Cultivation a fantasy li.., p.30
Cultivation: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 3), page 30
“That’s gotta be Kythov,” John said, adjusting his grip on his sword. “Let’s go. It’s time we end this.”
CHAPTER 38
Rushing toward the castle, Haver whistled and his wolves sped up, throwing aside the zombies and ghouls in front of the gate as they rushed toward the entrance. Following close behind, John saw that the small shadows he had spotted from a distance were spectres wielding spears and glowing crystal blades as they danced through the undead. The spectres were tiny compared to the enemy, but they moved with considerable speed and incredible grace as they darted around the monster’s legs and chopped at their feet.
Bringing down one of the zombies with a slash to its ankle that severed its foot, three spectres converged, one of them issuing a whistling cry that caused their crystal-spear tips to gleam with blue light. Two of them stabbed the zombie’s shoulders, pinning it to the ground while the third brought her spear down on the zombie’s head, piercing through its skull and stabbing deep into its brain.
Just then a ghoul pounced over, but the spectres were already gone, two of them darting away in different directions while the third slipped behind the ghoul and vanished into its shadow. Letting out a roar, the ghoul spun around but failed to find anything. A moment later, a crystal spear suddenly shot out of the shadow under its body, ripping through the ghoul’s stomach. When the spear vanished as fast as it appeared, John found himself re-evaluating the danger the spectres represented.
With the wolves leading the charge, it didn’t take long for them to get into the stone castle and clear out the undead guarding the gate. Stopping near one of the spectres, Ellie spoke a few words and the spectres all nodded, vanishing into the party’s shadows.
“They’ll assist us as we go. There are more of their brethren further in,” Ellie said.
“Glad they’re on our side,” Haver said, shuddering as he imagined the six tiny people in his shadow suddenly ambushing him.
“Isn’t that the truth,” Katrine muttered under her breath as the team walked into the gloomy castle.
The smooth stone floor showed signs of passage, and every hundred feet or so they found undead fighting against spectre warriors. As dangerous as the tiny elves were, they were poorly suited to fighting against undead since their tactics relied on causing a lot of shallow wounds to their enemies. Happy to see the party, they quickly joined up after the undead they were fighting were killed. Continuing until they came to a small antechamber, Katrine looked around.
“Hey, why does this feel like the final dungeon in a terrible role playing game?”
The flickering torches that burned weakly in sconces set high on the walls provided just enough light to fill the entire underground castle with shifting shadows, and the gargoyles that sat above them leered down at the party. Though he hadn’t played a game in years, John had to admit that Katrine’s assessment was spot on. The atmosphere was exactly what he would expect from a cheesy ending to a video game.
“Because it is,” John replied, his eyes taking in the dusty stonework on either side of the passage.
“Then that means we’re going to be walking through a series of rooms where we fight against the mini-bosses before challenging the main boss? How unbelievably cliche.”
“I agree,” John said, stopping and staring down the dark passage. “It feels off. Almost like it was set up like this. But why would anyone ever do that? Why not just try to kill all of us at once?”
“I don’t know,” Katrine replied, shrugging. “But I bet if we head through those doors we’ll find out.”
At the end of the passage, nearly hidden in an inky pool of darkness, was a set of heavy double doors that appeared at first glance to be cast from solid metal. As the party got close, John realized the doors were actually made from stone, the same stone the rest of the fortress was composed of. Over the years the stone on the doors had been polished smooth by repeated touches, giving it a gleam that the rough stone of the walls lacked.
Before they tried to open them, Thomas checked for traps and shook his head, indicating he hadn’t found anything. John gave everyone a few more seconds to ready themselves before he pushed on the door, his eyes narrowing when it didn’t budge. An annoyed expression worked its way across his face and he drew back his fist.
“Wait! Maybe there’s a mechanism,” Katrine said, starting to look around.
“Sure, but this is way faster,” John replied, smashing his fist into the stone.
