After defeating the snail, Edward continued on his way progressing deeper inside the capital. By now the buildings bordering the streets had turned into mansions with their own internal courtyards, the streets were larger and one could see occasional public establishments. I have reached the posh area. I’m getting closer. Even while staying discreet and even if he couldn’t rely on his teleportation due to the low visibility, he was moving quickly.

By limiting himself to running on the roofs and avoiding the streets he had been able to avoid numerous confrontations with monsters. He had been surprised by the diversity of the monsters present. There were more of those centipedes, but also six-legged lizards the size of a bear, something that looked like a troll, and even manticores, with the body of a lion, the wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion.

However, avoiding most monsters still meant he wasn’t able to shirk from all fights. He had to take care of a group of flying monsters that had managed to spot him. They had been a gaggle of single-flying eyes surrounded by a mass of darkness that behaved like short tentacles. They were able to shoot bolts of condensed darkness, but they had proved relatively weak and Edward had been able to dispose of them by spraying them with needles made with his aura.

The mansions may look more fashionable but they are in the same state as the rest of the city. This area hadn’t been spared from the Andherians’ invasion. The streets were deserted, holes were present on the facades, and doors and grates alike were smashed.

After a few minutes, Edward stood on a mansion roof with a big plaza laying under him with several large streets leading to it. A big fountain was situated in the middle of the plaza with the statue of a maiden holding a vase from which the water was pouring. Wait I know this place. If I trust the map this should be Navona Plaza. If I follow this alley, it should lead straight to the palace. I’m quite close by now, without this mist I should be able to see the palace from here.

Edward jumped down, however, he only had taken a few steps when the mist started to swivel above him, whirling increasingly faster while accumulating mist and condensing it in its center. Okay… I can assume I have been spotted. Though what kind of monster is getting created to need so much mist? Those weak spiders’ imitations I fought when first entering the mist manifested almost instantly.

Edward stood ready for a fight, and after five seconds the whirlwind subdued revealing the newly created monster. Edward’s eyes flashed with shock. An Arachne, those fuckers can create an Arachne at will! This one was entirely black from its hair to the tip of its sharp legs. Edward still remembered the tough fight where his life had been on the line and he immediately used his acceleration. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. This marked the start of the fight.

The Arachne swung its clawed arm at Edward, the mist condensing into dark blades that flew at him. It can’t use aura but it’s relying on the mist energy instead. Edward rushed at the spider, jumping above its attacks and running in the air thanks to his aura steps. The Arachne raised on its hind legs, welcoming Edward with its two arms endings with claws and its two front legs as sharps as spears. Edward teleported behind the monster and turn on himself his blades slashing at the monster’s tough body and leaving only a slight injury. Tch. A clean hit like that should have bisected it in two. Those mist monsters don’t have aura armor but their body sure is tough.

The spider turned as well, sending mist blades at Edward. However, thanks to his breakthrough into the patriarch stage, Edward was now faster than the Arachne. He sidestepped, avoiding the retaliation and slashing one of the spider’s legs in the process. Its body may be incredibly tough but its legs are not thick enough to resist a hit. The next instant Edward teleported again. I may have a two seconds delay between teleportation but that’s no longer the case while inside my domain.

He appeared in front of the Arachne at its head level, his two daggers crossed and formed the shape of a scissor. Edward impacted the spider, his blade cutting through the monster’s neck from each side. The Arachne tried to rip him to pieces, its arms and legs charged with mist energy but Edward was gone, having teleported again. The furious counterattack ran through empty air before reaching a mansion causing it to collapse. Two deep grooves were left in the spider’s neck from Edward’s attempt at beheading it.

Even if it hadn’t been beheaded a normal monster should have been killed from blood loss alone. This thing is reacted as if it’s not affected at all. No blood was leaking from the monster’s injuries but mist was indeed flowing out of it. Edward charged his daggers with aura and fired a two-meter-long aura blade. The Arachne rushed at Edward easily avoiding his attack, but at this distance, it was within the ten-meter radius sphere that was his domain. Edward teleported the monster back right in front of the aura blade that it had so easily avoided. The blade impacted its already injured neck and cut right through it. The flying head dissolved into mist before falling to the ground. The fight had lasted less than a minute.

