Naya was surprised that her speed had not improved past what it usually was when she was enhanced.
She charged forward into the split lines of undead, but they had already begun moving the moment the words left Verala's mouth.
One of the skeletons jumped out, interrupting her charge and forcing her to a grinding halt.
But it wouldn't be one-on-one because the entire small army of undead moved simultaneously and converged on Naya after she halted.
Naya snapped her eyes around; the army moved slowly but with blades, axes, and many different weapons aimed forward. They moved in tandem, the loud stomping of boots on stone echoing in the chamber.
"Here I come!" Rula's voice shouted from above her.
Suddenly, a loud boom of a hulking black-steel body landed with a deep squat on the ground in front of her, sending shards of bone everywhere as it landed perfectly atop the skeleton that had stopped her.
Naya had to weave through the bone fragments that exploded like a bomb.
Rula was sitting atop the hulking armor's shoulder as if it were a comfortable perch that fit her body perfectly.
--She drew it with that very thing in mind; look how happy she looks.--
There was no time to stare as the army converged, even with many on their frontlines being pierced by bone and steel.
"Separate their limbs!" Naya shouted.
She pulled on her Arcana.
Two long blade-like structures formed outside her arms, and she charged to the left.
"No need, beat them up, Morp!"
[Morp?] Naya smiled as she charged headfirst into the army of undead.
But that didn't matter because Morp's massive hammer was swung with so much force that Naya could feel a gust of wind from where she was.
It collided in a loud collision of bone and steel, and the noise of swaths of undead exploding at once echoed in the chamber.
Morp was like a farmer swinging their scythe to cut away weeds.
Naya swung her arms precisely in every direction as the undead approached her, aiming to cut off their heads effortlessly.
She figured the magic had to be located in the brain, and if they were beheaded, then it would take them out of the fight.
A sharp pain suddenly erupted from her calf, and she snapped her head down.
A headless, human undead had slashed a beaten-down dagger at her leg, though the blindness made it non-critical as it barely hit.
Still, it infuriated her just as much as it shocked her.
Naya quickly squatted and launched herself into the air with as much force as possible, easily gaining an aerial view of the undead army on her side.
As she fell, she threw the blades of Arcana to the ground and pulled on her core again.
Two purple spheres formed instantly, filled with Wild Arcana, barely kept stable with her will. She flicked her wrist immediately after, and they hurtled toward the ground.
The undead were merely looking up at her, waiting for her to descend.
A deafening impact.
Resonating shockwaves reverberated across the chambers and an explosion of purple energy.
Gone were the undead that had swarmed her, instead replaced by bits and pieces of bone, flesh, and various other extremities that Naya didn't care to observe.
It was catharsis.
However, she knew her anger at getting injured was irrational, and it embarrassed her.
She landed safely a moment after.
Her eyes widened when she looked into the two impact craters.
A single, bright purple flower came up from the direct middle inside of both.
[The Reality Devil's power...]
--Yes, I felt it as well in your core; your haphazard pull on Arcana also pulled along a speck of its essence.--
To her right, the knight dubbed Morp by Rula was swinging its massive hammer with wild abandon, devastating everything with absolutely zero resistance.
The clang of metal rang out as the undead failed to even make a dent in its shining black armor.
Rula, atop its shoulder, looked both excited and horrified simultaneously.
[I hope she will be alright after seeing such an easy slaughter.]
--A mix of feeling good from the power and horrified from how easy it is. Don't let it twist her mind; she's lucky these undead don't seem to have blood.--
It was a total massacre.
Glancing to her left, a bit further from where she charged in, she witnessed Sophia.
Sophia sent a teasing wink and a slight wave.
--So unfair.--
In front of her was a large black portal that the undead were carelessly charging in.
When the last one entered, it shut.
Now, the chambers were filled with scattered remains of undead across normal humanoids and skeletons.
It was very unpleasant, and Naya wanted nothing more than to leave.
Her calf also hurt; the cut, though unfatal, was deep.
She turned again, this time toward the center of the room, where Verala was sitting atop the altar's steps.
Verala's expression remained unchanged despite the carnage in front of her. A ghost of a smile tugged on the corner of her. She watched Morp effortlessly cleave through her undead.
--She was right about one thing: it really is unfair. To encounter the combination of you, Sophia, and Rula. I almost feel bad.--
[A witch is undeserving of sympathy.]
--Not this again.--
Naya shook her head and began to move slowly toward the altar. She wanted to see that expression change when death approached.
Verala turned her gaze toward Naya, yet her expression remained unchanged.
"Certainly expected. But seeing it is another thing entirely." Verala hummed. "It does sting my heart to see my work go to waste."
Though she wasn't speaking loudly, Naya could hear clearly.
"No matter, I have some nice surprises waiting for you." Verala didn't stand and instead clapped her hands a single time.
The clap seemed to reverberate throughout the room.
Naya froze.
A second later, one of the doors on the far walls shot open.
"I admit I look forward to seeing your expression change." Verala was kicking her legs like a child on the altar steps.
Naya felt something and immediately launched herself backward.
Moments later, a firey blaze roared above and fell toward her previous location like a meteor.
Its impact on the ground caused a thunderous explosion. A cacophony of shattered rock and billowing flames. The shockwaves threatened to engulf the chamber with searing flames.
The heated wind brushed against Naya's face first, and it was almost like she stepped foot in a hot desert.
Naya launched her hand out, and the purple vortex formed instantly.
