Chapter 452: Hollow Vein XVI
The hills closed around him as he walked, their rocks sharp like broken spears. The air was quiet, but not clean. Shadows hung too long in the cracks, and the wind carried whispers that weren’t its own.
Asher’s boots crunched on gravel and bone dust. His cloak trailed behind him, marked with old blood. Each step reminded him of the Herald’s last words—what he had cut down was not the end, only another opening.
By the second ridge, he smelled rot and iron. The wind grew hot, heavy. When he reached the top, he saw the valley—and his hand went to his scythe.
Another shrine.
This one was built into the earth itself. Huge ribs rose like walls around it, black banners hanging stiff with dried gore. In the center, chains reached down into a deep pit, each one pulling tight as if holding something that wanted out. Around the pit, dozens of zealots knelt in silence, their masks painted red like they had been dipped in blood.
They didn’t chant. They didn’t move. They only pressed their hands to the ground, feeding whatever was below. The earth pulsed under them, a heartbeat that made the soil feel alive.
Then the chains rattled.
The zealots turned as one, eyes black behind their masks. A low hum rolled from their throats, crawling through the valley like insects buzzing inside a skull.
Asher drew his scythe, his voice flat and steady.
"Another throat."
From the pit came a voice—wet, heavy, dragging every word.
"Vessel... come closer. I hunger. Your blade... will open me."
The zealots rose. Their bones cracked, their spines bent too far back. Their masks split down the middle, revealing teeth and mouths that didn’t belong to them.
The chains screamed.
Asher kept walking, calm as ever, cloak shifting in the wind. His eyes stayed fixed on the pit.
"Then try."
And he walked straight down into the valley, as the zealots rushed to meet him and the chains below strained harder with every step.
The first zealot reached him before the others, jaw split open too wide, teeth grinding together like millstones. Its arms had stretched into hooked claws, each swipe meant to tear through flesh.
Asher stepped aside without breaking stride. His scythe moved once—clean, efficient—and the zealot fell in two pieces at his feet. The body didn’t bleed. Instead, black ichor sprayed, hissing where it touched the ground.
More came. Ten, twenty, rushing from every side, their hum rising into a broken chant. The valley shook with it. The chains in the pit rattled harder, metal sparking against bone.
Asher’s cloak whipped around him as he moved into them. His scythe carved wide arcs, every swing cutting through more than one body. Heads flew, limbs hit the dirt, ichor sprayed. Still, he never hurried. Each step was measured, his eyes never leaving the pit.
The zealots screamed with more mouths than they should have had. One dropped onto all fours, its ribs splitting open as tendrils lashed out toward him. Asher spun, the scythe flashing bright red, and cut them clean through. The zealot collapsed, twitching until it stilled.
The ground shook harder. Chains snapped against the pit’s walls, pulling upward, straining to break free. A foul wind burst from below, thick with the smell of rot and the iron tang of blood.
Asher planted his scythe in the dirt for a moment, steady, his voice carrying across the valley.
"Show yourself."
The zealots froze mid-step, bodies jerking as if pulled by strings. Their broken hum cut off, replaced by silence too heavy to breathe in.
Then the chains tore free.
A roar split the valley—low, deep, full of hunger. The pit exploded outward, dirt and stone spraying into the air. The ribs of the shrine cracked and fell as something massive began to climb free. Chains snapped loose one after another, whipping through the air with a sound like thunder.
From the pit rose a head too large for the body it was attached to, its jaw split into three pieces, teeth curving inward like hooks. Eyes opened along its throat and chest, rolling blindly in every direction. Black flesh stretched against the chains still hooked into it, and every breath made the ground shake.
The zealots dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the dirt. Their whispers returned, stronger now, all feeding into the thing climbing free.
Asher lifted his scythe back to his shoulder. His eyes stayed calm, cold.
"So this is the next voice."
The beast’s many eyes locked onto him, and its mouth split wider than the pit it had crawled from.
"Vessel..." it rumbled, voice shaking the valley, "I will wear your cut like skin."
Asher stepped forward, cloak brushing the dirt. His answer was simple.
"Try."
And with that, the creature lunged, the ground shattering beneath its weight as the battle began.
The beast struck first. Its three-part jaw snapped shut like a collapsing guillotine, the sound echoing through the valley as stone cracked under its weight. Chains still clung to its arms, and it swung them like whips, each strike ripping trenches into the earth as sparks burst from their tips.
Asher moved. His cloak snapped as he darted aside, scythe flashing red as it cut clean through one chain mid-swing. The broken link howled as if alive, falling away in a writhing heap. The beast roared, more mouths opening along its ribs, each one screaming in a different pitch.
It lashed out with an arm the size of a tree trunk, claws dragging across the ground like plows. Asher didn’t retreat—he stepped in. His scythe hooked low, caught the limb, and carved straight through. Black ichor fountained upward, sizzling where it touched him, but he pushed forward all the same.
The beast bellowed, but its wounded arm didn’t fall—it grew. From the severed stump, new limbs sprouted, thinner, faster, whipping out like spears toward him. They stabbed the ground in a frenzy, each strike cracking stone like brittle glass.
Asher spun, his scythe painting arcs of bloodlight through the air. One by one, the limbs fell, severed before they could reach him. He slid across gravel, cloak cutting through the black ichor mist, and swung upward with both hands. The scythe bit deep into the monster’s chest, tearing through rows of eyes in one brutal strike.