THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

Everyone froze when they suddenly saw the figure look in their direction. Its two eyeballs were pitch black, darker than night and two streams of blood flowed down from them, staining her pale face that had pulsating veins showing under its skin.

The figure tilted its head at a very unnatural angle while still looking at them.

"I.SEE…YOU,"

Swoosh!!

Immediately after saying this in its voice that was similar to that of multiple people, it vanished, only to appear right in front of the group; it was standing on the half structure that Ivan had used as coverage for them with its single bloody lump, its pitch black eyes gazed down on them.

"I.CAN.NOT.HEAR.YOU,"

It said again while tilting its head from side to side. Ivan, Ralph, Glen, Clint, and Karin were as frozen as sculptures, they didn't even dare to breathe too loud.

They could all feel it, this creature…was not something that they could deal with. This was especially true for Ivan, who had met with the one-eyed priestess before; he could tell that the priestess would die a miserable death if she were to face whatever this creature was.

They stared still for several minutes before someone finally moved, it was Clint!

He suddenly took a step to the side. The moment he took that step, the creature vanished from on top of the structure and appeared in front of him. Its head stretched forward, and its face was right in front of Clint's face; those pitch-black eyes seemed to be piercing through his soul.

Ivan and the others were confused and startled by their careless action. Clint wasn't someone who did things irrationally, and they had confirmed this during their first mission to the dreamscape, so why would he suddenly make such a suicidal attempt at such a critical moment?

Clint also froze; his red eyelashes connected so no one could see his eyes, but they could read the expression on his face.

It was an expression of relieved realization.

He paused for a few seconds before he resumed moving again, the head of the creature moved along with him as it continued to repeat its previous lines. Strangely enough, it didn't do anything to Clint and just followed him.

Thud!

Thud!

It hopped on its single bloody lump and followed Clint while staring at him intently, dragging the chain and another lump along.

One of the most troubling things about this creature was that the chains didn't make any noise even when it dragged them, one would not be able to tell when it was approaching them from behind if the creature decided to dash; its speed was already so ridiculous that it looked like it was vanishing even to Ivan who was the strongest amongst them.

Ivan, Ralph, Glen, and Karin all stared at Clint with wide eyes when they saw that the creature wasn't attacking him and just followed behind him.

The red-haired boy made a shushing gesture when he saw them, signaling for them not to speak.

He walked over and bent down before scribbling something on the ground, the creature was right behind him and was staring at the back of his head while saying its favorite lines.

The feeling was very uncomfortable, but Clint had to bear with it unless he was confident of defeating the monster.

After a few seconds of writing something on the ground with his fingers, Clint gestured for the group to take a look.

With curious and cautious expressions, the four of them bent their bodies to take a look; their eyes narrowed when they saw what Clint had written on the ground.

"Don't make a sound, stay as quiet as possible. I know this monster.

I read about it in an old book that used to belong to my father, it's called The Herald of Silence,"

The four finished reading it and then turned to look at Clint, they wanted to ask who his father was but couldn't speak.

After seeing that they had finished reading it, he wiped the writings off and wrote something else on it. This time, it took him longer than before to finish writing everything.

He looked at them after he was done. The four took a look, and their expressions changed.

What Clint had written down was information about the herald of silence that he had gotten from his father's book.

It said that the herald of silence was a very powerful creature that could go against three Half supreme-ranked Nexulytes without falling into a disadvantage and was very aggressive.

But one thing about it was that it only attacked things that made sounds. The instant you made a sound, the herald of silence would attack you relentlessly and wouldn't stop until it made sure you were dead; the thing would chase you across the world just to finish you off!

(The sounds that he was referring to were vocal sounds.)

But this did not mean that it only had a sense of hearing; it could also see perfectly; in fact, even better than most powerful creatures, but it wouldn't attack you just after seeing you.

Another troubling thing about it was that it would tail any moving creature without attacking and just observe the creature until the other party made a sound, it was like a vengeful assassin spirit that stalked whatever it saw and could move!

The group had strange expressions on their faces as they understood what this meant, they would have to continue from here on with this herald of silence unless they could find a way to get rid of it.

Ivan bent down and wrote something on the ground, it read.

"It would be unpleasant to have it follow us around, but we don't have a choice; it's fine as long as it doesn't attack us; its presence might also scare away other creatures."

The others read this and nodded, Ivan then wrote that they should avoid talking for now and use sign language to communicate. They were not professionals at sign language but they knew enough to hold basic conversations as there was no need for irrelevant words.

The others nodded, and just like that. The group started to move on to their original part, but this time, they had a new member in their group, the herald of silence that hopped behind them while staring at the back of the five with its black eyes.

As expected, the feeling of being followed by such a creature was very uncomfortable and the group could not help turning to look back every few seconds. Thankfully, what Clint had written seemed to be true as the herald of silence only followed and didn't attack.

They passed through several buildings and crossed several streets within half an hour. Then, trouble finally found them.

BOOM!

A loud noise that shook the ground was heard as a gigantic monster landed on one of the tall structures around the group.

It was a huge four-legged monster with the body of a lion and the head of a snake. It had two little bat-like wings that were almost easily overlooked because of how small they were, but they could surprisingly carry the weight of the monster.

Hisss!!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The monster was several meters tall, and the tall structure looked like a small tree stump under its body; it twisted its snake head and hissed at the group.

All of them stopped and looked at the monster on top of the building; they then turned and looked at the herald of silence behind them; the creature still did not move, so it was safe to say it didn't consider the hissing of the monster as a 'sound'.

"I.SEE.YOU….I.CAN.NOT.HEAR.YOU,"

The herald of silence was still reciting its lines even while it followed behind them.

Glen and Karin were already sweating profusely from the nature of the situation they were in, Ralph and Clint had frowns on their faces. Only Ivan had a calm expression when he looked at the monster on top of the building.

While the others felt that it was strong, Ivan could feel that it was only as strong as the champions of the one-eyed priestess, which he was already capable of killing while he was still a partial Lord.

Without waiting for the monster to attack them first, Ivan moved his hand and a card appeared in it.

He tossed the card and it changed into a burst of light particles that condensed into a long golden sword.

Ivan grabbed the sword in the air before looking back at the gigantic monster.

He inhaled softly before suddenly slashing out.

BOOM!

Swish!

Air exploded as a dazzling golden sword wave shot out toward the monster.

Space seemed to distort around the wave and ripples appeared wherever it passed as it approached the monster on top of the building.

The monster hissed at the incoming golden sword wave and tried to fly away; its small bat wings flapped forcefully and caused the air around it to explode as it rose into the air, but it was too slow compared to the golden sword wave.

Swish!

Spurt!