2797 Counter Measures (Part 1)

Yet a sliver of life force was enough for the Voidfeather to couple his mastery over the elements with the full set of elemental crystals to suck in the incoming spells, cleanse them from their caster's energy signature, and shoot them back in the form of raw elemental pillars.

Lith had studied the Balor's eyes long enough to understand the underlying principles of their bloodline abilities and the Voidfeather had mastered the elemental crystal enough to mimic them.

A living body would have been ravaged by mana poisoning and damaged by the violent spells temporarily coursing through it, but both were irrelevant problems to a Golem.

Blue magic circles surrounded the Voidfeather Dragon, each holding a different spell as they followed him in his advance. The undead were still shocked by seeing their best spells fade into nothingness when beams of incandescent light hit them.

The tier three Light Mastery spell, Sunburst, generated laser-like heat rays that moved as fast as a bullet, yet light and fire inflicted little damage to an undead body. The Dragon used Void Magic to turn fire into ice and light into darkness.

The ice clogged the joints of the undead's armor and stuck to them so that the darkness it carried could seep inside the undead without wasting one iota of mana. Then, the Voidfeather lit the yellow eye and unleashed a lightning bolt that filled the corridor.

The electricity stung at the undead, but that was it.

When it turned into solid rock, trapping them inside a stone coffin, however, it was a problem. With their joints already clogged by ice and encased in rock that made it impossible to exert leverage, even someone as strong as an undead needed time to break free.

Time that the Voidfeather didn't grant them, activating one of the magic circles so that the blinding light produced by bolts of lightning turned into a haze of darkness. By the time the undead managed to free themselves, the ever-shifting tide of attacks had inflicted grievous wounds upon them.

The silver lining was that they were many and the Golem was one.

"Gentlemen, if you please." The horde of Demons hiding behind the Voidfeather struck at the weakened enemies in a frenzy, slaughtering them like cattle.

Once the last undead turned into ashes, the Demons still had six eyes each and the Dragon was done preparing the next batch of spells. His advance was slower than Lith's and Solus.'

He had no way to recharge the black cores of the Demons so he had to make each hit count.

***

Lith avoided the strong barriers fueled by the mana geyser since dealing with them was a waste of time unless they led to the lower floors. He didn't rush in his advance, taking the time to replenish his strength and Ragnarök's scabbard as he studied the enemy defense formations from a distance.

'It seems I have to get past that junction if I want to proceed.' Lith's eyes spotted a golden barrier similar to the one that Solus had just overcome.

He had tried the other routes and they all ended the same way. It might have been considered a waste of time if in doing so he hadn't also cleansed the entire area of undead.

Thanks to that, the Demons of the Darkness were free to assist him and many of them had gotten their hands on the corpse of a thrall. By absorbing the residual mass, life force, and mana, they had turned into Demons of the Fallen, increasing their strength with no burden on Lith.

The number of Demons behind him was so great that not a speck of light was visible. On one end of the corridor stood a wall of light and on the other one of darkness.

Lith took a deep breath and so did the Demons. Their mouths filled with Void Flames, filling the corridor with an eerie glow.

Lith hurled a jet stream of fire in front of himself while the Demons aimed the Void Flames so that they would cross paths with Lith's. The Cursed Flames stopped their advance for a split second, forming a sphere of fire that grew in size until the stone of the corridor turned white hot.

Then, the Thousand Flames burst forward until they crashed against the defensive barrier like a raging river hitting a dam.

The defensive array collapsed under the pressure, but thanks to the energy coming from the mana geyser it reformed too quickly for Lith to cross over unless he opened a Spirit Warp.

'Blinking would mean leaving the Demons behind while a Steps would be easily countered by a Collapsing Space spell. I would lose my Demons anyway and be forced to defend from both sides of the corridor.

'Getting closer is not an option either. I have no cover and while I take down the barrier, too many Demons would have to sacrifice themselves to protect me. Time for plan E.

At Lith's signal, the Demons of the Fallen knelt while those of the Darkness stretched their shadow necks so that their heads could move freely from their bodies. Soon the whole corridor was filled with white maws glued to each other like bricks.

The second burst of Thousand Flames hit the barrier in the same spot as the first. This time, after the magical formation crumbled, the Flames had enough power to burn through the makeshift barricade and the undead hiding behind it.

The third wave struck while the array was still repairing itself, bringing it down with ease and flooding the corridor. The black flames killed the guards, burned the traps, and split in two upon reaching a T junction.

More agonizing screams came from the two corridors, revealing the presence of more undead lying in ambush.

I guess that now they are too busy saving their skin to bother me.'Lith conjured a layer of cold air around his head since unlike his Demons, he needed to breathe and the surface of the marble corridor was bubbling.

At his command, the shadows pressed their bodies against the already-fixed barrier, draining it with their Abomination Touch. The Demons quivered in pleasure feeding off the power of the mana geyser and feeling the strength they had consumed return.

The barrier collapsed again but this time it stayed down. A black rim marked the presence of Demons that kept draining the barrier faster than the mana geyser could fuel it.

"Those with less than five eyes stay here and feed. The rest with me.'Lith crossed the threshold, readying himself to fight as he neared the T junction.

Judging from the small pile of ashes, only a few undead had been destroyed while the rest had run away after the failed ambush. Lith split his forces to explore both corridors, clearing the area before going down the stairs leading to the next floor.

"This isn't going well.' Lith thought. 'The presence of the geyser is helping the defensive forces more than it helps us. We've met much more resistance than in the other branch and some of the arrays were strong enough to depower several Demons.

I split them so that Solus and the Voidfeather could act on their own, but that left me with the smallest unit.