Chapter 424: The Night the Serpents Burned
As Julian’s arrows rained down from above, those on the ground already sensed the looming catastrophe.
The battlefield shifted in an instant. Moments earlier, the monstrous beasts had charged with terrifying momentum. Now, one by one, they began to retreat. With a flicker of distortion, the shapeshifters reverted to their original forms—massive serpents—bolting for the exits in a frenzied stampede. A chain reaction followed. In a heartbeat, the entire pit was filled with over a hundred thousand Blackscale Serpents.
Their sudden emergence crushed the scattered fire oil pouches on the ground, dousing their enormous bodies in volatile liquid.
"Sigil of the Wild Legion... Suppress!"
A rune of earthen-yellow light manifested above Ethan’s head. Its glow splintered into thousands of threads of shimmering energy, covering the entire sand pit. The serpents, just beginning to flee, were forced back to the ground by invisible pressure. The sky above them flashed—and roared.
Then came the arrows.
Hundreds of thousands of fire-wreathed arrows materialized in midair, as if summoned from the ether. The sand pit was bathed in their light, each shaft a tongue of fire hurtling downward.
They were no longer arrows.
They were fire incarnate.
When the blazing bolts struck the serpents, the flames ignited in full force. Whoosh! A towering inferno surged skyward. The shrieks began immediately.
"Ahhh! No! Help! Let me out!"
Inside the pit, the serpents writhed in pain. Bathed in fire oil, they thrashed wildly, rolling in the sand to no avail. One might have smothered the flames alone—but in this frenzy, any extinguished fire was quickly reignited by another flaming body crashing into it. It was chaos, a chain of self-destruction fueled by panic and fire.