As the light covered the members of the party, their line of sight shifted and changed. Eventually, the source of illumination faded only to reveal a new scenery far away from the Elven forest of colorations. It was one of simple greenery, yet even that held its own right to beauty.
A large plain expanded to one directions, circular one at that, with numerous trees acting as the horizon border. These trees were lush, they held few leaves but thick vines ran around their trunk and branches, giving them a sense of serious protection. Between each of the trees laid a path, and to be more precise, it held part of a road leading towards the center of the plain, where in the distance one could see a basic village and its farmers living amongst it.
"Woah!" Namir panned his head around in amazement. "It's all green!"
"What else would it be? This isn't your forest, its Benulis," Sereia chuckled.
"I've never seen it like that, though!" Namir hopped around, zooming
No one knew what to say to the lad's question. No one who understood magic, at least."Whoa! Your magic thingo sure looks powerful! It was quite fast too, I'm definitely impressed with it," Mon'Ter grinned ear to ear as his gaze moved along the stone pillars that spiked through the golems. Their tips still burned with bright flames from the loud explosions they’d caused."Ha! Ha! Ha! Thank you for the applause! Even though you can't really applaud!" Namir puffed his chest out and raised his nose high, quite proud of his accomplishment."What is applause?" Mon'Ter asked, still not knowing why the others were acting so silent and surprised.He didn't understand.He didn't understand how weird the thing Namir did was."Without writing runes..." Elyenora mumbled. "But how...?""Did he really!?" Sereia shouted. "Oh, man! How?! I'm so jealous of that!""Weep all you want, I'll just bask in my amazing glory over here," the kid's
"Good work, everyone!" Elyenora said with a smile as they stopped for a short moment out of fatigue. "We've practically cleared the first floor, this place has been a real trip, so let's just be happy we all made it unscathed.""That was a lot of fun!" Namir said cheerfully. "Especially the part where you fought off all those spiders, Mon'Ter! That was fun to see!""I'd say your little stunt at the entrance was most impressive!" Sereia grinned at the kid."What was most impressive was you hiding behind the princess from the spiders!" he laughed at her.She turned red for a moment, then yelled. "Hey! Shush!"The group got a chuckle out of the situation, and then Mon'Ter spoke up. "Now we just have to take out the guardian person, right?""Yeah, and we can move onto the second floor hence after," Samuel affirmed. "Mind you, it should get a lot tougher after that. To my knowledge that's where rogue spirits begin to appear.""So, I think
Lanos placed his hand on the altar and a mechanism stabbed it with a stone spike, he winced as the drop of blood left his palm and the magic activated."What's going to happen now?" Namir called out from behind him in the distance.Lanos could still hear them, but he wasn't sure how much longer that would last. As soon as he had put his hand on the pedestal, magical energy of bygone ages shot up all around him, absorbing him in a sea of light before darkness swallowed him whole. The star filled wall began turning dark as if it was being polluted or corrupted from the inside. The party could not see what was happening through the wall anymore, and their worry grew by the second."I guess that will happen," Sereia smiled wryly as she knocked a few times on the dark wall of magic, it caused a few ripples to move across it and didn't seem to allow others to enter."I hope he's okay," Elyenora said, half to herself and half to everyone listening."He'll
As the party waited patiently, they saw the black wall slowly crumble and dissipate into nothing. Meaning that their friend had successfully rid the gate guardian of its life. Slowly, he came into view, donned in his knightly armor and sheathing his blade. Bixby stood on his shoulder with a satisfied look, hooting peacefully while his master looked less amused than a three year old at a dining hall. "You did it, mister Lanos! Great job!" Namir exclaimed as he ran up to Lanos. "Good job, you actually came out unscathed, huh? How was the slime? Or well, was it a slime?" Sereia quizzed. "It was, how did you know?" Lanos raised a brow while Namir started playing with Bixby the owl spirit. "We figured from the available information we had upon entering this room. Seems like we probably could have attacked it way before the trail even started? A bit late to come to that realization though," Elyenora chuckled at the idea. She scratched her cheek whilst wishi
The next day, of course there would be. More caves. More coldness. More monsters. More wonders to see. More of everything there would be. First, however, they had to start the day's trek. Samuel was the first one up in the morning. He'd been the last one on watch duty, and he watched as Elyenora sauntered out of her tent. She yawned. "Good morning Sam." "Good morning," he replied as he stoked the fire he'd started. It burned in the shade of the nearby tent. "Yo, Samuel!" Namir greeted the night guard whilst coming out of his tent. "Good morning," "Don't suppose you brewed some coffee for us this morning?" Sereia asked, a grin on her face as she left the tent and assumed a stance near the fire, overlooking it and its surrounding area. "I'm entirely capable of making coffee," Samuel retorted, feeling offended at the implication. "I know, Sam, but..." Sereia looked at him wry
