novelraw Chapter 220: Let Them Come!
Chapter 220: Let Them Come!
{Jin’s POV}
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We stood on the eighth floor, staring dead ahead at a massive, featureless wall of solid limestone.
About fifty yards down the tunnel to our left loomed the colossal, iron-wrought double doors of the boss chamber.
Scarlet let out a low, breath, her ears twitching.
"Why aren’t we going through the gate?" she whispered, her emerald eyes locked on the iron doors. "It’s right there."
"Because Rolf isn’t an idiot," Edric replied.
He didn’t even look at the doors, keeping his eyes fixed on the blank stone wall in front of us.
"He knows exactly how we fight. It’s obvious he’ll have set up a trap at the main entrance."
Then he took a slow step back, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword.
"We’re making our own door. Brace yourselves."
I didn’t need to be told twice. And used debug vision, editing my neural processing speed.
A sharp, icy spike drove directly into the base of my skull. I gritted my teeth as the world around me instantly sharpened.
Around me, the rest of the party locked in.
Garf planted his heavy boots into the dirt, raising his battered iron shield like a fortress wall. Mira fluidly nocked an armor-piercing arrow, pulling the bowstring taut with a lethal creak.
Yenna ignited a roaring, superheated sphere of orange fire in her palm, her eyes burning with pure, unadulterated vengeance.
I glanced to my right. Scarlet dropped into a low crouch, her obsidian claws fully extended, ready to tear apart the first thing that moved. And right beside her, Tessa gripped her hunting knife.
Her hands were trembling slightly, jaw was set in absolute stone.
"Here we go," Edric whispered.
He gripped the hilt of his sword.
The air in the tunnel violently warped. The terrifying, suffocating pressure of his aura exploded outward, wreathing his body and his steel in a dense, swirling torrent of silver and pitch-black mana.
What’s this...?
I gasped. Trying to check it with my debug vision, but...
[Error: Host level is low!]
Tsk!
Edric then thrust the tip of his sword directly into the solid limestone wall.
The silver-black mana poured into the microscopic fissures of the rock like liquid dynamite.
BOOM!
The wall didn’t just crumble; it detonated.
A deafening, concussive shockwave of shattered stone and pulverized dust blew outward. Massive chunks of rock the size of carriage wheels were launched violently into the boss chamber, crushing anything unlucky enough to be standing on the other side.
"Move!" Garf roared, charging directly through the settling dust cloud with his shield raised high.
We poured through the jagged breach, stepping out of the dark tunnels.
And just as I entered. My eyes widened.
The chamber was massive, bathed in the blinding, pulsating crimson light of a colossal, star-shaped transmutation circle carved into the floor.
Dozens of hooded figures were kneeling around the edges, their chanting abruptly cut off by the explosion.
What the hell is that... a ritual?!
Several of them were already screaming, who were near the wall, now pinned beneath the rubble Edric had just created.
And standing on a raised stone dais at the far end of the chamber, illuminated by the bloody light... was Rolf.
He didn’t look panicked that we had just blown a hole through solid rock instead of using the door.
He looked right at us, and a cold, chilling smirk slowly stretched across his pale face.
Just what is he trying to do?
My jaw clenched.
Then, without a word, Rolf flicked his wrist, pointing his dagger toward the open, flat expanse of the cavern floor just to our left.
Instantly, three heavily armored figures rushed forward, their weapons lowered, deliberately exposing their flanks in a desperate, sloppy charge.
It was a textbook bait.
But Garf’s blood was boiling. The massive tank didn’t see a tactical error... he just saw the bastard who had gutted Edric and paralyzed Yenna.
"I’ll crush you!" Garf roared, his voice shaking the cavern. He lowered his dented iron shield and charged like a runaway freight train, completely ignoring the formation.
To my right, Scarlet’s fox ears flattened violently against her head. Her beast instincts flared, catching the scent of something.
"Garf, get away!" She shouted.
But it was too late.
Garf’s heavy steel boot slammed down onto the seemingly empty stone floor.
And the ground beneath him instantly detonated with blinding purple light. It wasn’t an explosive trap...
Massive, jagged chains of solidified dark mana whipped upward from the runes, violently wrapping around Garf’s legs, torso, and arms.
The sheer weight of the spell crushed downward, slamming the tank directly onto his knees with a sickening groan of bending iron.
Garf grunted, thrashing wildly against the magical bindings, but he was completely immobilized.
A suppression glyph?
Edric gritted his teeth, a muscle ticking furiously in his jaw.
He didn’t waste a single second trying to break Garf free. With his silver-black aura violently tearing the air around him, Edric bypassed the trapped tank and lunged straight for the dais, his sword aimed directly at Rolf’s neck.
"Die!"
"Protect Zero-One!" a cultist screamed.
And a half-dozen cloaked figures immediately broke off from the altar, drawing their blades and throwing themselves into Edric’s path to act as a living wall.
Before Edric could even swing, the cavern lit up like the midday sun.
FWOOSH!
A superheated torrent of orange fire slammed into the intercepting figure, instantly incinerating two of them.
Right behind the flames, a merciless volley of armor-piercing arrows whistled through the smoke, pinning another figure to the cavern wall.
Yenna stepped forward, her hands were wreathing with absolutely terrifying, unadulterated fire. Mira stood right beside her, smoothly nocking another arrow to her bowstring.
"You’re against us!" Yenna screamed at the cultists, her voice vibrating with pure hatred as she hurled another fireball.
"And nobody touches him but me!"
While they locked down the center of the cavern, the shadows on our right flank began to violently warp.
Four figures detached themselves from the chaos. Their eyes were locked dead onto us, weapons dripping with the same sickly green liquid that had almost taken my life earlier.
I reached back, grabbing a fistful of Tessa’s cloak and yanking her firmly behind my back.
"Stay close!" I ordered, my eyes locked on the incoming threats. "Do not let go of my coat!"
Tessa gripped the fabric between my shoulder blades with her free hand, her other hand tightly gripping her bloody hunting knife.
"I won’t!"
Beside me, Scarlet let out a feral, chest-rattling snarl, her obsidian claws catching the crimson light of the ritual.
"Let them come," I whispered, dropping into a low stance as the black thunder roared to life.