The dark shadowy being in its soul form screeched loudly, releasing a dark aura that hit Vena's Fire Wall. The tall ring of fire distorted and grew smaller, but it managed to stay standing.
The ghouls jumped over the wall of fire. Some cleared the flames completely, while others caught fire and got burned. Even with their burned skin, the ghouls kept crawling on the stone floor toward the soldiers with terrifying speed.
Kellen chanted magical words and drew a runic pattern on the ground with his mana. He slammed the base of his staff down hard. The runes shone with a bright silver-white light and expanded across the whole circle. The light then turned into silver dust that covered the ghouls.
Kellen shouted to lift the soldiers' morale;
"I have cast a weakening spell on the ghouls! They are weaker and slower now! Fight! Fight to survive! Give it your all until the reinforcements arrive!"
One of the soldiers broke through his terror and screamed at the top of his lung,
"GRAAAAAAAAAH!" He drew his sword and charged straight at the coming ghouls.
Inspired by his charge, the rest of the soldiers overcame their fear and charged together with a loud battle cry.
Loud sounds of steel and iron slamming against flesh and bones echoed through the cavern. The soldiers stabbed and sliced the ghouls to stop their march.
The ghouls fought back with wild ferocity. They bit the throats of the soldiers, and their sharp claws pierced right through iron armor. Blood covered the cold stone ground in a bloody fight for survival. Vena stepped forward and cast her lightning magic. Streaks of lightning spears shot out and pierced the ghouls, leaving dark charred marks on their rotten flesh.
While they were busy fighting the ghouls, one side of the fire wall started to flicker before slowly parting open like a curtain. Hovering above the ground, the shadow stepped through the opening and into the circle. It reached out into empty air, and multiple dark orbs began to form around it.
Kellen swung his staff, forming multiple transparent arrows out of soul energy to match the number of dark orbs. Before the shadowy creature could launch its attack, Kellen finished his spell and sent the arrows flying straight toward the shadowy figure.
A distorted sound echoed through the cavern alongside a loud boom that sounded like breaking glass as the arrows clashed against the dark orbs. Suddenly, a streak of concentrated lightning pierced the air, aimed directly at the shadowy figure. But before it could hit the being, a thick layer of dark energy blocked the attack.
CRASH!
The creature twisted its head and looked at Vena with an eerie smile. Vena got goosebumps from its stare. Suddenly, a tendril of dark purple energy formed right behind Vena. Moving too fast for her to react, she could only raise her staff to block the incoming strike.
The ground cracked beneath her feet as she landed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The tendril shot forward again to finish her off. Despair filled Vena's eyes. 'Is this the end?' she thought. Just as the tendril was about to pierce her, a beam of pure golden light shot across the room and blocked the strike.
BWOSH!
The tendril coiled back and pulled into the stone floor. Vena looked around, only to see that the shadowy being was already pinning Kellen to the ground with a massive wave of dark energy from its left hand. Kellen was on his knees, raising his staff with both hands to block the crushing dark energy, sweating heavily and gritting his teeth under the strain.
Vena gritted her teeth and forced her body to move despite the pain and dizziness. Come on, Vena, do something or we will all die! she reminded herself, knowing she had to fight with everything she had.
She stood up, and the dark purple crystal at the top of her staff suddenly pulled in all the surrounding mana. Small red and purple particles of magic were rapidly absorbed into the crystal, making it glow brighter and brighter.
If Luceran were here, he would be surprised by what was happening. This was not simply casting two spells of different elements at once, but elemental harmonization. Like the name implied, harmonization was a technique that combined two or more elemental properties into an entirely new spell, multiplying its effectiveness by a large margin.
Elemental harmonization could usually only be learned upon reaching the third stage of the Arcana Path, the Mana Engraving stage. At this level, engraved runes onto a mage's mana core helped the mage to become more focused, helping them fuse multiple elemental properties together.
Vena swung her staff as a blade-like energy made of fire and lightning formed at the tip. The surrounding air heated intensely, distorting the space around them. With a powerful thrust of her staff, the red and purple blade shot forward at blinding speed and struck the shadowy entity.
"Heatflash!" she yelled.
BOOOM!
The explosion triggered a shockwave that blasted the surrounding area. Ghouls and soldiers near the blast were thrown into the air, while those further away stopped and stared in shock.
As the dust settled, the shadowy being screeched loudly, its face distorting violently. Fortunately, whatever it was doing to Kellen had been interrupted, freeing him from its hold. Kellen was shocked by what just happened. He remembered that Luceran and he had only shown elemental harmonization once to the mages while teaching them about magic back at the camp. Since elemental harmonization required control over multiple elements, and only Vena possessed dual elements while the rest did not, they had only demonstrated it once just to broaden the mages' understanding.
Even so, seeing Vena perform elemental harmonization did little to lift Kellen's morale. Despite the loud explosion, the attack had done minimal damage to the shadowy being.
If only she were in the third stage, it would have dealt serious damage, he thought to himself. Kellen himself, despite being a genius who had already reached the third stage of both the Arcana and Soul Paths, could only wield a single element, albeit the rare light element.
We have to stall this fight until Luceran and Cassandra arrive. Only then will we have a better chance to survive, he thought.
"Vena, I'll try to draw its attention! Keep doing what you just did!" he called out to her.
He opened his pouch and pulled out a bottle filled with a glowing light-green liquid. He drank the entire potion in one gulp. Within seconds, he felt his mana grow more potent and pure. It was an Intermediate Mana Purity Potion.
