Spearbound Ch. 54

Kade stared toward the city.

His fingers twitched in restlessness as he held onto his [Soulrend] tightly. He didn’t get chased by the remaining karnathi as he expected, but that didn’t mean he could try for another ambush.

He asked for a snapshot from Hellion.

A bony karnathi using blood to draw symbols on the pillar. A moat from hell surrounding the pillar. Undead, rotting corpses, and amalgamated abominations standing still, looking out of the city, in his direction.

The summoning of the dead only took a few seconds, but it visibly sapped at the vitality of the karnathi. It used to look as robust as the others, but it was now a walking skeleton.

Kade expected more to be summoned, or for the creatures to chase after him, but neither happened. Drawing symbols on the pillar was clearly more important.

As for not being chased, the summoned creatures couldn’t venture too far from the karnathi, or they deemed guarding the pillar more important. He couldn’t be sure.

Kade exhaled and pulled up the interface.

You have destroyed a Karnathi Necromancer (Arcana Level 53)!

Elbow Smash (Level 10)—>Elbow Smash (Level 11)

Spear Thrust (Level 12)—>Spear Thrust (Level 14)

Level-up! x4

Arcana Level 44—>Arcana Level 48

Constitution: 46—>50

Endurance: 35.5—>43.5

Strength: 50.5—>56.5

Wisdom: 22—>24

Free Points: 0—>6

MP: XX/44—>XX/48

He used the points with little thought.

Free Points: 6—>0

Wisdom: 24—>30

MP: XX/48—>XX/60

Kade needed help. “Eliza, I may be overpowered here. How’s it going with you?”

He waited patiently for a reply. The summoned creatures felt nearly as dangerous as the karnathi that summoned them. He wasn’t worried about the physical strength, but more so about any strange magic.

Kade did not know what to expect from the summoned creature of a necromancer.

Eliza: It’s only a matter of time before I finish here.

“Come here as soon as you’re done.” He repeated himself from last time, but there was nothing wrong with putting emphasis on the importance of it.

Eliza: How bad is it?

“I’m not sure, but something feels wrong,” Kade replied. He wouldn’t have been so weird out if the necromancer and minions did the normal thing and try to kill him.

Eliza: I’ll let you know when I’m on the way.

Several unrequested snapshots from Hellion interrupted Kade.

White powder reforming into a karnathi. The revived necromancer summoning more undead. Both necromancers working on drawing bloody symbols on the pillar.

“What the fuck?” Kade muttered. “System, I thought energy was extracted from whatever I kill. How can they be resurrected?”

“By replacing what was extracted. Stanger things are possible when a rift zone is nearing its death.”

That meant nothing to Kade, but it also didn’t matter. He was more worried about how he was to deal with two possibly immortal karnathis.

Kade tightened his fist around the shaft of his [Soulrend] as he decided. He was going back in.

He sprinted back to the city and reached the pillar in under a minute, the undead crowd of over a hundred locking eyes with him as he approached rapidly.

[Ethereal Glide] remained unactivated. It wouldn’t make him undetectable to sight, so there was no point in wasting [MP].

Kade took note that the two karnathis never stopped their work even when the summoned creatures made a commotion that made his presence undoubtable. It made me even more determined to stop whatever was happening here.

He leapt into the crowd of hell-like monsters and put his [Soulrend] to work, using a combination of thrusts, sweeps, and fists to keep himself alive.

As much as Kade wanted to spam his abilities, he was much more calculated in his approach, with only [Ethereal Glide] ready to be activated at a moment’s notice to preserve his life.

He learned a few things almost instantly. The amalgamated abominations were nearly unkillable, but they were also the most passive of the bunch, so he left them alone. The undead were the fastest, nearly as fast as him, but extremely weak, and the rotting corpses were resilient, but slow.

The three groups posed no threat individually, but them combines and the bubbling, molten ground complicated matters, forcing him to forgo multiple near-kills to evade random bursts, and he struggled to remain unharmed.