Okay, I may have overestimated it a tad. Or rather I underestimated my progress. I’m not the same as before, I have reached the patriarch stage now. It’s hard to keep track of my progress sometimes. Things keep happening and they keep pushing me forward. With increasingly stronger opponents it feels like I’m not making any progress at all but being able to tear right through previously dangerous enemies sure brings things into perspective. I still think I did the right choice by going all out and not giving it any chance. Such a fast monster in a no-visibility environment like this one would be a nightmare to deal with. That giant snail was already bad enough, I don’t need to add another powerful monster waiting to ambush me.

Edward deactivated his acceleration. Roughly forty percent of the Arachne energy is getting absorbed back by the mist. The rest of the energy is getting added to the mana density. The mana density within the mist is higher than on the outside but with monsters of this level dying, I would have expected the mana density of the region to be a lot higher than it is right now. He frowned. Is the mist still able to absorb the remnant energy but only at a slower rate? I really need to get rid of this mist. He paused thinking. I may have an idea but I’m afraid there wouldn’t be much of the capital left after that. It may still be worth it. After all, the capital has no value if we are not able to exterminate the monsters occupying it.

Let’s go before I have to deal with any more of those monsters. I shouldn’t be far now. Edward ran at good speed although he didn’t move as fast as he could. The visibility was too bad and he was afraid of running head-first into a monster before he had the time to react if he used his top speed.

Finally, he was able to take a look at the palace. It was a sprawling edifice, showing off white marble and gold-plated high reliefs. The many decorations seemed to be retelling the story of the empire, with generations of heroes vanquishing monsters and armies alike and bringing back the spoils of victories.

However, all of these displays looked rather bleak and vain under the dark mist covering everything. The palace looked as dead as the rest of the city. If anything, the destruction looked more pronounced than in other districts. Not only were walls and statues broken but there were also charred surfaces.

There wouldn’t be that much damage if the monsters had simply strolled through this place. There must have been heavy resistance for this place to end up like that. It looks abandoned now, I hope the ones defending it have managed to flee away.

Edward entered tentatively inside the edifice, staying on guard in case hiding monsters ambushed him. He walked through the main entrance, the massive bronze doors that used to block the way had been blasted apart. One lay on the ground while the other was tilted, half of its hinges torn apart.

Whatever caused this must have been quite strong. Those doors look like they weigh a ton.

The inside of the palace had been well decorated with a red carpet covering the ground and paintings as well as vases and flowers embellishing the corridor. The vases and flowers had been thrown on the ground, broken and trampled, and the carpet itself was torn and covered with holes, however, most of the paintings were intact.

The damage is less here than on the outside. It seems like the force keeping the palace decided to retreat once the doors were forced apart. I guess this makes sense, in this world the emperor is more than able to protect himself. Why fight a losing battle when you can escape and come back when the situation is more favorable? I hope he is still alive. With the level of the monsters I fought until now, a patriarch should be strong enough to escape. But I don’t know the strength of the first wave. If I got surrounded by ten Arachnes the situation would have been delicate.

Edward walked further inside, relying on his aura senses to explore not only what he was able to see but also the adjacent rooms. Reaching a junction, he saw that one piece of tapestry had been torn apart and a message had been written on the wall with charcoal in big capital letters.

TO WHOEVER READS THIS DON’T LOSE ALL HOPE

THE PALACE MAY HAVE FALLEN BUT THE EMPEROR STILL LIVE

WE FELL BACK TO THE REGALIS ESTATE

MEET US THERE

So much for getting to the palace first. At least I have the confirmation that the emperor is still alive. Now where is this estate again? Let’s see, it shouldn’t be that far. All the families chose to establish themselves in the capital center where all the political power is gathered. If I remember correctly, the Regalis estate is to the northwest compared to the palace.

Edward begrudgingly left the palace, he had expected to find the patriarch gathered here, but now he had to cross through the capital infested with dangerous monsters once more.