Capítulo 20: Chapter 20: Escape amidst the Chaos
The tendrils had pierced at least half of the children near the area before the group of mages suddenly reacted.
"Bastard! What's he doing?" One of the mages shouted.
Lord Highwind, who saw the scene, felt perplexed. Why would he randomly attack the children?
Whatever his reason, it definitely wasn't good. Quickly, he exclaimed, "Protect them! We don't know his goals, but don't let him have his way!"
With that command, the mages used their spells to shield the children from the shadowy tendrils.
"Tch." Alexander felt irritated. That was the fastest spell he possessed that could eliminate multiple opponents at once. But before he could eliminate all the children, the mages had promptly protected the other half that survived, destroying his plans.
He didn't take their blood and immediately transform them into crystals as to not give those mages any ideas. However, he estimated he was lacking just a small portion of blood left.
The children that had been near him had died first. As for the children that were further, they had kept their lives due to the range and speed of the spell.
He knew that with these mages, killing all the children near the area would be impossible. Alexander felt quite anxious as he racked his brain.
As he glanced over the battlefield, he saw near one of the paths was a group of children.
He immediately spotted Faylen, making him feel inwardly delighted. A diamond stage practitioner!
It was just what he needed!
Like a bloodthirsty beast, Alexander immediately rushed at the boy.
"He's trying to escape! Block him!"
Alexander had used a spell to increase his movement speed as he flew, however, before he could even travel a hundred meters, a barrage of spells had been launched at him.
Boom!
The spells had impacted against his body, breaching his defences and immediately giving Alexander terrible injuries as he coughed up blood.
But like a relentless beast, he gritted his teeth as he continued to pounce on the boy.
"Faylen! Come here!" Alexander shouted, his expression bloodthirsty and manic, reaching his arm out.
Seeing the crazy man that was rapidly coming towards him, Faylen felt a sense of crisis as he immediately ran in the other direction.
Alexander suddenly used a spell to stop Faylen.
As Faylen was retreating, pale, ghostly arms had suddenly protruded out of the ground as its hands clamped on one of the boy's ankles.
Faylen felt something gripping his left ankle, causing him to fall to the ground.
Crunch!
His face quickly contorted due to the pain of having his ankle crushed. Despite being a diamond stage practitioner, those ghostly arms possessed terrifying strength that could easily break his bones.
Despite the pain, he knew his life was on the line so he immediately tried to pry the hands open. Seeing the bloodthirsty man rapidly getting closer, Faylen used every ounce of strength.
Faylen roared. With all of his life essence concentrated to his limbs, he managed to loosen the ghostly hands enough to free himself.
Immediately, he dashed towards one of the paths as Alexander chased him. He suppressed the urge to scream due to the pain of forcefully running with his broken ankle, supporting it with life essence.
"Stop him!" Lord Highwind roared. Seeing Alexander so relentless in his pursuit, not even caring about receiving injuries, he knew that the boy held something that Alexander could rely on.
However, as they unleashed another barrage of spells, it was already over.
Using another spell, Alexander launched shadowy blades, severing the boy's body into four even pieces, immediately killing him.
Plop. Plop.
The boy's body parts immediately dropped to the ground, creating disgusting squelching sounds as the stench of blood permeated the air.
He felt nothing from killing him. Although he had been his vessel, once he survives, he can just find another one.
Noticing the incoming barrage of spells, Alexander immediately used another spell to shield his body as he braced himself. It was one defensive spell against multiple offensive spells. Alexander knew his defences didn't stand a chance. But he only needed an instance of time!
Boom!
The spells collided with Alexander's defences, causing the Sanctuary to tremble once more.
"I-is he dead?" A mage mumbled.
As the dust dispersed, their hopes were quickly shattered. In the middle of a crater, Alexander stood — a pool of blood forming under him.
His robes were in tatters and one of his arms was missing due to the spells that they had launched. His dishevelled and bloodied appearance made him look pitiful.
However, unexpectedly, the man had a crazed expression as he suddenly laughed with madness. With an incantation from Alexander, all of the bodies of the dead children immediately shrivelled up as their blood was sucked out of them, turning into blood-red crystals.
Alexander then suddenly spoke in a different language, making all the mages feel a chill.
"Taal'zevar drax'keth, sur'vahl grim,
Zyr'kalith vor'nek, kryn'al!"
With his demonic incantations, the air immediately grew heavy and oppressive. Without delay, Alexander tossed out the thousands of crystals he had stored in his ring.
The blood-red crystals floated ominously before they suddenly twisted, turning and condensing into a deep, abyss-black droplet.
As the thousands of crystals that had stored a river of blood through his years of accumulation quickly condensed, eventually, only 100 of the black droplets remained.
Each droplet radiated with a chilling, malevolent darkness.
"With the darkness as my witness and the void as my guide, I command thee!"
The hundred black droplets, pulsing with demonic energy, seemed to heed his words as they descended towards the ground. Each droplet struck the stone floor with a strange resonance, creating eery whispers of a language similar to Alexander's demonic incantation.
As all the droplets fell, they formed a circle.
