Arawn Dragon
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Chapter 132 “The Tower.” Part 9
🕑 Added 2024-03-17 20:55:04 +0000 UTCThe fire illuminated every corner of the vaulted cave in which she stood, causing the eyes of the hundreds of specters surrounding the walls that imprisoned her to glow with a menacing reddish hue.
The spectral black figures shrieked. Their thunderous voices boomed against the cave walls, forcing her to cover her ears at the same time as they opened their hideous mouths unnaturally wide, showing her the collection of sharp shark-like teeth they possessed.
Kalysto didn’t even have time to think as they swarmed at her with their long claws extended, as long as her own daggers.
Then the fire went out and darkness reigned.
Hundreds of slashes rained down on her, scratching her back, arms, and abdomen. And though she could not hurt them with her daggers, which she tried with dedicated care, they did cut into her flesh with their sharp claws, tearing her clothes and spilling her blood onto the cold earth beneath her feet.
Kalysto grunted in annoyance as the pain spread throughout her body. At the same time, they seemed to move away. She clenched her daggers tightly, fearing to lose them in the midst of all that chaos.
Then she waited for the next attack with her heart roaring against her chest and an annoying ringing in her ears after those piercing shrieks.
The soft sound of the wind alerted her to the movement to her right, and she braced herself to receive the blow. And in the same instant that the claws of one of the wraiths tore at her skin, she spun toward him, slashing what must have been his shoulders and piercing with the dagger in her left hand what must have been his trunk.
But both daggers found nothing but air.
Shit! She was annoyed.
And while she thought of a way to counterattack them, silence reigned again.
“Fire blast!" she tried again, but nothing happened.
It hasn’t even been two minutes? It feels like an eternity! She complained.
The wait became agonizing.
While the sudden stillness of the enemy was beginning to bother her. She couldn’t even feel the earth vibrate under her feet when they moved. The only good thing was that the ringing in her ears began to fade, as the sound of her agitated breathing was the only thing that interrupted the annoying and unpleasant silence that surrounded her.
Damn things! Did they have to be so complicated to kill? She was sure that if she got to inspect them, she would discover that they were several levels below her, so in theory she shouldn’t be having any trouble getting rid of them.
Couldn’t the queen have given me an ability that would allow me to see in the dark? Then she could stop feeling like a little bunny trapped in a cave full of hungry wolves.
A new wave of attacks interrupted her thoughts and as the sharp claws of the specters cut into her skin, Kalysto could feel her blood running freely over her body, bathing other areas cut in a previous attack and she began to fear that her wounds would become infected.
Again, she tried to defend herself, but to no avail.
“Dispel Ezhil!” she exclaimed in annoyance, half relieved that at least she could be sure to save herself from infection as a surge of golden light shot out of her body at the same time as a strange noise echoed throughout the cave.
Kalysto could see how those strange creatures stopped all their movements, as if they had been frozen in time for a few seconds while their bodies, once made of shadows, slowly began to take physical form. And before any of them attacked her again, she exclaimed:
“Tundra!” freezing everything five meters around her. But noticing that despite her attack, hundreds of other specters surrounded the newly frozen area while others were left with half of their bodies in the air as they finished breaking through the walls of the cave to join in the attack against her. “Ezhil Purification!” The golden light of her skill joined the ‘Dispel’ that was still active, while the parts of the specters that were not yet completely solid began to fade under the purifying power of her skill.
So ‘Purification’ is good for that as well? She was surprised at her new discovery.
[You have gained 300 experience points!] x50
Being able to see her notification windows again took her by surprise, but she still continued with her plan.
“Dispel Ezhil!” She added, wanting to check that it hadn’t been an accident. And she watched as the ice she had conjured earlier began to vanish under the golden light of her skill, while a strange buzzing sound came from the specter’s body. Then she conjured: “Purification Ezhil!”
[You have gained 300 experience points!] x70
[You have gained 200 experience points!] x80
[You have gained 150 experience points!] x20
[You have leveled up!]
[The user is now level 32!]
