Chapter 250: Brazier
Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Vermillion
Countless illusory pale arms rose from the gray stone floor. Those evil arms were infused with hatred and they were trying to grab the things above them. It seemed like they would tear apart anything that fell into their hands and drag it to hell.
There were countless muscular arms with pale skin spurting out of the wall on the left and the bookshelf on the right. It almost looked like they formed a wall of arms that came straight from hell.
The pale arms around Lucien, Charlie, and Sandra detected their presence. The arms quickly moved toward them and tried to grab their ankles, arms, or edges of their clothes.
The 11 crystal orbs that were rotating over Lucien’s head released eye-blinding light as the arms reached his body. The pale arms were burnt into white smoke in the intense light.
Susan and Sandra were surrounded by Sandra’s three remaining energy orbs and the energy rays of the orbs were destroying the pale arms around them. The arms that touched Charlie’s body left the floor and the wall, being absorbed into Douglas’ Absorbing Wall. The flowing magic runes quickly expanded in size and they looked as if they would explode any time.
Charlie, Sandra, and Lucien did not deactivate their defensive spell when waiting for Bill’s speech.
However, the more arms they destroyed, the more arms would appear from the walls and the bookshelf. It felt like those endless pale arms came from the deepest abyss.
Three translucent strings originated from Sandra’s head, flying to Lucien, Charlie, and Susan.
Lucien and Charlie recognized that the spell was a third circle spell named Lesser Mind Connection. They did not block the strings and let them contact their minds. Susan saw that the two sorcerers took the strings like nothing and decided to take the string as well.
“The only way to solve the problem is to destroy the summoning circle in the binding room. The monsters will get the chance to revive and they will do whatever they want to us if we try to escape.” Sandra’s thoughts were transferred into Lucien, Charlie, and Susan’s mind through the translucent strings.
The spell could help the sorcerers to communicate directly and it was much faster than speaking using their mouths. Lesser Mind Connection and its advanced version were the best choices for communication for the sorcerers when they were battling or adventuring. The weakness of the spell was in the short effective range and also due to the fact that the connection could be interrupted by the spells that could affect their mind.
Charlie agreed with Sandra’s plan without any hesitation. “The mist is thick outside. I think if we don’t destroy the summoning circle and kill that monster, the mist will never go away. Also, if we wander into the mist, the monster will eliminate us one by one.”
The two aggressive sorcerers decided to strike, since they had no way to contact the others. They had two choices: the first was to defend at their current position; the second one was to strike or run away after fighting through the path of the pale arms. They could only wait desperately if they decided to defend their current position. Also, it seemed like the monster was still reviving, since it had not attacked them after the wall of arms appeared. It was the best chance they had.
They would not be able to utilize their power when escaping, as they would be anxious and they might get lost.
“Let’s head to the binding room.” As the leader of the team, Lucien wasted no time and made the decision.
Bill sealed the secret chamber after the wall of arms appeared, but Sandra had no time to check if he was still safe. Sandra asked Susan to follow after her as she knew that Susan was terrified of the situation.
If Susan was left behind or out of reach in such a dangerous environment, Sandra was certain that she would risk her life for Susan.
Susan was one of the two survivors that escaped the castle, and thus she could protect herself to some extent. However, if the place was too terrifying, she wouldn’t be able to do much without help. Thus, Susan followed closely after Sandra, who just summoned the energy orbs again.
Lucien was following after the team and he was running at full speed with the help of the knight-level speed that was buffed by the spell named Speed. He was moving so fast that his body blurred. The starlight of Maskelyne’s Star splashed on the ground and the pale arms from the walls were purified. However, Maskelyne’s Star was just a third circle spell and only eight stars out of the eleven were left, since there were so many pale arms. Also, it could not eliminate all the pale arms fast enough, so Lucien’s body and outfit were grabbed several times.
Luckily, Lucien still had the Death Ward and the Powerful Fire Shield, that successfully destroyed the arms that escaped from the starlight.
Lucien thought he was walking on some rotten meat or slippery moss as the arms rose up from the ground. It was a horrifying scene and an unpleasant experience.
The sorcerers knocked down more than ten bookshelves before entering the hallway, they had no time to dodge every object on their way.
The hallway was more terrifying than the apprentice’s hall. Pale arms were no longer reaching out of the walls, but they were replaced with arms from dead bodies. Those rotten arms were covered with bloody wounds and there were red tongues hanging down the ceiling.
Sandra pointed her wand forward as she ran and the whole hallway was brightened up quickly. The light gathered together and burned the translucent arms, bloody arms, and the tongues into ashes.
