Rivers of the Night - Chapter 339

Chapter 339: Stinging Pain
The entire city seemed locked onto the scene of the Tribulation, the pillars of gold falling, connecting the skies and earth, making it almost impossible to tell what was going on inside.

No one dared to use their Third Eye to see what was happening, as that would cause their auras to be locked onto by the Tribulation as well. But the dichotomy between the night and the flashing lights made it almost impossible to see with their eyes alone either.

All they knew for certain was that Theron and Wren had been trapped in there, and it seemed that one of them had triggered their Tribulation, forcing the other to participate in it.

Vellan and Exsaa stood in the far-off distance, the latter’s cheeks stained with tears as she watched the Tribulation fall from above. She had no idea what was happening on the inside either, but she had a strong feeling in her heart that something had gone very wrong.

What were the odds that Theron would also be on the verge of a breakthrough?

It was obvious to the two of them what was happening here.

Wren had been forced to trigger his Tribulation—a Tribulation he wasn’t even confident in passing—for no other reason than he had no confidence in defeating Theron.

No, more accurately… Theron had thoroughly defeated him, snatched his heart to the point he had no confidence in himself to even make it close.

Triggering a Tribulation in this sort of situation took being at the very end of your rope, having no other option to press forward. It was clear what was happening…

Theron had won. That was the truth.

As the reality set in for the two of them, they felt like they had entered a world they didn’t quite understand. Or maybe… they just hadn’t wanted to see it.

Their Young Master’s actions should have told them all they needed to know about Theron. Any person their Young Master was interested in had to be important for one reason or another…

And it seemed that they had found it out personally, this time at the cost of Wren’s life.

But if Wren really had managed to trigger his Tribulation, it should all be over now. There was simply no way a person could survive a Tribulation of this magnitude.

Wren had already had no confidence in passing his own, and he was a genius among geniuses, personally picked out by an elite of the Seijin Clan.

If Theron was really as good as they thought he was, then whatever Tribulation that came after sensing the both of them would only be more exaggerated than that.

And yet… they both continued to stand there, looking out into the distance as one pillar of light after another continued to descend.

No Tribulation would continue simply for the sake of continuing. If it was still rampaging, it could only mean that someone was still there—someone was still alive…

And they had somehow managed to survive for this long.

Their hearts sank to the pits of their stomachs.

…

The carnage in the city had hardly stopped because of the Tribulation. There were a large number of people still paying close attention to it, but that certainly hadn’t stopped the assassins from continuing their killing spree. In fact, they were perfectly suited to this sort of environment.

They were assassins, willing to kill anything in any given situation. No matter the chaos around them, they were willing to play ball and fell their targets.

The soldiers of the Sangun Empire were well-trained themselves, but the carnage taking place right this moment was at their Imperial Palace, the very place they were sworn to protect.

This odd series of events, topped with the fact there were competing interests and clashing generals in their midst, led things to a place where they couldn’t bring themselves together properly.

One elite after another was being picked out, and though some assassins were falling as well, the gap was only growing wider.

…

The Princes stood in their corners of the city, keeping their distance from one another, their jaws clenched. It was hard to miss Theron’s earlier display of Water Mana. It was what had caught everyone’s attention before the Tribulation even descended.

Those six spheres of water, churning with the sort of destruction one would only expect from Fire Mancers—or even rarer existences.

The more they saw of Theron’s power, the more they felt they had made the right choice by running. They were doing their best right now to surround the palace and make sure that even if Theron only had a corpse left, they would be the first to find it.

But it was becoming harder and harder to maneuver around the city with the chaos.

To make matters all the more ironic, the armies the Sangun had just brought out had already been stationed near the palace to begin with. They had marched out of that vicinity and split up to look for Theron, only to learn after the fact that Theron was at the palace they had only just left.

It felt like they were being toyed with, their faces burning with the stinging pain of Theron’s palm.

They didn’t know how he was doing it, but he felt ten steps ahead at every turn. But they also knew that there was no way Theron had planned for this Tribulation. This was their chance.

Finally, the numbers of the army and various Empires overwhelmed the assassins. Or, more accurately, the Daggers of the Night weren’t fighting directly to begin with. It was only natural that the armies be able to finally surround the palace just as the Tribulation finally faded away.

…

Elder Black’s gaze stared off into the distance, her steps slow.

‘Almost… almost…’

She felt that she was close to making it out of this encirclement. Seeing the Tribulation from a distance, she had a very bad feeling welling up in her chest. If she didn’t make it out, it felt like there would be no city to return to.