Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)

734. Children

Sally blinked as her feet touched the artifact at her feet. She recognized it immediately— how could she not? It was one of her… of Salvos’s… belongings.

While most of the Cave of Companions had been completely ravaged and destroyed— everything from the books and the artifacts that had been triumphantly displayed from the Bloodied Gulf to the Plaguelands— somehow, this object survived.

It was—

[Dreaded Goblet: High Grade Equipment - Used in rituals to call upon the wisdom of the Old Gods.]

The Dreaded Goblet.

A random piece of artifact that Salvos had collected while she was in the Plaguelands. Considering it seemingly served no purpose, Salvos had just stored it away in the Cave of Companions a long time ago. But the fact that it somehow survived the devastation here caused by the Matriarch Centinel was what piqued Sally’s interests.

Especially considering that it could supposedly draw the wisdom of the Old Gods, which was also the name of a General Skill that Sally had. So Sally picked up the Dreaded Goblet as she trailed right behind Rachel who was delving deeper into the tunnel ahead.

Sally inspected the Dreaded Goblet curiously, but just like all of Salvos’s past attempts at trying to get this artifact to work, nothing happened.

Her eyes flickered as she focused into the goblet, activating her [Wisdom Of The Old Gods]. Would anything come from this? Ordinarily, the General Skill served no active purpose, simply boosting her [Wisdom] while attuning her with her divinity. So it was a Passive Skill.

Or so Sally and Salvos had both thought all along.

But this time, something happened. Sally recoiled as her vision was engulfed with a white light. At first, she thought that the Dreaded Goblet was glowing, blinding the entire tunnel with a flash. But as the white light faded away, she realized that what she was seeing was in her mind.

And Sally saw—

It was the end of the world. It was more than just a few distorted pebbles. It was even more than a tear in space itself. It was—

An infinite wall of corruption.

It was an amalgamation of the damage that the world had suffered over eternity— the very edges of Nexeus itself collapsing into nothingness. At one point, there was a world beyond this twisted distortion. But that was no longer the case. Nothing waited for me beyond except for the corruption and despair.

I stumbled back as the ground trembled beneath my feet…

And Sally snapped back to reality as the vision faded away.

“What was that?”

Sally asked as she stood there, blinking to herself. But before she could even process what she had seen, she heard Rachel’s voice whisper from up ahead.

“There you are.”

Rachel spoke as she stood right before a cavernous room. And in the center of the room was a familiar pink figure that immediately made the Salvos clone tense.

[??? - Lvl. ???]

It was the Matriarch Centinel.

And Sally hurried over to Rachel’s side.

Rachel took in a deep breath.

It was time.

This was what she had been working towards this entire time. This was what her goal had been. For a chance at peace— to negotiate with the Matriarch Centinel of the Bloodied Gulf.

To reason with the Progenitor of the Centinels.

Everyone said it was impossible. But Rachel didn’t care. This was the only thing she could do now. Edithe hadn’t returned— the portal had closed. Soon, the barrier protecting Mavos Academy would fall, and Rachel didn’t want to wait locked up in a room until that happened.

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So as Jerome moved to the side, glancing back at her, she took a step forward. The Matriarch Centinel’s head perked up the moment it… or she heard Rachel’s approach. Its head snapped back towards Rachel, before its slit-like eyes narrowed, glancing between Rachel and Jerome.

The Matriarch Centinel snarled as Rachel stepped forward. She looked like she was going to attack immediately, but Jerome clicked his mandibles as he bowed his head. All the while, Sally stood right defensively right next to Rachel.

But Rachel just spoke up, drawing the Matriarch Centinel’s attention.

“Look, I’m not here to fight you— not that I can even if I wanted to. I’m just here to talk.”

In response, the Matriarch Centinel’s gaze snapped in the young girl’s direction.

“I. Have. No. Thing. To. Say. To. You. Hu. Man.”

The Matriarch Centinel’s voice was unlike anything Rachel had ever heard. The words barely sounded like words— it sounded almost like the screeching of knives against a chalkboard, which somehow translated to words in Rachel’s mind.

The young girl recoiled for a moment, before gritting her teeth. She stepped forward, moving past even Sally, as she placed a hand on her chest.

“Please, why can’t we all be friends? Whether it be Humans, Centinels, or even Demons? Why do we have to fight? We don’t have to kill each other any longer!”

The Matriarch Centinel tilted her head as she listened to what Rachel had to say. Sally tried to stop the young girl from getting closer, but Rachel shrugged off those attempts.

“I understand that you kill us Humans because we have killed your kind— your children. So that is why you hate us. It’s right for you to feel that way— what we’ve done is wrong.”

