In a smooth motion, Aranis, Inyis, Jude and Liam were hauled over to the raised platform. Each of them, still encased by the long thick bones, stopped at each corner of the raised platform.
After Liam stopped at the corner of the right side closest to the door he was able to get a good look at what was on the ground. It was a complicated design of symbols and circles all connected together. If he remotely had anything to compare it to, it reminded of similar designs from one of his favorite animes with alchemists in it.
At the same time, the other members of their groups were shuffled around the room in random order, but still positioned to face the raised area.
“How did the summoning circle remain?” Rez yelled out in confusion. “It should have dispersed after we stopped the Lich.”
Steve glanced a peek at the man and replied bluntly, “Your understanding of all magic is quite insignificant. I don’t blame you though, after all you’re still new to it.”
“Quit talking Steve and let’s start this up,” Gary ordered as he walked over to Aranis.
He reached out and gripped Aranis’ wrist and with all the strength he had pulled it out, palm facing down over the edge of the circle. He then pulled out a knife and sliced his palm.
Aranis let out a grunt, trying to bite back the pain he felt. Blood dripped down from the open wound. Some of it landed on the ground, but most of it landed on the lines of the circle. Once when it did, the lines started to change colors from dark purple to a blackish one.
After Gary felt it was enough, he released Aranis’ wrist and moved over to Jude. At the same time, Steve had finished with Inyis and was reaching for Liam’s wrist.
Liam tried to fight by moving it away. Steve’s face grew irritated. Then without warning, Steve punched Liam in the right cheek, catching him off guard. This was enough for him to grab Liam’s wrist and yank it out.
Liam tried to pull it back but wasn’t able to get free.
How high is his strength? Liam thought as he glowered at the man.
He felt the pain of the knife cutting his palm and clenched his teeth from letting out any sound. He didn’t want to give this guy anything.
After Steve got enough blood out from Liam, he released his wrist and made his way over to Gary who was standing on the edge of the summoning circle with their back to the open door.
After the color of the circle had changed around the edges and connected, Gary and Steve lifted their arms out and started channeling mana.
Liam kept his eyes on them, he wasn’t sure how they would be able to get out, so instead of wasting energy trying to squirm or shift, he wracked his brain. As he was doing this his Mana Sight was activated.
He saw the mana start to build up, but instead of it going around the two men, the mana rolled off of them and into the circle.
The circle started to glow as they began. The light was dim at first, but as seconds ticked by, it started to brighten.
Liam’s heart rate started to quicken as his thoughts swirled. He tried to calm himself, but the whispers plaguing his mind didn’t help stop the panic growing within him.
After a few minutes had passed, the brightness of the circle had grown enough to make it seem like a sun was peering through the lines. When it got to this point, Gary and Steve had stopped channeling.
Liam noticed Steve looked more worn out than Gary as he hunched over and gasped for air.
“There…the charging…is com…pleted,” Steve wheezed out. “Now we need…to feed it…one more soul…” Steve looked at one of the members of Liam’s team closest to them.
It was Mercer.
“No!” Liam yelled out.
Steve gave him a wicked grin before letting out a few coughs. “You have…no say in…who we…us…gah!” Steve suddenly let out a pained gurgle.
Everyone else in the room went wide eyed as they saw a dagger sticking through Steve. Right where his heart was.
Steve turned his head confused and panicked as he looked at Gary, who was staring at him with a look of disgust.
“That’s quite enough out of you,” Gary suddenly stated.
“Why?” Steve asked with a painfilled protest.
“It’s like you said,” Gary started back up. “You have no say in who we use. I was planning to kill you eventually since you have no connection to the Order. You were nothing more than a pawn to us to begin with. One we could use to…misdirect the direction of watchful eyes.”
“The Order?” Steve questioned. Then realizing what he meant he said as blood dripped out from his mouth, “You don’t mean the Order of…”
Before he could finish, Gary ripped the dagger out, killing Steve the moment it was wrench.
“That’s enough out of you,” Gary stated before channeling some mana and moving his hands towards the soul orb that floated over Steve’s body and directing it to the circle.
As soon as the Soul Orb reached the middle of it, it suddenly dropped and disappeared within.
A ripple shook throughout the circle before it hummed to life.
