Spirit Taming

Chapter 612: Flailing Darkness

Knowing the weakness of a beast was always the best way to go about fighting one. Especially when it came to fighting one that was stronger than you. However, Clark knew that this was not a simple beast.

a beast would follow reason. It would have left this temple when it was able to. It would have found a way to leave to find a better place to live. It would have done whatever it could so that it would be able to survive.

That was where things became different between  beast and a monster.

This was a monster. It looked for the best place to hide itself when it needed to. It used whatever means to grab at food when it needed. It went wild and ignored its own pain and suffering to cause that to others. A monster was everything wrong with what people would see when they thought evil.

Monsters were nothing good. They went against nature. Against the rules of existence. While some beasts, especially demonic ones, played at these things, they did not go and push the line. They were still part of the natural flow of all things. That was just what every living being knew.

A line that was not to be crossed.

However, emotion allowed that line to be stomped on and walked over. In fits of rage, anger, and heartbreak, there were many who had walked across the line that they could never cross. This was one instance of that.

A light king who wished to push his ideals on more elves and grow in power as his rivals did. but when faced with the great fear of death and not being able to grow any more. Not being able to return home to gain the throne he desired, he walked across that line.

Right now, Clark was dodging the blade like arms that lashed out made of darkness. It was the extension of the energy that the fallen elemental could control. The body beneath that was just a shell to cradle the core that had once been filled with light energy was being used as a base for this.

Clark watched the decayed and dried skin tear beneath the thinner layers of darkness. Since he had a bond with Shy, he had managed to adapt his eyesight to see different levels of darkness. It wasn't what people would call night vision, but more of an enhancement due to his bind. It perfectly paired with Crim's sharing of energy which enhanced Clark's entire body.

It was also why Clark could tell that this monster had sat still for a reason. The destruction it was causing itself by moving within the torch light was also paired with the destruction of movements in general. The body that acted as its cradle was slowly being broken up.

This would leave it without an anchor to form. The core was a broken and messed up thing now. It only held the darkness energy because it had been made entirely empty. The real reason it was able to function, was simply because it was held together within the light king's body.

"Ella, light all the torches I passed out and keep leaving them behind us as we climb the stairs." Clark gave this order before he and Crim shared energy with one another to attack.

The simple action of sharing his energy was much smoother than before. Now that Crim was a celestial slime dragon. And his second spirit beast, they could more easily share energy between them. That also meant that Clark would get stronger faster because of this.

Regardless, Crim easily inhaled a large amount of air before using the energies he could control to release a breath of dragon flames that brightened the area significantly. The screech of the monster following them and trying to attack them was something that made everyone's blood feel cold. It was not a natural sound. Even the screeching of insects would be music compared to such a sound.

Beyond this, the dragon breath seemed to cause one of the arms of the light king's body to burn up entirely. The fallen elemental tore off the smoldering stump and continued. However, Clark was quick to notice that it moved slower. The fallen elemental must have lost a large amount of darkness energy to rebuild and hold an arm where there was no base.

"Crimson, release multiple breaths like that whenever it tries to lurch forward. Devil, alert Isa and Reese that we need them to prepare a large space. I know you can do that." Clark looked at Devi. the entire group had somewhat become able to understand the gist of what Devi meant with different laughs. Being around anyone this long would do that, regardless of language barriers.

Or species barriers in this case.

The stairs felt that they were much longer than before. But the entire group was surely missing something more. They felt that this monster would not be the only thing here stopping them. That was when they noticed that there were whispers from the shadows and dark edges of their vision.

"It spread itself out to catch us!" Maria was the first to notice what cruel plan of such a monster. It had used its darkness body and a lot of darkness body to create a wall of darkness ahead of them.

"Screw that!" Ralph called out the dragon welp in front of them. It brandished its claws and breathed flames on them. The instant that the light of the flaming claws hit the dark wall, it seemed to sheer of a piece of it. This prompted the dragon welp to slash furiously and cut even more away.

Behind them, the screeching intensified before the sound of fresh air whooshing in reached their ears and Ralph's pale face smirked before the tired dragon welp retreated to the taming space. It was clear that Ralph had allowed his newest beast to use a massive amount of his own energy to attack in such a violent way.

But this too had damaged their pursuer. The violent shaking of the stone staircase made that very evident. Not to mention that the weaker stone was falling around them. "We can bury it in here." Grace thought that this was the best option.

"I will break pillars as we leave. If it gets out, it won't have anywhere to hide in the light!" Brad understood. Destroying the place that it lives would lead to two potential solutions. The fallen elemental would be trapped again. Or, it would face the light and be able to be easily defeated. Both were wins.

However, one was the best option since it would mean a better and safer future for anyone else that came here.

"The goal is to break this place down and be prepared to take it down with Reese and Isa's help on the outside. They should get the gist of what's happening." Clark was glad to have this solid of a plan while they rushed out. Yet, he managed to notice that Jerold was holding back a little.

"What are you doing." he did not want to see Jerold crushed under the stones.

"Just trying out a way to help out." Jerold smiled a bit as he dug his dagger in to the cracks in the wall. Each crack caused more dusty stone to break away. As if he was proving that this entire place was barely holding on right now.

When the rest of the group caught on, they realized that Jerod had massively sped up the crumbling of the stairs and as Brad reached the top and shield charged in to a pillar, the entire floor as well. They had greatly pushed the collapse of the ancient elf temple ahead of the plan. It now started to fall around them.

"Crim, forget the dragon breath." Clark knew that Crim's armor form would change now that he grew to become a celestial slime dragon. As if to prove this thought, Crimson changed form and completely covered Clark's body.

In the quickest of movements, starlight began to form on the dark red armor that was solidifying to show the scales of a dragon on them. The small points of light were looking in energies from the area around Clark and made his body feel invigorated. These new forms and effects of a full body protection was as if he had gained an extra quarter of strength.

As mystical new effect that Clark used right away.

The smaller space for them to run through was nothing. Clark slashed at a pillar with the black lighting spear carving through the stone. He used a lot of force, but continued to move regardless. The entire group could see the light of the outside vaguely.

That was until a reflective crystal suddenly burst up. Everyone noticed that Isa and Reese had already acted to force the entrance open for them. The perfect crystal golem showed slight cracks on its body since it was overexerting itself to protect them all like this.

"When we are out, turn around and release your attacks!" Clark wanted to ensure that the monster was the weakest it could be. He could sense that it was still right behind them and was reaching out to attack them that instant.