This is totally a dead end!
In front of me something extremely imposing.
An extremely dark cloudish humongous wall with streaks of lightning-like purple lights inside.
Perpetually in motion without any logic to it. Even I that cannot feel mana can sense the deadliness of these purple bolts. Wherever one passes the space itself seems to crack giving off a deadly vibe.
All of it looks extremely chaotic. Entering the area a death sentence.
I focus and try to examine this phenomenon. At first, all I see is a wall, but then I realize the nature of this thing. A huge-ass sphere covering this place. Kinda how at first glance the earth looks flat…
It cages us in. There is no way we can go this way anymore. If I'm not mistaken this thing will appear on the opposite side of this realm too.
"This is the end of this world. Fuck."
Indeed this is what it is. The end of the world. You'd expect it to loop around but nope. This space seems to be a special area after all.
[Any way to pass through?]
"Nope, unless you are sturdier than space itself…you would get shattered instantly."
We would need a way to somehow dodge the lightning. This would usually be where the MC charges in, to his wit's end, and survive through sheer luck or a sixth sense. No matter how much I keep bragging about my luck fact is I think this ship has sunk. As for a possible sixth sense I have trouble even using my other 5 senses. Yep, that's a big Nope too.
To make matters worse our pursuers are gaining ground. Slowly and inexorably.
[Alright, let's go. We still have a chance if we follow the periphery of it.]
But now we have an issue. While we need to cover lots of distance to loop around they can just head straight to us. We need to be even faster.
This is bullshit how much they have the home ground advantage here. That and the number advantage. We are totally the underdogs here.
Oh don't get it wrong, this is bad. You know the saying the underdog wins the race? Well, it can happen. The thing is 99% of the time the underdog will fail lamentably. It's just that people love that shit and that the 1% that is successful will have a movie made about them and inspire a generation.
No. Gotta stay optimistic. I am still alive and breathing. As long as there is life there are hassles! Oh, wait I meant hope there.
Thus resumes the chase. The worst being that we know we need to move fast, but we still don't see the shadow of our main opponent.
From time to time we encounter small skeletons groups. But I have a good way to handle it. I use this magic sentence:
[They are all yours mace-dude! Good luck!]
Does this seem lazy of me? Perhaps, but so what…it works. Now don't get mistaken, I am doing something. I am here for moral support! That is plenty! Then again, I am also scouting non-stop, god is this annoying!
In this manner we keep going. I wonder how long such a ….
"What is that?! Look above us!"
Fuck, what now? Let's see. I don't notice anything. All I see is the red glow of the moon on an otherwise dark background. Wait…there is movement there.
A shadow just moved. It blends almost perfectly into the surrounding atmosphere. That explains why I didn't notice. Let me see what we are against…. oh fuck.
I know what this is. Phantomatic and looking almost immaterial. Dark and seemingly dragging along oversized robes, except it's its body. An indistinguishable visage under a dark hood.
A motherfucking wraith. Or is it a specter? I don't fucking know. All I do know is that these things are a huge pain in the ass to deal with and that it flies.
This means it is fast as fuck. Fast compared to us, even faster compared to the skeletons. It can easily excel in guerilla attacks. We'll die of exhaustion if we need to fend off its attacks while we are fleeing.
[We need to get rid of that thing.]
"Agreed. I think we'll need magic for that. Hopefully, I'm wrong."
It locks onto us and lowers its altitude. It floats to one of the mercenaries that counters by slashing it mercilessly.
The blade passes through its incorporeal form and the creature's claws reach out for the mercenary's throat. Good thing he manages to dodge at the very last second.
Either we can get rid of it using the leader's magic or we'll have to sacrifice someone to drive it away. I really hope this works.
[Cast some support magic. Time to get busy.]
I hear a slight chant from him then the blades alight with fire. Damn, that's awesome looking. One fiery set of weapons coming right up! Now is not the time for jokes actually.
They coordinately surround the creature and hack away at it. Every slash makes it become fainter until finally it shrieks and disappears. Are you fucking kidding me?! No loot whatsoever! Who designed such a bullshit monster! Seriously whatever God designed this place is an asshole!
The good thing is we finally dealt with that wraith. We would have been in trouble if there was more than one…. oh crap. As I check the sky carefully, I realize there are some more. Many, many more. The skeletons are swarming the ground…and the wraiths are swarming the sky. How we encountered the first one only now is a miracle. Actually no. They are flying lower and lower. Guess they somehow detected our presence. They were probably farther away before.
Most don't seem to be in a hurry to get to us. Are they toying with our party? Are they receiving orders from some being? Are they simply slow and acting on instinct? I do not know. All I know is that the more time we spend here the more dangerous it becomes.
At this rate, we'll face a new enemy every chapter. That's how I'd describe the situation if this was a novel.
At this rate, we'll face a new enemy every episode. That's how I'd describe the situation if this was a show.
You get it. If we stay here, we are royally and officially fucked.
Not the good kind of fucked. The really horrible one.
That ends with our bones ground to dust and our soul essence sucked by some specter.
What do we do?
What can we do?
There is always that.
Such a plan is insane.
Actually as good as not having a plan.
Death is almost but assured with this new idea of mine…but you know what?
Let's fucking go for it. I would rather leave in a blaze of glory than to slowly perish from exhaustion.
All or nothing, time to get serious!