Chương 292: Made you look

"Your turn, Thimeryss. What is your take on this?" Thimeryss Brandt did not answer right away, letting his helmeted head and the glowing skeletal sockets visible beneath its visor linger on the collection of dust, ash, pebbles and pieces of bone that made up a map of their sanctuary. He might be a vaunted gold-rank death knight, but even his mind needed time to properly consider the complicated situation they found themselves in.

"Nehiri's counsel is sound," he eventually said with his reverberating voice.

"Since the first incident with the interlopers closer to the heart of our domain, we have had three more sightings. We'd best prepare to accelerate the projects and ready the pools of second birth and the corpus forges."

"Truly? Caution from you, Thimeryss?" Baldazahn asked incredulously, turning his emaciated and twisted face while somehow producing coherent words through that grotesque fanged maw of this.

"Adventurers tend to think that they have us properly cold if they manage to bring down one of our gold servants, patting themselves on the back and returning to their cities. That was what happened the last three times after all."

"That, Baldazahn, is a fool's way of thinking," Thimeryss countered coldly.

"Adventurers will indeed come and go, but there is something different about the tracks from these last groups. They have appeared too decisively and disappeared too efficiently. Naiveté does not suit Servants of Undeath of our stature." Baldazahn did not respond immediately, but simply clicked his jaw in annoyance and leaned back towards one of the support pillars which kept up the ceiling of their meeting chamber beneath the wasteland above.

"Fine, waste our resources jumping at shadows. It's not like that won't hurt our goals in the long run. We–" Everyone present instantly fell to their knees, however, as the conversation was cut as if by a pair of scissors when a resplendently dark and chilling presence descended upon the chamber.

"Honored father!"

"Praise be the progenitor of Second Life!"

"Blessed Undeath!" Similar cries of adoration echoed all throughout the chamber as all of the gold-rankers and their silver-ranked attendants showed their respect and worship for their deity.

"Make ready, my children," a warm, deep voice spoke, every word like the warm embrace of their second life.

"Our great adversary moves against us, the mortals as ever their pawns. Thus, I shall spend some of my own mandate to aid you against the denier of true life. Use it well and keep safe this haven of your siblings. I cannot do more, however, as that would only invite disaster. Instead I trust you, my children. You are strong. Show them."

Then, the potent presence withdrew, the absence of that glorious aura leaving the room feeling hollow before a spark of dark purple light suddenly started emanating from above the map; a spark whose deathly warmth was unlike anything Thimeryss had ever been able to produce himself.

"You heard our god," he eventually spoke, the sound of eternal command in his voice that was a gift brought on by his death knight Ascension.

"They have provided us this sanctuary to grow, the ancient battlefields buried beneath this soil a hidden treasure only we could appreciate. Now we must protect it. Our home. Let us hold nothing back." A claw raked across Kite's armor, failing to find purchase. But as part of the watery reflection behind him was scattered, there proved to be more to the strike from the sinewy monstrosity in front of him than met the eye.

Kite wasn't surprised though, as a silver-ranked creature that was simply what it seemed to be at a glance - with no hidden toxins, magical corruption, unexpected surges of strength or the like - was rare. Very rare. As such, he could only send a thought of thanks to Glint through their bond, because he was otherwise occupied in most other ways.

Seven bronze-ranked ghouls - thin, wiry undead with bare rotting muscles that tended to hunt in packs - had all taken that opportunity to launch themselves at Kite from multiple directions. These lesser predators tended to follow the more powerful silver-ranked undead around for ambushes just like this, but unfortunately for them, this was not the first time in the past three weeks that Kite had been targeted by such a tactic.

As one, both he and Glint acted as the carp-turned-dragon-turned-draconian enveloped the silver-ranked undead and all its whip-like limbs in a constricting sphere of water that also started draining its life force. Wasting her control on these incoming lesser creatures was a bit of overkill, after all." Ward! Planting his feet, Kite took a short moment to gather himself and his focus before he simultaneously did a few things at once.

Two of the lunging creatures were met with the circular disks of his Heaven-and-Void Warding that thrust outwards, slamming them back with bone-cracking force while four others found themselves either stopped by projected strikes or impaled upon the wavy blades of Matra's descendants, each wielded by a spectral arm. The last was brutally shattered and torn apart by Kite's staff impacting it just before the ghoul's reaching hands could find purchase upon him.

Only one of the undead died instantly, but a few more seconds of direct attention had the stunned or crippled things removed from this world. In the next moment, a series of lightning bolts struck the silver-ranked one still stuck inside Glint's globe of water, followed by a crackling cage that appeared around it and pressed inwards.