The blow shook the underground fortress and a deep crack appeared in the door. Drawing back his fist again, John slammed it forward, causing the crack to widen precipitously. With one more punch, he demolished the entire door, clearing the way for the party to proceed. Hearing a chorus of surprised whispers, he turned around and realized that dozens of spectres had popped their heads out of the shadows they were hiding in and were staring at him in awe. With a light cough, he gestured toward the permanently opened doorway.
“It’s open now.”
Inside the wide courtyard that appeared beyond the broken door, they saw the Master of the Coil, his hood pulled back and his eyes staring at the broken door in shock. Around him were a dozen robed figures with deep hoods that covered their faces. Stepping over the broken stones, John nodded to the incredulous legendary Alchemist and jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hole he’d just created.
“We knocked, but nobody answered.”
“How… what…?”
Clearly unable to believe what he’d just seen, the Master of the Coil fixed John with an intense stare. The evil Alchemist was a large man, with chubby cheeks and a bald head. Beady eyes stared out at them from the folds of skin on his face, vertical pupils giving him an eerie look. A serpent tattoo covered most of his head and face, vanishing down his neck into his black robe. Recovering from the shock, the Master of the Coil stepped forward as the party came to a stop around one hundred feet away. His hands spread his robe open, revealing dozens of potions and pouches underneath.
“I am the Master of the Coil, Jepsef Corgan! You have done well to get all the way here, but your path ends now! I shall show you the power of my brews, the might of my elixirs! You shall tremble under the exquisite mixture of my tinctures!”
“Why does this keep getting worse and worse?” Katrine muttered, taking a small step forward.
“Did he talk this much when you fought him?” John asked Thomas.
“Unfortunately, yes. In fact, he never stopped, even when I stabbed him repeatedly in the throat.”
“Huh,” John said, stepping up next to Katrine and patting her on the shoulder. “Let’s try to end this quickly.”
Seeing both of them move forward, Jepsef sneered, his lips peeling back to reveal a row of sharpened teeth.
“Aha, so both of you will try to face me? Do you really think you’ll succeed? How utterly foolish. Your ignorance is clear and your minds undoubtedly feeble! My master has already predicted exactly how you will act! He has foreseen this, nay, he has orchestrated it! Like a masterful maestro who commands the many instruments of the orchestra, he forces you to play to his rhythm!”
A sudden surge of mana deeper in the castle drew everyone’s attention toward the door set in the far wall. Just like the door John had smashed through, it was made from stone, but there was also a shimmer of mana, indicating there was an enchantment sealing it. When he noticed everyone else looking at it, Jepsef let out a bellowing laugh and pointed at them.
“Ahahaha! You fools! Do you feel that? The ritual has reached the second stage! Soon the blood shall begin to flow! Immortality shall be ours! And there’s nothing you can do to stop it. This door behind me has been locked, sealed by my master’s magic! Only through killing me can it be unlocked. But already, the immortality of the door seeps into me!”
Practically screaming the last word, the Master of the Coil threw back his head and downed a potion he had in his hand. All around him, the robed figures copied his action, gulping down potions they held. Bright red light seeped from under their hoods and their bodies began to transform in strange and terrifying ways. Lifting his hand, John pointed at the enemy even as he started to run forward.
“Attack!”
Before the shaking cultists could finish their transformation, Haver, Thomas, and a dozen spectres were on them. The Wolf King’s club smashed a cultist to the ground where three spectres stabbed their crystal spears into what they assumed was the cultist’s head, while Thomas cut the legs out from another. A particularly large cultist whose back had burst open to reveal a dozen swinging tentacles reached for one of the spectres, but Ellie’s lightning bolt slammed into it, sending it stumbling to the side as Sigvald attacked with raking claws.
It only took a few seconds for the room to turn into a furious melee, but Katrine and John kept their attention on the legendary Alchemist, whose form had begun to shift alarmingly. His large body began to tremble and the snake tattoo on his face began to grow, protruding from his body as if there was a real snake underneath his skin. Larger and larger he grew, the snake pushing and straining against his skin as his body stretched and twisted. The sight was grotesque, and within only a few seconds the party was facing a deformed abomination that looked like a fleshy snake with the wrinkled remains of a human’s skin on the underside of its throat.
