Chapter 615 Sanke domain
The children’s cheers faded almost as soon as they began.
The ground trembled.
Not the small tremors from before. The ones that had signaled the arrival of the earlier worms. This was deeper and stronger. The kind of tremor that made the stone beneath their feet vibrate and the trees at the edge of the playground sway.
Alina’s blood went cold.
"Everyone stay on the stone," she whispered. "Don’t move. Don’t—"
The earth split open.
Not in cracks. Not in small fissures.
The entire center of the playground ripped apart, grass and soil and stone flying into the air. The children screamed. Some fell. Some clung to each other. Some stared in frozen horror.
From the darkness below came worms, but not like the ones before. These were faster. Longer. Their bodies were sleeker, more serpentine, their skin darker and slicker, their teeth sharper and more numerous. They shot out of the ground like arrows, their circular mouths spinning, their bodies coiling in the air before slamming back down.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Dozens.
And behind them, the largest one.
It rose from the deepest crack, its body so massive that it blocked out the sun. Its circular mouth was wide enough to swallow the entire stone where the children stood. Its teeth were the size of swords, spinning so fast they created a wind that pulled at Alina’s hair and clothes.
It opened its mouth and lunged toward the children. Toward the stone. Toward everyone.
"NO!" Alina screamed.
She ran toward the monster, her arms outstretched, her bleeding hand reaching for nothing.
She couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t fight it.
She was just a human, and the monster was going to swallow her children.
Tears streamed down her face, tears of despair, of helplessness, of rage.
"PLEASE!" she screamed. "SOMEONE, ANYONE—"
The monster’s mouth came down.
The children screamed.
And Alina’s world went dark.
Meanwhile, Boo had been floating silently behind Miss Clara since she left the playground.
He had seen her walk toward the kindergarten building. He had seen her push open the door. He had seen her disappear inside.
And something about the way she moved, the way she looked back at the children with cold indifference, made Boo follow.
He was a ghost. He could float through walls. He could hide in shadows. He could go where no one else could. And he was going to find out what she was doing.
The kindergarten building was dark and cold. The frozen teachers stood like statues in the hallways, their faces blank, their bodies rigid. Miss Clara walked past them without looking, her dark robes trailing behind her.
Boo followed.
She went to the principal’s office. The door was locked, but she waved her hand, and the lock clicked open. She stepped inside.
Boo floated through the wall and hid behind a bookshelf.
Miss Clara began rummaging through the drawers. Pulling out papers. Throwing them aside. Opening cabinets. Slamming them shut.
"Where is it?" she muttered. "Where is that file?"
She pulled open another drawer and flipped through the contents.
"I need to find it," she hissed. "If I can get the file related to Dante’s domain center area, the political boundaries, the defense layouts, the alliance agreements, I can give it to the Earth Worm King!"
Boo’s eyes widened.
The Earth Worm King?
"He will give me a new bottle," Miss Clara continued, her voice rising with excitement. "Ultimate power potion! Enough to make me stronger than Dante! Stronger than any of them!"
She laughed, a high, sharp, manic laugh.
"I will become so powerful that no one will ever look down on me again! No one will dismiss me! No one will replace me!"
She pulled open another drawer. "WHERE IS IT?!"
Boo pressed himself further into the shadows, his translucent body trembling.
He had to tell someone. He had to warn them. But everyone was frozen. Everyone except Alina. And the children. And the monsters.
Miss Clara pulled open the final drawer and stopped.
"Here you are," she whispered.
She pulled out a thick file folder, its cover stamped with Dante’s official seal.
"The domain center area," she breathed. "All the political boundaries. The defense layouts. The alliance agreements."
She hugged the file to her chest. "The Earth Worm King will be very pleased."
She turned toward the door. Boo held his breath. She walked past his hiding spot. She didn’t see him.
She left the office, her dark robes trailing behind her, the file clutched in her arms.
Boo floated out from behind the bookshelf. His eyes flashed with unknown emotions as he made a decision.
He floated through the wall and followed Miss Clara.
Meanwhile, Vlad Jr. and Luna had been flying for what felt like hours.
The Snake Domain was hidden deep within a valley surrounded by jagged mountains, their peaks lost in low-hanging clouds. The air grew warmer and heavier as they flew closer, thick with the scent of damp earth and something else, something ancient, something that made Vlad Jr.’s tiny bat heart beat faster.
Luna clung to his back, her fingers buried in his fur, her bandaged leg aching with every beat of his wings. She had stopped looking back at the worm monster long ago. It had given up the chase after they reached the rocky terrain, its massive body unable to navigate the sharp boulders and narrow passes. But they couldn’t relax. Not yet.
"Vlad Jr.," Luna said, her voice hoarse. "I see something."
Ahead of them, nestled between two towering cliffs, was a structure unlike anything Luna had ever seen.
The Snake Domain was not a castle or a fortress. It was a series of terraces carved into the mountain itself, each level connected by winding stone staircases that seemed to go on forever. The walls were made of pale gold stone, polished so smooth that they reflected the sun. Pillars shaped like coiled serpents lined the pathways, their stone eyes watching the valley below.
Waterfalls cascaded down the cliffs on either side, their mist creating rainbows that arched over the terraces. Gardens of exotic flowers grew in the spaces between buildings, their petals shimmering in shades of purple and blue and deep crimson. The air was filled with the sound of water and wind and the distant sound of voices.
It was beautiful. It was terrifying.
Vlad Jr. flew lower, his wings slowing as they approached the first terrace. He could see figures moving along the pathways, tall, elegant figures with scales that glinted in the sunlight.
Snake shifters.
They were dressed in robes of silk and linen, their movements fluid and graceful. Some had their scales visible on their arms and necks, patterns of emerald and gold and onyx. Others looked completely human, their serpentine nature hidden beneath flawless skin.
But all of them stopped when they saw Vlad Jr. and Luna approaching.