Gary gave a wicked smile as he moved his hands in a weird motion and turned the summoning circle on.
A raven black orb the size of a bead suddenly appeared hovering over the circle. Mana that charged the circle started to leak out and flow into the bead, almost like it was feeding it. A few seconds later, the bead started growing bigger.
Liam watched as the orb, once the size of a bead grew and grew. After a minute had passed it grew to the size of a portal he grew acquainted with this past month. The color of it was black, but it was so dark it wasn’t the same as the portal he was currently in.
The thin pitch black oval shape looked solid at first before purple and white lines started swirling in the middle. It swiftly expanded within the shape as it hummed vibrantly. It then started to look unstable as dark colored sparks shot out from the edges and struck wildly all around it.
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A few had zipped pass Liam’s face, making him flinch.
“Yes!” Gary shouted with a wicked glee on his face. “Yes! It’s working!”
After a minute of instability, the sparks started to calm down and arc around the inside of the swirling vortex. The sparks began to stop disappearing after bouncing around, but instead remained whole as they connected from four points. Almost like corners, of the shape to the middle. When the last one connected, the point in the middle then expanded like the sparks was pulling it out till it reached the edges of the oval.
As soon as it connected to the edges, a powerful shockwave exploded outwards, shattering the bone trappings and sending everyone sailing backwards.
Liam skipped across the ground until he finally stopped.
“I’m really starting to hate being thrown around like a ragdoll,” Liam muttered as he slowly got to his feet. He looked around to see Mercer, Blair, and a couple members of Aranis, and Inyis group were thrown by him.
He noticed they all stared between the exit portal and at the newly formed portal. Almost like they were trying to decide whether they had the power to destroy it or if escape was the better option.
Before anyone could make that decision Liam felt a terrifyingly cold and icy sensation wash over him. This was different from the Ice magic the Lich used against him. Liam knew this. He knew whatever was on the other of the portal was something none of them would be able to handle.
Without hesitation, Liam yelled out, “Everyone! Escape now!”
That was all they needed to hear. Not even Jude argued as they all ran for the exit portal in the back of the room.
They sprinted as fast as they could and were about to reach it, until thick eggshell white bones shot up and blocked their path to the exit.
“Shit!” Jude screamed as he tried swinging his tomahawk axes against them.
Not even a scratch was made as his weapons bounced back.
“Nah uh,” Gary said as he looked at them with a maniacal grin. “No one is going to escape from here. Like I said majority of you are bait to lure out something I need.”
A pulse suddenly rippled through the portal hovering on the raised platform.
Gary looked at it and said while still smiling, “But enough of that. Let’s see how long you will last before it arrives.”
Right as soon as he finished saying those words, forms started to exit the portal.
Liam’s and everyone’s eyes rose as mixtures of shock, horror, and disgust rushed over their faces.
A few different types of figures had entered the room.
One creature had long stretched out arms with claw-like fingers. Its torso and legs were smaller, while its head was elongated with its mouth running from where a nose would be to the top of its skull. Its had one eye on each side of the mouth. When it opened its mouth razor sharp teeth were able to be seen.
The second creature was a massive blob with several tentacles all around its chubby body. Liam couldn’t see any feet anywhere since the gelatinous body touched the ground. Several eyes circled around the top of the body. Medium sized mouth pieces were scattered around close to each tentacle.
The last creature stood on four legs. This one was smaller than the other two types and was covered in fur. It had the form of a wolf, but with one massive eye in the center of the head and a long drooling tongue that lolled out from its mouth with rows of razor sharp teeth.
One thing Liam noticed that each of these types of creatures had in common were the fact they had blackish-purple smoke rolling off their bodies.
Liam felt a sensation suddenly wash over him. His body shook as the feeling covered him from head to toe. At the same time, his mind felt like it was being split. Almost like something foreign was invading it. The whispers that were assaulting him from earlier grew even louder than before as the pain started to feel unbearable.
During this time, a voice yelled out his name, but between the whispers and the pain it was being drowned out.
Images then started to flash through his mind as the pain and whispers continued their attack. He felt his legs start to shake before they buckled and brought him to a knee.
His heart suddenly thumped hard as a new feeling started to stir. He grabbed his chest where his heart would be. As soon as he gripped the area his mind stopped on an image.
