From the 53rd floor onward, Adrith and Evelyn were able to move through the city much easier. When Evelyn found out the only defenders of the towers were Revenants, they were able to rush through these floors with great ease. They did however gather a large group of Revenants that followed them through the floors.
A constant wave of Revenant orbs were being thrown at the duo, however, with Evelyn’s ability to follow Adrith and fly with ease allowed her to dodge them easily and keep Adrith protected.
“What’s the plan?!” Evelyn yelled out, “Are we going to just bring them out of the dungeon with us?!”
Adrith yelled back, “No!”
“Then what are we doing?”, Evelyn asked in slight frustration, she was getting slightly annoyed that he was still keeping his plans from her.
“We’re leading them to another Chimera”, Adrith answered dryly
Evelyn yelled, “Was that your plan at first?!”
Adrith answered, “Yes”.
“CAN’T YOU TELL ME BEFORE WE DO SOMETHING” Evelyn lost her patience, she had become constantly frustrated with his constant plans he kept to himself.
Adrith did not answer.
Evelyn turned her head for a moment to give Adrith another piece of her mind, yet was stopped by the need to dodge another Revenant orb.
As they climbed the floors, they finally reached the surroundings Evelyn was slightly more familiar with. Old cobbled stone floors, much of it marked and worn down. Walls made of stacked stones and the smell of mildew. Yet the area also feels different here, there was a constant mist that seemed to hang on the ceiling and not the ground like she normally knows it does.
Adrith and Evelyn continued to run, the Revenants once they entered this floor began to seem to change. Their forms began to become more tangible, the color of their magic seemed to darken and become more defined.
Evelyn yelled to Adrith, “Are they meant to do that?!”
Adrith’s head turned for just a moment, “Do what-” Adrith turned just in time to see one of the Revenants become much more dangerous as it sped up.
“Oh gods”, was the only thing that he let out. The Revenant began to quicken, becoming faster than the others in the group as it seemed to begin to change shape a bit. It became shorter, actually becoming a defined shape of a human, as it took the appearance of a slim and slender female who held instead of a generic long sword like the others, a saber and a rapier.
It immediately flew after Evelyn and tried to slice at her, yet Evelyn ducked and had her disc ride as low as possible to dodge underneath. As the Revenant flew by, Adrith saw it try to turn and rush him down next. He took one more step forward and launched himself. He needed to get as much speed as possible to allow himself to be ready for any action it would take.
The Revenant flew at Adrith in an attempt to skewer him through the chest while keeping its saber in its off-hand ready to try and react to his movement. Adrith was mostly trapped, he couldn’t do all that much against an attack like this, it had high speed and the natural advantage of being intangible.
Adrith didn’t know what was different, but he made a guess. This might have different powers.
Adrith decided to defend as if it was a physical attack and pulled up his arm as he dodged to the outside of the Revenant.
The Revenant spun mid-air and swung its saber at Adrith. Adrith defended it the best he could, but the blade cut into his arm and shoulder deep. The ethereal blade passed through both without issue. Leaving Adrith with a deep set of pain, as it felt like it pulled energy out of him.
Adrith’s arm dropped for a moment as his eyes bulged, it was just as painful as the Soul Reaver was, yet it wasn’t as terrible. With the Soul Reaver the pain was intense and long-lasting, with this new Revenant attack it was an intense pain for a moment then numbness. Yet Adrith could feel he could circulate energy into the area as he immediately got his arm function back.
“Their attacks are like the Soul Reavers!”, Adrith yelled out to Evelyn.
She cried out as she heard the news, “Why do things get worse as we go up?! Isn’t it supposed to get harder going down?!”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Adrith yelled back, “Less complaining and more dodging!”
The two continued to move through the floor, yet nothing seemed to be appearing to attack them on this level.
“Where’s your big plan?!” Evelyn cries out as she has been dodging and being hit by these monstrous creatures now. Each of them began to gain new abilities as they went further into the floor. It became harder and harder to not be hit in a lethal spot, let alone dodge.
Adrith yelled back, “It has to be here!”
Adrith began to panic slightly himself. He remembered this floor because of the hell it was just to get through. He began to doubt if what happened on the 50th floor was a fluke rather than what was normal.
