"Noo!" Ivy screams. She extends a hand towards Derek, summoning another gust of wind below him, but he falls away from her reach. She glances at Ethan and Lucien and jumps off the monster, taking with her the condensed sphere of gas.
Ethan turns back to move to the neck and sees Lucien struggling in the maw. The paladin slams his blade with the little reach he has, burning away its flesh. 'His ability can damage it permanently,' Ethan notes, seeing the absence of tendrils.
Unsummoning his blade, Ethan grabs Lucien by the shoulders and heaves him. The maw fights Ethan for its meal, pulling on Lucien's legs, which are already down its throat.
Monsters grow from its body, circling Ethan. They screech and scratch at the bone plates before lunging forward.
'Martial skill echo,' Ethan thinks, summoning Skysong. Ethan's ghost manifests next to him, holding the spear towards the screeching creatures. They lunge at it, and it impales them one after the other.
Russ' enlarged form grabs one the ghost missed and drags it into Ethan's shadow. In his mind, Ethan hears the creature's bones breaking under Russ' teeth.
Lucien screams as Ethan's strength and the monster's grip pull him apart. He wrenches his blade from its flesh with the space Ethan gained him. It covers in light, and he stabs it next to him, disintegrating teeth and flesh.
The monsters writhe, forcing Ethan to use a hand to grab its body. Ethan's ghost, and the small monsters fly off into the void. Ethan thinks, 'Cancel Martial skill echo.' The ghost and Skysong vanish, returning to Ethan.
The maw holding Lucien loosens, and Ethan pulls him out. His clothes dissolved up to his knees, leaving his chainmail and feet exposed.
"Why did you save me?" Lucien asks.
Ethan breaks into a run, motioning for Lucien to follow. He lies, "You said it yourself; there is a bigger danger than you to deal with. And besides, your god doesn't like me; I hope he will appreciate the gesture."
Lucien tuts at Ethan's answer.
'I'd better give Lucien a shot at destroying the heart. If it can mend, then his ability could be our only effective weapon," Ethan thinks.
Warts grow from the beast, hatching more of the small monsters. Ethan summons Zhiznezhret and grows it into a great sword. The blade cleaves through the horde, releasing red whisps with each kill. Ethan grabs them into his influx of Ether. They mix with it, flooding Ethan with power.
'Let's make it easy for him to reach the heart,' Ethan thinks. He grabs the chains binding the beast's jaws and pulls to the side. Using Strengthening, he tenses them with a strength that cracks its carapace. Craters form under his feet, carved in the monster's bone plates. Ethan orders, "Get to the other side, into its ribcage, and destroy its heart."
Lucien nods and splits to the side. He clasps a necklace in the shape of Seraphel's symbol and mutters to himself. Light Ether forms from the jewelry, and Lucien absorbs it.
The monster rolls to the side, its body turning upside down as Ethan forces it to twist its head. The titanic creature's muscles yield against Ethan's strength. He hears its neck snapping out and back into place, dragged back by black tendrils.
Lucien disappears under the boss, or rather above it. Ethan places the chains under his left arm and stabs Phantom Reaver at an angle to anchor himself.
Minions claw themselves out of its body, using their talons to climb towards Ethan. He sees River lifting herself from the tail's side to climb above it, clearing its back. Stepping on the chain, Ethan presses against the boss to tension it and stand.
The minions multiply, rushing him like a wave of claws and scaled flesh. He extends his free hand, the other holding his blade, and traces the sigils of a Flame spell. The blue torrent of fire swallows the beasts, licking upward at the boss' sides as it engulfs its back. They screech and fall, dropping like burning drops of gasoline.
Russ yelps from Ethan's shadow, his eyes staring at the endless void below. Reaching the end of the excess life force, Ethan stops casting. The scorched flesh bursts with parasitic tendrils, mending the gaping wound.
"Radiant Lord of Light, hear the fervent call of your devoted servant." Lucien's voice is loud, as if amplified by an unseen stage. "By your blazing light that purges infamy, grant me the strength to strike down my enemy. Let your divine fury flow through my sword, that I may cleanse the world of this evil lord."
'Did he make that prayer on the spot? I would have guessed they would be in Eldorian, not French.' Ethan ponders. He hears monsters blooming around and in front of Lucien, protecting the heart. Pouring his Ether into Strengthening, Ethan climbs the chain to the boss' neck.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
At the edge of the chain, Ethan summons both Tatiana's saber and Phantom Reaver. He leaps and stabs them into its flesh, using the blades like ice axes. Alternating between weapons, he scales the beast, leaving behind a cascade of ichor.
Ethan sees Lucien running at the beating heart, ignoring the monsters rushing him. His blade shines like the sun, forcing Ethan to look away from it. He summons his M4 and fires a Piercing Shot at each of the creatures, sending them to the ground.
Lucien raises his sword high, the light coalescing into a beam that pierces the ochre sky. With a battle cry that resonates as loud as his voice, he brings his blade down. The sword slashes the side of the heart; a blinding explosion of light and Ether erupts from the point of impact. It sends shockwaves through the beast, cracking its bones and scales. Searing flames engulf the heart, the golden fire reducing it to charred remnants.
