Emily sat hunched over the small chalkboard Alex had given her, trying to replicate the ‘flare’ ward again. It was a complex one because the runes it used converted grey source into red, requiring many additional runes to make work. Thankful they had escaped into the light not long after leaving the mausoleum behind them.

Other than the sound of her chalk scratching against the surface of the rough plate, the others were going about their work in relative quiet.

As they checked their weapons and armor, the group seized the moment to fill their bellies. Emily had a corner of a ration bar jutting from her mouth, nibbling at it like a reluctant squirrel. The flavor—a bizarre mix of minty pickles and sardines—invaded her senses, waging war on her taste buds. Each bite felt like a culinary assault, so atrocious that if she ever uncovered the source of this nightmarish concoction, she’d gladly lead a crusade to shut them down for good.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t about to waste food in their current situation. Since she had cracked the wax seal on the bar it would go bad soon enough.

Emily glanced up to see Alex running a whetstone over his daggers. When he noticed her looking at him, he glanced up briefly and then turned back to his work with a crease in his brow. Emily was pretty sure he was probably still mad.

Oscar on the other hand seemed to be holding a grudge for a different reason. Ever since Emily had pulled him out of the nightmare world he’d been stealing glances over at Emily whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.

So when her gaze leveled on him now, he shot her a level stare before turning back to continue to repair the damage to his armor.

All the while Kael remained on guard as their group rested in the empty chamber. It was so quiet that when a spluttering cough came from Nox, everyone tensed. Emily had laid him down on her pack and now she moved over to check on him.

Nox groaned and his eyes fluttered as he slowly came to consciousness.

When he glanced about his eyes seemed to focus on the room and then everyone else. He seemed slow at first but then his eyes widened and he looked around in panic.

“It’s a trap!” even as he said this Nox’s eyes widened and his shoulder drooped.

Seeing that none of the guys offered him any reassurance Emily sat down beside him.

“We’re safe and far from the trap. Thanks to you. If you hadn’t given me that air I don’t know that all of us would be here now, so good job Nox.”

It was impressive how quickly the guy went from frightened to pompous.

“Well of course! I knew what to do all along.”

Emily let out an amused snort but Kael butted in.

“Glad to see you’re doing better kid, but we’re still in a difficult spot at this stage. Can you cast anything?”

Kael went on to explain the situation and Nox seemed to take it in stride but bit his lip when Kael wanted to know if he could use his magic.

“I can access our supplies as that only takes a little internal source, but I’m out of energy to fight at the moment. If I take in even a little more I’m headed for exposure.”

Kael understood but had him take out a crossbow from their supplies.

“Don’t use it when we’re near the enemy but it's better to have another set of hands. I think we’ve had enough of a break, is everyone ready to keep moving?

Things being as they were, none of them got any sleep, but Emily was certainly feeling more rested than a couple of hours ago.

Entering the next chamber turned out to have another two specters in it, which they managed to take down fairly easily.

Kael took the one down on his own and they delt with the other.

Oscar had just killed the Firebore when Emily felt the second wave of icy life force sink into her veins. Not that she was complaining at this point, the heat down here was stifling, and she began to look forward to the cool burst of air helping to keep her sane. As they progressed through the chambers they came across eight more awakened specters from various rooms. Emily’s blood was boiling at this point but not from the heat. This was from the large amount of vitality currently residing in it. The last time this had happened Emily had thought she had reached her limits on how much she could hold, but now she knew better. This was just the next step in her growth.

Alex glance over at her just as they were about to enter the next room. He was about to say something when Emily’s head snapped to the chamber ahead of them.

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There were three specters that she could feel in here with them and she warned the others.

Unlike the other chambers, this one was slightly different. If the others were plain and unembellished, this one contained a floor-to-ceiling mural of a man surrounded by sick and dying people.

Glancing about Emily spotted the three coffins in the back of the room. She also couldn’t help but notice a section of the mural was plastered with rites and tiny words.

Edging toward it Emily stayed as far away from the coffin as she could so as not to wake them. Kael took up the front as they filtered into the room. Other than the mural, nothing in the room looked out of sorts, but they had not fought three of the specters at once with such low numbers. They would be at a heavy disadvantage here, but taking out the specter was left to Kael, with Oscar and Alex delaying the others.

Nox had followed Emily over the other mural. She tried to make out the words but alot of them were flowery and pointless.

Nox glanced over her shoulder and muttered to himself.

“They’re thanking someone for saving them from something called ‘The withering’…”

Nox continued to frown at the wall. Emily discerned an almost fanatical edge to their words, but as Nox had mentioned, they were all merely expressions of gratitude.

