Most of them needed to climb down the golden rope, the exceptions to this were, of course, Kai and Ray, who each took one person down with them.
This time, Ray took Cassie, while Kai took Nephis.
The fearsome warrior queen seemed to be more afraid of that, initially, than what waited down there for them.
As for, why Ray took Cassie, it seemed obvious, since she would need to remain a bit away from the direct chaos anyway. And, that was the exact same thing, Ray wanted to do today.
So, as the group's two flying members, they did their job, and even if it was against Ray's plans, distracted the tyrant, for as long as the others needed, to get to the ground, after putting down their two passengers.
Evading these still familiar, long, bony appendages was as bad as they remembered. Whenever you dodged one, another would be right where you were going, and you had to dodge all over again.
Their burden quickly lessened, though, as the others finally managed to climb down the rope, and joined them.
Upon Noticing this, Ray quickly disengaged from the fight, and positioned himself, close to where he had put Cassie.
Though, he wasn't entirely heartless, and still summoned Puppet, even giving Henry command over it. This was still a somewhat weird part of the Servant's being. It would fully, and unconditionally follow every command given by him, with terrifying precision.
So much so that he could even give other people the permission to give it orders as well, even if they sometimes needed a second to register in Puppet's… mind?
The entire first minute, or two were filled with nearly only evading the limbs from the tyrant. Everyone was still extremely cautious, and wanted to probe the creature's limits.
Only when they had a rough estimate, did they finally jump into actual combat.
From his position, nearly on the other side of the hall, Ray could watch the fight rather well. It was a new experience watching a fight like this. The only other fights, he had ever watched, were merely a few of the duels, and they were entirely different in their core.
This, right here, was an actual struggle to the death. A fight for survival and ideals.
He watched as Caster was leaving mark, after mark on the bony appendages, with his ghostly jian, all while using his speed aspect to dodge any that came his way.
Then there were Sunny, and Changing Star, both practically moving in sync, even when they weren't always even close to one another. Their coordination was seriously something. Though, he wasn't really able to cause serious harm to the creature.
His echo was a different story, though. Saint was able to withstand direct hits, thanks to her shield, before the warrior statue moved in again, and damaging limb after limb.
None were entirely broken, though, that was something only one person, maybe two, were capable of, apparently.
Seishan, with a beautiful war-hammer in her hands, and Gunlaug in his familiar golden armor, using two maces, one in each hand.
These two were currently the only ones capable of causing real damage, if one did not count Changing Star's incandescent flames. The two experienced warrior moved with such fluidity that could only be gained over years on the battlefield, and in many fights to the death.
While seeming somewhat distracted, Effie was also still moving with the grace of an experienced hunter, who survived many brushes with death. Moving through the onslaught of appendages, defending with her shield, whenever evading was not an option, and causing as much damage with her bronze spear, as she could.
Right now, Gemma and Henry seemed to be the ones, to actually perform subpar, compared to everyone else's results. In Gemma's excuse, his aspect made him very close to a Zombie, which meant that its capabilities were mostly used up, with the regeneration of his body.
In Henry's case, though…
Ray's face could only darken, as he watched his friend.
"Sorry, about this Cassie, but it has to be…" He said to the doll-like figure, next to him, which seemed to confuse her for a moment, until he continued, after taking a deep breath.
"USE YOUR FUCKING ASPECT, YOU MORON!!!"
Ray's booming voice echoed through the entire hall, and reached his friend in barely a second.
Henry, though, seemed annoyed by his friend, but after seeing how everyone else was actually helping, even Sunny, he realized his futile attempts, and sighed.
"Fuck. All or nothing, then, I guess…" He muttered, before activating it, a second later.
The air around him seemed to change immediately, and even Seishan looked into his direction, with a lot of interest, even going as far as licking her lips, though, this part was seen by no one.
A particular smell spread quickly through the hall, as his cheeks hollowed out slightly, his skin grew even paler, and a red aura began shimmering around him.
Then, in the next second, he exploded forward.
Henry's speed seemed to have doubled, and this was only one of the benefits. The next appendage coming his way, was instantly met with his own newest weapon memory, a beautiful red Flyssa.
Ray had received this on the way back, and gave it to him, back when he had also given Henry his share of the shards.
Its enchantments were simply too well-suited for Henry.
