Ascenders Rift

His indistinct mouth curved into a smile as he spoke in a soft voice that resounded across the room, "So, we"ve finally reached this point... it"s good; the time has come for everything to end."

Following his words, a slight amount of vibrations could be felt from outside his chamber. The door itself that seemed as st.u.r.dy as a mountain, rattling as if at any moment it would burst open, revealing those who held his very fate.

The scene here once more fading in the darkness, as the terrifying battle occurring on the outside continued to wreak havoc in the King"s Hall.

***

The neatly tiled floor split apart while the red carpet was sheered to pieces as countless rays of cross-shaped sword beams sped across the halls as if chasing a shadow. Those that missed their target had crashed into the well-polished marble of a floor, along with the ancient walls causing them to break apart into multiple fissures.

Following this chaos, Rick flashed about like a blurry shade bouncing from the ground into the air as he sent a series of spear attacks towards the similarly fast Zelad. Each of the spear"s strikes sent out many different white beams that seemed as if they could pierce through all things. However, as if Zelad didn"t care about them, he raised his b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword as a dark light shone over both it and his glowing eyes as he shouted, "Dark Sword Flas.h.!.+"

Following the shout, Zelad"s sword turned into a ray of black light that crushed apart the flurry of spear rays as his entire body similarly vanished, leaving behind only a trail of remnant shades as he charged towards Rick.

Rick seeing this was startled, he was about to retreat by using his Second Step innate talent, but right at this moment, Joe had abruptly appeared before him with his Arc s.h.i.+eld glowing in bright earthen colored lights.

"Arc Barrier!" Joe shouted as his s.h.i.+eld expanded by two meters size, ultimately hindering Zelad"s path, as it forced both to collide.

Bang! A loud collision was heard, as sparks, dark auras, and earthen energies scattered in opposing directions when Zelad"s sword met with Joe"s s.h.i.+eld, tossing Joe"s hair behind his head in a wild fas.h.i.+on, as it rustled the cloth on their armors similarly.

The duo now locked into a deadly struggle as if striving for dominance over the other, Rick soon after regained his senses, he twirled his spear and positioned himself for attacking once more as he spoke, "Good, keep him busy! I"ll finish him now, Joe!" 

"Don"t just speak; hurry up his strength isn"t too far from my defenses!" Joe cursed as he continued to channel more power into his Arc s.h.i.+eld.

"Tsk!" Rick clicked teeth in reply as his body started to erupt with even more brilliant white energies, all of which had started to condense around his spear.

Zelad, who was pressuring Joe"s s.h.i.+eld looked at this scene with his red flame-like eyes as he thought, "They are far much stronger than I antic.i.p.ated… if the master knew they"d become this strong in such a short time, then why did he command us to wait until this time?"

As Zelad thought, he couldn"t help but cast his sights in a different direction noticing that Felkan was fighting a fierce battle against three women.

Emilia fired a volley of golden arrows that swept across the halls towards Felkan"s figure who merely swung his staff and commanded, "Death Mana Ball!"

Following his words, a series of dark orbs floated before him, which then turned into many different rays of light that collided with Emilia"s arrows, causing a myriad of black and golden explosions to form in the void.

As this happened, Felkan"s flaming red eyes flashed as they s.h.i.+fted towards the side, noticing a series of threads that were spiraling around him, trying to bind him in place.

"Hmph! Naive!" Felkan said as his body glowed in Dark Mana, causing his figure to vanished before he appeared in the sky.

When that happened, Breya"s threads that had been contracting coiled around itself due to missing their target. As she saw this, Breya wasn"t upset in the least; she merely smiled and looked at the airborne Felkan as she spoke in a soft tone, "Got you..."

Felkan was a bit puzzled by her confidence, but suddenly, his sense a feeling of doom on the rise. The moment he felt it, he rapidly reacted by casting, "Death Mana Barrier!"

After his chant, a wave of dark energy conjured a semi-transparent black ball around his being. A ray of bright semi-purple powers then shot towards him from a distance, the areas these lights past carried a trace of scaredness as if this was purist life energy in the world.

As they collided with Felkan"s barrier, the energies began to scatter about the area due to the barriers resistive force. Still, despite the st.u.r.diness, the barrier started to show signs of rippling as if it couldn"t keep up.

"Darn... her power, how it could be so strong?" Felkan thought in alarm, not daring to waste time, his staff flowed in even more dark energies as he tried to reinforce the Death Mana Barrier with his full power.

However, as if his actions were meaningless, cracks had begun to form on the barrier. Soon, a few strands of this purplish-white energy had slipped through before cras.h.i.+ng into his figure.

"Ahhh! I-t"s Life… no, Sacred Life Power! Noooo!" Felkan called out in horror, as the barrier burst to pieces before the energies swallowed his entire body.

In an instant, there was an explosion in the halls, one that formed a large crater of a few dozen meters wide as it sent vibrations to all corners of the palace. Yet, despite this rowdy scene, none of the other palace guards were alarmed or even showed signs of traveling towards the source.

At this time, Layla could be seen standing nearby Emilia; her scepter placed before her as its tip s.h.i.+mmered with diminis.h.i.+ng white-purple lights. Her face was sweating as her eyes carried a trace of exhaustion.

"Layla, are you alright?" Emilia asked as she hurried over to her location, placing her palms on her forehead.

