Chương 34: Third Layer II

From the curtain of the ash storm, two figures leapt out. Shrouded in darkness, their cloaks left a trail of smoke behind. Their figures stopped and took the form of semi-humanoid shadows in the sky as they raised their metallic claws. The Dusk Flare wrapped around the blades, and the creatures spun like orbs of malice, shooting their claws at the expedition team. Verka created a ward that guarded them.

Their explosion tainted the ward with soot, functionally blinding the entire team for a moment as another barrage of strikes came from another set of Shadow Stalkers. Kurvam lunged at one of the Shadow Stalkers, shattering its body in half. The other one landed on the sand and dashed towards the team. Charbil had switched places with Sarkot, as he was injured, so he intercepted the stalker as it rushed towards the mages.

From the storm, another pair of Shadow Stalkers leapt, and behind them, there were two more Day Walkers, their skin tinged red in the Necropolis. The silhouette of the Ascendant Demon flickered like a shadow in a pond, but it never entered the arena. And the last two participants, for now, in the battle made their presence known by shooting orbs of malice at them.

One blindsided Verka, who was trying to keep Kurvam safe as the leader fought a Day Walker, having a much harder time than he should against such an opponent. Yehia's ward protected him.

"You can take your eyes off your prince for a minute, you know," Yehia smirked. She angled her spear and shot at the Day Walker that Markil was clashing with. It pierced the hide of the demon, and Markil killed it instantly. Yehia was about to rush into the fray, but Liesel held her back.

"Stay here. Keep the mages safe if necessary. I will join the front." Liesel shifted her eyes to Farki Jan.

"How many more are there?" The Observer shook his head, explaining that the storm was a construct of Materiality and completely blanketed his perception. So he knew as much as they did. With a nod, Liesel dashed into the wasteland, trusting the mages to use their magic effectively. They should always preserve their strength because the worst thing that can happen is if thousands of worthless demons swarm them, and unfortunately, that was not unlikely enough for Liesel to feel comfortable.

"Garvin, join us!" she shouted over the howling of the wind.

"What about me?!" Sarkot asked. Liesel shook her head.

"Protect the mages." The Shadow Stalker flung its claws at her. Liesel dodged one and knocked the other to the side, where it exploded, but hurt no one. And as it landed, Liesel channelled Materiality into her sword. Its surface glimmered. The Shadow Stalker lunged at her. Liesel layered her arm, defended against the strike, and swung her sword. [Shade Strike Executed!] The ding in her mind eased her body as the sword gathered its blood. It was a lucky strike in Liesel's eyes.

She was consistent about half the time when she tried to use it mid-fight against weaker enemies. It gave her both the Materiality and also fed her sword without having to wait. [Materiality -22 Materiality +6] She had slowly become used to using such a large amount of energy; she'd have balked at her wastefulness at any other point in her life. It was still only ten percent of her total capacity, so she wouldn't consider it efficient.

From the storm again, a few more demons rushed out, as if to maintain their consistent numbers. They were up to nine at this point, and though Kurvam and the others were keeping them at bay, the occasional shots from the Malice Conjuror hiding in the shade of the storm were frustrating. The warders kept them safe, though. Liesel dodged a dark orb that exploded into a sphere of all-consuming dark flames.

She didn't take the bait and rush into the artificial storm, even though she was confident she could kill one without any assistance. She had come that far. But not even Yehia's spear could penetrate the storm wall. Liesel killed another Day Walker, but another rushed out from the storm, and following behind it were a pair of Malice Conjurors, gloomy orbs hovering over their hands, that shot arrows of darkness at everyone.

Charbil dodged, and the next moment the demon he had been fighting took the opportunity, stabbing its sword-like limb into his chest. He clenched his jaw and stabbed his sword into the eyes of the demon and ripped its head off its body. It was a worrying injury if he didn't receive any treatment in the next hour. He heaved. Verka's ward protected him from the next flurry of arrows. Except for Kurvam, who had Verka's total assistance, the Conjurors' presence was worse than they had expected.

