The wraiths were sucked in from all around the cavern into their master. Edwyn had cost them their life, and in death, he had taken their souls. With the addition of each wraith, he turned more like them. Leathery flesh turned more incorporeal as he changed from the undead to wraith.

Meera kept an eye on his level and gulped.

[Cursed Undead Wraith – Level 143]

[Cursed Undead Wraith – Level 144]

.

.

[Cursed Undead Wraith – Level 154]

After that, her Identify didn’t show her the madman’s levels, as she had reached her cap of fifty levels. She really wished this skill leveled up as fast as the rest.

Edwyn, the wraith, stood and turned to her with a menacing glare. His whole body was lit up with dark flames that emanated from his body like an aura.

Meera couldn’t see his level, but an unreasonable fear began to set in her bones that made her want to run away. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face despite the growing chill. She knew it was Haunting Presence amplified by the amalgamation of so many wraiths into one being. So, she stayed rooted to the spot.

Edwyn laughed. “With this much power, I can smite you like a god. Kalrina will love me when I deliver the crystal and the necklace that I will pry from your cold, dead corpse.”

“Say, you wouldn’t want to tell me your level, would you?” Meera asked, trying her best not to quiver.

Edwyn laughed once more. “I am more than twice the level you are, and you have nowhere to run.”

Meera was chilled to the bone. She could do nothing but stare. If she fought him now, her chances of getting out of this alive were slim. But she needed that crystal to have the witch loosen her tongue.

Well, maybe I don’t need to kill this guy.

“You don’t scare me,” Meera smirked when all she could picture was her mangled form like Cossus after taking that hit from the Alpha Ape.

This time, Edwyn didn’t laugh. He didn’t charge. He punched her from where he stood twenty feet away, and a dark, incorporeal fist came straight for Meera.

Her eyes widened, and she Stepped out of the way just barely. His fist crashed into the ground and left a small crater that emanated black fumes, which could not be healthy for her to breathe. But before she could blink came another fist. This one did touch her slightly before she moved out of the way.

The black fumes burned at her face and any exposed part of her skin, but the armor didn’t let the fumes through. She used Vitalize, but the burning sensation would not go away. Then another fist fell. Meera teleported away before another attack. Edwyn kept attacking, and she kept on using Mirror Step to save her hide.

Edwyn’s arms were leaving after-images, as were Meera’s jumps. Luckily, she had the Mana to spare, but she also had something else.

She activated Shroud of Shadows and turned invisible. She stopped and looked around. She Stepped to his back and readied a chakram only for Edwyn to turn around at the last moment and blast her, near point-black, with a dark, ghost beam.

Pain erupted in her body as she felt the life draining from her limbs. Thanks to Mirror Eagle’s Perceptivity, she saw the wall fast approaching and Stepped away to the other side of the cavern.

The dark energy still burned at her face and hands, but Vitalize did help soothe the pain. Meera gritted her teeth and shot a Mirror’s Shard barrage at the giant wraith zombie.

She didn’t know if it would hurt him, but she wanted to hit something. She wasn’t surprised when the beam didn’t hit him. It had failed on the wraiths, and Edwyn had basically turned into one. But she did notice his aura fizzle and evaporate into the air.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

This made Meera frown a little, but she had no time to think on it as Edwyn’s hand formed into a claw, and he launched an incorporeal Phantom Strike at her.

Meera sneered and used Mirror Step to dodge again. At this rate, I will run out of Mana, just dodging his attacks.

The next time she dodged, she appeared behind the undead wraith, which put her close to his fully wraith leg. She tossed two chakrams at it and then reappeared in front of him before he turned and recalled her chakrams.

That is when he disappeared in a big cloud of black smoke.

Meera groaned and turned as if that would be the only place he could emerge from, but that was it; he didn’t return. Meera frowned, but she realized it too late. She activated her Shroud of Darkness right away and saw the hazy outline of the giant researcher punching down at her.

She was crushed under his massive fist. She used Mirror Step and, moved away, used Vitalize to heal herself. Her head felt like it had been crushed. Blood poured from her forehead and into her eyes. She pushed Mana into Vitalize to heal her head as it was pounding. Slowly, her world stopped spinning enough that she tossed a chakram into the air and used Mirror Step to move toward it. She caught it in the air and threw it again at a tunnel on the second floor. A moment later, she had the chakram in hand and was inside the tunnel.

