The deeper Mamon and the group was led by Rex, the more reckless and fanatical the cultists became, their minds clouded in their zealous faith to whatever entity or purpose they served, so much so that more than once Mamon considered the possibility of mind altering and corrupting practices having been but in place when said cultists had been innitiated and trained. And while he could not argue the effect it had on the enemy forces, he was also painfully aware just how much worse it made each combatant. Under no circumstance could he imagine subjecting proper soldiers, or even trainees to such program that would result in mindless charging meat puppets.
"WE ARE CLOSE!" Rex yelled, his voice carried throughout the tunel in all dirrections, followed by even more fanatical charge from the zealots, said mindless men emerging from every possible path they did not come from.
The low lighting of the tunnel system was gettign weaker still, making the place even more difficult to navigate, even Mamon felf like stumbling every now and then.
"YUKI! ILLUMINATE!" Mamon yelled, and moment later, a rather powerfull source of light emerged atop their group, revealing the bloody scene that they left in their wake as their charge was lead further. And with the fresh illumination, Mamon could see a rather important detail about Rex and his way of fighting. As he was avoiding any attacks coming his way, some of them were so odd that it seemed he had extra eyes in the back of his head, just barely being missed, all the while using every concievable opening to end yet another cultists life, a constant stream of blood was following along with him. Mamon saw said blood raising every now and then as Rex's swing brought his blade to it, then in mere moments being absorbed into the blade that seemed to gain just slightly darker sheen to it for a brief moment, then returning to its original, lighter tone as it was swung forward. Whatever Rex was doing, it used quite a bit of the spilled blood.
A few more minutes later,a bright light shined at the end of the tunnel. A few more moments later, they finally reached a rather large cavern, the brightness of which would have blinded the aproaching group, were it not for Yuki's illuminating spell that kept their eyes adjusted to such brightness. Still, with two such illumination sources being too much, Yuki extinguished his own, revealing the full extent of their surroundings grotesque sight.
In an interval of five meters, all around the cavern walls, dried cadavers of all kind of creatures were nailed to the walls. Wolves, bears, rabbits, foxes. Even humanoid corpses, some with dried and pointy ears, indicating their elven origin, though such specimen were extremely rare among the humanoids, most of which looked human. At the sight, more than a few of their group retched, womiting just moments after. Mamon noticed the tightening of Rex's jaw and his grip tightening, clear anger radiating from the young man. Either he was a heavenly actor, or experienced genuine anger at the sight of this travesty.
Further into the cavern could be seen a large runic circles drawn with blood, on its outer rings, in special smaller rings laid the kidnapped people, barely breating but still alive. Though judging from their slumped bodies, they were all unconscious. In the inner circle, a dozen robed men stood, their robes much more adorned than the acolytes that they had to cut through, murmuring something in their own foreign language.
"YOU ARE TOO LATE!" screamed the central figure, cloaked in bright purple robes, adorned with golden markings of unknown origin as well."Ih man Warl Ratos!" He exclaimed, raising his staff and slamming it into the ground, cackling madly as he did so. Aside from the triumphant laughter of the head priest, or whatever else the madman fancied himself to be, the cavern was deadly silent, every other person waiting on the result of the chant.
"Whats happening!?" suddenly questioned the priest, his maddened laughter coming to a stop and noticing that noting had was happening. A clear confusion on his face, their great plan being foiled? Failed? He was desperately looking around now, trying to comprehend what had gone wrong, untill a gurgled cough earned everyone attention.
Rex spat a large mouthfull of blood on the ground, taking the backlash of tapping into his power of concepts his body and soul fragmnent could not yet handle with ease.
"Secure the hostages!" he managed to squeeze out in between the coughs as Ria was rushing behind him and activating heal. Those words of his had managed to pull everyone out from the momentary trance, as Mamon rosued the men with a powerfull 'Charge!' while the head priest hysterically yelled towards Rex, his eyes bloodhot as he saw the kneeling and blood vomiting form of Rex.
"HOW DARE YOU MONGREL!" head priest schreehed, rising his staff and gathering a bolt of darkness in his hand, mere moment later shooting it towards Rex, clearly intent on killing the man that had humiliated him so and disrupted the culmination of their plan. Though what followed next was not according to his plan. A thick blood wall emerged before Rex, devouring the propelled orb of darkness, creating sizzling sounds and rotten, sickly green fumes as the two spells colided.
And then, as if mocking the entire attempt, the rune circle lit up, eliciting a smile from the head priest, but only for a moment, as in the next, both he and his followers crumbled to the ground, getting devoured by the activating cirlce instead of the sacrifices placed in the smaller circles, now lying there unconsciously.
All the while that was happening, the adventurers and soldiers were pulling the limp bodies of the townsfolk away from th glowing circle, clearly hoping to get away from it as soon as possible. Even Mamon was clear to a rether obvious rule with mana and glowing circles. If they devour energy, something had to come back in return and as the circle of the entire diagram lit up once more, a creature was formed from remains and mana devored so far.
