Seth Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Everyone gasped as the blades streaked towards Alvert. Log moved to take the attack on himself before it could hit the old man.

Seth cursed and simply made the blades change directions and hit Alvert on his arms and legs. He didn't try to move out of the way and a shrill cry escaped his lips as blood spurted out.

The blades pierced his flesh before dissipating and Alvert put a hand on the wound and sprawled on the ground, screaming in pain.

“Seth! I told you. He's not really—”

Xarth shouted out and Zara moved to tend to the wounds. They looked at him like he had gone crazy, but ignoring them, he conjured up two more blades and shot them towards Alvert who let out a muffled groan, one filled with terror.

“Just get away from him. He's not human!” He said, trying to warn his temporary party members again, but they didn’t seem to realise the severity of the situation.

Zara moved to put together a spell to stop his blades, but they travelled the air like a dragon flying through the clouds. Reaching Alvert in a matter of seconds, Seth raised the blades, aiming them towards his neck.

“Seth, that's too much!” Rebecca cried out, but it was too late.

They were inches away from Alvert's neck, and his hands flashed, catching the blades with inhuman speed and reflexes. Blood dropped out of his palm, but he ignored it.

“What?” Zara took a step back, surprised.

Everyone looked at Alvert as the blades vanished into the air. Moments ago, he wasn't even able to walk well, but now, he had caught two Void Blades like they were nothing.

“Why…?” Alvert muttered, his words trailing. It was a sharper and more shrill voice than before. “W-why didn't you believe me? I, I told you I would get you to the Weather Staff. Didn't you want that?”

He looked at Seth, the wrinkles on his face straining to an unusual degree as he got up out of nowhere. Cracking his knuckles, his eyes moved in every direction.

“You all… I thought of you as my… saviours. Then, why?” He asked, his voice getting louder and louder with each word. “Why didn't you listen to me?!”

A wave of pulse raptured through the air as Alvert took a step forward.

Everyone felt the mana pulsation and got away from him, but Seth kept watching as he took steps towards him. The mana leaking out from Alvert wasn't normal.

At least not normal enough for a Level 9.

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Why?”

Alvert kept asking and frowning. Seth conjured up more blades around him. Looking up at him, he clicked his tongue, “I didn't believe you because you are full of shit. If you were going to trick us, at least prepare a believable story.”

He stopped walking and looked at him for a second. He, or rather it started to laugh, gradually growing louder, its body trembling as it turned hysterical.

Seth saw something changing around him. His mana moved around his face and his eyes changed colours, turning shades of purple.

His flesh shifted and the sound of bones crunching resounded in the chambers. Seth had seen it before, but no matter how many times he saw it, bones spurting out of someone's back was always going to be a hard thing to take.

He gulped as the hands and legs of Alvert grew chunks of bones around it as his whole body went through a spasm.

“W-what's going on?” Zacky asked.

“Seth was right. It's a void spectre!” Rebecca replied next to him, immediately preparing barriers to protect everyone.

“A-A void spectre?” Zara stammered.

“Just pay attention, it's dangerous!”

Seth took out his blade and rushed towards the spectre before it could fully transform, but something flashed in the corner of his eye.

A tendril shot towards him like a bullet, forcing him to dodge.

As he turned sideways, he saw dozens of lesser abyssal horrors climbing out from behind the statues.

Were those things hiding here all along? Damn it, I should have been paying better attention.

“Fuck! What the hell are these supposed to be?” Xarth spat on the ground, holding his axe. “And I thought skeletons were ugly.”

“Lesser abyssal horrors. Just shoot the ugly bastards in the eyes and watch out for the tendrils! And if you can go without breathing, that might be a good idea. Because you see that gas pouring out of them? Yeah, that could affect your body if taken in large amounts,” Seth explained, watching three lesser abyssal horrors charging towards him.

The miasma filled the room as the void sceptre completed his transformation to resemble an abomination. Bones sprouted out from his back, legs and arms and he developed a hunch from the weight of them. His eyes resembled two purple gems and his deformed skin twisted as if rotten.

His nails extended, jutted out like ivory daggers from his gnarled fingers. And his whole face looked like a corpse.

The frail old man was gone, replaced by a monster.

Void Spectre - ???

Lesser Abyssal Horror - ???

Lesser Abyssal Horror - ???

Seeing the monsters surrounding them, Seth took a deep breath and prepared himself, for one more fight.

***

Xarth bit his lips.

When he had taken on the quest offer, he had been prepared to fight a lot of monsters. It was a given in his field and most of the time his axe on a monster's skull was enough to end a fight.

