Chapter 118: 118. Death In Hope

'H-How is he not affected?'

Sylvester looked over his shoulder, and Miraj was fine as always. In fact, he was grooming himself with his tongue. Sylvester was so used to Miraj sitting on his shoulder that sometimes he wouldn't even realize the latter was there.

"You good?"

"Itchy!"

Sylvester nodded and gave Miraj a potion that would cover his body with a slime-like coating and protect him from natural elements.

With no worries for the cat, Sylvester and the rest walked forward into the mist. It was all purple everywhere, and since they had decided to start in the morning, the sunlight was making the purple even brighter.

"This will turn completely dark once we're close to the main area." Bishop Lazark warned them as they took every single step carefully.

Sylvester kept his senses high as he started to feel a constantly increasing scent of death. The extreme bitterness in his mouth and nose didn't overwhelm him anymore, but it was still a good reminder to him at all times that he could very well die here. Also, it was an excellent indicator of how close to the enemy he was.

"We're on the right path. Everyone, keep the light crystal on your teeth! The moment you feel something coming close, you break it." Sylvester advised everyone, mainly Sir Dolorem and Bishop Lazark, since they had no light magic.

Sylvester didn't use light magic at all times either since it was a waste of Solarium, and when they were deeper into the valley, they won't get any sunlight, meaning no new Solarium other than from the crystals.

The only magic they used was to clear the mist from the ground so they could see where they were stepping on, awaiting to be attacked by the snake-like things.

"Zzzz..."

"They're coming!" Bishop Lazark exclaimed, alerting the others.

Sylvester didn't waste a moment and swung his spear towards the direction they were headed and used one of his knightly moves by initiating the runes on the spear to produce air.

Woosh!

In an instant, from Sylvester's move, the mist in front of them cleared up, showing the land and the oncoming horde of snakes. And it was more disgusting than what Sylvester had prepared himself for.

They all seemed gray in color, and as Bishop Lazard said, they had no eyes but just a flat mouth at the front that remained open and showcased the rows of ugly sharp teeth. They were as thin as an inch but nearly a meter long.

Worse, they came in numbers greater than one could count as a horde with no end, a truly scalp-tingling scene that even made Miraj stand on Sylvester's head in fright.

"Use light crystals!" Sylvester roared as this was meant to be a test of whether they were going to move on with the mission or retreat.

As the horde kept closing in, Sylvester and Gabriel used light magic from their own hands. At the same time, Sir Dolorem and Bishop Lazark threw 2 IED Bombs that Sylvester developed by combining Light, Fire, Exploding, and Solarium crystals together with a little mechanism. They knew about their massive destructive powers, but this was a different test.

"Out!"

"Out!"

All of them closed their eyes for a split second, except for Sylvester, as the light didn't affect him too much anymore. He saw it all clearly with his golden eyes. At first, they seemed worried, but then they cheered with the sound.

Boom!

The bombs made contact and exploded simultaneously in a beautiful show of explosion, light, and fire. The mist dispersed due to the shockwaves in a large radius around them, but they waited to see the snakes—with what fate these bombs condemned them.

"Ah! It worked marvelously," Bishop Lazark exclaimed in excitement.

Sylvester silently nodded, albeit the scene appeared too ugly. There remained the horde of the strange snakes, but now they were either turned into meat paste, or they had lost a significant part of their body. They were just little pieces of meat now.

"Zzzz..."

"Another wave!" Sir Dolorem blurted.

Sylvester walked forward this time. "We must not waste these IED bombs on these weak snakes—my light is enough to burn, let their master learn... we're here to kill it."

Sylvester started using simple light magic to create light waves in the direction of the oncoming snakes. They didn't even know if it was a snake, however. They simply kept killing them and going forward.

Sylvester at the front, Gabriel at the back, they formed a closed group that provided enough security from all sides. Sir Dolorem's job was to guide them to the right path as the horde of the snakes was covering them from all around the deeper they went into the cursed land.

Bishop Lazark, on the other hand, was tasked with sensing the number of undead he could bring out from the depths of the land and, when the time comes, do it.

"Bishop Lazard, how much further do we have to go in?" Sylvester asked the man as he felt his Solarium reserves being wasted on these snakes.

The bald hairless necromancer had no idea, sadly. "Last time I was here, I was too angsty and wished to only run away. I remember not where I fell and ran."

"Fine!" Sylvester stopped using Solarium altogether, took out an ordinary light crystal, and used that instead. These were a little less effective as they allowed the creatures to come as close as a meter to them, creating a sort of wall all around since the horde of snakes was intertwined into each other—going as high as three meters.

