The air was thick with the stench of death, and the dark aura surrounding pulsed like a living thing. Behind , Edwin squinted, his gaze fixed on my back. When I turned to face him, our eyes t. His expression held countless questions, but beneath them was a flicker of understanding.
Without words, I conveyed my thoughts. We'll talk about this later.
The dark energy swirling within acted as a shield, nullifying the effects of Mareti's curses. The core of darkness inside spun relentlessly, feeding off the chaotic energy around us. The curses Mareti hurled at burned through the surrounding mana, converting it into dark mana. The corpses littering the battlefield, heavy with death energy, only amplified my power.
Mareti's eyes widened with disbelief as he snarled, "It's not possible!" His voice cracked with rage as he unleashed another volley of curses, each more erratic than the last.
I didn't flinch. Instead, I turned and leapt toward Edwin, grabbing him with ease. "Hold on," I muttered, my voice steady.
Explosions erupted around us, one after another, as Mareti's curses struck like a relentless storm. They battered against my body, but instead of harm, I felt an influx of energy coursing through my veins. The mana flowed through my ridians, burning at first before a cooling sensation took over.
Sothing was happening, sothing I didn't fully understand.
What's going on? I wondered as I ran. Is this death mana making immune to curses? I've dealt with pain and poison before, but this…
The thought lingered, but there was no ti to dwell on it. As the smoke from Mareti's spells began to dissipate, his figure ca into view. His face was contorted with fury, veins bulging as he let out a guttural growl.
Before he could act, I tossed a vial to Edwin. He caught it on instinct, his brow furrowing. "What's this?" he asked, his tone sharp despite his injuries.
"Holy water and healing," I replied briskly. "Pour it on the wound."
Edwin stared at blankly. "Do you have a healing potion?"
I faltered for a mont, genuinely baffled. "Why don't you carry potions?" I asked, irritation creeping into my voice.
He didn't respond, simply unscrewing the lid of the vial. As he poured it over the gaping wound on his thigh, a cleansing effect took hold, the curse searing away in wisps of dark smoke. The healing properties of the liquid followed swiftly, nding his flesh with an almost ethereal glow.
Edwin's expression didn't change. He remained stoic, even as relief visibly washed over him. His pride wouldn't allow him to show weakness, even now.
Mareti, anwhile, was unraveling. His maniacal laughter echoed across the battlefield, his movents erratic, like a cornered animal. "You think this changes anything?!" he shrieked. "You'll both die here! Your arrogance will be your end!"
I didn't react to his outburst. My gaze remained fixed on him, cold and calculating. He was losing control, and I intended to exploit every second of his unraveling sanity.
"Finish healing," I said to Edwin without looking at him. My voice was calm, but there was a steel edge to it.
Edwin nodded slightly, his blank expression betraying no emotion as he prepared himself for what was to co.
Mareti's curses intensified, his desperation palpable. But I remained composed, the dark energy within a steady rhythm as I calculated my next move. This was a battle of endurance, and I knew one thing for certain—Mareti's
The air grew colder, and the atmosphere felt heavy, almost suffocating. Shadows swirled around Mareti, who stood at the center of it all, grinning like a madman. Edwin's voice broke the silence, his tone low but sharp. "We need to be careful. He's using shadow clones."
I blinked at him, montarily surprised. Was this the sa Edwin I knew? He rarely spoke, let alone offered advice.
He caught my stare and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you looking at like that?" His words were cut short as a dark projectile hurtled toward us.
Without hesitation, I grabbed Edwin and leapt back, narrowly dodging the attack. The ground where it struck withered into decay, turning black and lifeless. The sight sent a chill down my spine.
While we steadied ourselves, I muttered under my breath, "That's not a shadow clone… it's substitution magic."
Edwin gave a short nod, his eyes fixed on Mareti, who looked increasingly flustered.
"Damn it!" Mareti scread, his frustration palpable. His grotesque features twisted further as he fell into deep thought.
His gaze shifted to the flickering lightning now coursing faintly through Edwin's body. Fear flickered across his face, breaking through his anger.
'I can't keep this up,' Mareti seed to realize.
Suddenly, he bit his thumb, tearing into the flesh as blood dripped down. He began to chant in a guttural, ancient tongue.
"Rise, forsaken souls, abandoned in death's void. Serve your master once more, bound by eternal despair!"
CRUNG!