Rachel shook her head as she glanced over at Jerome who was nervously waiting to the side. Then she met the Matriarch Centinel’s cold gaze.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way any longer. We don’t have to perpetuate this cycle of slaughter. Can’t we all just be… friends?”

Slowly, Rachel looked over to Jerome. The [Ancient Centinel] nodded at her, before clicking his mandibles at the Matriarch Centinel. He straightened in solidarity with Rachel as she smiled at him.

“Please? I’ll talk to the Humans— we’ll try to figure something out. But we won’t have to kill each other anymore… we won’t kill your children anymore.”

Rachel spoke pleadingly as she proffered a hand out to the Matriarch Centinel. Sally watched from the side silently as the Matriarch Centinel stared at the outstretched palm.

For a moment, there was silence. But the young girl took it as a good sign. After all, that meant that the Matriarch Centinel was actually considering what was said.

But then the Matriarch Centinel lowered her head. And from her feet, something dug out of the ground. It was a [Younger Centinel]. Small and tiny, barely half the size of Rachel, who was not the biggest person herself.

It crawled up the Matriarch Centinel’s back and onto her arm. She regarded it as she spoke softly, although there was still the same grating pain that accompanied hearing her words.

“You. Are. Mis. Taken.”

Rachel blinked, hearing what the Matriarch Centinel had to say. And that was when the Progenitor crushed the [Younger Centinel] in her clawed hand.

“These. Are. Not. My Chil. Dren.”

The young girl watched in horror as the remains of the [Younger Centinel] splattered onto the ground. Looking up, the Matriarch Centinel faced Jerome. Jerome cowered back as she smiled at him.

“These. Are. My Chil. Dren.”

The Matriarch Centinel’s gaze slowly swept across the room, looking past Rachel. The young girl raised a brow as she looked at where the Progenitor was looking.

“And. The. Only. One. Res. Pon. Si. Ble. For. Kill. Ing. Them. Is. Be. Hind. You.”

And Rachel’s eyes grew wide as she realized that the Matriarch Centinel was staring right at Sally. The Salvos clone blinked a few times, before pursing her lips.

“Uh-oh.”

Then what happened next happened so quickly, Rachel barely registered it. The Matriarch Centinel’s eyes glinted as the young girl turned back. And suddenly, there was a blast of blinding crimson light.

A terrible ringing blared in Rachel’s ears as she recoiled. She shut her eyes, hearing only her breathing. She could feel her heart beating— hammering away at what felt like a thousand beats a minute.

And when she slowly began to regain her bearings, she realized she was in the air, wrapped in Sally’s arms. Far below her laid a smoldering crater where the hill that hid the Cave of Companions had once been. Smoke and rubble was all that remained there.

All the while, Sally’s body burned with an iridescent flame.

“[My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends].”

The Salvos clone whispered as she tightly clung onto Rachel. But the young girl barely even heard those words. Instead, she was staring down at the figure standing at the very bottom of the crater.

The Matriarch Centinel’s gaze was still fixed on both Sally and Rachel. She crouched down, looking like she was about to leap into the air after them.

But a large figure moved to intercept her.

“Jerome—”

Rachel’s eyes grew wide, seeing the [Ancient Centinel] get in the Progenitor’s way. And the Matriarch Centinel just clicked her mandibles as she pointed at him.

“In. So. Lent. Child.”

All at once, dozens of figures burst out of the ground— each one as large as Jerome. Some were even larger. [Ancient Centinels]. A swarm of them. And they clamored over Jerome, pinning him down as he screeched and writhed there.

“No…”

Rachel stared at Jerome as his brethren swarmed over him. Although Sally was not focused on that in the slightest. She was gritting her teeth as she flew higher and higher, trying to focus.

“I just need to focus… [Greater Tele—”

But as both Sally and Rachel’s bodies began to flicker, a figure suddenly appeared before them. The Matriarch Centinel was hovering there before the both of them, her right hand already raised.

Sally’s eyes grew wide as the Matriarch Centinel swung down. It was a normal swing— Rachel was certain there wasn’t even a Skill behind it. But the sheer force of the strike sent both Sally and Rachel flying straight down.

The two of them came crashing down to the ground. But at the very last moment, Sally rolled and protected Rachel from colliding with the earth. The young girl panted as she looked up towards the sky, coughing up some blood.

While Sally endured the brunt of the strike, the whiplash of the attack was enough to very nearly kill Rachel. She wheezed as she stared at the Matriarch Centinel landing on the ground right before them, eyes glinting with an iridescent light.

And the young girl’s head spun as she tried to think of a way out of this predicament. But no solution popped up.