“You shall never overcome me!” Jepsef roared, lunging forward to try and bite at Katrine, who was floating in the air next to John.
Without saying a word, Katrine and John both cast spells. Air swirled together, tightening and sharpening until a Wind Arrow hovered in front of Katrine while a tongue of fire gathered together in front of John. At the same moment, the tongue of fire erupted into a gout of flame that rolled forward into the lunging snake’s face and the arrow shot forward, piercing through the skin of its jaw.
A dreadful hiss of pain and rage echoed after the two spells hit, but Jepsef didn’t change or stop his attack, instead trying to close his large fangs on Katrine. Just before the giant snake’s mouth snapped shut, John jumped up and his hand slipped around Katrine’s waist, pulling her to the side. Enraged, Jepsef chased after them, but they continued to retreat, all the while slamming spells into the Master of the Coil’s face as quickly as they could. Failing to catch them again and getting a mouth full of flames for his efforts, Jepsef reared back, glaring at them.
The spells John and Katrine had thrown at him had caused significant damage to his fleshy skin, but even as they watched, the wounds began to close up. Torn skin stitched itself back together and the large burns began to fade at a visible rate, causing Katrine to grimace. Throwing another Wind Blade at the giant snake, she saw that Jepsef didn’t even pay attention to it, allowing it to cut into his skin.
“Ahaha! You foolish people really think you can bypass me? No, I shall keep you here with my immortal body! You will be too late to stop my master’s plan!”
Throwing himself forward, Jepsef opened his mouth wide, his sharp fangs extended as he tried to snap them down on Katrine’s body. Instead, he caught a wolf tooth club to the bottom of his chin, snapping his mouth shut and throwing his head back as Haver left the cultists to Thomas and the spectres and joined the attack on Jepsef. Katrine, sensing an opportunity, threw a dozen Wind Blades at the exposed underside of the large snake’s throat while John and Haver both attacked from each side.
Letting out a scream of pain as John’s sword and Haver’s club bit into his skull, Jepsef thrashed his head this way and that, reeling as Katrine’s spells gouged out large chunks of his flesh. Taking their cues from John, who followed up his stab by casting Dragon’s Breath, the party’s attacks rained down on the transformed Alchemist, cutting, bludgeoning, and burning him. Soon the giant snake was nearly unrecognizable, yet still he struggled, trying to slap them away with his tail or sink his fangs into them. Losing ground, Jepsef suddenly coiled his body and sprang backward, trying to gain some distance.
Large bloody wounds gaped on his wind-torn skin and black scorch marks covered his flesh, yet despite the damage, the fleshy snake began to heal, his body knitting itself back together. The effect was fast enough that by the time Jepsef had traveled a few dozen feet, the bleeding had stopped and the scorched areas of his skin were already peeling away to reveal new skin. The other cultists who had transformed into abominations, though not nearly as powerful as Jepsef, seemed to enjoy a similar type of regeneration, and with a quick glance John saw that Thomas, Ellie, and the spectres were struggling against them.
Seeing that Katrine was about to throw another spell toward the transformed Alchemist, John began to prepare a spell of his own, his eyes narrowing in thought. Ever since the Master of the Coil had appeared, John had been trying to sense what felt so strange about him. There was something tied into the Alchemist’s mana that John couldn’t quite place. Suddenly, the aura deep in the castle grew a step stronger again and John’s eyes lit up.
“The same aura coming from the center of the fortress is tied into his mana,” he yelled to Katrine, dodging a stream of acid Jepsef spat at him.
“You mean the aura of the first Mage’s door?” Katrine asked, her waving hands summoning a tornado.
“I’m assuming. But I can’t tell yet. See if you can keep him tied down.”
Nodding, Katrine flew toward Jepsef, the tornado carrying her further up into the air as it hurled stones and sharp air currents toward the snake. Already healed from the first round of combat, the Master of the Coil had no problem throwing himself into combat again, all the while giggling and laughing as the dried and wrinkled human face on his body chattered away.