Layla nodded and replied, "Yes, I"m fine, Emmy. I"m still trying to get used to all this power, that"s all..."

Emilia looked at her and didn"t question it too much; she knew that Layla had her secrets, and she"ll share it eventually.

Breya, who was also walking over, gave Layla a deep look as her thoughts remained unknown to all.

Layla then picked herself up from the ground and stared at the direction of the lights, Emilia and Breya also did the same with serious looks on their faces. They knew that Felkan wasn"t dead yet, as they had yet to receive experience points.

Soon, the lights had faded from the side of the explosion, showing a large crater with a battered up undead with a ruined dark sorcerers robe and cracked staff. He held onto the staff with both of his brittle bone arms and trembling legs, as if trying to hold himself upwards as at this moment, he seemed no different from an arrow that lost flight.

When the girls saw this, they sighed in relief, but none of them took their eyes from his being and stared at him to not miss any strangeness.

"Huhuhu..." Felkan, who seemed as if he could die at any moment, began to laugh in a weak but tragic manner as he lifted his head to stare at the wall nearby the golden door.

If one followed his sights, they would realize that despite all of the destruction in the surroundings. None of the picture frames were destroyed, as a black aura was covering them. Even more so, for the image of the previous king that once ruled these very lands.

After laughing, his red eyes began to grow dim as he spoke, "So this was what he wanted, I finally understand now, master..."

Following his words, his eyes went dark showing only empty sockets, but his figure then began to crumble in dust that faded away as if blown by a strange wind.

Though Layla and the other girls had been victorious, and even gain a sizeable chunk of EXP when they saw the scene just now they didn"t know what to feel.

Right at this time, Zelad, who was paying attention to the scene, couldn"t help but sigh as he murmured, "Old friend, I"m sorry I couldn"t help you... but I believe that I too have learned of his intention. Fear not, I shall also follow you on your journey to purgatory..."

Joe who was parrying Zelad"s attack knitted his brows; he didn"t like the way these monsters were talking, as if the ones here who were the bad guys were not them, but their party.

"Rick!" Joe shouted, urging Rick to finish his opponent off.

Rick, at this time, had already gathered enough power, his body flashed like a ray of light as he descended upon the figure of Zelad with his spear pointed towards his forehead.

As if he didn"t care about the brilliant lights coming from above, nor the spear that was about to smash into his head, Zelad"s eyes remained fixed on the location were Felkan had faded from existence.

Bang! With a loud bang, Rick"s spear crashed into his skull, but as if it lacked the power to destroy him, it only pushed him into the ground as cl.u.s.ters of white holy energies rippled when it continued to press against the exceedingly hard skull.

Zelad smirked at this scene as he spoke, "Boy, your technique is good, and speed is extraordinary, but you lack the means to kill a superior foe. It is your greatest weakness, and as such, you must think of how to rectify it..."

"Hmph! I don"t need lecturing from the likes of you!" Rick said in a prideful manner, but if one looked at him closely, they would notice that his eyes flashed as if contemplating the issue.

Zelad made an uncharacteristic smirk as his eyes s.h.i.+fted from Rick onto Evan, who was merely watching from the side in silence, it was unknown when, but all of the apparitions along with the Undead War Horses of Level 8 had already been destroyed. Zelad then muttered, "Indeed so, you already have someone better to teach you..."

Rick narrowed his eyes at those words, he was about to ask something, but right at this moment, Joe"s voice sounded, "Every nail has its hammer, Rick leave your spear and get out of the way!"

Rick didn"t like Joe"s tone, but as he lifted his head and saw what was happening, his eye shrunk as his body blurred and vanished, leaving behind the spear that glowed in bright holy lights as it pressed against Zelad"s skull.

Zelad smiled as he saw this while thinking to himself, "Yes, with this, I too can go now..."

Suddenly, a ma.s.sive s.h.i.+eld fell from the sky as Joe used his Arc Crusher skill to smash against the spear, causing it to break through Zelad"s skull and crash into his undead soul core. The rest of Joe"s s.h.i.+eld attack had then gone further to crush Zelad into the ground, forming another deep crater in the form of a s.h.i.+eld.

Not long after, Joe"s s.h.i.+eld returned to normal size as he now stood before the crushed figure of Zelad, whose life had already faded, sending chunks of EXP into everyone"s body.

Joe, however, didn"t fell anything to be proud of as he spoke in spite, "Che! What"s with these guys? It"s as if they only wanted to die in the end! This just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, Evan, how do you explain this?"

Rick, who had only now appeared and taken up his s.h.i.+eld, also made a similar look; he turned his sights to Evan, who now stood nearby the golden door with his head facing the picture frame of the past king.

Layla, Emilia, and Breya having clear up their rewards also came over and stared at Evan in silence, based on their complex expressions, anyone could tell that they didn"t feel happy about the previous fight.

When Evan saw their looks, he smiled and shook his head, removing his eyes from the king as he spoke in a voice that sounded in everyone"s mind, "I only wanted to show that some battles aren"t necessarily going to be in the right... much like those two from Belanore. Come, there is still one more left for us to defeat, and he will be the most troubling..."

As everyone heard those words, they quickly adjusted their conditions and sorted out their loots, taking a few minutes to prepare themselves. 

Once this happened, Evan then placed one hand on the giant golden doork.n.o.b and spoke with a sharp glint in his eyes, "Let"s go end this..."