A strange humming sound could be heard. Like a distant echo from a nightmare, it grew louder, filling the room with a dread that was almost tangible. The very fabric of reality seemed to bend and warp around the summoning circle as if struggling against the intrusion of something ancient and malevolent.
Alexander's breath caught in his throat as he felt the presence he had invoked drawing closer.
Shatter!
Space seemed to distort as a crack emerged within the circle. The air seemed to have been cleaved into two as a rift was created.
Alexander had a maniacal grin.
It worked!
He had created a gate between the Nethervoid and the Primordial Plane!
"You fool! What have you done!" Lord Highwind's voice rang out, filled with horror and disbelief. He understood the gravity of Alexander's actions, the peril they now faced with a creature beyond their understanding unleashed upon the world!
But Alexander remained undeterred, his gaze fixed upon the crack in space and the entity clawing its way through.
As the tear in space widened, a dark, grey hand abruptly pierced through the rift, its gnarled fingers curled like talons. With this demonic being intruding in their plane, came a cruel and tyrannical aura that descended upon the mages. The air grew colder as if the very essence of dread itself had emerged.
Alexander's grin faltered slightly, replaced by an expression of uncertainty. The sight before him was beyond anything he had anticipated, and a chill ran down his spine despite his exhilaration...
...
Boom! Boom!
The sound of explosions rang out throughout the Sanctuary as the entire place trembled.
At the centre of the Sanctuary, a fierce battle was taking place, creating chaos that left the underground in ruins.
As the battle was happening, children were trying to escape from the battlefield.
"This place is too dangerous! We need to get as far as possible!"
"Lord Thel is being attacked by those strange people in cloaks! Their abilities are similar to his — we don't stand a fighting chance against them!"
As the group of children quickly ran, a stray attack from one of the mages had been launched at them.
"Run–"
Boom!
"Ack!" A child screamed in pain as he was sent flying from the explosion, crashing onto the wall.
His mind shook violently as his vision blurred. After a few seconds, he slowly regained his clarity as he slowly lifted himself up.
As he turned to the group he had been previously running with, his eyes quickly constricted. Out of the 4 that were with him, he only saw one other boy who was just slightly behind him unconscious.
He had been the fastest, so he was the furthest from the explosion. Turning once more, his heart trembled from the sight — the rest of his group had been blown to bits, with small bits of flesh, intestines and limbs scattered around.
Gritting his teeth, he quickly turned around and ran, leaving the unconscious boy.
His safety matters first!
Just being a few hundred meters away was still extremely dangerous in the presence of these formidable cloaked people.
As his figure quickly disappeared into one of the paths, a short instance later, the ground shook a few meters from where the unconscious boy was.
The ground seemed to grow a lump as it suddenly bursted, shooting out rock fragments.
Shatter!
A pale hand suddenly shot out.
Lifting itself out of the ground, a figure emerged. The boy had pale skin with unusually long obsidian hair and abyss-black eyes.
'That was dangerous... I nearly got hit by that explosion. I could feel how close it was from the vibrations,' Luck silently muttered to himself.
After nearly eliminating an entire group a few days ago, he decided to hide underground. The new hiding spot had been quite successful, as he hadn't been discovered in 2 days. People often overlook spots that they aren't accustomed to like below or above, only focusing on what is right in front of them.
As Luck gently dusted himself off, he could hear the loud explosions in the distance, causing the Sanctuary to tremble as rocks fell from the ceiling.
"If this continues, it's highly likely the entire place will collapse. I wonder what's happening?" Luck mumbled.
'I vaguely heard the children conversing above me. Lord Thel is currently being attacked by a group of people in cloaks?'
Luck suspected that they were highly likely to be magic users as well if that was the case.
'Could these intruders be the reason why Lord Thel was so hurried? Yes... It would align with all the recent events... Whatever Lord Thel was doing, it seemed he was extremely close to finishing it as he probably had figured out that people were targeting him. Yet instead of running, he still took a massive risk.'
'The most important question, however, is if the intruders are good people. Lord Thel was definitely a sinister man who likely had many enemies. Perhaps the intruders have come to kill or imprison him. Maybe they will free me from this sh*tty place,' Luck mused.
After pondering, Luck shook his head. 'No! I won't risk it. I'll try to find an escape amidst the chaos. My first impression of magic users is very terrible. They may all be arrogant and cruel like Lord Thel. If that is the case, I'll forever be in an endless cycle of being enslaved!'
'Since those people managed to enter the Sanctuary, it must mean they had the means to find the entrance and enter. If I were Lord Thel, I would do my best to hide the entrance. As he took a risk, he must've had confidence in his abilities. Then... it's likely that those people had created their own entrance!' Luck's eyes flashed with understanding.
From the vibrations, Luck guessed that the boy was running towards the training grounds. It was the furthest area from the centre. As long as Luck kept a distance from the centre, he should be able to navigate and slowly find that entrance. It was a risk, but he was willing to gamble.
Even if he didn't gamble and merely hid, these magic users were so mysterious that he had barely any confidence. They were currently preoccupied with the battle with Lord Thel. Now would be the best time!
Without wasting any more time, Luck used his owl-breathing rotations to silently move and hide his presence.
He decided to search the entire south area of the Sanctuary first.
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