"I shall repeat myself and my offer," Ceasar called as he flew by while looking for more targets.

"Kite is really wasted on you, marvelous Glint. Should you ever wish for a change of scenery, I promise to lavish you in riches!"

"This young mistress remains most loyal to her bond and shall not be so easily wooed to another. Such a thing would be most improper and gauche," Glint replied calmly as she too turned her attention elsewhere. After having experienced the carp's watery magic and what splendid targets they made for his bolts of lightning and fulminating cages, Ceasar had been quite taken with Kite's bond and friend.

As such, few of the undead had the time to be caught in Glint's magic for long before they were summarily destroyed while unable to escape the twin restraints. As more undead spilled out from a nearby cave towards which Amica's team was currently pressing, Kite took the opportunity to charge ahead. Even while he ran, pinpoint beams of light flashed around him from afar as Léon used his power set with peak efficiency.

Sensing a familiar buildup around his form, Kite made sure to charge ahead even deeper in among the flailing throng before a detonation of force - courtesy of Amica - rippled outwards from his body that sent the vile creatures flying. Another minute of brutal work where Kite and Amica crushed and tore after the foul creatures, and the cave opening was secured.

"I can feel something stronger down there. Bleh, it's vile," Amica said as she drew close, scrunching up her nose.

"At least it's not gold-ranked, so we can proceed as planned. Once Léon catches up– oh, wait he's here. Léon! Send a signal!" The elf had little more than appeared next to them before he raised his hand and sent a flickering series of strobing rays up into the skies that were muddled by the shifting colors of the grand concealing array still covering the undead infested area.

"Hopefully they will see it," he then noted.

"Because things look pretty hectic up there."

"Oh, you don't say. It's not like we haven't felt those gold auras clashing for a while now," Amica drawled in response.

"It feels tense, at least from what I can pick up."

"You know how Undeath operates," Léon replied, sharp as ever as he did not rise to the humor in Amica's attempted banter.

"If they have the materials, we can expect both quality and quantity. More of the latter, but infestations like these usually tend to be led by smart former people, or they would not have lasted as long. Going only for a horde of bronzes and silvers will matter less in the long term if a few gold rankers show up to take them out and thus they make sure to have their own. And unfortunately for us, they seem to have found ample material here. Gods only know how or where."

"At least the church of Death is taking care of the quantity part, as you so aptly put it," Kite commented.

"I can't sense much through the shielding here, but I trust your judgment, Amica. This should be one of their gatherings of more elite creations or something similarly important."

"Let's go then," Amica agreed with a nod.

"Kite, you and Glint will be the vanguard. Léon is the center of our formation. With your long range hampered, it might be best to blast those undead bastards while the rest of us keep them in place."

"If I may interject, I have trained extensively in cramped environments," Léon noted." I can hang back and use my reflected shots to remain at effectively long range and support even in there as long as you are all willing to carry some of my mirrors along with you. I'm mobile and stealthy enough to get out of a bad situation if trouble manages to circle around you." Amica considered that for a moment before nodding.

"I honestly should have figured, given how we solved the assault on those pirates hiding beneath the catacombs in Al-Milan. Go with that. My suggestion remains a fallback position. This will leave us open to push harder." Her words were punctuated by roaring detonation in the distance, sending debris clattering against the cliffs around them.

"Okay, not as hard as them. But you get what I mean."

"- with Baldazahn gone, we will have to focus even harder on keeping the battles contained to the upper tunnels. Losing the surface was a setback, but at least the more cramped confines give us the opportunity to concentrate our defenses," Thimeryss noted with a grave tone as he looked around the meeting chamber.

"The accursed followers of the endless void that is Death are simply too apt at negating the press of our lesser brothers and sisters. Are we soon ready to deploy the sliver of our god's power?"

"We are," Nehiri Rhamz replied, her spectral form meaning that even her aura projected voice gained a whispering quality to it.

"It is a shame that we cannot use it to create an avatar of our beloved divine father, but we should at least put it to good use to awaken these slumbering halls of ours as well as to empower the pools of second birth. If we can hold the line for long enough, those gold rankers up there will not be enough to breach our sanctuary in the future."

"Keep at it then," Thimeryss replied." I shall personally go out and help hold the lines, and keep our home safe."