“Ahahaha! You cannot destroy me! My body is absolute. It cannot be killed! I have gained true immortality!”
CHAPTER 39
Back and forth they fought, with Jepsef coming out on the losing side every single time. Yet no more than a few seconds seemed necessary for the transformed legendary Alchemist to get back into the fight. Finally, unable to stand his chattering, Katrine snapped. A huge Wind Blade spun to life above her head and she let out a roar.
“Shut up, worm!”
Throwing the spell at Jepsef’s neck, she followed it up with a storm of Wind Blades that reduced the snake’s skin to little more than rags. Yet no matter how much damage she did, the snake just slithered away, his body healing as fast as Katine could damage him. Watching carefully, John spotted something as one particularly vicious Wind Blade ripped across Jepsef’s back. With his skin laid open to the bone, the transformed Alchemist seemed to have no recourse apart from running away from Katrine, but in doing so, John saw his spine and noticed it was entirely unharmed by the magical attack.
Frowning, John shot forward, weaving through the fighting abominations to get close to Jepsef. His sword left his sheath in one smooth motion as he slashed down on the snake’s back, cutting deeply into the monster’s skin. Completely taken by surprise, Jepsef didn’t manage to avoid the blow but managed to roll over partly, causing the attack to hit his ribs instead of his spine. Unfortunately, he had drastically underestimated John’s strength, and pain caused him to shake as John’s silver blade slashed straight through his tough rib bones, cutting them apart like they were nothing.
Continuing to press his attack down, John felt his blade connect with something impossibly hard and his eyes narrowed once again. The feeling he’d been getting from the center of the fortress abruptly strengthened as he sensed the thread of mana Jepsef’s spine contained, and his growing suspicion was confirmed when the ragged legendary Alchemist wriggled away into the crowd, his body healing the gaping wound John had left in his side.
Not bothering to chase after him, John turned his head and scanned the battlefield, noting how Thomas, Ellie, and Haver were still struggling against the rapidly regenerating abominations. When Jepsef noticed that John wasn’t following him, he erupted into laughter again, sneering at John and the others as his body healed until there wasn’t even a sign of damage.
“Aha! I told you already, I am immortal! You cannot defeat me! And only with my death will the seal be removed. My master has granted me this opportunity to have an undying body, and it shall be your downfall. No matter how you attack me, you will not be able to stop his ascension!”
“What’s the use of being immortal if you’re that ugly?” Katrine asked grumpily, glaring at Jepsef as a large spear formed from wind spun together in her hand.
“Ugly? Are you calling my magnificent form ugly?!”
Eyes bloodshot, the snake suddenly lifted its head and opened its mouth, spraying a stream of corrosive acid. With a snort, Katrine summoned a Wind Barrier and then three more Wind Blades that spun together, joining up on the end of her spear to form a giant axe blade. Watching Katrine throw herself into combat against the monstrous snake, John nodded.
“Katrine, can you keep him busy?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? Wait! Where are you going? You aren’t going to leave me with him?”
“Just keep him occupied,” John said, his gaze turning toward the sealed door. “The only way to kill him is to undo the enchantment binding him to that mysterious door. Which means killing Kythov and stopping the ceremony. Every moment we wait, the bond gets stronger.”
“Ahahaha! Who would have thought you would guess the truth?” Jepsef said, shooting another spray of acid at Katrine as blood gushed from a dozen open wounds. “Every second you spend here makes me stronger! Bask in the genius of my master’s unsurpassed intellect!”
Ignoring the legendary Alchemist, John cut apart an abomination that pounced at him, and then shot a meaningful glance at Katrine when the monster began to heal, new limbs growing from the cuts John had made on its body.
“There’s some sort of spell granting them this regeneration,” John said, retreating to stand beside Ellie as he continued to speak to Katrine. “Keep him occupied and we’ll head on in to deal with Kythov and whatever is keeping them from dying!”
