บท 19: Burn In Hell
Waiting in the cave's shadows had taken Raven longer than he'd expected. But having finally memorized the minotaur horde's movements, he sped out through the darkness with his right hand running along the path. Shooting mana through his fingers, he was creating the hellflame sigil while zooming through in between the minotaurs without making any sound.
'A little more…' Taking a brief pause to catch his breath, he looked back to the path he'd taken. Only half of the first sigil was complete, and he needed to do three more after this one. However, now knowing that something was inside the guarded entrance, he couldn't help but wonder if he should try to spare at least one hellflame scroll in case the creature inside was much more ferocious. 'No, don't half-ass this on an assumption. I'll kill these bastards and then go inside, and if there's a threat, I can always drink a mana potion to accelerate myself for a swift exit.'
Keeping his head straight, he clicked the heels of his shoes and sprinted once again. Invisible to non-magic-using monsters like minotaurs, Raven took his time to carefully fuse the dirt with his mana. After half an hour of going in between putting down the sigil and downing mana potions to keep going, he finally managed to get the four sigils in the exact spots where the minotaurs eventually gathered after completing their short spree of patrolling the cave.
'Now to cast the mass blinding scrolls…' The hardest part of the plan, casting the scrolls that required verbal incantation. Doing so will break his invisibility and if not timed properly he could end up in the middle of a spell while the minotaurs charge him all at once. 'Time to put the plan to the test.'
Unlike the Hero, however, Raven hadn't wandered into the cave without a proper plan for everything. Looking at the high ceiling, he conjured a magic arrow made of pure darkness. Then conjuring a bow as well as rope, he did what dark mages were best known for. The notorious art of killing their target before they knew what was happening.
With the rope tied to his hand and the end of the arrow, he raised to the ceiling and infused the string with strengthening magic.
'That's it, no more mana and just one potion left.' Opening his mouth for the first time since entering the cave, Raven took a deep breath and shot the arrow towards the ceiling. Powered by his own magic, the arrow pulled him through the air until its darkened tip pierced through the ceiling. Taking a second to adjust to Raven's weight the gap made through the arrow sprinkle dust through the cave's ceiling. Thankfully, however, the arrow didn't slip through the gap, but as Raven looked downwards, the eyes of many minotaurs were glaring right at him. 'Shit! The invisibility broke!'
The sigh of relief upon being stable on the ceiling had broken his invisibility, something he hadn't expected.
"Fuck this, it doesn't matter now!" Taking out the scrolls of mass blindness as the minotaurs gathered under him with their nostrils flaring and their eyes growing red with rage, Raven read through the arcane parchment in a tongue lost with time yet which came naturally on the tongues of those blessed with arcane knowledge.
Growing a bit nervous as his eyes ran and his tongue read through, a sense of great delight came over him as he uttered the last sentence. The moment the scroll's incantation was completed, a symbol in the shape of a knife-stabbed eye floated from within the parchment. Letting the scrolls go, Raven watched as dark clouds emerged through the scrolls and descended on the minotaurs who'd been jumping on the ground to make Raven fall off.
Coiling around the minotaurs, the smoke seeping in through every orifice in their bodies blinded them not just from the eyes but from every sense they possessed. Suffocated by the feeling, the minotaurs were brought to the ground choking on black lungs and hearts pumping fumes through their bloodstreams.
"Now comes the fun part…" Already smiling as he watched them suffer, Raven took out the coating bottles and began chucking them at every minotaur he could see through the dark clouds.
The moment he was done, he finally took out the scrolls of hellflames. Shredding them all, he followed the torn pieces with his eyes as they fluttered their way to the ground. And once they did, hell descended on the minotaurs. Already sizzling from the effects of the coating being thrown at them, they were howling in pain as if they'd been skinned to their bones, but as the hellflames rose through the four sigils in a circular pattern their bodies writhed on the ground as screams of agony roared through their lungs.
Suffocated, skinned, and burned, even the minotaurs who could barely stand tried looking around only to crash their horns against each other in a frenzied attempt to escape the burning clouds that almost reached the ceiling. Enjoying the show from just enough distance to be safe, Raven had the biggest smile as he watched those monsters desperately trying to escape the hell pit. The sweet agony of their screams, the confused clashing of their horns, and their writhing bodies as they got cooked from the insides out–there was no greater revenge Raven could've asked for, and watching from afar, even the goddess was smiling–knowing this time, she'd chosen the right person for the job.
'Perhaps a new gift is in order?' She thought, wondering how more effective Raven would be if she kept him motivating through new powers of his choosing.
But for now, as the minotaur horde suffered an agonizing death suffocating in smoke and flames, Raven had much to do before he could be granted another audience with the goddess. However, one thing was now certain, Amedith would be replaced as the hero, if not in the eyes of the people then at least in front of the brave men and women who will fight alongside his party.
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