"Gods, how deep are these tunnels? It feels like since they started glowing, they just started going on forever," Ceasar muttered as he flew next to the rest of the group. Even Léon stayed close, yesterday's shift in the environment putting even the otherwise confident elf on edge. The group had fought on as ordered, gradually pushing down one not quite naturally formed passage or another before temporarily retreating and relaying their progress back towards the main body of adventurers and Death's warrior clergy.

Then, all of a sudden, a pulse of chilling unlife had washed through the whole complex and set all of their aura senses ablaze. This had left everything muddled and quite ominous, seeming to empower the undead with some kind of resistance to the pale flames used by many of the warrior priests to combat their unliving foes. Thus, the pace of progress had greatly slowed, with both the main host and the roaming teams like Amica's showing a lot more caution.

"Five more. around the corner," Léon suddenly stated with eyes forlorn as he was projecting his sight through a floating mirror of his that scouted ahead now that Amica's aura senses weren't as effective. This caused the rest of the team to halt in their tracks, but Léon soon raised his hands pointing down towards the corner ahead.

"They are heading this way. I'll strike first." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Trusting their sniper and scout, the others instead started making their own preparations as beams of light started flying, reflected around the corner and hitting something out of sight. Shrieks echoed back to them while Léon summoned a pair of lenses in front of him to further empower his next series of spells.

He had the time to send three more blazing rays of light before the first of the silver-ranked undead crashed around the corner and smashed the conjured mirror that allowed the elf to harass them. The monster looked like a humanoid of gray flesh that was armored with what seemed to be several animated skeletons that clung and crawled to its body while emitting a faint unholy light.

Two more of the same soon followed, all three bearing clear signs of Léon's spells, with the two remaining members of the patrol being floating cowled wraiths with scythe-like arms.

Once the undead turned the corner, Kite and the others were immediately made aware that the blue light was not only for show but some kind of field inflicting them with an unholy affliction that ate into to their resistances, but there was little to be done about that at the time as offense and defense in unison proved the superior approach.

"Wall!" Barriers of force appeared in the corridor in front of the approaching undead, but not simply blocking off the tunnel-turned-hallway. Instead, Kite had left a horizontal gap throughout the shields at around chest height that left a narrow but clear open channel through the layered panes of force.

While Amica could affect creatures with some of her telekinetic powers even through the muddled line of sight allowed by his barriers, that did not hold true for many of her more direct powers as well as for most of the other teammates. Plus, it had become a clean and efficient way to buy some additional time at the beginning of an encounter in a cramped space as it forced the incoming undead to start cracking through Leyline Warding beneath a bombardment of spells and projected attacks.

That is not to say that there wasn't anything that the Undead could do as a means of counterattack, but even when the wraiths started swinging their scythe-like arms and projecting waves of slashing magic, most such attempts were blocked by Kite shifting his barriers and momentarily closing the gap or simply dissolved with dispelling strikes and other blasts they collided with.

One of the wraiths fell beneath the adventurer onslaught before the group had a chance to mow through even half of Kite's barriers, and the moment they were about to break through the last Kite swung and detonated it to send the undead reeling again. But just as the team was about to increase the pressure, Amica's sudden shout forced an abrupt change of plans.

"Down!" Kite dropped without question while conjuring the barriers of Heaven-and-Void warding to shield the group somewhat, Glint turned into her smaller form and hid herself beside him while the others followed suit in raising what defenses they had. They barely had the time to touch the ground before the tunnel wall to their side was split by a flash of deathly light that only the afterimage flashing in Kite's vision revealed to be the edge of a glowing sword.

Given the destruction it wrought while nonetheless passing harmlessly through the undead in front of them, it was not that hard to guess the side to which the wielder belonged. Recognizing a gold-ranked power when they saw one, the team did not need to speak to start preparing for their immediate retreat, but they did not get far before another burst of glowing stone showered the hallway.

This time it was no blade however, but two figures; one of which had just used the other as the means of some interior restructuring. Kite's spirit attribute was now well developed enough to at least gain some kind of visual information from the blur that blew past them - a flash of grim black armor, icy blue eyes, fluttering robes and silver spikes so gleaming that they seemed out of this world - but that was all he had the time to glean before they were gone.

The two clashing gold rankers did not go far however, their raging conflict now clearly heard through the fresh openings, along with an echoing call that sent icy chills through Kite's spirit. Literally even, as it felt like his soul frosted over briefly while rime started forming on his armor.

"To me, my siblings!" The reaction from the other undead that Kite and his team had engaged was instant, as their eyes started emitting a cold blue light that was a dimmer version of that of the armored gold-ranker's that Kite had managed to glimpse as they passed. This was not the only change either, as the undead suddenly pulled back from the cowering adventurers.