His heat resistance was of no help. He suspected this was more than just ‘hotness.’

Kade hissed when a corpse’s nails left a deep gouge in his arm as he tried to take out several undead. Of all the things to land the first thing, this was the most shameful.

He had spent just under a minute battling these creatures and he felt he had enough information to get a gist of what he was up against. These creatures couldn’t use magic, and that meant they were of no concern.

Kade had been too cautious and wasted precious time for no reason. One of the few times he didn’t barge in and start stabbing away and it backfired on him.

He activated [Ethereal Glide] and rushed to his target, ignoring the impotent roars of frustration as the creatures clawed through his intangible body.

Kade deactivated [Ethereal Glide] right behind one necromancer—who still ignored him—slammed his [Soulrend] into the ground and used [Inferno Burst].

The eruption of flames erased the creatures that were closest to him, but he didn’t care what was happening behind him. His attention was solely on the necromancers.

The flames licked at their over-stretched skin and burnt them severely, but it still wasn’t enough to make them turn away from the pillar.

Kade didn’t know why, but his heart sunk at what he felt was coming. The flames had barely erupted, and he was already piercing his [Soulrend] at the necromancer’s head, this time with [Armor Break] activated.

He was at [Arcana Level 48] and that put him with five levels.

The necromancer’s head popped like an over-filled ball, but it only made him feel more dread. The body had no head, but it was still drawing the bloody symbols, this time using its own newly splattered blood.

Kade roared uncharacteristically as he stabbed his [Soulrend] into the necromancer’s body over and over until there was no body at all. It still didn’t stop the slow progression of the symbols being drawn.

“What the—” Kade instinctively activated [Ethereal Glide] when he felt something piercing his shoulder. He didn’t care. It was the creatures that closed in on him again.

He stared at the other necromancer and noticed something horribly wrong about it. The body might be there, but there was no life.

Literally. It was just a husk, going through motions that now looked pre-programed.

Kade didn’t even know if destroying it was a good idea, since it only seemed to speed up the symbol drawing process.

“I can’t stop this. Whatever ‘this’ is,” Kade said out loud, still not believing what he was seeing.

He activated [Ethereal Glide] again to keep himself untouchable.

Kade back away, noticing the pillar’s glow turning red. Something was happening, and he didn’t want to be close when it did.

He clenched his jaw before making the call to abandon the city. He sprinted out of the city, thankful the creatures didn’t follow, and instructed Hellion to retreat at the same time.

“Eliza, stay where you are. I’m coming back,” Kade said, sending the message as he asked for a snapshot from Hellion at the same time.

Blood red pillar. Necromancer crumpled on the ground, used up. Creatures still standing guard.

Kade had to stop himself from going back to destroy the pillar. The necromancers might not be there, but the creatures were still enough of a challenge to stop that from happening.

Eliza: I’ll get started on making this place a minefield.

She must have understood how unsettled he was.

He would need help, something Eliza and Hellion could help with, but first he wanted to put as much distance as he could between him and that damned pillar.

Kade spent nearly the entire retreat looking at snapshots from Hellion until the city was too far, even for the bird’s sharp eyes. He didn’t see any changes in that time, making him even more suspicious.

He reached his destination and jumped to the top of the dune. Eliza was resetting her traps, and there were hundreds of piles of white powder.

Kade recalled the necromancer’s revival from a similar pile, but reminded himself that the scenario was unique. Hundreds of karnathi wouldn’t suddenly revive in their midst.

“Welcome back,” Eliza greeted, though she didn’t bother to look at him. He didn’t mind. He preferred her to focus on the traps.

“Something’s happening with the pillar in the city.” Kade got right to business and fell into a rant. “It’s red, and there are zombie-like things guarding it. Hell, there were sacrifices and necromancers! We have to—”

The interface interrupted his rant.

Survive for 7 days (3/7)

Area Effect removed.