Adrith then saw what he was looking for. The fog down a single path filled the entire path completely. Adrith yelled as he dashed for the path, “This way!”
Evelyn quickly followed behind as she asked, “What’s in here?”
Adrith responded quickly, “A Chimera Dragon”
“What?”
As the two broke into the fog, they could feel a presence begin to surround them, and the energy in the area became overwhelming. Evelyn immediately felt uneasy as if she could feel the threat of death surrounding her. Her hands began to shake as she could see Adrith’s head, she was praying the entire time as they ran through. It was not until they broke through the fog she heard Adrith speak again, “Keep going, we need to get them to fight!”
Evelyn turned back to see the Revenants we chasing, yet they seemed to almost waver as one even seemed to almost fully turn. She couldn’t shake this feeling, that they may be sensing something more important than to kill them. She wanted to know what was happening, yet she followed Adrith, as one seemed very intent on following them.
They made it further into the floor as they continued to follow the pathways that led them through the fog. Evelyn didn’t know what the plan was, yet it seemed that the Revenants were struggling every now and again and their attacks became less consistent. Adrith yelled out, “This way!”
Yet Evelyn noticed something, the Revenant that was once following them incredibly intently faltered, as it seemed to almost go a different direction entirely.
Evelyn yelled, “No! This way!”
Adrith’s head flicked towards Evelyn, and the moment his foot hit the ground, he pivoted.
He launched himself away from the path he was about to enter and followed Evelyn. Evelyn looked to Adrith and nodded as she turned back to see the Revenant had begun to move even faster, its body began to change. It became even more defined, its form became less translucent, and even the crimson energy changed it slowly became less viscous.
Adrith called to Evelyn, “Why are we here?”
Evelyn said back, “I don’t know”
“Well, we have trouble”, Adrith said dryly.
Evelyn turned back to see a strange creature, one she didn’t even know. It looked like a tall lanky human that seemed to have large bone-white plates all across its body that covered it from head to toe. The face was one single plate that had no features. Across the body were layered black flesh-like protrusions that made blades come from the shoulders, the arms, the legs, and even the head like a horn. This strange humanoid creature turned and seemed prepared to fight.
Adrith decided to try and take a berth around the creature, he wanted to try and force it to one side, yet it seemed almost unaware of his existence. Evelyn noticed this and yelled, “Run past it!”
Adrith and Evelyn sped past, and the moment they did, they turned to see the creature rush toward the Revenants and attack. The most front-running one was the one whom Evelyn followed, as it rushed the bone-white creature, the Revenant passed through and looked confused. Evelyn could see personality as it turned in confusion towards the creature. The creature turned and started attacking the Revenants, and unlike before where physical blows did not affect them, the blows from this creature did. Evelyn cried out to Adrith, “We need to stop!”
Adrith slammed his foot down and turned as he yelled, ”Why!?”
Evelyn turned and said, “Something is going on with these things”.
Adrith turned and looked for a moment, “So you wanna watch, then hopefully see a victor?”
Evelyn nodded, “I was hoping maybe something might happen. The Revenant seemed to be reacting to seeing this creature, and not in a hostile way”
Adrith turned to look, and he began to immediately pick up what was happening. He could see that the white monster was fighting all but one of the Revenants, which it wasn’t fighting either, all the Revenant was doing was constantly passing in and out of the creature.
“Odd”, Adrith said as he continued to observe.
“Oh! Maybe this is their body!” Evelyn said with excitement.
Adrith tossed his head side to side, “I can’t be sure. Maybe, it’s a working idea”
The two continued to watch, the Revenants slowly began to fall to the creature. Right now they gave it the name Soulless, as Evelyn could sense zero energy from it, meaning it must be some strange anomaly creature like the others within this dungeon. The monster was fast, strong, and agile, it was a physical monster and as it took out Revenants, it did so with merciless execution.
It left then the Soulless, the one Revenant trying to enter it, and them. The Soulless turned to them and bore its fangs. Holding its arms up and aiming its blades directly at them.
“Well seems your plan wasn’t exactly there, he doesn’t look tired”, Adrith said.
“Shut up”, Evelyn retorted, “I don’t wanna hear that with what you’ve gotten us into”
Adrith and Evelyn were prepared to leave until Adrith heard a whisper so quiet it was almost impossible to hear over his own breathing,
“Help…me”.