It was clear though that they were moving with purpose, and both the earlier call and the sudden coordination exhibited by the monsters gave Kite a dreadful realization as to what they were dealing with.

"Deathknight," Kite breathed, a sentiment echoed by the others.

"So, the retreat is off for now," Léon stated grimly.

"We need to help that priest, or at least alleviate the pressure."

"Have you faced one before?" Kite asked the elf, who shook his head.

"No, but I have been on a contract where one appeared and saw what that led to. Basic training should have already taught you. If we let it gather too many of its undead around it they will both be more dangerous as well as making the deathknight more powerful." Kite could only nod along, having only theoretical knowledge but one that matched up with what the sniper said. He quickly started sending mental images and impressions to Glint in order to prepare the familiar somewhat.

Each death knight had some unique powers, but great physical might and ability to both draw upon the power of nearby undead as well as help them coordinate was shared by all of them.

"Harassing tactics then," Amica agreed.

"We can't let ourselves get caught up in the brawl or have the priest risk himself through trying to defend us. Our goal is to thin out the reinforcements and otherwise not get ourselves too much in danger. Léon, mirrors. You might as well stay here and use your range to our advantage as we might need to move around a lot."

"Understood," came the elf's reply, and he started to draw out some kind of ritual circle beneath himself as he prepared his indirect and reflected supportive casting. The rest of them started moving out, already knowing their roles. While the ghastly glowing walls still suppressed a bit of their aura senses, the now open holes in the walls and general increase in collateral damage helped.

Kite could feel the powerful battling parties at what he assumed was around three chambers over, now connected where they previously hadn't been. As he took the lead with Amica and Ceasar close on his heels, he could see another brief series of flashing clashes ahead, as well as get a better look at both combatants. The deathknight was clad in full heavy plate in matte black, heavy and incredibly sturdy.

Only the pale blue eyes contrasted the grim look as they shone, but there was also a similar flickering light dancing along the undead's bastard sword that seemed to rise and fall like breaths; an almost ironic display in the hands of someone who had probably not breathed since ascending to iron rank. His foe was a human man with sturdy build, shaved head and bare arms in contrast to his otherwise flowing combat robes.

Unlike the more bulky undead, his movements were lightning quick as he weaved a complex pattern of strikes, or perhaps thrusts was a more apt description as the man had long silvery spikes that emerged from his hands and ran up along his arms and around his bare scalp where they encircled his head like a crown.

Each of the blows that landed without being deflected by the heavy armor of his foe left such a spike embedded in the undead where they glowed and smoldered with sputtering pale flames that didn't quite seem able to properly find a foothold. The auras of the pair were clashing like contrasts in stillness as one was of the life available after death - or at least what the undead seems to view as life - while the other emanated finality, peaceful or otherwise.

There was something there that caused Kite's mind to tingle, but that would have to be postponed for another time. Several of the other patrolling undead in the area had been drawn to the deathknight's call, and had started flowing into the area to try and pin down the elusive priest. So far the gold-ranker had done well in avoiding them, but enough harassment from silver-rankers could be enough for the deathknight to gain the upper hand sooner rather than later." Wall!"

Another set of barriers blocked off some of the reinforcements while Léon's reflected beams started striking the supporting undead. Keeping his distance from the fighting golds as best he could, Kite dove into the fray and engaged more of the unliving monsters at one of the flanks that started forming in the collapsed tunnels. Meanwhile, both Amica and Ceasar kept utilizing their powers of crowd control through bursts of forcefully scattered debris and cages of roiling lightning to further hamper their foes.

Glint helped too as she focused on supporting Kite in his melee, making sure that at least some of his back was free and giving him the opportunity to simply shrug off some weaker blows with the help of her karmic water image. During the first half minute, it didn't feel like they made much of a difference, but then one of the side passages was suddenly filled by a tide of bright light as a beam almost the width of the tunnel burst out of it.

This was enough to annihilate a group of already worn down undead, and apparently also enough to warrant the deathknight's attention.

"Pests! Find slumber, so that you can soon awake in truth!" His words were followed by the dancing lights of his sword roaring into an intense pillar that elongated the weapon to what Kite assumed was tens of meters, swinging the next instant in a blinding burst of speed that drove home the fact that while Kite and his fellows were indeed closing in on gold rank, the difference in pure physical capabilities was still vast.

