! Closet!" Primrose ordered. Her tails flared, casting white light that burned the shadows back. "Everyone into the closet! Now!"

The kids scrambled. Jasper grabbed Clover. Vali grabbed Silas. They dove into the large walk-in wardrobe.

Primrose stood in front of the closet door, her hands glowing with green fire.

"You want a piece of me?" Primrose snarled at the encroaching darkness. "Come and get it."

---

Outside in the hallway, the Dads were holding their ground thanks to Jax’s fire strategy.

But then, the fighting stopped.

The Nightmares pulled back. They slithered up the walls, hanging from the ceiling like bats, waiting.

The heavy footsteps echoed on the stairs.

Lord Malachi walked into the hallway.

He looked... wrong.

His skin was grey. His veins were black. One of his eyes was entirely black, leaking the same oily substance as the monsters. He was limping, but he was smiling.

"Cousin," Malachi wheezed. His voice sounded like two stones grinding together. "You made a mess of my carpet."

"Malachi," Lucien said, his sword lowered. "What have you done? The Void is eating you."

"It is improving me," Malachi corrected. He raised his hand. The shadows on the ceiling writhed.

"I have control," Malachi laughed. "I have the army. Now, stand aside. I want the boy."

"Over my dead body," Rajah growled, stepping forward.

Malachi tilted his head.

"If you insist."

He didn’t attack the Warlords.

He pointed his hand at the floor.

"Void Art: Shadow Sink."

The floor beneath the Warlords didn’t break. It turned into liquid.

"What the—" Rurik yelled as he sank up to his knees in solid stone that was now quicksand.

"It’s a binding spell!" Cassian shouted, trying to jump, but his feet were stuck.

Within seconds, Rajah, Rurik, Cassian, Lucien, and Leonora were trapped, sunk waist-deep into the floor of the hallway. The stone solidified instantly, locking them in place.

Only Jax and Luna were free—because they were standing on the wooden chest, not the stone floor.

"Jax!" Luna screamed. "Run!"

Malachi ignored the humans. He walked past the trapped Warlords, heading straight for the nursery door.

"No!" Lucien roared, struggling against the stone. "Malachi! Don’t open that door!"

Malachi ignored him. He placed his black, corrupted hand on Rurik’s welded iron gate.

The metal rusted and crumbled into dust in seconds.

Malachi kicked the door open.

---

Inside the room, Primrose and Caspian turned.

They saw Malachi. They saw the corruption crawling up his neck.

"Hello, Nanny," Malachi smiled. His teeth were black.

Primrose threw a fireball. Malachi swatted it away like a fly.

"Caspian, take the kids!" Primrose shouted.

She charged. She wasn’t a warrior, but she was a mother-figure, and that made her dangerous. She tackled Malachi, slamming him against the wall.

"Run!" Primrose screamed.

Caspian looked at Primrose. He looked at the closet where the kids were hiding.

He made the impossible choice. He grabbed the closet handle.

But before he could open it, the shadows inside the room moved.

A massive hand, made of pure Void darkness, erupted from the floor beneath Primrose’s feet.

It grabbed her ankle.

"Primrose!" Caspian yelled.

"Go!" Primrose shouted, summoning vines to anchor herself, but the Void was too strong.

Malachi laughed. He raised his hand.

"Take her," Malachi commanded the shadows. "The Boss will want a hostage."

The floor opened up into a swirling vortex of nothingness.

Primrose’s vines snapped.

"CASPIAN!" she screamed.

And then, she was pulled down.

The floor slammed shut above her.

Primrose was gone.

And inside the closet, Silas began to scream.