Shade flew in a moment later. “What are you doing here?”

“Hiding out,” Meera huffed. “So, I can devise a plan to kill that thing.”

“Let me guess, you have a skill for that.”

“Actually, as a matter of fact, I do have a skill for that. In fact, I have two.”

Shade tilted his head to the side. “Really?”

Meera nodded, wiped a hand over her face, and got all the blood off.

“Then why haven’t you been using them?” Shade snapped. “Waiting for that thing to kill us all or turn us into his humbling servants?”

“If you haven’t noticed—oh, that’s right, you can’t see levels, so let me tell you that monster out there is over level 200.”

Shade’s eyes popped open. “You’re kidding me?”

“No, I’m not—”

Cinders jumped out of a wall at that moment, followed by Onyx. Meera practically screamed, thinking it was Edwyn’s fist.

“He’s coming for you,” Onyx quivered.

“I know,” Meera said. “With all those wraiths that he swallowed, maybe he won’t be able to get in here.”

That gave the animals pause.

“That…could work…I suppose.” Cinders glanced at the other two.

“I don’t think so. He’s here.” Onyx ran inwards towards the two things he feared the most until now.

Edwyn’s dark aura fist crashed against the tunnel, but Meera’s hunch was correct. He couldn’t gain entry into the tunnel thanks to all the wraiths he consumed. As he punched madly, the world shook; dust and tiny rocks fell, but the tunnel held.

“Meera, what’s the plan?” Shade asked. “We don’t have much time before that beast collapses the tunnel down on us. Well, on you, we’ll still be fine, just trapped in here forever with a raving lunatic who is madly in love with a woman who is using him.”

Meera paused to stare at the bat. Then she wasn’t sure if it was her or Ambush Tactics, but so many possibilities ran through her head. The speed at which she was coming up with plans and discarding them, she was sure it was Ambush Tactics. Then, a light bulb went on in Meera’s head.

“Tell me, do all three of you have the Light of the Dead skill?” She asked. All three nodded, and Meera smiled. “Then I know how we’ll beat him.”

“How?” Shade asked.

“I need you to distract him.” She looked to each of them in turn. “All three of you.”

They looked unsure and glanced at each other as if Meera had asked them to do the unthinkable. Another fist landed outside, and the walls cracked.

“We don’t have much time. You do want to leave this cave, right?” Meera asked.

“Of course!” Said Shade and Cinders in unison. Onyx simply nodded.

“Good. Your job will be to activate the skill and push the researcher back. Ideally, we want to box him in while I do my best to kill the damn thing. Shade, you will fly out, activate the skill, and push him back. Onyx, you will come from behind him. Cinders, you will stay on the second floor and run around, keeping your Light active and pushing him back if he gets too close. The goal is to keep him in the center. It’ll give me the most openings. You do that, and I will do—”

Edwyn’s fist crashed so hard against the tunnel that a big chunk of the ceiling fell and blocked the exit. Meera responded by throwing two chakrams into his fist. Edwyn didn’t cry out, but more of aura fizzled into the air.

It’s going to work. It has to. She reassured herself.

“Well, if we fail, I’ll have all eternity to tell you what a shit plan this was.” Shade detached himself from the ceiling and flew out of the tunnel, shining bright as a star.

Edwyn screeched upon seeing Shade’s light and stamped away from him.

“Best of luck.” Onyx nodded to Meera and disappeared through the tunnel walls.

Meera stayed rooted to the spot, as did Cinders.

“You don’t agree with the plan?” Meera found herself saying.

“No, I do agree, but I just cannot help feeling this might be it. After ten years, one way or another, my torment finally comes to an end.”

Meera smiled. “Then let’s make it a happy end.”

“This dark hour, too, shall pass.”

“What is that?”

“Something the beast outside used to say to himself after a setback,” Cinders said. “Seems fitting, no?” She didn’t wait for a reply and raced off down the tunnel.

Once she was out. Meera dusted herself off and threw a chakram down the tunnel. Once it cleared the tunnel, she teleported to it and came to a scene of light containing darkness.

Shade flew about, keeping the murderous giant of darkness penned in with Onyx running around the giant’s feet like a streak of light.

Meera saw Cinders at the ready, gave her a nod, and said, “This dark hour, too, shall pass. The only problem is the level 200 Undead Wraith.”

She drew a deep breath and jumped into the fray.