Chapter 139: instability
Chapter 139: instability
The enormous protective formation surrounding the kingdom’s capital had begun to weaken.Amon felt it before Theron finished speaking.
The pressure that had always surrounded the capital changed.
For most people, the barrier was nothing more than a faint dome visible during the night.
To Amon’s senses, it had always been much more.
Layers of energy.
Interlocking formations.
Thousands of individual nodes working together to create one continuous defensive structure.
Now those layers were collapsing.
Not instantly.
One by one.
Theron rushed toward the nearest formation panel.
His hands moved across the symbols.
"Primary energy flow has stopped."
The commander looked upward.
"How long do we have?"
Theron did not answer.
"Theron."
"Minutes."
The commander’s face changed.
"How many?"
"I don’t know!"
Theron slammed both hands against the formation panel.
"It was never designed to operate independently."
Amon looked at the sealed gate.
The system remained open.
[Ancient Prison Transfer Gate sealed.]
[Barrier energy supply interrupted.]
[Estimated capital barrier stability: 63%.]
Then 62%.
Amon’s eyes narrowed.
"Why was the barrier drawing power from this gate?"
Theron shook his head.
"We didn’t know it was."
"Someone knew."
Amon looked toward the collapsed vessels.
The foreign entity had known exactly what would happen.
Which meant this situation had been prepared long before tonight.
The commander turned toward the exit.
"I need to mobilize the walls."
Amon stopped him.
"Against what?"
The man looked back.
"The Night Crawlers."
"They’re dead."
"The dens you reached are dead."
The commander corrected him.
"There are other regions."
Amon’s Danger Sense reacted.
East.
North.
South.
Several distant directions.
Not immediate threats.
Movement.
Large movements.
Amon’s expression hardened.
"They already know."
Theron looked toward him.
"Know what?"
"The barrier is weakening."
The commander stared.
"How could they know this quickly?"
Amon looked at the gate.
"They were waiting."
Silence.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
The dens Amon had destroyed were only part of the corrupted network.
If other creatures had been positioned farther away, they could have been waiting for exactly this moment.
The system flashed.
[Capital barrier stability: 57%.]
Amon turned.
"Go."
The commander did not need another instruction.
He ran.
Theron followed.
Amon remained behind.
His attention settled on the gate.
The foreign vessels had collapsed.
Twenty-two empty hosts.
Eleven living ones.
The living bodies were unconscious, but breathing.
The black fate threads had disappeared the instant the gate closed.
Amon looked toward the sealed surface.
"System."
[Master.]
"Can Gate Control reconnect the barrier without opening the gate?"
A pause.
[Analyzing.]
Amon waited.
[Possible.]
His eyes sharpened.
"How?"
[Current gate structure contains multiple functions.]
[Traversal.]
[Containment.]
[Energy transfer.]
[Master currently possesses partial authority over all three.]
"Then restore energy transfer."
[Warning.]
[Existing barrier connection is integrated into the prison’s external network.]
Amon frowned.
"Meaning?"
[Reconnecting the original flow may expose the capital to foreign prison influence.]
That was unacceptable.
"What about creating a separate connection?"
[Possible.]