Monarch Chapter 183 (Patreon)

Chapter 183

The moment the sonic wave struck the outer wall, panic surged through Rayne.

The entire mansion shook violently around him as ancient stone groaned under the force of the impact.

Cracks raced across the walls, dust burst from the ceiling in thick clouds, and pieces of masonry rained down from above. One of the massive pillars standing to his left split down the middle with a deafening crack, and for a horrifying second, it looked as though the entire thing was about to collapse directly on top of him.

Rayne didn't wait to find out.

Throwing himself forward, he sprinted toward the nearest staircase just as part of the pillar gave way.

Chunks of stone smashed into the floor behind him, scattering debris across the corridor and sending vibrations through the already unstable structure.

Every instinct screamed at him to stop and wait for the mansion to settle, but he couldn't afford that luxury.

Outside, the furious cries of the razorwings echoed endlessly through the ruins, while the building itself continued trembling beneath the strain of the attacks.

Unfortunately, the collapsing mansion wasn't the only thing making noise.

"We're going to die!" Weskins shouted from Rayne's back. "This is exactly how people die!"

"Shut up!" Rayne snapped while taking the stairs three at a time.

The old alchemist immediately stopped talking.

"If you keep screaming like that, they're going to know exactly where we are. Keep your mouth closed and your potions ready in case—"

The rest of the warning never left his mouth.

The staircase ahead suddenly shook. A web of cracks spread across the wall beside them, and before Rayne could react, something burst through it.

Stone exploded inward.

Half of a razorwing's body forced itself into the stairwell, smashing through the ancient wall in a shower of debris. The creature clearly couldn't fit completely through the opening, but that didn't stop it from spotting them instantly.

Golden eyes locked onto Rayne. Its jaws opened wide, and the familiar vibration rippled through its throat.

Rayne reacted without hesitation.

Death mana surged through his sword as he swung. A dark arc of energy crossed the short distance between them and slammed directly into the monster's open mouth. The razorwing shrieked, but it was already too late.

Its sonic attack discharged at the exact moment the death mana struck.

The resulting explosion filled the entire stairwell.

Rayne barely had time to raise his strapped shield before the blast hit. The force threw him backward into the wall behind him, sending cracks through the stone and knocking the breath from his lungs. Debris rained down from every direction, bouncing off his armor and shield while dust filled the air.

Behind him, Weskins cried out in pain. "Fuck my back! I broke my fucking bones!"

Rayne pushed himself upright while coughing through the dust.

"Drink a health potion."

"What?"

"Drink a health potion. We need to keep moving."

Fortunately, the old man listened, and while Weskins fumbled for a potion, Rayne looked ahead.

The razorwing was dead.

Its body hung awkwardly through the shattered wall, blackened flesh surrounding the massive wound in its throat. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noticed a system notification trying to grab his attention, but he ignored it immediately. There was no time for it.

A much bigger problem stood in front of him.

The explosion had destroyed a large section of the staircase.

The path ahead had become a gap several meters wide, with only the remains of the broken stairs clinging to either side.

For a moment, Rayne considered searching for another route.

Then he dismissed the thought. There wasn't time. Every second they spent here increased the chances of the razorwings finding them.

Without slowing down, he broke into a sprint.

"What are you doing?" Weskins asked.

Rayne didn't answer.

The dead razorwing's wings had fallen across part of the gap during the explosion. As he reached the edge, he planted one foot onto the leathery surface and pushed off with all the strength he could muster.

The world dropped away beneath them.

Weskins screamed. Rayne focused entirely on the opposite side. A second later, his boots struck solid ground.

The impact nearly sent him stumbling forward, but he managed to regain his balance and immediately continued running through the upper corridors before the old alchemist could finish his latest round of complaints.

The mansion became stranger the higher they climbed.

Entire sections of the upper floors had been transformed into nesting grounds. Walls had been broken apart, ceilings torn open, and rooms that once belonged to the wealthy had become homes for monsters.

Large nests filled chamber after chamber, constructed from branches, vines, bones, and whatever other materials the razorwings had gathered over the years.

As Rayne moved through the corridors, he caught glimpses of enormous eggs resting within many of those nests.

Some rooms contained only a few. Others contained dozens.

The eggs were surprisingly large, nearly reaching his waist in height, and their dark patterned shells stood out against the tangled vegetation surrounding them.

"They'd sell for a fortune," Weskins muttered after spotting one cluster.

Rayne snorted. "You're welcome to try carrying them."

The old alchemist studied the eggs for a moment. Then he looked toward the holes in the walls where razorwings occasionally flew past.

"... On second thought, maybe not."

Rayne grunted at that and slowly, he felt a small amount of confidence returning.

The interior actually favored them.

The razorwings had realised that they couldn't attack freely without risking their own nests and eggs. Outside, the creatures continued screaming in frustration, but their most destructive attacks had become far less useful now that they were protecting their offspring.

That single fact was probably the only reason Rayne and Weskins were still alive.

Even so, caution remained necessary.

More than once, Rayne was forced to stop and press himself against a wall as shadows passed across nearby openings. Through gaps in the structure, he occasionally spotted razorwings perched on ruined ledges or circling just beyond the broken walls.

Whenever one came too close, he froze completely.

Several times, a razorwing's golden eyes swept across the room only a short distance away. Each encounter lasted mere seconds, yet every one felt far longer as Rayne waited for the creature to move on.

