God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Traveling through the realm of shadows, Cain stared into the dark ether with slightly absent eyes...

He had first senses it after he had had his battle with Balangol.

He hadn’t noticed it much previously, but with the absence of his magic, it was as though this repressed sixth sense of his had chosen to rear its head.

Apparently, he had developed a nose for sensing Divinity.

Azazel had refused to give him the details of what had happened when he lost consciousness during the battle, but for whatever reason, he had come out victorious against the ancient god. It was unbelievable, but it had happened.

’Could that be the reason? Do I perhaps suddenly have a hidden skill that lets me sense divinity?’

That was the only way that could happen.

But according to what he knew and general knowledge, only the Celestials could sense, or pretty much do anything with Divinity.

And that was because Divinity was a form of energy that eluded almost every other race of beings, simply because of its nature.

By definition, it was the energy of the Divine. Only the Celestials and the other gods could use it.

’This is indeed very strange.’

Still, regardless of if it was strange or not, he couldn’t help but think that it was rather convenient.

With the remarkable sixth sense, he could estimate the amount of divinity was inside a person. The amount of divinity was usually a direct correlation to the strength of their divine blessing. It was also a clear indicator of how much favor an individual had received from their patron god.

In the case of Evangeline, he could tell she only had a sliver of Divinity surrounding her. However, this portion of divinity had incrediblw lustre.

’Maybe that is an indicator of its quality?’

He himself wasn’t very blessed by the Divine. Compared to others, he was relatively absent of it as well. Perhaps even completely.

Anathe, Roc, and Ambrosia in the other hand, were like shining beacons in the night sky compared to his flickering, dim candlelight.

Since he had just recently come to realize this sense, it seemed very strange to try to describe what exactly it was. Just a sixth sense was not enough as it wasn’t sensor feedback from an actual organ.

"We are here."

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Evangeline.

He glanced at her. Her expression seemed rather serious. She turned her gaze to him,

"I suspect the Ant Queen might already be on to us. The moment we step out there, we most likely will be facing her fury."

Cain nodded, "We can’t help it since we will be defending ourselves then."

Without hesitation, he summoned {Eidwyrm} from his inventory. The surface of the weapon became alit with a crimson-golden flame, chasing away the shadows lingering around him and making their depths even deeper.

Seeing this, Evangeline smirked.

Then she snapped her fingers.

The palm beneath them began rising them up towards the dark ceiling of shadows. Bracing himself with a deep sigh, Cain felt his perspective change.

And then everything suddenly felt real again.

He looked around and realized he was surrounded by the black walls of chitin giving off the eerie purple glow.

He could also tell that they were really deep under the ground the instant his feet met the hard floor. The surrounding walls were much tougher than the ones above the surface. However, they were a singular part of the spires above the ground. These parts simply acted as their foundations.

He had no time to appreciate the change, as he instantly felt a wave I unease wash over him.

With a grimace, he turned to Evangeline. From her expression, it was clear she was of the same mind.

He turned his gaze to a wide entrance situated directly above them.

Looking into the darkness, he could see nothing at first.

Then he heard it.

The sound of thousands, upon thousands of legs scrapping against the chitinous walls.

Then the familiar purple glow.

"Here we go." Cain muttered to himself.

The sound quickly turned into a mighty roar as hundreds of {Redscale Ants}, each one larger than a man not horizontally and vertically, began to drop down from the entrance in the chamber’s ceiling.

As the first ones fell towards them, their blade-like pincers aimed at him, Cain grunted as the tip of {Eidwyrm} scrapped against the black ground, creating a trail of sparks for a moment before it began cutting through the air.

A dark crescent lined with arcs of crimson lightning shot out from the edge of the blade. The energy within the crescent of wild and destructive. The bodies of all the {Redscale Ants} in line of the attack were turned into a scattered rain of crimson chitin and ichor before the energy attack struck the ceiling.

A deep rumbled stretched in all directions, all the way to the tip of the spires above the ground too.

Cain brandished his sword with a smug smile on his face then turned to Evangeline.

Instead of a look of praise and acknowledgement, all he got was a look of judgement.

His face fell.

Evangeline rolled her eyes and began walking forward,

"Wasn’t that a bit too much? You are basically announcing exactly where we are if your bug friend didn’t know already."

Cain froze for a moment. He glanced up. The initial wave had been completely wiped out by his attack. However, judging from the increased purple glow coming from it, he could tell that even more were coming.

’Shit!’ he cursed inwardly.

Then, without wasting a breath he put some force into his heels and began sprinting,

"This way." He called out to Evangeline.

As they sprinted down the corridor, the sound of thousands of legs hitting the black chitin came from every direction, including right in front of them.

Evangeline muttered something under her breath.

The shadows around them began to move.

As the first {Redscale Ants} revealed themselves, their bodies were turned into pincushions as dozens of shadow spikes shot off the ground and walls, running right through them. Mindlessly, the ones right behind them cut and broke through the bodies of their deceased brethren in a frenzied attempt to reach them.

’This might be more difficult than I thought.’