As he came closer, he was able to get a better look, those monsters hadn’t defined bodies, and their shape was changing at all times. They didn’t look like mist, their skin was refracting what little light pierced through the murk and was flowing like black ink. What are those? Spiders? Some are missing legs while others have too many of them. Under Edward’s gaze, one monster grew another leg before losing another one. Their form is unstable.

Edward sent an aura blade cutting two of the monsters in front of him before continuing with close-range attacks, growing his blades to one and a half meters in length and chopping the creatures apart. Are those the supposed gruesome monsters? Something isn’t right, they are easier to deal with than the spiders. They seem like counterfeit in comparison.

He had finished off all the opponents in front of him and the one behind him hadn’t been able to catch up to him yet. He watched attentively as the enemies he had defeated turned back into mist as if they had never been there in the first place.

So they are not letting me absorb their aura. In the long turn, this could be problematic as it prevents me from quickly recharging my aura and stamina. He frowned. Actually, it’s not even aura. They are made of the same weird energy I saw on Marcellius, something in between aura and mana.

The mist dispersed joining back together with the shroud covering the capital. The mist is absorbing their energy back. The monsters in his back had finally caught up to him. He dispatched them easily. They are too slow and didn’t even have a single ranged attack. They turned into mist as well. Again, their energy is recycled. He narrowed his eyes. But there is some loss as well. Roughly I would say sixty percent of their energy is gathered back, the rest is turning into mana increasing the already high mana density. Those things are nothing more than cannon fodder.

Additional monsters condensed from the mist all around Edward, the phenomenon growing in size. How many are there this time? Thirty? Forty? The first spider rushed at Edward. And they looked less blurry this time. This one even has the right number of legs. The mist is probing me. This feels like a waste to deal with them. What’s the point if more of them can come at any time and if killing them has a minimal impact? It’s better to ditch them for now.

Edward didn’t use his acceleration, saving his energy, and run away using only the strength of his physical body. He would have rather used his teleportation but since the range of his aura was limited at thirty meters so was his teleportation, which was quite underwhelming compared to his usual range of five hundred meters. However, by now his usual speed wasn’t to be underestimated, he left deep grooves into the paved streets quickly losing the monsters after him.

Where to go? I should check if there are any survivors first. If they have survived until now, I’m sure they must have been able to gather interesting pieces of information.

Edward left the streets to jump onto a building, running from roof to room instead. Let’s check the palace first. It should be one of the buildings with the best defense and an obvious choice for dispersed guards to gather.

As he was running farther inside the mist, Edward heard a faint buzzing that soon turned into undecipherable whispers. No matter how much he focused on them they always seemed to be just out of reach. Edward was growing increasingly uneasy as the whispers seemed to have no point of origin coming from everywhere at the same time. They kept increasing in intensity while somehow staying unintelligible. He could sense madness physically gnawing at his mind.

He stopped in his tracks. After everything I experienced, I’m not supposed to lose my cool with mere whispers. Anger surged within him. They are attempting to fuck with my mind again. Having encountered opponents like the Mare Irae and the one-eyed creeps he was now familiar with mind attacks and he reacted immediately, swiftly forming an aura armor all over his body preventing external influence to reach him. The whispers ceased.

Edward continued further on while grumbling internally. Always trying to mess with my mind. Don’t they have something better to do?

As he jumped over a street, he noticed that survivors were still fighting for their life. Due to the mist, he only noticed them when he was already quite close. He was able to hear their shouts but the shift was abrupt. One moment it was perfect silence and the next he was hearing their battle cries. This mist is suppressing sounds as well. No wonder it is as silent as a tomb.

Two knights were struggling against a dozen black centipedes. The creatures were the same fluid black as the spiders he had fought but they look a lot more defined, they weren’t missing any limbs and appeared a lot nimbler. One knight had already fallen under their assaults and the two survivors were attempting to fall back. Edward saw the knight on the right swing his sword imbued with aura at a centipede. The monster didn’t have any aura armor but the blade failed to cut him apart, only causing a five-centimeter cut. Edward’s eyes widened in surprise. They can endure aura attacks even without armor?! It’s the first time I’m seeing a monster able to achieve this feat. And those knights are no joke either, from the strength of their aura they should be at the predator level.