But this was different.

The Stormweaver's ruins was an area that he had explored before. Back then, it teemed with adventurers trying to find some nice artifacts and get more coins. He had been one of them, so he knew the dangers.

Just an hour into the hidden area had been enough proof that he knew the ruins as well as he knew how to cook anything more than monster meat or sing a song like a bard. At least not knowing those weren't a big deal, but here, lack of information could cost his life.

The parts of the ruins he had explored were filled with skeletons and the occasional arrow traps, but this area was filled with golems, drones and traps that spew flames or open up a platform for you to get skewered by spears.

Still, they had moved forward.

The companions they had teamed up were capable. Whilst both Rebecca and Seth were useful, he was particularly impressed with Seth.

He had been able to kill most monsters with his vanishing skill and without hesitation. His ruthlessness reminded Xarth of a killer bent on revenge.

Even if his kill count was one less than Xarth's, his skills and insight set him apart.

Hence, it had been an easy decision when he had passed over the leadership. Two leaders were only going to sow discord and they needed someone with knowledge and a cautious step.

As they progressed, he had relaxed, comforted in the knowledge that they could pass any obstacle that came their way but looking at that heinous monster, and its gut-curdling screams that perked the hairs on his arms re-instilled the fear.

He had never seen such creatures before and the strange miasma around them only made him more disgusted.

Xarth, as all his friends know, wasn't a fan of tentacles. At least, not after one of his former lovers had wanted to try something exciting.

“Fuck! What are these ugly bastards?” He said, moving his axe up as a crimson aura enveloped it, making it heavier in his hands.

Tendrils came for him and with a swing of his axe, they fell to the ground.

The lesser abyssal horrors, as his Identify skill called them, shrieked with pain. Xarth bit down on his fear and dove down on the beast, unleashing his axe on its head.

It jumped back, but another swing of his axe took its eye, strange looking blood covered the monster as it fell, but it held itself up with the tendrils. holding itself with the tendrils. It squirmed on the floor and with a stomp of Xarth's legs, it was gone.

It wasn't the end though, as another tendril hit him right in the arms and retreated in pain as three lesser abyssal horrors moved forward, swinging their numerous hands in a violent flurry.

He prepared his axe, but a barrier appeared in front of him, seperating him from the abyssal horrors.

Turning back, he saw Rebecca controlling barriers to protect everyone, “Thanks, they don't look too friendly.”

“I hope they were, but once you learn their patterns, it gets easier.”

Xarth nodded, staring at the horrors who were trying to break the barrier around him and jumped, landing straight in front of one of them.

It grabbed his hand with a tendril, but Xarth pushed at it, unbalancing it and swung his axe down before it could escape. It flailed and squirmed, but its life was over in a matter of seconds.

Another two came at him from both sides.

A barrier stood to protect him from one side and he planted his heel and swung his axe on the ground, a fissure forming that headed towards the leaping abyssal horror a moment before it could get out of the way.

It hit the wall and Xarth turned around.

He saw the barrier breaking under the assault of tendrils and they swung towards him the next moment, inches away from his throat but he caught one of them and pulled hard.

His muscles bulged as he swung the horror around, its screams making him chuckle before he threw it at its companion, who was fighting with Zacky.

As the monsters collided with each other and fell to the ground, Zacky impaled their eyes with his dagger before giving Xarth a nod of thanks.

Looking back, he saw Zara shooting out fireballs one after another with Log protecting her from any tendrils that managed to break through the defenses

But the horde of lesser abyssal horrors that attacked seemed endless.

A tendril hit Log right in the eye, sending him screeching back and dropping his weapon

Rebecca's barrier protected him as he quickly drank a health potion. Muttering another incantation, Zara raised a wall of flames around them as sweat gathered on her forehead and her breaths became deep and rapid.

It seemed like she was out of mana and with Log being injured, they wouldn't hold out much longer against the overwhelming numbers descending upon them.

But Xarth knew them better than that, he knew they would manage to handle the situation one way or another.

His attention was taken by the monster who fought Seth in the middle of the room. It was Alvert, the old man he regretted trusting. Never in a hundred years would he had expected such a frail looking old man to be such a disgusting and dangerous creature.

Long nails extended from his fingers and bones protruding out of its back and the orbs of mana circling it pushed Seth back.

He knew he was far more dangerous than the lesser abyssal horrors.

Frowning, Xarth leapt up towards the void spectre just as an orb blasted on the ground, rocking Seth back as he rolled across the ground.