The flames all spiraled into her hands as if through an hourglass, yet Naya didn't feel herself get any level of power.
[What happened to it?]
--Your core automatically filters all of it back into the atmosphere; it won't let you accept more. Likely a defense mechanism, though why is beyond me.-- Lia's tone mirrored Naya's shock.
The flames around the impact point moved, and a human-shaped figure rose from within.
Smoke billowed out from it, and a pale hand reached through.
Its hand swiped to the left, and the flames instantly dispersed as if blown away and erased.
Although in her head, it was a point to not show any reaction, she couldn't help it.
Her eyes went wide as saucers, and her mouth went agape. Her heart sank to the pits of her stomach and her ears to the height of her head.
Standing where the flames dispersed wasn't something Naya could comprehend; it sent so many thoughts into her mind that she felt it would stop.
Even Lia released a gasp in her head.
A figure as tall as she was at around 6 feet with long sunflower-yellow hair tied into a ponytail, as was tradition. Naya's hairstyle was the same. Her eyes were a similar shade, the same flowery yellow as her hair. Though they were glazed over as if Naya was looking at them through a glass.
Her skin was white as paper, and her slightly aged face was sunken slightly, the same manner as the other undead.
Stretching out from the sides of her head was a long pair of pointed ears.
The woman was an Elf, and not a young one, but one at least above her 70s.
"That's a good expression." Verala lightly giggled. "It will be a good memory to take to my grave."
--I don't recognize her from any of your memories. --
[It doesn't matter!]
The Elven woman didn't have any expression, and she raised her hand toward Naya.
Naya broke from her stupor.
Replaced by shock was a deep rage that filled her body like a burning tempest.
From the Elven woman's hand, a ball of fire formed.
The movements were stiff, a simple raise of her hand without moving any other part of her body.
However, the strength was not weak at all.
She flicked her wrist, and the fireball launched with tremendous speed.
Naya knew she couldn't snap her hand up to guard it. Still, a simple sidestep sent the ball exploding into the chambers' door, shattering it entirely in a fiery explosion.
Naya's ears were still raised, and her brows were furrowed.
She charged.
She reached the Elven undead a moment later, but the undead was already prepared.
"She's stronger now, physically at least," Verala spoke as she watched with a smile.
The undead's hand snapped out with bone protruding from her wrist at Naya, which halted her steps and forced her to swing her head to the left to dodge.
[How dare this thing! ]
To disrespect an Elf's dead body and alter it to such an extent. Naya was filled with more rage than she had ever felt before.
But it didn't stop there.
Another bone protruded from the undead's other arm, and she launched it at Naya.
It then became a flurry of lightning-fast blows and weaving of purple light as Naya weaved through each blow.
The Elven undead was ridiculously fast, so much so that Naya couldn't snap her hand out to fight back.
When one boned fist was dodged, the other immediately took its place.
It was like a machine as punches rained down from every direction and aimed at different parts of her body.
During the weaving, Naya was attempting to forcefully calm herself down.
She didn't know what to do.
If she used her Arcana, she would destroy the corpse, and doing that is something she would absolutely never do.
During one of her dodges, she could get a quick glance at her companions.
Sophia was surrounded by even more undead, coming from an opening in the chamber that Naya hadn't seen before. She was handling it with ease. Each undead was effortlessly sent into the portals all around her. Instead, Sophia was watching Naya with a look of concern.
Spears were sometimes thrown, but even they would fly into a smaller portal. It didn't even look intentional, as if it were a natural thing to happen when something tried to harm her.
As for Rula, she was dealing with the same; more swarms of undead were coming out from another nondescript opening. Again, they were effortlessly cleaved by the giant hammer. Even if something was launched at Rula, the armor's spare hand snapped up faster than expected to smack it away. Then, it would swing in the direction of the projectile in a rage.
That was all caught with a single glance, but Naya was still struggling to figure out what to do.
The undead Elf wasn't showing even a slight sign of tiring; she could go on forever.
A blow whizzed past her head, and instantly, another came where she dodged.
Naya dropped and snapped her leg at the Elves' leg with explosive speed and force.
She regretted it instantly before the impact even occurred. She should have known an Elf would be different.
Unlike with the other undead she had hit, she slammed her leg directly into the rock-hard bone.
"Ah!" She fell.
It hurt.
She felt like her bone cracked.
--Roll away!--
Naya was still present despite the pain and reacted instantly. She rolled to the side.
The undead reacted immediately and swung her leg in a simple movement aimed at Naya's torso.
Naya launched herself up and hissed in pain; she felt like she couldn't put pressure on her right leg.
Luckily, it wasn't broken, but it was another injury she felt caused by her own folly. It filled her with shame, and her rage rose.
She had no time as a burst of fire threatened to slam into her body.
Naya side-swept with another hiss of pain but dodged it easily.
It was a stalemate; the Elf, while fast, couldn't hit Naya, and her magic had obviously deteriorated.
However, Naya's unwillingness to ruin the Elf's' body prevented her from taking any greater action.
It seemed bone would instantly cover any impact point, and if she used any greater strength, she feared she would permanently ruin her own body, let alone destroy the Elf.
Even then, the Elf would still fight.
Her own making because her own mentality stopped the fight from progressing.
She wished Sophia could come and take the Elf into the portal.
It was then an idea formed in her head.
And at that exact moment, the bones Naya had been dodging became engulfed in fire.