No one spoke for a while until one of their teammates, Shakil, raised his hand.
"If that's the case, doesn't that an this expedition just got more dangerous?"
The prince's eyes flickered slightly. "Explain yourself," he said.
"Yes, my prince," Shakil replied. "What I am trying to say is, what happens when all these monsters are killed? Wouldn't that an people would be the next things hunted?"
As realization settled over everyone, it was followed by a strong chill running down their spines.
In other locations within the ruin, many other groups were also discovering several strange things about it. Unfortunately, the advantages toward their growth were too significant to ignore.
*
The crystal-lit ridge beneath Michael's boots trembled.
A heavy force struck sowhere below, followed by the sharp crack of splitting stone.
Michael turned his head slightly.
"There," Arianne murmured.
They descended the ridge just enough to gain a clear view of the battlefield.
The creature stood nearly twice the height of an average human. It was not humanoid.
Not entirely.
Its limbs were elongated, jointed at unnatural angles. The surface of its body was matte black, but unlike the lesser shadows, faint lines of
dark-blue energy pulsed beneath its skin, tracing patterns like veins. Its head was smooth and featureless, yet pressure radiated from where eyes should have been.
Cedric was already in motion.
He dashed forward, boots grinding against crystal-veined stone. His blade, now infused with mana, shimred faintly with deep blue light.
He struck first.
The sword cleaved downward in a heavy arc.
The blade t resistance.
The faceless monster raised one elongated arm and caught the strike mid-swing.
The impact detonated a shockwave that fractured the ground
beneath them.
Cedric's teeth clenched.
The creature did not stagger.
Instead, the lines beneath its surface flared brighter.
Lucien moved.
His hand swept outward, and the air responded instantly.
A compressed blade of wind ford, almost invisible except for the distortion it carved through the space in front of him. It sliced forward in a crescent arc and struck the creature's flank.
The wind edge tore a shallow line across the matte surface, sending dark fragnts scattering like splintered stone.
At the sa ti, Lucien's other hand traced a quick sigil in the air. Mana threads tightened around the monster's legs, attempting to bind and restrict its movent.
Alaric did not hesitate.
He stepped forward, planting his foot heavily as heat surged around him. Unlike Lucien's clean cuts, Alaric's fire magic roared outward in controlled aggression.
A ring of burning sigils flared beneath his boots.
From that ring, three pillars of fla erupted simultaneously around the monster, forming a triangular prison.
The air distorted from sheer heat.
The creature reacted violently.
Its limbs slamd outward.
One elongated arm extended like a whip, smashing into Cedric's side.
Cedric twisted at the last instant, but the blow still sent him skidding across stone, boots carving deep lines as he fought to regain footing.
The monster leapt upward.
The mana bindings around its legs snapped with a violent ripple.
It slamd into one of Alaric's fire pillars and tore through it, flas scattering outward in blazing fragnts.
Alaric gritted his teeth, pushing more mana into the formation.
The sigils beneath him brightened, veins standing out along his neck.
Lucien adjusted instantly.
Instead of another cutting arc, he extended both palms forward.
The air compressed sharply around the creature.
Pressure.
Invisible force tightened from all sides, restricting its range of motion.
The monster's dark-blue veins flared in response, resisting the
pressure.
Cedric charged again.
He struck in rapid succession, short and precise blows aid at joints
and fracture points.
A deep crack ford along one elongated limb.
Lucien saw it.
His fingers snapped.
A concentrated spear of compressed wind shot forward and pierced
directly into the fracture Cedric had created.
The impact drove the crack deeper.
The creature retaliated instantly.
Its other arm elongated unnaturally, splitting at the elbow into two
thinner appendages that stabbed downward.
Cedric barely deflected one.
The second pierced through his shoulder guard, grazing flesh.
Blood sprayed.
Lucien redirected the pressure field, forcing the creature's upper
body backward to reduce the follow-up strike.
Alaric compressed his fla pillars inward, narrowing the prison.
The combined assault forced the creature backward.
A wave of compact dark energy exploded outward.
The wind bindings shattered.
The fire pillars collapsed. Cedric dropped to one knee.
Lucien was thrown several ters back, boots scraping as he fought
to regain balance.
Alaric slid back, his sigils flickering violently before stabilizing. The monster stood in the center of scorched and fractured terrain.
The fractures along its limb sealed slowly, dark-blue energy knitting
the damage together.
From the ridge above, Arianne narrowed her eyes.
"It's healing?"
Michael's gaze sharpened.
Cedric rose again.
This ti, he did not rush.
Lucien shifted left, drawing wind into a tighter orbit around his body.
The air around him beca sharp and thin, slicing at loose debris
without visible motion.
Alaric repositioned to the right, forming a more complex fire array
beneath his feet.
The second phase began.
Cedric feinted high.
The monster raised its arm.
Lucien struck low, sending a horizontal blade of compressed wind
toward its legs while simultaneously tightening a pressure field around its torso.
Alaric condensed his fire into a single focused spear above him,
rotating slowly.
The creature moved to intercept Cedric.
That was the opening.
Alaric thrust both hands upward.
The spear descended.
Focused.
It pierced directly through the fracture Cedric and Lucien had
deepened.
For a brief mont, there was resistance.
Then the spear punched through the creature's upper torso, erupting
out its back in a burst of blazing fire.
Lucien followed instantly.
He compressed the surrounding air into a narrow spike and drove it
through the sa wound, preventing the dark energy from sealing
the damage.
The monster convulsed.
Dark energy flared violently.
Cedric stepped in.
One final strike.
His blade carved horizontally.
The creature split.
Its form collapsed inward, black vapor erupting outward before
compressing violently and dissolving entirely. Silence followed.
The air shimred with residual heat and thin slicing currents of
fading wind. Cedric stood breathing heavily, blood trickling down his arm.
Lucien lowered his hands slowly, the sharp tension in the air dissipating.
Alaric's sigils dimd.
Above the scorched stone, a deep-blue orb condensed.
Larger than usual.
Denser.
It pulsed once.
From the ridge, Arianne spoke quietly.
"They are becoming stronger." Michael's eyes did not leave the orb.
"Yes. And it seems the pattern is that the deeper we go, the more intense everything becos."
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