Taking the chance of the monster focusing on Seth, Xarth activated his skill and his axe shone with a crimson aura, its edge glistening with flames as he dug into the spectre's back.

It screeched in agony as the axe took out chunks of bones and swung around, striking with its long nails. Pulling his axe down to protect its neck, he got pushed back as two orbs flew towards him.

In a horizontal swing, he struck both the orbs but they returned with a blast that sent him flying backward, crashing into the ground and tasting dirt.

A part of his face burned as blood dripped from his head, but Xarth shook the pain away, focusing on the enemy as he pulled himself back.

“Okay, the orbs explode if I cut through them. Would have been nice to know beforehand,” he spat out before gripping his axe.

More orbs came after him, but he skillfully dodged between them this time, using his racial ability to leap large distances and covering ground in an instant.

The sceptre let out a ghastly shrill that stung his ears as it swung with its nails.

Xarth slid back to avoid one of them, but another cut through his shoulder, making a long gash through his armour. It gave him the moment to strike and countering, he swung his axe directly and struck the nails in a downward swing.

The nails were an extension of the scepter's body, and as he cut through them blood sprayed across his face.

He tried to swing his axe again, but two orbs blasted him away, sending him falling to the feet of a lesser abyssal

Having no protection, the lesser abyssal horror let out a cry and two tendrils hit him right in the back before he managed to take hold of one tendril and bit it off in a moment of primal instinct.

Rising to his feet, a single swing of his axe finished the monster as Xarth roared.

“Fuck! That hurts!” He frowned, looking over at the sceptre.

Seth seemed to have recovered and was all over it, dodging the orbs by vanishing through the air and hitting the monster multiple times as his blade shimmered with the same kind of energy emanating from the monsters.

Could they use the same kind of mana? Xarth wondered, but it was a question that would have to wait.

With just a few seconds, he could see that Seth was more suited to dealing with the spectre as the orbs weren't even able to touch him.

Taking a moment to steady himself, he jumped back onto the battlefield, helping his party members and trusting Seth with the sceptre.

As the battle progressed, the monsters posed less and less of a threat, especially when Seth lodged his dagger right into the sceptre's neck, blood staining the ground beneath it.

With their numbers dwindling, it was a matter of time as his axe, Zara's explosive spells and Rebecca's forceball killed all of the lesser abyssal horrors, one by one. The tendrils were quick but weak, easily cut or burnt down with flames.

You have defeated a Lesser Abyssal Horror!

You have gotten experience!

Such notifications came in huge rows in front of Xarth, but he dismissed them and sat on the ground, taking deep breaths as he touched his face, the injury stinging.

Other than that, just about everything hurt, but he was used to that.

“You seem to have taken a beating,” Zara said, moving towards him. There were no signs of injury on her body, but going by her pale and exhausted look, he knew she was close to draining her mana pool. “Can't even defend against these weak creatures now.”

“Most of it is from the fight with the sceptre. That bastard wasn't weak. Fuck! I feel so bitter about trusting that old guy,” he said, his expression ceasing into a frown.

“I vouched and trusted him first. It's my fault,” Log stepped up alongside Zacky who seemed to have taken a hit on his leg as he limped and sat on top of a pile of skeletons, using it as a makeshift platform.

“It's okay,” Xarth said, not wanting to discuss the matter before he saw Seth and Rebecca walking up after checking the body of the sceptre. “Is it dead for sure?”

“Yes,” Seth replied.

Xarth's eyes glinted for a moment as he deliberated on something before asking. “How did you know it was a monster? I know there were logical fallacies in what he said, but it was pretty damn convincing if you ask me, a good act of shapeshifting. You seemed too sure it was a monster. Have the both of you encountered these before?”

He glanced at Rebecca. Everyone looked at them, waiting for an answer.

Seth sighed before nodding, “We have come across these creatures before.”

“Care to elaborate? You know, since they almost took our heads off and all.”

“I've spent enough time in dungeons and ruins to know this isn't normal. These monsters, they are not like anything else I've seen before,” Zara said, giving a long look at the corpse of a lesser abyssal horror.

Seth's brows furrowed for a second as Xarth focused on his face before he started explaining, “Basically, these are called abysaal creatures, monsters straight from the void, or abyss as you might know it. It's a different plane parallel to our reality and is a dark dimension ruled by these creatures and much worse things…”

Xarth's expression deepened as Seth explanation expanded on the horrors of the abyss.

It was starting to seem like the quest was more than he had bargained for.