Phase 34 “The Fall”
“Allen, please, stop. You’re pushing yourself too much! I can't lose you!” Kaien said, almost yelling.
“Sorry... Kai... Can you lend me your energy... so I can locate him?” The sound of Allen's voice was so worn out, and Kaien felt more than simple satisfaction that he could finally help Allen.
“Take as many as you need,” Kaien said as Allen joined their hands. They proceeded down the treacherous route, they were forced to continually flee from and engage in combat with the undead. Suddenly, Kaien felt as though he was beginning to grow fatigued as though his energy was being depleted. He was aware that it was Allen.
“There!” Allen indicated the direction of a tunnel that was off to their left. It was mostly smashed, and it was possibly a result of the earthquake Allen previously triggered with his spell. They were able to squeeze through the rubble and enter the building while the zombies outside screamed their hearts out because they were blocked off. They realised that the zombies would figure out how to get through the rubble in a short amount of time, so the four guys made a hasty exit, leaving the zombies behind.
“Turn left and then right, he's right in the dead end.” Allen instructed them carefully and they did as they were told. Although it was further than they had anticipated, they were confident that the shaman was not far away. Nathan let out a scream of pain as they made the final turn.
“Nathan!” Before Nathan could land on the earth, Benji was there to catch him. Nathan appeared to be unconscious. He seemed to have fallen asleep. Suddenly, Benji experienced discomfort on his head at the same time that he lost consciousness and fell to the ground face first.
“Damn you---Arrrggg!” Both Allen and Kaien were knocked to the ground before either of them could blink or utter a word of their spell. As soon as the shaman appeared, their consciousness faded away. He was laughing like crazy since the four guys had finally fallen into his trap.
“Finally! I can have my revenge! Hahahaha! I will torture you till death! The shaman howled as he continued to laugh hysterically. He was fully aware that Allen had run out of energy and would not be able to identify his trap. It was the easiest trap he had ever set. All he needed was a spell that would put them to sleep so that he could cast another spell on them later to torment them. He would torture them and tear them apart from the inside out.
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After going into a certain room, Dominique felt much more frightened, bewildered, and disoriented than he had before. The things that he witnessed were something out of a nightmare. He discovered two stoned beds in the room before that, along with various instruments of torture and signs of a magic struggle and battle. It was Allen and the shaman, according to his best guess. Worse, there is blood practically everywhere, and it is unclear who its original owner was. It is possible that the blood belonged to the monsters because he saw a large number of them lying dead on the ground. Despite this, he got very bad feelings.
His train of thinking was thrown off when he heard a shrill scream nearby. He hid himself well while he investigated the source. When he saw the dim light in front of him, he almost recoiled, pulled out his weapon, and screamed.
“You scared the crap out of me!” Dominique whimpered like a child. His voice barely rises beyond a whisper. While the light gave a sweet soft laugh.
“You haven't changed at all.” The empress's spirit continued, “The barrier had been gone after the earthquake which allowed me to enter.”
“Really? Is the shaman trying to catch us in one of his traps?”
“No, I don't think so. I got the impression that he was too worn out now. It's possible that this is why he removed the barrier. But the most important thing now is the shaman got your friends. We must act quickly to save them.”
Dominique cursed. He was about to charge into the zombies' lair when the empress intervened and stopped him.
“Stop! I have another way so that we can get past the zombies and reach the shaman, come with me,” she said. “Follow me.”
It was more than enough for Dominique to follow in the empress's spirit. They moved in different ways while it was completely dark, and the only light that illuminated their path was coming from the empress's soul. Dominique was aware that he needed to come up with a plan. Because he was not that stupid, he could not simply go to the shaman and ask to be killed. After then, the most crucial question popped into his brain as he worked up the courage to ask the empress. The answer did not in any way come as a surprise to him.
“To kill him, we need to stab him directly in the heart, but you are well aware of how difficult this will be because he has so many wards protecting him. Do not overlook the importance of his lethal spells. Even if he is worn out right now, we have no way of knowing what he is going to accomplish or what he is capable of doing. We have no choice but to put an end to him because of how extremely risky he is.”