NOVEL NEXT Chapter 522: The Hound That Devours
The ice beneath Ethan's boots began to groan, splintering the way a frozen river cracks when spring first breathes across its surface. It was a fragile, brittle sound, all the more jarring against the oppressive heat rolling off the Infernal Hound—a heat so suffocating it seemed to devour the air itself, leaving scorched earth and smoldering ruin in its wake.
And yet, standing beside him, Bongo radiated warmth of a different sort: not searing, but gentle, like the first rays of morning after a long, bitter night.
"Don't worry," she said, her voice as clear as the icy wind around them, but carrying none of its chill. "I've made contact. That pack of vermin damaged the old turtle's body, but they never touched its heart. It's right here, beneath us… a miracle, honestly. All it needs is a little warmth, and then they'll learn what a real counterattack feels like."
"That's good news," Ethan said, the relief plain in his voice.
"If it recovers, we can finally bring those millions of people back."
Millions? The word snagged in Ethan's mind. Was Bongo talking about the old City Lord's forces? Before he could voice the question, the world itself seemed to crack.
The air split with a deafening roar as the Infernal Hound tore free from the rift, its colossal form slamming down onto the frozen plain. Each impact of its four paws shook the ground in triple echoes, like the tolling of a war drum. Its head, broad and terrible, lowered, fiery eyes locking on the small cluster of mortals who dared to stand before it. The sheer weight of its presence pressed down on Ethan's chest until every breath felt stolen.
"So, little minnow," the beast growled, its voice molten and cruel, "you dragged me out here just to sic me on these scraps?"
"Minnow? You're the minnow!" Dragon Child shot back without hesitation, her hands planted on her hips, chin tilted up in defiance. "Your whole family's minnows! Now quit flapping your jaws. There's a banquet spread right in front of you and you're wasting time?"
The Infernal Hound's nostrils flared, a plume of flame curling into the air. Ethan tensed, expecting violence, but instead the beast turned, its burning gaze fixed on the towering pillar of crimson light at the center of the battlefield.
"These morsels look lean," it rumbled, sniffing the air with obscene relish, "but the flavor… exquisite." Its monstrous tongue slithered out, sweeping across the ground. In one grotesque motion, the mangled corpses and congealed blood littering the field were dragged into its cavernous maw. Slurp, crunch, swallow—death itself reduced to a grotesque feast.
Then, from within the crimson light, an ancient voice echoed, smooth and commanding. "Infernal Hound, a proposition, if you will?"
"Oh?" The beast tilted its massive head, eyes narrowing. "And what bargain do you think you can offer me?"
"Refrain from interfering," the voice replied with calm assurance, "and the essence of every living creature on Umbral Star will be yours to devour. All their blood, all their flesh, an endless feast. A fair trade, wouldn't you agree?"
Ethan's stomach twisted. The idea of striking deals with a monster like this was horrifying. Yet Dragon Child only gave him a sidelong smile, a flicker of amusement in her eyes, as if silently promising she had matters well in hand.
The hound's laughter thundered like an erupting volcano. "Haha! A bumpkin of Umbral Star, daring to bargain with me? You prattle about blood as if you had any authority over it. Do you even understand what you are? A pawn. An errand boy. When the real Blood Clan breaks through your little portal, you'll be nothing more than fodder. And you dare to haggle with me?"
The voice inside the array wavered. "What… what do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said," the hound snapped. "We demons have drifted through cosmic rifts long before your kind crawled into power. I've eaten your precious Blood Clan before—devoured entire legions between universes. It's been eons since I last tasted that flesh, and it's haunted my dreams ever since. And today, thanks to this minnow's summons, I get to indulge again. So, as a gesture of gratitude…" Its grin spread impossibly wide. "…I'll eat you all first. A small appetizer before the main course."
Before the voice could retort, the Infernal Hound lunged. Its colossal body slammed into the Blood Clan's formation with explosive force.