The shadowy being had been pushed back a few meters by the force of the Heatflash explosion. As the smoke cleared, its eyes locked onto Vena, growling in an eerie voice. Just as it prepared to attack her, it was forced to raise its hands to block a thick beam of golden light. A wall of dark energy formed in an instant, blocking Kellen's Radiance Beam.
The fight between Kellen, Vena, and the shadowy being went back and forth. Kellen drew its attention while Vena tried her best to deal some damage. Despite their best efforts, the situation looked dire. Vena looked pale, her trembling hands showing just how exhausted she was as she ran low on mana. Still, it was impressive that she had cast multiple third-stage spells, proving that despite being a Peak Mana Core mage, her mana reserves were already comparable to a third-stage practitioner.
Kellen also looked haggard. Even though he still had half of his mana reserve, his physical body was reaching its limit. He did not excel in the Physical Path, as he was a dual Arcana and Soul Path practitioner.
Dammit, Luceran, where the hell are you? he thought to himself.
He looked at his surroundings and saw the lifeless bodies of many soldiers scattered across the floor. Some were dismembered, while others were torn apart and eaten by the ghouls. A few were barely breathing, while the rest were still desperately fighting for their lives.
The dark energy wall sizzled as Kellen's golden Radiance Beam slammed into it. Sparks of yellow light and dark purple mana exploded everywhere, burning the stone floor. The shadowy entity growled angrily and thrust both of its hands forward.
Five thick tendrils of dark energy shot out like whips, slicing through the air straight toward Kellen. Kellen reacted instantly. He raised his staff with his left hand, forming a wide, transparent shield made of soul energy. The tendrils hit the invisible shield with heavy thuds, causing deep cracks to spread across the barrier.
"Vena, now!" Kellen shouted, holding the shield steady while his arms shook under the pressure.
Vena forced her trembling body to move. She pointed her staff at the shadowy entity and summoned her remaining magic. A blue lightning spear shot out, aiming straight for the creature's head. The shadowy being noticed the attack at the last second and shifted its body, barely dodging the main hit. However, the lightning still grazed its left shoulder, leaving a dark, charred mark and causing its shadowy form to flicker.
The shadow screeched in rage. It stopped attacking Kellen's barrier and turned its reddish eyes back to Vena. Opening its dark chest, it formed four purplish spheres of condensed dark energy. With a flick of its wrist, it launched the dark spheres straight at the exhausted girl.
"I don't think so!" Kellen yelled. He tapped into his soul core once more, creating transparent needles out of pure spiritual energy. He flicked his staff, sending ten transparent needles flying across the room. The needles hit the dark spheres in mid-air.
BOOM!
A series of loud explosions rang out through the cavern. Shockwaves swept across the stone floor, throwing dust and rocks everywhere. Vena held her staff with both hands, using her remaining strength to create a mana barrier to deflect the flying rocks and intense heat.
The shadowy entity did not stop its assault. Floating higher into the air, it gathered the surrounding dark aura into its open palms, forming a massive, swirling spear of dark energy. The air in the cavern grew very cold, and the remaining ghouls growled in frenzy outside the ring of fire.
Kellen gritted his teeth. He knew he could not dodge this attack in his current physical state. He raised his staff high and began chanting. Transparent white light erupted from his staff, forming a large floating sword made of pure soul power.
"Soul Blade!" Kellen roared, swinging his staff downward.
At the exact same time, the shadowy entity thrust its arms forward, sending the massive dark spear flying straight at Kellen. The two powerful spells crossed the room in a fraction of a second and collided right in the middle of the cavern.
A blinding flash of white and purple light lit up the entire underground cavern. The collision created a violent explosion, far stronger than any of the previous spells. The shockwave ripped across the floor, shattering stone tiles and knocking down several nearby pillars.
Kellen was caught directly in the blast. The force of the explosion blew his transparent barrier to pieces and sent his body flying backward through the air. He crashed heavily onto the stone floor, sliding across the stone until he hit a pile of rubble. His staff slipped from his hand, and he coughed up blood, his entire body aching in pain.
Seeing Kellen fall, the shadowy creature moved quickly through the fading smoke. It reached out its right hand, drawing a pure mass of dark energy together. In a matter of seconds, the dark energy formed into the sharp shape of a black sword.
With an eerie screech, the creature threw the dark sword straight at Kellen.
Kellen looked up with his eyes wide open. He tried to raise his arm to form a soul shield, but his body refused to move fast enough. The dark sword flew toward him with blinding speed, leaving a trail of black smoke behind it. He watched the sharp blade draw closer, knowing that the sword was aiming right for his chest.
'Shit', Kellen thought to himself, his heart beating fast as the sword came just a few meters away from his chest.
Suddenly, a figure appeared right in front of him out of thin air.
CLANG!
A loud sound of steel blocking the dark sword echoed through the cavern. A wave of bright white arcana exploded on impact, shattering the dark sword into black particles that disappeared into the air.
The figure stood tall, holding a sword that glowed with dense white mana.
"Such a rare sight to see the first place Immortal Successors looking like this," Luceran said with a light mocking tone, turning his head slightly with a confident smirk.
Kellen looked at the silver hair and the familiar back standing before him. A tired smile formed on Kellen's face as he let out a long breath of relief.
"Took you long enough," Kellen said.