Chapter 619 Bloodthirsty
Dante’s shadows shot forward, wrapping around the worm king’s body, pulling it back. The creature thrashed, its teeth spinning, its massive body slamming into the ground with enough force to crack stone.
"DRAGON WARRIORS!" Dante shouted. "BURN IT!"
The king and his warriors stepped forward. Fire erupted from their mouths, great streams of flame that hit the worm king’s body. The creature screamed, but it didn’t stop. It pushed through the fire, its skin charring but not breaking.
"WOLF WARRIORS! FLANKS!" Dante commanded.
Alpha Ryker and his pack charged, their teeth sinking into the worm king’s sides. The creature bucked, throwing several wolves off, but they kept attacking, kept biting, kept tearing.
"VAMPIRE KNIGHTS! WEAKEN IT!" Dante ordered.
Count Vladimir raised his hand, and the vampire knights attacked. Dark energy shot from their palms, hitting the worm king’s wounds, trying to drain its strength.
The creature laughed. A horrible, grinding sound that echoed across the playground like grinding bones.
"Foolish," it hissed. "You think your little bites can hurt me?"
Its body slammed into the ground again, and the earth split open wider. More worms poured out. Smaller ones, faster ones, their teeth spinning, their bodies coiling like spring-loaded traps.
The warriors fought them off, but the worm king kept moving.
It lunged toward Alina.
Dante’s shadows caught it again, pulling it back, but the creature was stronger than before. Its body had grown. Its teeth had multiplied. It was feeding on the chaos, on the fear, on the darkness that bled from every corner of the battlefield.
"You can’t stop me," the worm king hissed. "I have been eating children for centuries. Their screams fuel me. Their terror makes me stronger."
Dante’s eyes blazed with fury at his words.
"You won’t eat anyone ever again," he said ruthlessly.
He raised his hands.
His shadows surged. Not weak and flickering this time, but full of rage, full of power, full of everything he had left to give. The shadows wrapped around the worm king’s throat like a noose.
The creature choked.
"NOW!" Dante shouted.
King Orin shifted, his serpentine body coiling around the worm king’s massive form. His scales cut into the creature’s skin, drawing black blood that steamed in the cold night air.
"DRAGON WARRIORS! AGAIN!" Dante commanded.
Fire erupted once more, lighting up the night sky.
"WOLF WARRIORS! AGAIN!"
Teeth sank deeper into the creature’s flesh.
"VAMPIRE KNIGHTS! AGAIN!"
Dark energy pulsed through the worm king’s wounds.
The worm king screamed. It thrashed. It bit.
One of its massive teeth caught Orin’s side, and the snake king fell back, blood pouring from the wound, his golden eyes wide with shock.
"KING ORIN!" someone shouted.
The worm king lunged toward the fallen serpent, its massive mouth opening wide, its teeth spinning in anticipation.
Dante stepped in front of it.
His shadows formed a wall. Thick. Impenetrable. A barrier of pure darkness that seemed to drink the light from the air.
The worm king’s teeth hit the shadows and stopped.
"You," the creature hissed, its ancient eyes narrowing with hatred. "Always you."
"Yes," Dante said, his voice steady despite the blood dripping from his own wounds, despite the exhaustion pulling at his bones. "Always me."
He raised his hand.
The shadows formed a blade. Long, sharp, darker than darkness itself. It pulsed in his grip, eager and hungry.
The worm king’s eyes widened.
"Please—" the creature began, its ancient voice trembling for the first time in centuries.
Dante swung.
The blade cut through the worm king’s neck. Not cleanly. Not easily. The creature’s skin was thick, ancient, protected by centuries of feeding on innocent souls. The blade sank in slowly, grinding against muscle and bone, black blood spurting from the wound like a fountain of rot.
But Dante didn’t stop.
He swung again.
The blade bit deeper. The worm king thrashed, its massive body coiling and uncoiling, its teeth spinning wildly, trying to find something, anything, to bite.
He swung again.
Black blood sprayed across the playground, staining the grass, the stone, the children’s shoes. Some of the smaller children screamed. Some of the parents pulled their children closer. Some of the warriors turned away, unable to watch.
But Dante didn’t stop.
He swung again.
The worm king’s screams grew weaker, its thrashing less violent, its teeth slowing.
He swung again.
The head came loose, hanging by a thread of sinew and skin.
He swung again.
The head fell.
The massive body collapsed.
The ground shook one last time. A deep, rumbling tremor that cracked the earth further, that sent dust and debris flying into the air, that knocked several people off their feet.
And then came silence.
Dante stood in the center of the destruction, his chest heaving, his hands shaking, his shadows slowly retreating back into him like tired animals returning to their den after a long hunt. His clothes were torn. His face was splattered with black blood. His eyes were still wild, still hungry, still not quite finished.
"Clean this up," he said to his warriors, his voice hoarse and raw. "I want every worm in the region destroyed. Every nest. Every egg. Every trace. I want the ground burned. I want the soil salted. I want nothing left."
The warriors bowed low, their faces pale, their hands steady despite the horror they had witnessed. "Yes, my lord," they said in unison.
Dante turned away.
He walked toward Alina.
His steps were unsteady. His body was trembling. His eyes, still hungry, still bloodthirsty, still glowing faintly in the darkness, softened when he saw her face.
"It’s over," he said.
She looked at him, her eyes wide in the darkness, her face streaked with dirt and tears and someone else’s blood.
"You’re bleeding again," she said.
"I’m fine," he replied.
"You’re not fine. You almost—" she started, her voice cracking.
"I didn’t," he interrupted.
He reached for her hand.
She let him take it.
"Come on," she said softly. "Let’s go check on the children."
Dante nodded, his grip on her hand tightening, his shadows curling around their feet like protective cats.