"Ridiculous! I am no pawn!" the voice roared in outrage. The crimson pillar blazed violently, and the mutated Blood Clan surged forth again, their power climbing as they siphoned raw energy from the array. Ethan's gut clenched as he recognized the pattern—it mirrored the modifications Yaya had built into their own formations, only magnified a hundredfold. The enemy's strength was growing terrifyingly fast.
Within the blood-lit core, a dark-red portal churned. Their Voidbreaker master had yet to appear, no doubt weaving some greater ritual from behind the curtain.
The hound hardly cared. Flames erupted from its body in a torrent. "Blood-stock!" it roared, voice dripping with savage hunger. "You taste better roasted!" Jets of fire streaked outward, searing the front line of the Blood Clan into ash. With another revolting sweep of its tongue, the cinders and charred bodies disappeared into its gullet.
Ethan could only stare. This wasn't a battle; it was a massacre, a grotesque feast with no end. The Blood Clan's soldiers poured endlessly from the array, yet even their towering, axe-wielding brutes—four meters of hulking muscle—were reduced to kindling before the beast.
"That thing is terrifying," Ethan whispered. "What in the blazes is it?"
"A twelfth-tier demon beast," Dragon Child answered evenly. "Equivalent to a late-stage Voidbreaker."
Ethan nearly choked. "That strong? Then why are we even here? It could crush this entire mess on its own!" He recalled the Blood King's warning: their enemy had only one early-stage Voidbreaker.
"Don't get cocky," Dragon Child said, pouting faintly as her gaze flicked to Dana, still seated in meditation within the formation. "It won't be staying long."
"What do you mean?"
"Demons are wanderers of the cosmic rifts. They don't belong to worlds like ours. When they cross into a true universe, the laws here reject them. Half an hour, at most, before they're sent back. That's why Dana's summons always dissolve into mist. Not erased, just returned home."
Ethan swallowed hard. Half an hour. That was all.
"You dare!" The Infernal Hound's bellow shook the heavens as it raked a flaming paw against the crimson pillar.
CRACK! The pillar quaked, a shriek tearing from within. The hound struck again, another deafening blow.
At last, a sharp voice rang out. "Enough!"
A figure shot from the pillar, robes of ashen gray billowing. Ethan's heart lurched. He knew that pattern—the Windspirit Faction. This was the one the Blood King had warned him about, the ancient predator who twisted life into grotesque rituals, who had devoured Eamon whole after his escape from the Spirit Realm. A monster draped in human skin.
The figure raised a hand, and a crimson beam of power blasted into the hound's snout. The beast staggered two steps, shaking its massive head. Ethan's jaw dropped—something had actually managed to force the hound back. Rage flickered in the beast's molten eyes, its body coiling into a predator's crouch before it hurled itself at the gray-robed man.
The elder didn't flinch. Hovering mid-air, he drew a bow from nothing, loosing an invisible strike that shattered the air. At the same time, the blood array behind him flared to brilliance, streams of crimson energy funneling into his body. In seconds, the murky pillar clarified, turning translucent, pure, as though honed to a razor's edge.
The void itself screamed. Spatial rifts ripped across the sky in jagged tears, thousands of meters long. The turbulence howled, a storm of broken reality.
"Mystic Water Shield!"
Dragon Child seized Ethan and dragged him back toward Bongo. A shimmering barrier of rushing water surged up before them.
The spatial storm struck like a hammer. The shield buckled, layers stripped away and instantly replaced by fresh currents, a ceaseless cycle that held—barely. For what felt like an eternity, the world quaked and roared until at last the pressure began to ease.
Dragon Child let out a ragged breath, wiping sweat from her brow. "By the stars, that was close. If that ice hadn't melted into water earlier, I couldn't have held it."
Ethan's gaze stayed locked on the Blood Clan's formation. It had blazed like a sun moments ago, yet now cracks marred its surface like shattered glass. Relief washed through him as he saw the fissures slowly knitting together. But the dread twisting in his stomach refused to leave.