Fortunately, none of them spotted him.

Once the danger passed, he continued forward.

Hallway after hallway disappeared behind them as they climbed deeper into the upper levels of the mansion. The cries of the razorwings echoed continuously through the broken structure, mixing with the creaking of old house and the distant sounds of collapse.

The mansion seemed to stretch endlessly, but eventually Rayne caught something different through a gap in the ruined ceiling.

A faint red glow appeared above them.

He slowed for only a moment, just enough to confirm what he was seeing. Bloodroot blossoms were growing on the floor above, their distinctive crimson petals visible between broken stone and tangled vegetation.

They were finally at their destination.

"One more floor," Rayne muttered. Then he looked toward Weskins. "We won't have more than ten seconds once we reach them. Get as many as you can, and then we're leaving."

Weskins immediately snorted.

"Do you think this is a game? Ten seconds is nothing. I need at least a minute if you want me to collect enough of them."

Rayne frowned. "A minute?"

"You need to be delicate when harvesting bloodroot. The stem is extremely fragile, and if I damage it, the entire plant becomes useless." Weskins sounded almost offended by the suggestion that he could simply run in and start tearing the herbs apart. "I'm an alchemist, not some idiot ripping flowers out of the ground."

Rayne clicked his tongue in annoyance, but there wasn't much he could do about it. If Weskins damaged the herbs, the entire journey would have been pointless, so he simply continued forward.

The final staircase eventually came into view.

Rayne climbed it quickly, and as his head emerged above the last step, he finally saw them.

The bloodroot blossoms grew in abundance across what remained of the mansion's rooftop.

Their crimson petals stood out vividly against the gray stone, each flower growing from thick, dark stems intertwined with vines and patches of moss. Several clusters had taken root directly beside an enormous razorwing nest, while others had spread across the broken staircase and along the remnants of what had once been the rooftop garden.

Much of the roof no longer existed. There was nothing above them except open sky.

And the razorwings.

Dozens of the creatures continued circling in the distance, their silhouettes moving against the sky as they searched the ruined mansion for him.

Rayne stared at the scene for only a moment before speaking.

"Get out and harvest as much as you can. If any of these flying fuckers come at us, I'll deal with them."

Weskins was already moving before he said that.

He cut through some of the vines, allowing the old alchemist to carefully slip free from Rayne's back. He landed on the stone with a groan, then immediately stretched his legs as though he had just been released from imprisonment.

"Finally."

Rayne ignored him and moved ahead.

Weskins hurried toward the nearest cluster of bloodroot blossoms, pulling several tools from his belt as he crouched beside the plants.

Rayne positioned himself between the alchemist and the open sky, sword already in hand.

For several seconds, nothing happened, and Weskins began harvesting.

Rayne glanced toward him and noticed a faint glow surrounding the old man's hands whenever he touched one of the bloodroot stems.

Probably a skill, Rayne thought. But he didn't have enough time to think further.

A sharp cry suddenly echoed across the rooftop.

Rayne looked up, and saw that three razorwings had noticed them.

He pushed death mana through his sword as the creatures broke away from their circling formation and began descending toward them.

Rayne prepared for the sonic attack, but the monsters suddenly changed their approach.

His eyes flicked toward the nest beside him, and he noticed three enormous eggs resting within it on the side, mostly hidden by branches.

The razorwings had clearly realized that using their sound wave so close to the nest could destroy their own offspring.

Instead, they folded their wings and dove.

Their bodies became little more than dark projectiles as they descended toward Rayne with terrifying speed.

Rayne swung his sword. Arcs of death energy tore through the air, several black blades of mana shooting toward the incoming creatures.

The razorwings twisted sharply.

One attack passed beneath the first creature, another narrowly missed the second, and the third monster dipped its body at the last possible moment.

Rayne sent another series of death-mana arcs toward the descending razorwings, but the creatures maneuvered through them with surprising precision. They twisted their bodies in midair, slipping between the attacks as though they had already anticipated where each strike would land.

For the first time, Rayne genuinely wondered what he was supposed to do.

Then two arrows came from somewhere behind him.

The first struck one razorwing across the neck, followed almost immediately by another arrow that grazed the second creature in the same spot. Neither wound was particularly serious, but the sudden impact disrupted their flight for just long enough.

Rayne seized the opportunity.

He swung his sword again, sending two concentrated arcs of death mana toward the injured monsters. This time, he focused far more carefully, remembering the training he had gone through during the march and pushed the decay property into the mana.

It wasn't really a matter of pushing the mana harder. It was closer to wanting it to behave in a particular way.

He allowed the decay property to seep into the attacks before releasing them.

The two strikes hit their targets directly.

The dark energy tore into the razorwings' bodies, leaving deep wounds behind and the mana continued lingering within their flesh. Their momentum immediately faltered, and both creatures began tumbling toward the ground.

Unfortunately, the third razorwing had already closed the distance.

Rayne barely had time to turn before he saw its beak opening wide.

Behind him, Weskins let out a startled cry.

He reacted on instinct, releasing another arc of death mana. It was weaker than the previous attacks, but it struck the razorwing directly in the face.

But the creature barely slowed.

It continued its dive, closing the remaining distance between them in an instant. Then its massive beak snapped shut around Rayne.

And everything went dark.

***