All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 256: What Dreth Wants Burned

The lowest channel ended at a ledge overlooking a valley hidden inside the Gate.

Hajin stopped near the edge, letting both Rings continue around his right wrist while Divine Eye adjusted to the distance.

A mountain occupied the far half of the pocket, rising through purple cloud until its summit reached the false sky.

The channel behind him had felt narrow enough to bury with one strike, but the space ahead could have swallowed the eastern mine.

’So much for a burrow,’ he thought, moving Divine Eye across the lower slopes while the Chain hung from his right hand.

Purple channels crossed the valley in hundreds of lines, feeding every nest cut beneath the ridges before joining two larger paths.

One path moved between the lower slopes, changing direction whenever another group of monsters entered the shared circulation.

The presence inside it walked on four legs, though its mana outline stood taller than the registry roof whenever it crossed an open ridge.

Hounds plus burrowers followed behind it without hunting, receiving corruption whenever the moving body passed close to their nests.

Winged bodies nested along the cliffs above them, keeping their heads turned toward the same outward pull.

The second path climbed beneath the summit, ending around a body fused through the mountain near the Gate’s natural core.

That presence never shifted when the brood moved, keeping every root tightened around the light buried beneath it.

"The moving one isn’t holding the Gate together," Hajin said, tracing the lower circuit with Divine Eye, "show me what happens if it dies."

Aria separated both paths across his vision, cutting the purple network into a mobile branch plus a fixed one.

"The lower branch loses its active distributor," she said, marking the roaming presence, "but the core route stays attached to the body beneath the summit."

"So there are two," he said, watching the fixed body pull another pulse from the Gate, "the large one feeds the brood, while the buried one keeps the portal open."

"That is the best fit," she replied, expanding the shared lines, "neither reaches the projected tier alone, but their joined circulation does."

[ Linked Corruption Circuit Detected ]

[ Mobile Apex Node: Active ]

[ Gate-Core Mother: Stationary ]

[ Combined Threat Assessment: Ten-Shard Class ]

Hajin dismissed the panel after reading it twice, then checked the Ring counter waiting beside his status.

[ Ring IV Progress: 8,320,000 / 25,000,000 EXP ]

The number had gathered every legitimate kill since Aria’s last complete screen, including the hounds already dead behind him.

It still left too much distance for another Ring, which meant the mountain problem belonged to what he already had.

"Can Aegis isolate the fixed route from the portal?" he asked, following the outward roots toward the channel behind him.

"Not while the mobile branch keeps moving," Aria said, placing a red line across the valley, "a full strike here could discharge through every outward root."

Those roots ended beneath the village road, where Vella still had clinic carts moving toward town.

Hajin could tear into the circuit now, but guessing where the released mana went would turn the evacuation into bait.

The apex crossed another ridge during his scan, causing several brood nests to open along the slope beneath it.

Every new body turned toward the distant portal, following the same order built into the hounds he had killed.

"Record both routes," he said, stepping back from the ledge, "I want the road empty before anything in here loses control."

"I have the full circulation map," Aria replied, folding the markers into his interface, "the mobile node changed direction after your scan."

Hajin looked across the valley again, finding the apex moving behind a ridge toward the channel system.

It had not seen him from that distance, but the circuit had noticed something cutting through its mana.

He returned through the lowest channel before the brood could close behind him, keeping two Rings active until the entrance chamber appeared.

Three dead hounds lay inside Cassie’s narrowed approach, while Jonas held the next pack behind a barrier plate with his axe.

Toby released a white flash through the opening, giving Cassie enough room to raise the bank beneath their front legs.

The hunters struck from both sides after the pack fell, ending it without Hajin moving the Chain.

"You came back early," Cassie said, lowering her staff after the last hound stopped, "did the core route end?"

"It ended at a mountain," he said, walking toward the portal, "keep the banks up, something larger may follow me."

Jonas looked toward the lowest channel, tightening both hands around his axe after seeing Hajin leave two Rings active.

"How much larger?" he asked, dragging the closest body away from their retreat gap.

"Large enough that you leave when the bell rings twice," Hajin said, crossing the opaque surface, "do not wait for me to repeat it."

The Gate released him above the ravine, where Juna stood beside the upper route watching the final clinic cart pass the western shelter marker.

Vella walked beside its rear wheel with one hand raised, maintaining golden healing around the patients as the road entered town range.

Farther east, Dreth’s riders began pulling their carts away from the salt bridge after losing their last useful target.

Both ridge observers turned with them, carrying their notes instead of wasting men against a cleared road.

"They waited until the last cart passed," Juna said, following the riders with her eyes, "they wanted to know who stayed at every route."

"Now they know," Hajin replied, watching the final cart reach the guarded marker, "let them report that the village emptied anyway."

Hans reached the bridge with eight militia shields plus two of Ferra’s remaining barrier plates, taking the position Loccy had held alone.

She kept her hammer planted until the last Flint horse left bow range, refusing to turn her back while they withdrew.

"Bridge is ours now," Hans said, setting the first plate behind the abandoned cart track, "go where Hajin needs you."

"They might come back," Loccy replied, looking toward the eastern bend as her ears stayed raised, "I can hold it until dark."

"Then they find me here," he said, striking his spear against the nearest shield, "you were wasted on men who already decided to leave."

Loccy pulled her hammer free after one last check of the road, then crossed toward Hajin without opening a Wing.

A forge runner met them near the ravine with Ferra’s sealed receipt held above the mud on her sleeve.

"The tray came back from the forge," she said, offering Hajin the receipt, "Mistress Ferra said every storage ward heated when the core entered."

Hajin read Marrick’s mark beneath hers, confirming two guards had returned the unopened tray to the registry cellar.

"Where is Ash?" he asked, handing the receipt back while keeping his attention on the Gate.

"Upstairs with Lana," she replied, tucking the page into her coat, "Marrick locked the cellar, then put another guard inside the registry."

The portal pushed outward before Hajin could answer, cracking the edge of Cassie’s nearest earth bank.

Aria reopened the circulation map as the mobile marker entered the lowest channel, dragging half the brood network behind it.

[ Mobile Apex Node: Route Reversed ]

[ Projected Destination: Gate Exit ]

"Get Juna off the road," Hajin said, summoning the Chain tighter into his right hand, "tell Hans the Gate is about to spill something larger."