Charlie also cast a spell. Two intense flame walls appeared on both sides of the hallway. The arms had to pass through the flames before reaching the sorcerers, but the flames could deal a large amount of damage to both the bloody and the translucent arms. Those arms would lose their power even if they could pass through the flame walls, and Sandra’s Burning Sun could easily purify them.
The two sorcerers who were good at offensive spells cleared the path and Lucien could travel at full speed without casting any extra spells. Lucien had the chance to focus on checking the surroundings, so he could react as soon as possible to any potential threats.
That was usually how the sorcerers fought during intense battles.
Although the hallway was long, the sorcerers were traveling so fast that they reached the end quickly. The pale arms, dead arms, and the bloody tongues were getting stronger and stronger. Some of them passed through the flame wall and the Burning Sun, landing on the sorcerers’ bodies. Those hands and tongues almost broke through their defenses. It meant that the monster would be revived soon.
The arms on the ground slowed down the sorcerers greatly and the arms almost formed a forest by the corners.
Lucien quickly created a large fireball and released it. The fireball went over the sorcerers in front of him and landed on the ground.
*Bam*
The noise was loud in the narrow space of the hallway and the shockwave blew a lot of arms away. The doors on the walls were also destroyed, and numerous cracks and holes were left on the ground.
Half of the forest made of arms was destroyed, and Charlie, Sandra, and Susan passed through it easily as the rest of the arms were no longer a problem. However, a lot of arms spurted out of the ground again when Lucien tried to pass through.
Lucien changed the rotating trail of the eight light spheres over his head. Two of them crashed into two other, as if they were trying to change their destiny. The four light spheres quickly disappeared into the air after crashing into each other.
Lucien walked to the corner after making changes to the spell, Maskelyne’s Star. The translucent arms and the bloody arms reached out to him but they were centimeters away from contacting Lucien’s body. Some of the arms grabbed each other after missing the target.
Such situation only happened several times when they were running through the hallway but it was happening all the time at the moment.
It was one way to use the Maskelyne’s Star. The target would lose its luck and it would not be able to do anything after its destiny was changed by the stars.
One second later, the arms returned to normal but Lucien was already past the corner. He saw that Charlie’s defensive force field palm perished in the air and the absorbing wall reached its limit. Four of the energy orbs above Sandra’s head also broke into pieces.
There were no longer arms reaching out of the walls and the door of the binding room was not visible to them. Instead, enormous eyes formed a giant wall that blocked the path. Their black eyeballs and white pupils were everywhere. They were like the messenger that brought the desperation to this world.
Lucien felt like his soul turned black after being stared at by those eyes, he felt that he was losing himself in the abyss. The Maskelyne’s Star above his head extinguished right away and the crystal orbs dropped to the ground after losing their color. The Powerful Fire Shield was fading away and the rotating divine runes of the Death Ward appeared in the air.
Suddenly, a thin layer of pure light appeared on Sandra’s body. Rays of light were released by her and the rays flew toward the Wall of Evil Eyes like fireworks.
It was a fourth circle spell named Arcana Light. The spell was created based on the level four divine spell named Light from the Heavenly Mountain. Although Arcana Light was not infused with the mysterious power of a divine spell, it could still be used to eliminate evil creatures.
Lucien activated Sun’s Corona at the same time and holy light landed on the Wall of Evil Eyes. The twisted eyes were purified in the light one by one.
Level three divine spell – Burning Radiance.
Meanwhile, Charlie created a clear mirror in front of the Wall of Evil Eyes and forced the eyes to stare at themselves. It was a second circle force field spell named Staring, that was designed for the staring attacks.
The mirror broke into pieces under the pressure, but at the same time the evil eyes exploded one by one. Black liquid splashed onto the ground and it sounded like metal being corroded. The rest of the eyes were perishing in the light from the Burning Radiance and Arcana Light.
When the situation was complicated, low-level spells might be more effective than the high-level ones.
The Wall of Evil Eyes fell down without making any noise, revealing the door to the binding room.
A fireball was released from Charlie’s white gloves, it blew the door and the wall into pieces. The sorcerers finally had the chance to see what the room looked like.
There was a normal-looking magic circle in the binding room, but there were dead bodies lining up on the end of each string. Blood that dripped down from the dead bodies was transferred to the core of the magic circle through the strings.
In the center of the magic circle, there was a brazier containing dark flames, but it looked like a common, kitchen brazier. From within the flames, a body covered with a luxurious long black robe was rising, with its two skinny pale hands placed on the borders of the brazier to push its body upward.
The skull with a thin layer of rotten meat and a pair of bloody red eyes was staring at Charlie, who was the closest to the door. The expression on the skull’s face did not look as if it was anxious, angry, or threatening. It was simply a strange mocking smile.