Miraj silently hid inside Sylvester's light chest plate armor and peeked out every now and then. He reckoned even if they couldn't see him once they caught him, he'd still die.

However, these lights could not kill the snakes and only worked enough to keep them away, as if the light was the boundary they could not cross. The only sounds being made were the low screeches and the clicks of saliva from the horde.

"This is bad!" Sir Dolorem cursed suddenly. "Priest Sylvester, the horde is getting too high! They are about to surround us from the top as well."

Bam!

Suddenly, one of the snakes fell onto them, mainly on Sir Dolorem's head-covering. Initially, none of them panicked. However, even after Sir Dolorem cut the creature with the knife, its mouth was still attached to the plague-doctor helmet mask.

"This is bad!" Bishop Lazark muttered suddenly. "The mask was made of leather! These snakes can easily bite it off like the skin."

Sir Dolorem didn't panic and pulled the creature off with force, and with that, a small hole appeared on the mask.

Cough!

The bald old knight coughed instantly as the mist affected him. Sylvester quickly used his free hand to take out a cotton bandage from his pocket. "Use this! Fill the hole with it, use water to make a paste mud, and seal the hole with it!"

Bishop Lazark helped Sir Dolorem quickly while Sylvester used his own light magic to make a shield of light above their heads as well. But that soon forced the horde to take them over, surrounding them from all directions.

Thud!

"Ugh!"

Gabriel fell to his knees as the weight of the countless snakes above them was too much for him. Sylvester also felt the weight and decided to do something. "We can't move anywhere as long as we're covered. All of you! Kneel down! Gab, when I say, stop using the light crystal!"

As per his command, they all knelt. Sylvester then created a second U-shaped light shield all around them. This time it was hardened as it was made of his own magic.

"Stop!"

He threw four IED Bombs outside and stopped using the Light crystals from earlier. This, in an instant, made the outer layer of the shield disappear, and the IED bomb fell in the open air to obliterate the horde into pieces.

"Duck!" Sylvester roared.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four distinct explosions roared so loud they all felt their ears going deaf with a long, constant buzz.

The blood of the creatures rained down for a second, and the area around them instantly turned clear. But they were already deep enough in the mist that the sky was not visible at all.

The horde was gone. However, it left behind a ground covered in corpses. Sylvester was quick to start moving towards the direction he felt the scent of death coming from. "Get up!"

They were jogging to their enemy soon enough, waiting for more snakes to appear and harm them.

"Ugh... they are here. How many of these are even there? How are they being created?" Sylvester cursed when he noticed another horde slowly covering them from all sides.

'I can easily keep killing them all, but wasting my own energy at this stage is foolish as the real enemy is still sitting at the back. I need to be in top condition when facing it.' Sylvester thought and decided it was time for the Bishop.

"Summon them, Bishop!"

"Finally!" Bishop Lazark started to chant something silently as his lips moved. Then he raised his arms sideways and roared. "Rise! Rise, my pawns! Help me as the darkness dawns!..."

Sylvester did not know if the man had to sing that little hymn, but he didn't ask as he noticed the ground shaking a little. Then, the vibrations were felt underneath, and soon enough, a hand crawled out of the sandy soil.

Bam!

"Grrrroar!"

"Rise, my children... it's your duty to rid the world of heathens! Aid me in the bloody battle—for this enemy, I must tackle."

Sylvester took notes of the lines, lest they might help him in the future. But he was more interested in seeing the ground, as he saw a hint of some creatures—coming out. The entire field around them was covered with hands—with flesh.

"Rise! Rise! Rise!" Bishop Lazark boomed at his summons.

"Grrroar!" they seemed to growl in reply.

Soon, second hands came out, and then they pulled themselves from the hard grounds. Since they were already dead creatures, the snakes did not affect them other than slowing them down.

But, soon, when hundreds and thousands of them started to come out completely, the group frowned as they were not skeletons... not a single one of them was a skeleton, but instead, they appeared fresh human.

"Why are there so many well-preserved bodies?" Gabriel wondered vocally, a bit disgusted as well since the bodies were riddled with holes—the work of the snakes, likely.

Sylvester, however, could imagine what must have happened. "These must be the refugees running from the war in the hope of a better life... They took the Desert Road to reach Sphinx Town—not knowing here awaited their demise. May the holy light guide their souls to peace. Still, I wonder when they died."

Bishop Lazark, gloomy, replied. "Some of them—days... some of them—hours. I can imagine the terror they must have faced... I just hope their end was brought in haste."

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APE TOGETHER STRONG!