Seeing the knights getting pushed back even more, Edward didn’t lose any time and teleported right next to them. His daggers flashed with concentrated aura, growing to three meters in length. He sliced one of the centipedes in two. I can feel resistance. Such an attack should have been able to cut them apart like butter but instead, it’s only enough to deal with one at a time.

The knights almost jumped in surprise seeing Edward materialize next to them, but seeing his actions they realized he was an ally. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. Edward used his acceleration to deal with the centipedes, he didn’t want the fight to drag on lest other monsters joined in. The monsters the knights had been barely holding on against were decimated within seconds with Edward joining the fray.

Just like the others most of their energy is getting recycled by the mist. This is so annoying. He turned to face the survivors. “Let’s get out of there.” We need to find a safe place if such a thing even exists while in this mist. At worst a temporary shelter will do, I need to learn what they know.

While they were putting distance with the location of the fight, Edward noticed that the two knights were wearing an amulet as part of their equipment. The amulet was glowing in a faint white light which might have gone unnoticed in the middle of the day but which drew the eye inside such a downcast and grim environment. The capital looked more like a ghost town than anything else.

The group didn’t go too far in fear of running head-on into other groups of monsters. They hid on the second floor of an empty house. One of them is injured. Remnant energy is preventing him to heal.

“Please come over here,” Edward asked pressing his hand against the knight’s chest plate as he approached. He sent a wave of aura washing over the remnant foreign energy.

“Thank you,” the knight said sensing what had happened. “Are you at the patriarch level? I don’t recognize you and I haven’t heard about anyone else having reached this level,” he added in shock.

Edward nodded. “Yes, I reached this stage not that long ago. I met with the Vega family as they escaped and learned the news. I came here as soon as I was ready. What is the situation? From what they told me I wasn’t expecting any survivors except for the patriarchs. But from what I’m seeing right now even if those monsters are strong, they are not at a level where you aren’t able to deal with them while having three patriarchs within the city.”

The knights sighed, the one who hadn’t spoken until now answered. “The monsters we were fighting are not the strongest of the bunch. Other things out there are much worse. But to be honest those monsters are not the sole problem. The mist had cut off our perception, we are barely able to see up to ten meters in that pea-supper.”

Ten meters? It’s much worse than for me. And they are at the predator stage. It means anyone below that level is essentially blind.

“Our attempts to gather our force got trampled from the start. We were a whole garrison but a six legs panther the size of a house barreled through us as if were nothing more than tin toys. We first attempted to harass it, but by the time we got back up half of our comrades lay dead. We had no other choice but to retreat.”

He gritted his teeth. “We killed the monsters that were at our level but they just keep coming. All we managed was to lose our comrades one by one. Even when we chose to hide to recover, those monsters managed to find us before long, forcing us to flee once more. Ever since we are roaming between abandoned houses attempting to reach the palace without getting seen.”

The other one continued in a low voice. “That’s not all. People turned crazy. Most of the citizens were prostrated paralyzed by fear, unable to flee even when monsters were tearing them apart. Even our own comrades became mad, first the ones at the awaken stage and then even those at the predator rank. I saw from my own eyes an adventurer from the Potentia family threw himself in the maw of a waiting monster while laughing.”

He shook his head and then hold his glowing pendant in his hand. “Honestly, I think we were saved only because of those pendants. It is part of the outfit of all knights from the emperor’s guard. Who knew it had the ability to protect us from this madness?”

“Can you let me see it?” Edward asked, he hadn’t deactivated his aura armor from the time he had heard the whispers. Taking the medallion in his hand he watched it carefully. The green tree depicted on it is in the Damkinan style. I can sense runes hidden inside. Did the empire inherit part of the Damkinan legacy? This must have been something they engineered not long before their fall.

“Keep those pendants preciously. I believe you are right, the medallions keep you protected from this invading madness.” Edward continued. “Do you have any news about the patriarchs and their location?”

The guards answered negatively. “We got completely isolated from the others. Those monsters separated our forces and with that unnatural mist it is extremely difficult to pool together.” His voice trembled slightly. “We thought they would be able to take care of this problem at first, but as more days passed without resolution, I fear the worst. Your best hope is the palace for the emperor. As for the patriarchs of the noble families I can’t stay if they chose to shelter in their mansion or to join with the emperor.”