A four meter tall, muscular body rose from the center, large scaly wings of similar size hung from its back. With a head of an aligator and rows of teeth like sharks, a huge shit eating grin formed on its grotesque face.
"Ah ha ha ha ha haa. I shall feast tonight!" the creature laughed, its sharp tone of voice hurt just to hear, unpleasant and grating like screeching metal brakes. Its happy and extremely jubilant mood did not last too long however, as the moment its stretrched its hand toward the nearest human, no doubt desiring to take a bite of the unlucky fellow, it elicited a terrifying shriek, as if it had just been cut a sack shorter. It keeled over, its clawed paws over its pelvis area as the wings were now flailing in all dirrections, catching a few unlucky men with the motion, sending them flying and causing heavy loud 'thud' noices as they impacted some nearby rocks or walls, whatever was the first thing in their trajectory of flight. The luckiest of the bunch however were stopped by their fellow warriors.
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Rex had to make quick decisions as they were moving down the tunnels of the mine. He could sense through his active spell that was tracking the woman who's blood he had injested that her condition was rather poor, as well as the rather ominous mana in her surroundings, enveloping the body and thus giving Rex quite a bit of information to work with. Whether or not the cultists were aware, they were working with blood magic, much to Rex's suprise innitially, though when considering more, it did make a lot of sense. Blood was the most reliable way to channel and move insane amounts of mana without a lot of interference from the world. And yet, because of the wrong beliefs the people held, they had the asumption that the school itself was an exclusive domain of high class vampires, thus leaving it quite underveveloped and crude.
Was it any wonder that when Rex and the rest of people following him entered the cavern, filled with dried cadavers of all manner of beings, earning quite a burst of anger from Rex, the second thing he noticed was the incredibly crude and absurd runic circles drawn out with blood? He could see dozens of mistakes and redundancies in but a few glances, his incredibly high comprehension of the concept heavily at play. He could also instantly understand the supposed goal of said ritual, as well as how terribly wrong it would go, if performed as is, as well the suffering about to be inflicted on the hostages who were placed as offerings, the living batteries.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Well aware of the pain he was about to experience, but having few other choices, unless he was keen on dealing with some eldrich entities in the coming few moments, he did what had to be done, calling upon the power of his concepts and with iron grip over the ritual circle, changed quite a few parts in it in just a moment. As the cultist leader finished his chant, activating the ritual, modified by Rex just moment prior, said leader started cackling, so sure of his success and victory, only to become confused and bewildered as noting seemed to happen. The confusion spread along to everyone present, clearly expecting some sort of grand effect to take place so they could react accordingly.
It was Rex, coughing up blood as great pain permeated his body, that the people present were awoken from their confusion and inactivity, his voice in between said coughs serving as the wake up call.
"Get the hostages!" were the words that restarted the people present, though not for long, as the cultist leader was enraged and used some sort of shadow, or eldritch ball like spell to propell it in Rex's dirrection. Since his modified rune circle would need a bit of time to take effect, and thanks to his previous actions, collecting large amounts of the previously spilled blood, he could protect himself from the incoming eldritch ball much easier, not having to call upon his concept powers again so soon. Still, it was hard to move his mental muscles, commanding the blood to rise as a wall to intercept said projectile, his mind being wracked by the afterpain of his previous actions. Still, he did manage, sounds of sizzling coming from the impact, as green and sickly smoke rose from the impact location of the eldritch ball and his blood wall.
And finally, as if to mock the cultist priest in his hubris, the rune circle lit up, finally coming to life. And yet, in contrast to what should have been the draining of the unconscious villagers, the high priest himself, alongside his last living followers, barelled over, his face distorted in agony from the unbearable pain, eliciting a howl from each of the cultists. A last, desperate and hatred filled glance was thrown in Rex's general dirrection, before every remaining cultist dried up, becoming awfully similar to the corpses strewn to the walls of the cavern.
Then, all while Rex was still recieving hieling from Ria, a snall vortex of energy started in the center of the rune circle, growing larger in just a few moments, untill finally, it dispersed, revealing a large and monstrous figure, clearly the result of the ritual sacrifice. The four meter large hybrid between human and reptile, with the form of a humanoid, head of an aligator whose mouth was filled with rows of shark like teeth, leathery wings of a bat and tail of a rat, laughed, its voice high pitched and grating on ones ears.
"Ah ha ha ha ha haa. I shall feast tonight!" it swiped its hand out aiming to grab on of the closest humans. Unfortunately, Rex was already in a much better condition than right after using his concept powers, and since he was quite aware of the most likely result due to his tampering, he had moved the remaining extra blood over, right next to the ritual circle. So, the moment the demonic creature swung its claw to get its first snack, Rex struck, in mere moments hardening the blood into the sharpest weapon he could create at that moment, and launched it dirrectly at the groin area of the demon.