The ground remained layered with snow everywhere they went to, with thin ice acting as a gentle sheet, and trees here and there covered in snowy bundles. The fact there was any vegetation at all this far underground was already a miracle, although when you consider this whole sight that seemed like a winter fairyland, miracle was probably an understatement.The party had been walking for about two hours now, with many more left to go. The snow had gotten deeper as they'd traveled forward, leaving behind a good amount of space between them and the plants from before. As they walked, the serene environment which looked like a wonderland receded and instead turned into a wasteland of white, like a desert of snow. Eventually, their path narrowed down more. A cliff or wall of sorts blocked their further inquiry, and it took quite a while before they found a small enough route to continue their frigid march.It was a wide, narrow path, much like if someone had carved it or c
The gang stood silently watching the creature stand there, watching them without movement. It was menacing, frightening, chilling.Her skin was rigid, covered in crystals that reflected the light of their torches; reminding one of her cold nature. Upon closer look, her white hair was in fact made up of thorny, sharp reeds atop her head that just acted the part. She was thin and short, but twisted with a hunched posture as she stood on two jagged limbs that were almost like a spider's legs, only larger and more translucent. Her small tanned belly was slightly exposed from her loose-fitting garment, which looked like it had been birthed by nature rather than the work of a seamstress, as if made from shards of the many ice crystals stuck to her skin. Her blank eyes stared at them with solemn curiosity, the pupils a murky blue."A corrupted spirit?" Elyenora turned to Lanos."Yes, this is seriously bad news," Lanos grimaced, defending Elyenora with his hand as he pu
The pleading eyes grew higher and wider - a cornucopia of tears."Stay back," he warned her."Mon'Ter," Elyenora spoke, her voice deceptively scratchy. "Is everything... Okay?" she could see the corrupted spirit girl in front of her. Eyes burning away. Tearing at the soul trapped within her tiny frame as she struggled in between the spikes. Crying out."Anna," Mon'Ter said, his body shook, but he maintained his posture. "Child of snow, daughter of Livia, treasure of Orph."“What the...” Sereia mumbled at the chimera’s words.“What is he saying...?” Samuel looked on in astonishment.The light in Mon’Ter’s magenta eye grew in luminosity, as did the volume of the voice in his head, one of which he repeated word for word."Through the Guide of Spirits’ authority, I invoke thy purity," Mon'Ter's voice sounded monotone, his eyes softly closing as the murky tears of the spirit girl cleared to c
Just as Mon’Ter was busy rotting on the inside, Samuel and Sereia were finally able to get back on their feet. Samuel could now see properly and move around, and Sereia had drunk a high grade healing potion that brought her back up to speed. “Agh… My back was killing me there…” Sereia said as she stretched, trying to get herself back into shape. “Do I even need to mention my head…?” Samuel held it, he still felt like it would start spinning again but thankfully it was over. “We really need to go and help Mon’Ter out,” Sereia mumbled out loud. “It seems like he got two of them but he’s facing that guy that my dad said was the best assassin in the world…” Still, they were a bit far away from the chimera and couldn’t assist him right away, especially since Mon’Ter’s fear came true. “It seems like we have our own troubles to deal with first…” Samuel pointed out as he gazed at the sky above them. “Huh? That guy again?” Sereia said in annoya
As Mon’Ter stood in a confrontation between himself and the three assassins, Sereia and Samuel did their best to catch their bearings and get to assisting him rather than being a burden for him. Thankfully, Samuel had some recovery potions on him, but due to his issue with coordination caused by Hendrick’s eye ability, he couldn’t move his arms in the right direction much less find where he’d stored the bottles.And as for Sereia, she actually did try to get to Samuel and find the potions for him, but, given how wounded her back really was she was having some difficulty pushing herself to stand back up and move towards his bag. Of course, this would only take her seconds to do in real time, maybe ten or twenty, but in the moments of combat those seconds would be more than enough for her and him to lose their lives at once many times over.They were dealing with assassins after all, and while these assassins were definitely slowed down from the g
Just as Elyenora was dealing with Alinesia with the help of Randus’ Gravity Zone spell, so were Sereia and Samuel working on using the spell to their advantage too. Seeing as they were able to outmaneuver their respective match ups and bring down two specters, they had now managed to get away from the other two old men who’d targeted them and made their way towards where Mon’Ter was being held down by Alinesia’s parents.That, of course, didn’t take long at all with the help of Samuel’s teleportation magic.Sereia quickly landed right over the female assassin with super long nails, Allison, while Samuel waltzed right into her husband, Hendrick, and swung straight at his arms that were holding Mon’Ter’s head up close to his eye level.On Sereia’s end, things were quickly and easily dispatched. Having had the jump on the opponent she was able to instantly get Allison to dodge her first blow and leave Mon’