The room's silence was shattered as Nox gasped and turned back to the others, desperation in his eyes.

“Back away! It a Viscount of plague!”

Whether it was proximity, his shout, or sheer bad luck, Emily felt the three specters in their coffins awaken.

The center coffin popped open first flipping through the air as though the coffin were pressurized, sending the lid crashing into one of the far walls.

Light green plumes of smoke bellowed out of the coffin followed by two more coffin lids sliding to the ground with a dull crash.

“Everyone fall back to me, we’re leaving.”

Emily and Nox made a break for the exit behind them, but the sound of leather cracking against the stone could be heard.

Emily caught sight of two specters climbing out of their coffins with whips in their hands, their bodies made almost entirely of frost. Hardly any of their skeletons remained as they stepped out onto the floor. Their whips were already flying, cracking through the air with powerful strikes.

Seeing this Emily created a disk of blood in preparation; they were almost there. If they could get out of the room the specters would have a hard time following them.

Then the whips landed.

They were so fast that only Kael was able to react in time. Parrying the strike with his spear, but the whip wrapped around his weapon's length. The second strike was aimed at Alex, who didn’t have time to respond even with his speed. The second whip wrapped around his ankle, which Emily then realized was barbed. Luckily the Vital shell kicked in and prevented the tiny prongs from stabbing in. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean he could get away, as both specters yanked their whips, pulling Kael and Alex further away from the exit.

With Alex’s balance compromised he fell back onto his ass and was being slowly dragged in. Kael stood his ground and widened his stance preventing the specter from pulling him in any further.

Seeing this Emily looked over at Nox and Cupcake.

“Keep going, we’re right behind you. Get the Rime wolves to safety!”

Then, changing her direction Emily moved toward where the two were struggling. Emily gathered up her vitality and aimed as best she could while running. She fired a bolt and guided it midair toward the one holding Alex’s leg. She aimed at the specter’s arm to force it to let go but the creature unexpectedly sacrificed its free arm to block the incoming projectile.

The forearm made of ice and frost shattered into hundreds of shards but Alex’s captor continued to hold the cord taunt.

Alex had not been idle either, his speed increased as he actived his enhancement skill and climbed to his feet.

Oscar seemed torn, on one hand, he glanced towards the exit, but on the other, he didn’t seem to want to leave Kael. With a grunt, he turned and pivoted around Kael slashing at the whip.

His dagger cut clean through the whip without any resistance. This caused the specter to stumble back but that was when Emily noticed its weapon lengthening again. It wasn’t exactly repairing itself; instead, it was becoming thinner while defying the laws of momentum.

Once he was freed Kael moved to help Alex but then he froze and his footing suddenly became unsteady. Emily felt it a second later as a spike of nausea began to take hold. It developed into aches across her body in a matter of mere seconds.

Emily only just stopped herself from vomiting as the symptoms kept advancing at speeds she’d never experienced before.

Everyone slowed, save for Nox who had already made it to the door. He glanced back but when Emily shot him a queasy look that said ‘run’, he disappeared back the way they’d come with Cupcake and Mist in tow.

At this point, the middle coffin started to show movement as a specter rose from it.

The difference with this one was both its size and the color of the first. A deep jade seemed to be mixed through the shards of frost on its body, causing the same light green smoke to shed off its body.

Droplets of what looked like liquid nitrogen fell from the specter as tiny trails of vapor, before splatting onto the floor and hissing against the stone.

Kael reacted faster than any of them expected and launched his spear at the still-moving target.

The deadly projectile flew toward the skull of the large specter but was deflected at the last second by a deadly-looking flail that the specter held in its hand.

Seeing his strike had failed didn’t seem to bother Kael, in fact, he grinned viciously as he pulled his arm back and a delicate strand connected to his spear flashed in the light. The spear which was about to clatter to the ground suddenly changed directions and swung out. It cracked into the spinal collum of one of the smaller specters, causing it to go ridged and fall to the ground still.

Kael had somehow hit the title stone, destroying it, but at this stage, their survival came before profit.

It so happened to be the one currently holding Alex so the moment it dropped Alex was free.

“Fallback and scatter-”

Kael began, but he didn’t even manage to turn around before dropping to one knee and coughing blood. There was no hit, no sign, he just went down. Emily felt it a second later, like a disease working its way through her body, as though woken by some unknown trigger. With one move the specter had crippled all of them. Emily saw Alex and Oscar go down a second before her, but couldn’t focus as her lungs ignited and a wracking cough overtook her. It was all Emily could do to move her life force from her chest as the sound of heavy footsteps neared them all, each one shaking the ground.

Blood points: 97