It was the shadowy cloaked figure with the scythe that stared at him.
A new voice whispered in his mind. “He is not yours to tether to, you mindless lessers.”
This new voice was ethereal. It sounded so far away, yet so close to him. Then it said with a hint of worry but at the same time dangerous, “Get a grip, you pathetic vessel.”
Then all of a sudden, the pain that made his mind feel like it was splitting disappeared. It was enough for Liam to take a deep breath in and slowly release it. He did this three times to calm his heart and dampen the whispers that tried to scream in his mind. Once when he felt his body calm back down, he stood up and assessed the creatures.
As he did he felt his heart sink.
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“??.”
“??.”
“??.”
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Each creature that came out from the portal weren’t able to be assessed.
Does this mean their level is much higher than what we have fought? Liam thought as he stared at the creatures slowly pouring in.
The portal rippled once more and stopped allowing creatures to enter after the thirtieth one came in.
“Oh my god!” Liam heard someone yell with horror.
“What the fuck are those things?!” another two people yelled out.
Liam looked at the others closest to him and saw they stood there, terrified. Their bodies shivered and shook. A couple had their hands on the sides of their heads as they faced the ground with screams rolling out from their mouths. The others had red eyes and were crying streams of…blood.
“That’s not good,” Liam stated as he looked around to the other groups and saw that Aranis, Inyis, and Jude were staring at the people around them. They too looked worried and unsure what to do.
Gary stood where he was, unfazed by the monstrosities. However, it did look to Liam like he was even more crazed than earlier.
A sudden flash of movement caught Liam’s eyes as one of the one eyed wolf looking creatures made a bee line towards Mercer.
“Oh hell no!” Liam shouted as he raced to intercept the creature.
As soon as he got right in front of Mercer, Liam yelled out and waved his hands out and readied himself for the collision, “Get back!”
However, the wolf like creature skidded to a halt as soon as it laid its eye on Liam.
Liam stared at it with confusion as the wolf eyed him back. It let out a deep throaty growl, before turning around and sprinting for the other side of the room.
What the… Liam thought.
He didn’t have enough time to continue his thought process before another one eyed wolf rushed towards Blair, who was on her knees with her hands on her head, not seeing the creature.
Liam ran for her to intercept it, but instead of this creature stopping to a halt, it rammed right into Liam and sent him flying towards the wall, hard.
Liam slammed into the wall, creating an indent upon arrival and fell to his butt on the ground. Blood had escaped his lips and spat on the ground in front of him.
His vision was blurry, but he tried his best to fight against losing consciousness. His eyes then went on the creatures that made their way towards his and the other’s members.
“No,” Liam muttered as he tried to get back up. He felt his knees wobble and give out as he fell forward.
Liam watched as the creatures raced even faster towards their prey.
“No,” Liam groaned as he internally raged and reached a hand out.
Several of them were almost within reach of their targets and prepared to attack.
Liam punched the ground before trying to push himself up once more. With all his might, he let out a loud growl, “No!”
As his word echoed, a heavy pressure suddenly filled the entire room. Everything and everyone stopped moving and went silent.
No one dared to move an inch. The pressure they all felt was terrifying and a lot more powerful than when Phorge released his aura when he had gotten pissed.
Liam held his breath, waiting for the source of the pressure to make its move.
Then a thud echoed in the room.
Liam slowly turned his head around to try and find where it came from.
A second thud echoed.
After the third Liam noticed the Bone Wall that was covering the area where the exit portal was shudder.
A crack formed in the middle of several of the thick bones.
As a fourth thud echoed the cracks grew more as they started to spiderweb out.
A fifth thud echoed and a sixth as the cracks grew even more.
“Yes!” Gary shouted. “It is finally he…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the bone wall shattered completely.
Spinning end over end, a massive hammer fit for a giant soared out at high speed. The force of the spin of the hammer demolished each head or body part it flew through, making its way towards one area.
Liam watched as the hammer moved with purpose towards a certain destination.
Without knowing what had happened, Gary’s eyes widened as the head of the hammer destroyed the portal. He tried to move out of the way of it, but before he could react, it crashed right into him, exploding his head and upper body, before it finally fell and dug into the ground.