Jaisel conjured a volley of arrows at the Conjurors, and much to everyone's surprise, the second demon created an identical ward to Verka's and protected the pair of mage demons.

"Withdraw!" Liesel commanded as she cut down the third Shadow Stalker.

"Fiya, kill everyone." Liesel immediately realized her error. The demons pursued with speed and power that were almost unlike what Shadow Stalkers should ever possess, and they were forced to engage again. We can't preserve our strength. Liesel decided. The demons were no different in their actions compared to the ones in the ruins, only that they were stronger.

"Use your skills!" Liesel shouted. Immediately, Charbil's spear stabbed in succession, each stab exploding the air. He killed his next opponent, and a replacement came from the storm. The silhouette of the Ascendant Demon loomed closer. Perhaps it was not going to join these low-level creatures, and Liesel was, discontentedly, grateful about that. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

One of the Malice Conjurors only focused on warding against the mages' spells, and the other one was conjuring ungodly levels of Materiality into its next spell. Even from the spell circle, the bitter malice slipped out, tasting like rot in the back of Liesel's throat. It would gather the dark smog into a tiny orb. Liesel remembered that spell and how much more lethal this one would be compared to what they had faced in the ruins. Liesel conjured an Impact Rune and stabbed it with her sword.

Clenching her fingers tightly, she dashed towards the pair of Conjurors. The Warding Conjuror waved its hand towards her, and a trail of misty energy shot in her direction. Liesel dodged to the side. And the energy arched, racing towards the mages. Yehia's ward held it at bay, but once enough energy piled up, it broke the barrier. Yehia conjured another.

"Verka!" she shouted, and the Warder created a supporting structure for Yehia that finally stopped it. Sarkot sent an energy slash into it. The external energy immediately imploded everything. It sent a shockwave of air that distracted Garvin for a moment. The Shadow Stalker's nail exploded as it slashed Garvin, almost setting Garvin on Dusk Flame. It was only his hand, and he managed to quench it quickly with his Materiality. The injury rendered him incapable of fighting.

Yehia's spear took out the demon before it could've harmed Garvin further. Liesel reached the Malice Conjuror, and Kurvam was also rushing at them, probably sensing the undeniable doom if the Conjuror's spell continued unimpeded. Liesel enforced her arm and swung her sword. The ward let out a high-pitched noise as a crack spread on its surface. It immediately repaired itself. And the next moment, the Shadow Conjuror shot a dark orb at her, dematerializing the ward only for a small section as the orb crossed it.

Once again, showing off its control over the magic that should be beyond anything less than an Ascendant Demon. Liesel jumped back, and Verka's ward protected her from the explosion. She looked back at Yehia, who seemed to understand her intention wordlessly. Kurvam's sword skill left a bigger crack than her Impact Rune did, but even that was repaired instantly. Liesel replenished her Materiality as she conjured the Impact Rune.

She stabbed it with her sword, and by using the stronger impact, she created a crack on the ward.

"Kurvam, strike here." Kurvam's condition was disheveled. And though Verka protected him from all the strikes, he seemed exhausted from running, using, and putting all his energy into each strike. He didn't argue, perhaps lacking the mental presence to do so, and struck. The ward shattered and was instantly repaired. The Malice Conjuror created another exploding ball. And as the demon created a hole in the barrier, Yehia's spear coursed through it and stabbed through the orb before it could leave the ward.

It bloomed into a sphere of dark fire. The Warding Conjuror created another ward, protecting the actual spellcaster as it undid its own ward and leapt back, but the explosion caught up to him. Kurvam immediately rushed at him, and Liesel was behind him, channeling Materiality into her feet to pursue the Shadow Conjuror. Kurvam's skill only caught the tail of the demon, which, like a lizard, it was happy to sacrifice.

Liesel flanked it from the left, and her sword crashed into the burning red eye in the middle of the mask. She left a deep gash, from which black blood spilled. The demon howled in anger. Just as she was about to stab it again, for the final time, a rush of black mist knocked her back. The Malice Conjuror melted it. Liesel looked back and saw Fiya's binding spell glowing in the mist. The mist itself would be a fallout of the interrupted spell.