The ground beneath us quaked violently. A deep, eerie groan filled the air as skeletal hands clawed their way up from the earth. One by one, undead soldiers erged, their hollow eyes glowing with malevolent light. Their bones rattled as they moved, a cacophony of death echoing through the battlefield.
Mareti coughed violently, blood staining his lips as his body trembled. His ritual had taken a toll, but the undead army he summoned was far from weak.
I studied him closely, noting the strain on his body. The first stage was him summoning undead. Once they're defeated, he'll switch to direct combat using substitutions. If I can push him to the final stage, he'll summon undead again, but by then…
My thoughts were interrupted as Edwin shifted beside . I turned to him. "Can you handle the undead?"
Edwin flinched, his gaze dropping to his bloodied feet. The potion had helped, but his movents were sluggish, and the wound wasn't fully healed.
I sighed, my lips twitching with irritation. "Catch."
I tossed him a pair of steel-soled boots. He caught them mid-air, his expression blank but his eyes questioning .
"Wear them," I said. "They'll help you handle the undead. I'll keep Mareti busy."
Without waiting for a response, I charged forward.
The first skeleton lunged at with a jagged sword. I deflected the blow with my blade, spinning to counter with a slash aid at its ribcage. The bones splintered, but it didn't fall. Instead, it swung its shield at , forcing to duck.
Their brute strength sent numbing pain up my arms with each clash. Their movents were relentless, chanical yet precise, as if driven by an unyielding force.
I moved fluidly, dodging and weaving through their attacks. My blade danced in my hands, striking weak points in their skeletal fras. Yet for every one I destroyed, another took its place.
A particularly large skeleton swung a massive mace at . I blocked with my blade, but the impact sent sliding back, my arms screaming in protest.
"These things are on a whole different level," I spat, thinking back to the weaker undead I had faced in the Crestfallen Desert. Those had been a joke compared to this.
I fought bitterly, my strikes becoming more precise as I adapted to their patterns. But no matter how many I cut down, they kept coming, their numbers seemingly endless.
Sweat dripped down my brow as I found myself surrounded. My breathing was labored, my arms heavy from the relentless onslaught. A skeleton with a sword aid for my back, and I turned too late to block.
SWISH!
A streak of lightning shot past , obliterating the skeleton in an instant.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Undead were hacked and slashed apart, their bones shattered into dust with ruthless efficiency.
I turned to see Edwin, his movents precise and swift. Lightning crackled around him as he tore through the undead without rcy, his expression cold and unyielding.
"What?!" Mareti's voice broke into a panicked.
Mareti's eyes widened in fear as he caught sight of Edwin. His movents had beco unnaturally fast, and the flickering lightning around his body only made him more terrifying.
"Why is he faster? Why?!" Mareti stamred, panic creeping into his voice.
Before he could figure it out, a bolt of lightning struck near him, erupting into an explosive blast. He barely managed to raise a shield spell—Bone Fortress, an intricate wall of skeletal remains. But the force of the lightning cracked it almost instantly.
"What's happening?! AHHH!" he scread, clutching his chest as his heart swelled with strain.
Desperate, he muttered another incantation, summoning Bone Sphere, a do-like barrier of dense bones to shield him from further attacks.
Edwin clicked his tongue in frustration, his cold voice cutting through the chaos. "He's not giving an opening."
I stiffened, my attention drawn to Edwin. I studied him carefully, from head to toe, trying to piece together how he had suddenly gained this speed. Sothing didn't add up.
After a mont, I spoke with a asured tone. "I'll give you an opening, but you need to finish it."
Edwin frowned, his sharp eyes narrowing slightly. "Rember, with substitution, he can only jump within a ten-ter radius. He almost always moves to the right of his current position."
His expression darkened, likely wondering how I knew this. But he didn't question .
I turned back to Mareti, whose beady eyes squinted as he glared at us, clearly trying to anticipate our next move. With a twisted grin, he raised his hand and fired off another spell.
Black flas roared toward , twisting and writhing like living entities.
I threw myself into motion, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. My body moved instinctively as I dodged one attack after another. The heat of the flas licked at my skin, so grazing and leaving searing burns.
Each near-miss made my pulse hamr harder. My legs scread in protest, but I kept running, focusing only on staying ahead of the deadly fire.
I can't stop. Not now. Not ever.
Just as I thought I had found a rhythm, my blood ran cold. A storm of black arrows materialized in front of , their sharp tips aid directly at my face.
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