Ethan feels the beast convulse beneath him. It rolls back onto its belly, enabling Ethan to run back to its chains. He grabs them once again, forcing the beast to turn towards the platforms. It writhes and roars, losing lift every passing second. It plunges downward, hitting an empty ochre platform in series of cracks. Ethan jumps down, looking back to see Lucien escape the ribcage in time. River jumps off from its tail, rolling onto the ground.
The beast grinds against the platform. Its inertia brings it to the other side, where it falls into the depths of this place. Ethan stares down at Lucien, expecting him to attack.
Instead, Lucien runs towards the next platform, where Ivy kneels above Derek. Frozen monsters surround them, grown from ichor that feel in their aerial fight. The pool of blood, the paleness of his skin, and the emptiness in his gaze convince Ethan of Derek's demise.
Kneeling to his side, Ivy sobs, her hands covered with his blood. An empty vial lies next to him, its contents drooling out of his mouth as his body won't swallow it.
"Step aside," Lucien orders to Ivy. He clasps his necklace and mutters to himself. Light Ether appears from it, transmuted from Lucien's own, and gathers around. "If his body is still viable, I can bring him back."
'How?' Ethan thinks. Then he remembers how little he knows of the abilities and spells that exist. But if his body needs to be viable, why not heal it first? Ethan glances at the devastated expression carved on Ivy's face. He asks, "Don't you have a way to heal his body before trying?"
"No," Lucien answers. "Without his soul present, light Ether alone won't heal his body. No matter how much I create."
The idea of revealing his spells to Lucien annoys Ethan, but deep inside he feels he owes Ivy and Derek. Ivy helped him in his fight against the lord. And Derek, despite his lack of power, took a selfless stand against them. Rest's coldness surrounds the thought, trying to suffocate it. A flicker of something he doesn't recognize breaks through the detachment. It's an urge to help, to mend this broken body, and it catches him off guard.
'Why do I even care?' Ethan ponders. It would be easy to let Derek stay dead. It wouldn't give Lucien information. It would be a threat until he deals with the Paladin without angering Seraphel. Yet something inside him resists that cold calculation.
Ethan extends his own threads and grabs Lucien's ambient light Ether to guide it into himself. Imagining the sigils of the Heal spell, he aims his palm at Derek and releases the spell. The wounds knit back together, restoring a healthy outlook. Still holding slivers of light Ether, Ethan directs the rest of the spell towards himself.
"How?" Lucien ponders aloud. His gaze falls back on Derek, and he summons more light Ether before holding his hands above the corpse. Stardust falls from them; Seraphel's sigil carves itself onto the ground around Derek.
Screams, like thousands of souls howling in the rushing wind, pierce Ethan's mind. He stumbles back, the impacts of loud metallic gates battering in a storm punching his brain. Russ leaps out of his shadow, rolling across the ground in pain as he covers his ears.
The coldness of Rest's influence leaves Ethan, and with it the screams. He sees the sigil of Seraphel vanishing; Russ stops squirming but stays where he is, staring at Lucien.
Derek lifts his chest off the ground to cough potion and blood. He shakes as Ivy hugs him, a smile on her face. His skin is whiter than before, as if lifeforce had been taken from him, and he looks absent.
"How a necromancer like you, who recoils in the presence of his light, can use his spells, I can't understand." Lucien turns to Ethan, but his hateful gaze moves to Russ. "One day, I will cleanse the world of your wickedness."
Ethan summons Dark Fate, hiding the dagger behind his forearm. Circling the Paladin, he threatens, "I hope you realize the gap separating us. You may try the ability you used against its heart, but I doubt you would even graze me."
"You gained yourself some respite," Lucien says. He looks at the first platform where the smears of the dead mix with dust. "Two lost their lives here. Thanks to you, I'm not among them."
"Are you okay?" Ivy asks, but Derek stares into the void. She looks up to Lucien and asks, "He's going to get better, right?"
"Give him a minute," Lucien says. "Coming back is not a pleasant experience, and he will be weaker for a while. The last person I used it on took a few days to completely recover."
River reaches them and exhales, placing her hands on her thighs to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, I could only hold onto it. I would have joined you if I could, but it was too much for me."
"Good thing you didn't fall," Lucien says. "I'd hate to have to scrape you off whatever pavement is down there. Saves me the paperwork."
She kicks him in the calve with little force. Ethan puffs, appreciating the dark humor. Curious, he asks, "Why did you enter this labyrinth?"
"I entered the labyrinths, not this one specifically," Lucien answers in an annoyed tone. He leaves River's side to look at the red sky. "God commanded me to. He speaks to me in my dreams, sharing visions with me. I saw that sky, but more importantly, he showed the countless people who would die in those places. The sooner they are conquered, the less they will kill."
"You leveled up. Russ leveled up (x5). Melee Weapon (Spear) leveled up (x3). Melee Weapon (Long Sword) leveled up (x5). Melee Weapon (Saber) leveled up (x3). Melee Weapon (Great sword) leveled up (x3). Ether manipulation leveled up. Life force manipulation leveled up. You completed your fifth trial of the Labyrinth of Death, the Leviathan," the system announces. Light englobes the six of them, and Russ rushes to Ethan's shadow.
"It is goodbye then," Lucien says. He opens his hand in a motionless wave. "Next time we meet, it will be to settle our score. I'll make sure of it."
They vanish from each other's sight. Distant chants of choirs replace the sounds of the turbulent winds. A flock of doves passes in Ethan's sight as he sees a landscape of clouds and a large, golden garden gate.