Chapter 23 - Mushroom Caves (1)

The cave had dim lighting to it due to the mystical foliage around such as the vines, and mushrooms.

The solid wet ground of stone and root was felt with each step Volhcard took. A scent of things rotting filled the cave, for it eagerly wanted to get out of it.

However the cave had a special barrier blocking the scent from ever escaping the horrors of the cave.

The deeper he delved into the cave the more bright, mystical, more profound that rotting stench grew. 

"Blood?"

Volhcard looked down to see a long trail of blood leading up to a dark area of the cave where no light is found.

Fwoosh!

A burst of white-red flames burst from the staff flashing the dark area to reveal skeletons stacked a top each other.

"Undead golem? Necromancy."

He pondered on the idea of what the creature was, but at that moment his questions were answered the moment he felt the ground quake beneath him. Two skeletal arms launched on to his legs dragging him down with them while the ground ripped itself apart revealing a hellish world underneath.

A chilly breath flowed across the face of Volhcard with more skeletons reaching for him, and his whole body was frozen not from the skeletons but from something he never felt before.

Pure hate, at that moment all horrific memories of seeing his own parents die, the rumors, the painful torture of the Cursed Arts by Aldir everything flooded back. He hated it all to the point blood dripped down his eyes, to him whatever was happening at the moment he didn't care if it was reality or an illusion.

He couldn't feel any connection to his God, and his mana flow was blocked so at that moment he only felt angry and afraid.

Amidst the hellish heat he could feel and the scraping of skin from the skeletal fingers a gnawing toothy maw bit down on both his arms.

He let out a roar of pain before biting his lip trying to stop himself from screaming more. Blood dripped down from biting to hard while he felt himself going weaker from the injuries he sustained.

Combined with the heat, Volhcard thought that was his final time living. However he heard the buzzing noise of a spark nearby and seeing a bronze hue just to his upper left.

With what remained of his strength left he focused all of it in trying to destroy the seal blocking his mana flow.

Small blue sparks slowly appeared around Volhcard's body and his staff started to shake frantically. 

The hellscape beneath moved faster to devour him however the moment the skeletal maw let go of his left arm he quickly grabbed the staff.

"Electrify... Morduun!" 

A massive electrical shockwave bursted out of the staff disintegrating all the skeletons allowing for Volhcard to climb up the hole.

From there he ran towards the orange spark he got glimpse of, and the moment he arrived at the location a bolt of flame nearly struck him.

"Push... Morduun!"

A gust of wind struck the bolt of flame away as Volhcard took the chance to inspect what or who had attacked him. An illusionary wall of orange mana blocked his path from trying to get the bronze spark.

When he got just a few steps closer a blast of lightning nearly blinded him convincing Volhcard that something was blocking him.

Lightning swirled around the wall of mana combined with the sheer force of thousands of winds moving at the speed of lightning. 

Volhcard knew that even taking a step to get nearer would just get himself killed, yet even after knowing that he twirled his staff around before speaking in Elvish.

"Burn brighter than the sun, destroy more than chaos, converge and diverge, I call forth... Morduun!"

Bolts of lightning, balls of flames, spikes of ice, spears of ice, and swords of wind surrounded the staff in a circular motion. They then converged into one singular point before diverging out into a cataclysmic blast which destroyed the wall of mana.

Due to the shockwave and impact to his man. Volhcard fell to his knees while panting heavily, and he rested his weight on to the staff.

The bronze spark flew closer to him before spreading out forming into the shape into a feminine figure. 

"Welcome back, Yuni."

After being formed back into human she fell to her knees while her silver plated armor covered her as well as the tattered brown cloak. 

Still in a daze she looked around her surroundings before her eyes latched on to the exhausted Volhcard.

"You okay?"

Nodding his head he gave her a thumbs up before slowly standing while releasing a groan of pain.

"So where are the others?" Yuni took her two daggers out preparing for the worst.

Before he could answer her question a guttural roar echoed throughout the cave shaking it. Small pieces of rock fell from the sharp jagged ceiling while cracks formed on the ground.

In a hurry they both ran towards a random direction wherein they could feel a warm feeling in their hearts. 

Slowing down they saw a sunny yellow colored spark floating around a field of frozen flowers, and immediately seeing the spark Yuni groaned in disgust.

Volhcard could feel the animosity from Yumi for the spark, for it was Aralia's spark that floated around.

Just as they were about to start to get moving towards Aralia's spark the shaking happened once more which was followed up by the same guttural roar.

When Volhcard looked back he saw a massive shadow coming from the corner, and immediately created a small barrier blocking whatever was coming.

"Yuni get your bow ready and dip it in holy water... For a undead golem is coming."

The ground shook with each step growing louder and louder, and when the shadow was much more closer. It eerily went silent which made a sense of unease grown in Volhcard and Yuni.

Crash!

 The undead golem slammed through the wall due to the sheer force from another massive creature. However a mechanical whirring noise was heard instead, and a blast of mama struck the undead golem's head killing it.

"Great, it's just you." Yuni sighed in relief with the shadow of the other massive being went into proper view.