"Void!" Just before the dark aperture of Gate of Nihility appeared, Kite thought he could see the priest suddenly blur into motion as well, but didn't have the chance to process it further before calamity descended upon him and the rest of his team who had gathered close. More of the tunnel walls were torn to shreds as the huge blade passed through, stone spraying all around them before the blade of energy impacted Kite's barrier.

Part of it was dissolved and dragged into the dark depths off the gate, but just as it started to bite into the aperture and collapse it something must have happened on the other side, because the blade suddenly turned upwards at an awkward angle and cut through parts of the ceiling instead. Not one to question good fortune, Kite gestured for Amica and Ceasar's team to follow him as they swiftly repositioned to another opening before continuing their assault.

This also revealed that the priest had indeed taken the chance to strike, leaving a series of silver spikes perforating the Deathknight's left arm in multiple places as the pale flames that had previously struggled blazed to silent yet intense life inside the other gold-ranker's armor.

Given how the undead's aura had suddenly started shifting and pulsing in uncontrollable distress, the injury must have been a lot more severe than could be gleaned from the outside, and with another chilling roar the deathknight sent all of his minions charging wildly into the other gold-ranker, their eyes flaring from dim blue light to roaring flames.

Kite thought that it might have been an attempt by the deathknight to make a gambit of his own to level the playing field, but that was quickly disproved as the armored undead then turned into a ghostly streak of light and retreated back down a nearby corridor. The priest readied his spikes and spells to dispatch the incoming charge of the lesser but not irrelevant undead, but a sudden wave of force that burst from him proved sufficient as Amica put her powers to work and threw the group into shambles.

Turning to look towards them, the robed man gave them a quick nod before suddenly speeding up himself in pursuit of his fleeing opponent. The message was clear; that he appreciated the unspoken offer of the team taking care of things here.

"Same formation, everyone!" Amica shouted, pulling in three thick pillars of stone from nearby to circle around her ominously as they started building up power.

"Let's make sure to clear him a proper path of escape!" Thimeryss materialized further down the complex at what he hoped would be a safe distance from the front lines where adventurers and Death's hateful clergy kept pushing against the defenses of him and his siblings. He would have gone further, if not for those painful spikes that pierced his form as they spread the terrible pale fires that Thimeryss has seen devour so many of his siblings over the years.

"May their second life come soon enough," he cursed as he started working to expel the spikes whose purity was the bane of the glorious body that his god had gifted him.

"And may I prove more worthy of mine." Thimeryss really should have seen the hunter's blow coming. He had faced their kind before and should have known to not turn his attention from the man for an instant, especially when the distractions had been a mere group of silvers. Finding his own undeath-blessed recovery working too slowly, the deathknight started using his other gauntleted hand to pry at the painful spikes.

Even through his armor, touching the things still sent ominous chills through his body, but Thimeryss persevered. That was, until he suddenly sensed the flicker of a gold-ranked aura from one of the side passages. One that he had just been embroiled in battle with a mere half minute earlier. Without hesitation, Thimeryss grabbed his bastard sword with his one good arm and swung, light emerging from the blade to let his strike show off the might of Undeath as it tore the passageway apart.

If it was indeed his pursuer, getting the first strike in will be vital as it might give him the time to prepare another use of his escape power through consuming one of his few saved artifacts. He had just produced the bone talisman when he realized that something was horribly wrong. The perception of all gold ranked beings was exceptional, both in how much level of detail one could perceive but also in the clarity available to thoroughly study each moment if one had enough focus to spare.

But with his attention split like it was, it took another moment for the deathknight to realize that among all the rubble sent flying from his strike, there were also fragments of a crystal that definitely did not belong there. One that was used to– Thimeryss' chest exploded with pain as a silvery spike suddenly emerged from his breastplate.

"As they say," a voice murmured from behind him.

"Made you look." Unfortunately for Thimeryss, the soft quip was made even as a circle of similar spikes appeared in the air around his head while a pulse from the one piercing his chest caused his body to freeze up momentarily just as the voice continued with a chant.

"Share the crown of thorns." Then the spikes closed in, and the last thing Thimeryss heard was the shrieking sound of his collapsing helmet, which also made the world go dark. A gold ranker would not be so easily dispatched, but robbed of his senses by such an ambush where he was already at a disadvantage due to his injuries, the deathknight knew that things were looking bad. Still, he swung in a circular slash going mostly by his aura senses to tell him where his foe was.

Following the attack was an eruption of deathly light from his body that emptied most of his remaining mana pool, but he could not help himself but make such a desperate move. Because even in the darkness of blindness, pale flames had started appearing. Flames that promised to rob him of his true life, as well as bring ruin to their cause.