"Take care of it!" Liesel shouted at Kurvam as she dashed towards the other Conjuror before it could break out of the chain. Its energy seemed to be damaging the bindings already. Liesel lunged at the bound demon, swinging her sword at its mask. She wasn't even trying to execute a Shade Strike. And yet, before she could've reached it, the chains dissolved. Her sword touched the outer malice as the demon floated away from her reach. A demon rose from the darkness, covered in the mist, a Day Walker.

The blade arm made it apparent. She defended against its strike, but the weight behind it caught her by surprise.

"Argh!" It was Garvin who screamed. Liesel stepped to the side as the demon attacked her again and cut its head from its body. She looked for the Malice Conjuror. The demon had taken the farthest point and was shooting another barrage of darkness orbs at everyone. Both Markil and Garvin were injured.

"Get out!" Jaisel screamed. And though the duo couldn't, Verka's ward protected them as a thousand more arrows of fire descended from above, burning away the mist as well as killing most of the regular demons.

"Verka!" Kurvam grunted. Liesel was moving again as the spell died, and Sarkot was there as well, protecting Garvin. As much as she wanted to tell him to stay in the back, there was no time. Yehia captured the Conjuror in a ward just like the last time. And it was broken immediately, and in that moment, her spear crashed into its mask, knocking the demon back. Liesel rushed towards it. Another Shadow Stalker rose from the puff of mist, barely alive and injured. Sarkot intercepted it.

Gritting her teeth, Liesel followed the Conjuror, who was trying to run away. Again, binding chains shot out from the ground, and this time, they only caught the tail, but Yehia's ward also managed to delay it for a moment. Liesel lunged forward and buried her sword into the demon's mask. Channeling Materiality into her upper body, she yanked the demon's entire body with the plunged sword and smashed it into the ground. Then she pushed the sword deeper.

Channeling Materiality into it, she ripped the sword out of the mark. The mask shattered. Its life lingered still. Liesel weaved materiality into the blade and lowered it to her knees. And cut the demon's head. [Shade Strike Executed!] Her entire body ached from the excess use of Materiality. Liesel climbed back to her feet, glancing at the mages. Fiya was on her knees, and the healer was healing her. The Conjuror had damaged the binding chains, and that would gravely injure Fiya.

The mage was using some kind of pact to use this spell, and any harm to it affected her equally. Jaisel was a large-scale spellcaster, but he could do some smaller spells, and one of them seemed to have injured the Warding Conjuror, and Kurvam had killed it using the distraction. Without the conjurors, the rest of the demons were dispatched quickly. Liesel heaved. It was over. As her muscles eased slightly, Materiality still burning in them, she heard a grunt.

"Argh." Liesel's head whipped in Sarkot's direction. His wound had come undone. And he collapsed under his own weight. The Shadow Stalker swiped at him. He used Layering to guard his hand, but that barely left it clinging to his elbow. Liesel conjured an Impact Rune. Stabbing the blade into it, she threw the sword at the Shadow Stalker, which exploded upon contact. And Yehia's spear did the rest of the work. Liesel walked over to her sword. It was at the edge of the ash storm. As she picked it up, the air stopped.

All the dust in the air fell onto the ground. Before her, the rest of the Necropolis stretched. It was just a wasteland of ash and sand. The carcass of the Demon General, a thousand-foot-long creature whose bones still seemed to have survived, or the Necropolis had replicated them, lay before the tomb. She could see the spine leading to the base of the tomb like a staircase. And the oppressive energy leaked from the tomb, falling like a river, and it all coalesced around...

Liesel followed the trail, and it stopped at a man, or an Ascendant Demon. The energy made it impossible to see him. He stood above Sarkot. Liesel licked her lips. It was twice her height, and its entire body was calcified with Ashening. Shells over shells, and some were carved smooth to give him a humanoid form. He bent down and grabbed Sarkot by his throat. Its ashened fingers dug into Sarkot's skin.

"Can you speak?" Liesel asked." Why do you always ask the same question, girl?"