With Alinesia’s light blinding everyone, Randus was able to easily move about by practicing a simple spell to allow his eyes to perceive past the blinding shine of her. He had basically created pseudo shades on his face which he used to escape from Lerroy’s immediate reach.During the course of the battle so far, the two of them had been flying high up in the air and blasting each other with all manner of magical spells, it had gotten to the point that most of the soldiers down below were getting nervous just by standing underneath them. However, Randus hadn’t just been mindlessly flying about and chucking explosions at his old master, no, of course not, he wouldn’t be where he is at today if he did something so basic.The whole time they were moving around the air space, Randus had been leaving small sigils in specific locations high above the ground and laying out a layer filled circle of magic large enough to encompass most of the existing su
Alinesia had completed her transformation, however, she wasn’t the only one making moves during that last minute of action. There were still many people on the battlefield, and the ones who made the biggest change aside from her, were definitely Randus, Samuel and Sereia who all made good use of the previous minute or so of time.On their side of the field, just as Elyenora and Alinesia were having their clash of wills, Samuel and Sereia both found themselves pushing against their respective spectral opponents. It had gotten to the point where they were chasing after these Low ranking Arch Lord Class entities as if they were hunting rabbits.It was at this time that both Gandar, the court mage of the Royal palace and the elderly master of the assassin’s guild intervened on their little chase. Gandar shot through the sky atop a conjuration of wind and flew near enough to be within his range of Samuel, he weaved his staff and made a spiraling motion with it b
Back to the princess’ side of the field, where she was facing off against a previous foe. Elyenora could feel that things weren’t going her way at all, she knew it in her heart with every strike she sent towards Alinesia and every second she wasted on fighting against her. But what could she do while everyone was being held back like this? There was one and only thing she could really do to try and help out.Ending the fight swiftly.Alinesia had certainly grown significantly since their last fight, she was more than the princess’ match even after Elyenora had gotten her significant growth spurt after releasing the spiritual cultivation shard from her body. However, it didn’t seem like the Lioness would be able to keep up with Elyenora if she just made a simple action and unleashed her newly acquired artifacts.“I’m sorry, but I’ll be ending our little rematch early,” the princess said as she pushed back on the fla
Cazimir fell, cut in half and in a completely stupefied state. Someone meant to have been on his side, an ally, had just taken him down. His bloodied eyes shone with a bright light and created shadow soldiers that tried to hold him back together, barely, even as his own blood and organs left his body to splatter down on the ground. “W–wh–y…?” Cazimir asked as only one of his eyes barely managed to move and look at Finn. “Because you interfered where it was not your place, stupid assassin,” Finn said, his eyes wider than an open door and staring the vampire down with intense pressure behind his every word. “Couldn’t you follow simple instructions? I told you. Don’t interfere with my fight. Leonidas is mine to do battle with.” “Bast–ard…” Cazimir barely mumbled out, and with another glow of his eyes he forced the soldiers to move him about ten meters away from the now enemy. With yet another glow, he summoned out a potion that fell from a litt
Alinesia glared at Elyenora with her fiery blade burning at her side. “It’s sure been a while, hasn’t it?”“You again?!” Elyenora clicked her tongue, she had been forced to stop right in her tracks by her once again, for the second time. “Why are you here!?”“Why?” Alinesia grit her teeth. “Did you seriously ask me why, you blond bimbo?!”“What?” The princess felt a little taken aback by the assassin’s words. “Don’t you understand what you’re working towards right now? Do you even know what my brother is trying to do!? It’s all foolish! Why would you work for him? You’re smarter than that!” Elyenora tried to change her mind if she could, though, it didn’t seem like Alinesia was here for money or anything of the sort by the look on her face.“You think I’m here just because that prince twat brother of yours asked t
“We kill all of them to get to him,” Mon’Ter’s voice reverberated throughout the entire space, being heard by everyone that surrounder him and his comrades.It caused several laughs to erupt, which then continued into multiple more and more until the entire enemy legion made a laughing stock out of Mon’Ter’s words.“Bold words from someone bound to die,” Gandar, the royal court mage, snickered at his words. “Who even are you, boy? Another knight? Not with that get up you’re not. Perhaps a mage? Shall I teach you some proper manners in speech?”“I’d actually like that,” Mon’Ter said truthfully. “But it’s not the time to be learning manners.”His hand extended and his fingers grew as his nails elongated into sharp swords capable of piercing the thickest of hides and slashing the hardest of steels. The strange development caused many to put their guard