Rex could only smirk, as the demons motion to grab the nearest human abruptly stopped, its eyes bulging out of their sockets so much onecould asume they were just barely holding in its head. That followed by an extremely high pitched and agonizing scream dirrecly from hell. Then, the demong hunched over, its clawed hands grabbing its own crotch and fell, its wings flapped around erratically, sweeping a few of the slowest men away, causing them to collide with either another adventurer, or walls or rocks for the few unlucky ones.
"SHRED IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!" Mamon yelled with his full voice, charging towards the demon with full force, his claymore descending on one of the flailing wings, biting int o it with a loud crunch, half breaking and half cutting it off, making it basically useless. The sharpest and most experienced of the group were quick to join in on Mamons order, though in only a dozen or so seconds, another shriek came from the demon, followed by a powerfull wind wave, repelling the adventurers and warriors away from its bloody form. Even if not many of the attackers managed to cut deep enough to draw blood, the few that did, had created quite a bloody sight.
Both of the demons wings now lay broken, blue blood oozing out from multiple wounds oon its body, the greatest of them all beeing a large puncture wound between its legs. its eyes were bloodshot and bulged, the same blue blood was leaking like tears in large quantities.
"VERMIN!!! I WILL DEVOUR YOU ALL! FLESH AND SOULS ALIKE!!" it screamed in abject rage and desperation, the damage, either physical or mental, it had taken clearly having pushed it past any semblence of strategy and sanity. It was nothing more than a veritable mountain of muscles and rage at this moment.
"Cast Holy Light!" Came a loud order from among the ranks of adventurers, and due to the pwoerfull and comanding voice, every priest from the group did exactly so, numerous beams of light dirrected towards the demon, causing it to smoke and burn, doing notable amounts of damage. Though with its sanity lost, it screeched and charged forward, hellbent on slaughtering everything, as its instincts dictated.
Then, just a couple steps later, the demon flinched, as if terrified by something for the briefest of moments, though enough to halt its charge, giving enough of an opening for quite a few of the ranged attackers to pelt it with arrows, some even infused with mana, resulting in more wounds and even some explosions, the result of the infused arrows. Then, every adventurer and soldiers sensed the same thing as the demon- cold and terrifying killing intent, freezing them all in spot for a moment.
The cold killing intent embraced everyone present, and a bling later, a single human form, lightly covered in a bloody haze, appeared in front of the demon, its dark, blood red blade swung in a large arc, sending yet another chill through everyone present. Then- nothing. A deadthly stillness enveloped the area for a few moments untill a quiet 'pop' resounded, followed by a rather odd sight.The demons face,as if not able to decide which way to go, slid both up and down at the same time, split in half right through its middle. The rest of the splitting of the demonic body was obscured by a dark, bloody red film that enveloped both the human and demon in a ball like shape.
"Full area healing!" Resounded the same voice tha thad ordered the casting of the holy light, and, with the killing intent now dissipated, like before the healers followed command. Whoever it was, clearly worked with them, trying to ensure their survival. Chants and prayers resounded, shortly followed by a warm and green glow, illuminating the cavern in its healing light.
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"You cant get away!" Rex spoke from within the blood barrier, only he and the deceased mana body of the demon present. Well, not entirely correct. The demons soul was also there, locked in place due to some odd reason that was evading its understanding. And since only a soul body remained, its temporary manifestation destroyed, it should have been pulled back to the relms of hell, where it would wait once again for a chance to emerge on the mortal plains.
"HA ha ha. Foolish mortal. It only serves in my benefit. Who knows, this disruption might just be whats needed for me to freely stalk this realm in the future." The demon laughed, once it had considered its current state.
"That implies you would leave this place alive. Well, as alive as a soul body can, that is." Rex smiled towards the souls location, his face resembling some cruel and sadistic bastard, having just caugh an innocent and naive child and prepearing to inflict untold suffering on the poor creature.
"I have to thank the fools." Rex spoke, sending a small thanks to the cultists for the opportunity. Then, he channeled mana through his body in a rather unique way, creating and extremely complicated runic circle all around him from pure mana. It took the demonic sould only a few moments to understand what it was seeing, causing utter despair to surface from its depths.
"What in the nine hells are you? MONSTER! NOOOO!!! NOOO!!! STAY AWAAAAYYYY!" It screamed in utter terror, its soul slowly dissipating, changing into fine transparent, yet slightly silvery vapor, drifting in Rex's dirrection, eventually being absorbed by him.
Rex could feel both the area healing from outside, recovering his mangled body, as well as the demons soul, shredded and used as a healing balm for his own soul fragment, greatly increasing its size and strenght. And while it was still a long way untill he reached the size his orgin soul had, this was the right step forward, speeding up his progress and changing the near future plans he might have made.