NOVEL NEXT Chapter 500: You Are The Real Monster
The wind blew through the gaps of the peaks, dry and heavy, carrying the smell of rust and blood.
Sometimes, it even picked up droplets of blood that dripped down from the mountaintops, scattering them through the air.
Daniel and Drael carefully moved along the narrow path that cut through the rocks.
"I don't like this… and seriously, who built a path like this? Why the hell does it never end?" Drael muttered under his breath.
Daniel briefly glanced up at the jagged peaks above
.
The snow was red, not from the sunset, but from veins of blood flowing down from the summits, dripping across the rocks like a dried-up river.
At first, he hadn't even noticed the snow, it had looked like nothing but blood from a distance.
But now that they were closer, he could see it: the snow beneath the blood.
"We should be there soon. I checked with my spiritual senses, ten more minutes at most," he said, not looking back.
Drael nodded. He knew it wasn't far, but the atmosphere made his skin crawl. He wanted to say something to break the tension,
But Daniel clearly wanted to keep the silence, so Drael shut his mouth and kept walking.
Then suddenly, a droplet fell onto a rock beside Daniel's foot.
And the rock trembled.
"Hm?" He stopped for a moment.
Before he could say another word, the ground beneath them began to shake.
For some reason, both of them felt it, an overwhelming sense of danger.
The sound of stone cracking echoed from all directions, from the cliffs, from below the ground, from above the stone arch they were passing under.
The blood droplets on the rocks started to glow, dark red and black lines spreading across the surface like veins.
And then—the cracks opened.
From inside the rocks, creatures crawled out.
Monsters made of stone and clotted blood.
Their eyes glowed like molten lava, and ash, like smoke poured out of their mouths.
Some of them walked on four legs, with pillars of stone instead of arms.
Others had humanoid forms with rusted metal wings, broken and twisted.
"What the hell are these things?!" Drael shouted with wide eyes.
"I'd say… made of blood," Daniel replied dryly, his tone laced with sarcasm.
Apparently, that blood flowing from the peaks wasn't normal at all.
"..."
Before they could say anything else, one of the monsters leapt at them from behind.
Drael spun around as Daniel summoned his sword in an instant and swung, but the blade only sparked, doing no damage.
The creature roared, raising its massive stone arm.
A sharp sound cut through the air, Daniel's sword sliced through the air, leaving a white trail of light.
Before the creature's arm could come down, it vaporized into nothing.
"Stay behind me," Daniel said coldly, his tone firm.
He could already sense more of them coming from the distance.
He raised his sword, The Heavens Honor.
A dark aura of death rippled around the blade, and the air itself began to fracture like glass.
The monsters charged from all directions.
The sound of shattering rocks, explosions, and impact filled the air.
But Daniel was nothing more than a shadow slipping between them.
Every swing of his blade unleashed a wave of the Law of Death, draining color from the world.
Every creature it touched burned away like a candle in the wind, crumbling into ash.
Drael stumbled backward, struggling to keep his balance, until the ground beneath him cracked.
The ledge broke apart, and he fell toward the abyss below.
"Drael!"
Daniel frowned but didn't move to save him,not because he didn't care, but because he couldn't.
He was surrounded, and besides, Drael wasn't helpless.
Just as a giant monster with a body like a stone wall lunged at him, Daniel turned his gaze toward it.
He swung his sword once. The creature screamed, and split in two.
Its massive body disintegrated into dust before it even hit the ground.
Daniel dashed through the rising smoke and dust, kneeling at the cliff's edge.
Drael was several meters below, spinning in midair as mana flared around his body.
With a hard twist, he propelled himself upward and landed back on solid ground.
Sweat ran down his forehead.
"Damn it, that was close! I almost fell all the way down!"
"Keep your focus. It's not over yet," Daniel said without even glancing at him.
He turned. Dozens of monsters had gathered on the narrow path, on the walls, on the ceiling, and the ground.
All of them were screaming.
Daniel gripped his sword with both hands.
He released his aura, and the entire mountain went silent.
The ground trembled, the rocks split apart, and a cold light erupted beneath his feet.
The Law of Death flowed through the mountains like a river of darkness.
With one slash, dozens of monsters disintegrated instantly.
With the second strike, a wave of energy blasted through the path, sweeping everything in its way like dust.
Drael just stood there in disbelief, his eyes filled with the reflection of Daniel's glowing blade.
The more he saw, the more terrified he became.
Right now, Daniel looked more like a monster than the monsters themselves.
That realization made Drael shiver. He is the real monster here
The monsters screamed as their bodies collapsed inward, and the mountain finally grew silent again.
The few that survived turned to flee, as if they realized too late how foolish they'd been to attack this human-shaped beast.
But unfortunately for them, there was no cure for regret.
When silence returned, only dried blood remained.
Daniel lowered his sword, and it disappeared from his hand.
He took a brief look at the remaining parts of those monsters.
He couldn't understand how lifeless stones suddenly came to life.
Was it because of those drops of blood? But how?
Could they, just like his own blood, turn things into special kinds of monsters?
In fact, whatever it was, its ability was stronger than his own bloodline ability, because he could only turn living beings into monsters, not stones.
Still, he doubted that those blood drops were the real cause.
There had to be another reason behind it.
"You're… a monster," Drael exhaled, his voice trembling.
"..."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Daniel said casually, glancing ahead— toward the dark cave entrance hidden among the rocks.