When the crimson red Flyssa met the bone head on, an immediate crack appeared on the vine-covered bones, only for something red to drop from the sword, and instantly seep into the crack of the bone.
When this happened, Henry pulled his blade back, and immediately brought it back down, on the currently paralyzed limb.
*Crack*
This time, it was enough, and his sword went straight through.
Henry, though, looked worse by the second.
'Maybe he shouldn't use it on an enemy without blood…' Ray thought, from his distant position.
The fight already waged on for many minutes, by now. The tyrant had lost a few of his limbs, but otherwise was still moving with nearly the same ferociousness, as at the start.
All of the human sleepers, though, had already sustained varying degrees of injuries. Nevertheless, they held on, and continued their own onslaught. Still, it seemed pointless…
This was even to the point that Ray considered stepping in too, but… it was all just an illusion.
All of the ferociousness, the tyrant showed, soon crumbled, as the tyrant was nearly defeated. The many wounds to its appendages were taking effect, along with the plant, which was still eating away at the bones, from within.
And then, finally, a mass of bones, which previously covered the tyrants body, broke off, and revealed its actual core.
It was a disgusting sight. A pile of human skulls, held together by coagulated blood. And, even deeper, in the core's very depths, a white maggot could be seen, curled into a ball.
This was apparently the sign their amazonian huntress had waited for, because the instant the core revealed itself, she stepped forward, twisted her body… and threw her round shield, as if it were a simple discus.
The unnaturally heavy shield streaked through the air with terrible speed, crushing through the core of the tyrant, and eventually cutting the maggot, clean in half. After that, it exited the body on the other side, in an explosion of bones, before falling to the ground, cracking it in an instant.
Everyone watched in bated silence, as the mountain of bones froze… before eventually crumbling altogether.
Most looked at Effie with shocked expressions, though, hope burning bright in their eyes.
She, though, only had a dark, and even mournful expression on her face.
Effie did not say a single word, and instead, after a few moments, turned away from everyone, and held one fist up. A sign that she received the last shard memory.
With the fight finished, Ray led Cassie over to the others, before getting over to where Henry, Gunlaug and Seishan were currently resting.
When his extremely pale-looking friend noticed him, Ray could instantly see that he wanted to say something, but through a shake of head, he stopped his friend.
Standing there, next to his comrades, Ray looked, first at the again lifeless pile of bones, before shifting his gaze to Effie's form. For once, the huntress did not look that tall.
He could only sigh, as he averted his gaze.
Everyone needed to deal with their own grieve the way they had learned, and liked best. Effie, she had chosen revenge, but now seemed to be struggling between relief and emptiness.
This made him remember his own grieve from over a decade ago…
...he never had the chance for revenge.
Ray threw a quick glance at his wings, especially the feathers. His face unconsciously darkened, upon doing this, but he quickly shook his head, trying to rid himself of his thoughts just now.
Everyone present proceeded to rest for a while longer, giving Changing Star enough time to regain enough bearing, and essence, before she went on to heal everyone's wounds.
The echoes had already been dismissed, and now, everyone was simply resting for a moment.
After Nephis was finished healing everyone up, to an acceptable degree, they began moving again. Though, they did not move towards the hole in the ceiling, but instead chose to head through the catacombs.
It was unclear if Nephis wanted to get rid off the hordes of skeletons, still remaining in those tunnels, or simply wanted the faster alternative.
In the end, though, only the second option appeared feasible, as not a single skeleton even moved, in the first place.
As for the chasm, they had to cross, that task had fallen onto Kai, and Ray. Mostly Ray, though. With no exhaustion in his body, he was the better choice. Especially, because he could carry multiple people at the same time.
Kai, though, merely seemed a bit apologetic, for this. Something that Ray immediately tried to change, and soon managed.
The rest of the way back, was rather silent, besides the very little interactions, between certain members of the group.
They exited the catacombs the same way, they had entered it, a few months prior, and then moved back to the bright castle. Henry's flaw had, just as Ray hypothesized, not drawn in any nightmare creatures.
Therefore, it could be definitely said; Where there is none, nothing can be lured.
Still, one sentiment was shared by everyone in this group; They were so close, to finally returning home, like no other sleeper before them, in this hellish landscape.
And, soon, they would go through the very last trial, this place threw at them. But, it was also the most dangerous, perhaps.