Kalysto checked every nook and cranny of the cave she was in noticing a thin corridor whose height did not reach the ceiling but was hidden between the walls and that if it wasn’t for the still active light of her skills as a saint, she would have overlooked.
I’ll check on her later. She thought, concentrating on checking the huge amount of specters that had been torturing her and whose bodies were partially destroyed.
She walked among their remains, cutting some of them just to check that they were dead, noticing that her daggers could cut their dark skin covered by some kind of cloth of the same color. A thick black liquid gushed from their wounds and she immediately jumped back, throwing the dagger dyed with that black liquid towards one of the other remains.
“Ezhil Purification! Dispel Ezhil!” She conjured again, just to make sure it wasn’t the black plague. “Ezhil Purification! Dispel Ezhil!” And she jumped away from there, unwilling to get infected.
When she was far enough away, she went back to observe the rest of the bodies, trying to notice if any of them moved, when she did not notice any kind of movement she walked towards the small opening in the wall from which she could feel a thin current of air. Reassuring himself that he was not underground.
Or that there was at least an exit somewhere. She was relieved at the thought.
“Inventory!” A satisfied smile lit up her face as she saw that the system was finally back up and running smoothly. And she pulled out a vial of holy water. “Map!” she murmured. Satisfied as she noticed that after enlarging the image, she found no red dots surrounding it. But instead, she found an intricate and almost labyrinthine system of paths and small caves that looked more like the inside of a very complex anthill than the typical cave she expected to find.
Hundreds of red dots were clustered at the end of several paths and in two of them she found the dot that identified Rita, and in the other, the one that pointed to Koden.
So I was not the only one who was attacked in a group. And although she understood that it could be a good strategy against those who entered their floor, it was really annoying from the point of view of those who arrived.
A prolonged sigh full of exhaustion escaped her lips, and she drank the vial of holy water, then taking advantage of the fact that there was still some light from her skills as a saint, she took out her black backpack and opened it, digging through her pockets until she took out her cell phone and a change of clothes.
And after taking off her tattered pants, she put on another one of the ones that had been given to all the heroes and that she had kept as a spare and packed before setting out on the journey.
“Ezhil Purification! Dispel Ezhil!” she squealed again, not wanting to be left in the dark while she was half naked and finished putting on another shirt and the spare underwear she kept inside her backpack. “I hope I can find new underwear fast and not have to wear the horrible petticoats they use as a replacement here,” that or use her vacation on Earth to enlarge her underwear assortment.
By the time she finished changing, the golden light of her skills began to fade and she went back to conjure them. She then stowed her dirty and torn clothes in her backpack and it inside her inventory, leaving her cell phone in her left hand. Then she turned it on and, after checking that it still had an eighty percent charge, she turned off the screen and stood at the edge of the entrance to the narrow corridor.
And after taking out a thel she took a bite of it and looked at her map carefully, tracing an imaginary path as to what would be the best route to take to reach her fellow travelers without giving away her skills as a saint to the rest of the group.
Though it wouldn’t be a problem with Koden and Rita. She thought. The problem are everyone else... especially Oscar. Kalysto couldn’t shake the feeling that this man seemed too used to cutting necks for her to feel comfortable with him.
Then she pulled out the communication sphere the elf king had given her.
“Caranthir!” She called out, but no one answered. “Caranthir! Whatever you’re doing, stop doing it immediately!....” She then took another bite of her thel, as she felt the accumulated fatigue slowly begin to subside. “Caranthir, if you don’t answer me in the next five minutes, I’ll start deducting a bottle of holy water from your pay! I warned you from the beginning that you should be available for me twenty-four seven!”
By the time she took the first bite of the second thel, Caranthir answered her call in a sleepy voice.
“... Saintess?”
“How’s the investigation going?”
“Other than discovering that only a maximum of three individuals can pass through each portal created by a single wizard, I haven’t been able to find any more information about it," he replied, stifling a yawn. He seemed exhausted after many hours of research.
How useless! thought Kalysto with annoyance. Suddenly regretting having bargained with the queen not to kill him. I should have listened to the queen when she implied that he wasn’t that good. Then she let out a long sigh full of resignation. That means I must find other ways to profit from him.
