With the urgency of their situation pressing upon them, Reign and Liara led their group of guardians through the underground passages of the Soulweaver's Monolith. They followed the directions of the guardian who knew of a faster way to exit the dungeon, but even with this shortcut, it would still take them some time to reach the surface.
As they hurried through the labyrinthine tunnels, they could sense the residual energy of the artifact behind them, surging with a mixture of anger and desperation. The spirit's final act had been to sever the connection between the dungeon and the artifact, preventing it from using its teleportation abilities. Their only option was to climb their way out.
"Tch, I can't even sense the golems or any other monsters that the artifact has created, which probably means that they have either been freed after the spirit had pulled its little stunt, or they are gone completely." Reign said as they all ran through the dungeon.
"What about the ones from the other dungeon?" Siggurd asked Reign who quickly shook his head.
"I can't sense them at all, which isn't surprising considering the fact that the Will had severed the connection between the artifact and the first dungeon, going there now would be too dangerous, there is a high chance that the monsters have been completely removed from the artifact's control."
"We were able to pass because they still possessed a piece of will placed by the artifact, which made them unable to hurt us, but now, now that the spirit had done what he had done, even that might be completely removed, making it impossible for us control them, if that is truly the case, going back there would be the same as committing suicide."
"The monsters might have also died, after all, even with the Will keeping that dungeon separate from the artifact, they were still connected to it in a way, their souls might have been connected, and with the death of the spirit and our inability to sense any of them, their souls might have perished, leaving nothing but corpses present," Liara added from the side, making everybody nod at her words.
Reign's mind raced as he considered their predicament. The red energy ray that had been unleashed from the artifact would undoubtedly draw the attention of nearby demons. It was a beacon that signaled trouble, and they couldn't afford to be caught off guard.
"We need to be prepared for anything," Reign warned the group. "Demons, monsters, and who knows what else might be on our path. Stay vigilant."
As they ascended the dark and winding tunnels, the group encountered sporadic resistance. Feral creatures that inhabited the dungeon's depths attacked them, but the guardians, now under Reign's command, swiftly dispatched the threats. Basred and Siggurd used their powers as well, defeating the enemies.
"I thought the artifact killed all the monsters?" Alistair asked as one of the guardians glanced back at him.
"Not entirely, there are many monsters around the dungeon that the spirit had created, without the artifact possessing full control over the dungeon as before, the monsters are now scrambling to get in and try to get any benefits they can, those are the ones attacking us now."
Alistair and the others nodded at the guardian as they continued moving.
The minutes stretched into hours as they continued their relentless climb. Fatigue threatened to overtake them, but their determination pushed them forward. Liara, despite the presence of the souls within her, remained strong, her newfound connection with the artifact acting as a source of strength.
The souls had managed to regain their powers after what Reign had done, but now, they could no longer pose a threat to Liara who held the artifact that anchored her soul, making it impossible for them to do a single thing.
"We'll have to check out the current situation with the vortex later, I'm almost certain that the artifact will be enough to keep you safe and stop them from doing anything until you become powerful enough to withstand their influence by yourself, but we should check the vortex as well, just in case." Reign told Liara who nodded her head at him.
With the artifact in their possession, both of them could easily use a soul from the artifact and put a small piece of their own soul inside before going into the vortex to meet up with those imprisoned inside.
Of course, that was something they would only be able to do much later as for now, they needed to get to safety.
It wasn't long before they reached a series of steep and treacherous staircases that seemed to ascend endlessly. They climbed higher and higher, their breaths coming in ragged gasps as the thinning air grew colder.
Reign glanced back to ensure that the group was keeping pace. The guardians were resolute, their loyalty unwavering, and the rest of the group, Laura included, showed no signs of faltering. They were united by a common purpose, a shared goal of escaping the dungeon.
Hours turned into what felt like days, and finally, they saw a faint glimmer of light up ahead. It was a small opening, the entrance to the surface. Hope surged within them as they quickened their pace, driven by the prospect of freedom.
Emerging into the open air was a breath of relief. They stood on a rocky outcrop overlooking a desolate landscape. The red energy ray that had been unleashed from the artifact was still visible in the distance, a crimson beacon in the darkening sky.
Reign took a moment to assess their surroundings. They had exited the dungeon in a remote, rocky area far from civilization. It was a desolate landscape, with jagged cliffs and sparse vegetation. It would be difficult for anyone, including the demons, to track them here.
They were about 400 meters away from the large hole that they had used to get down and make their way to the artifact. They emerged below with the help of a secret exit that opened by itself before it caved in, making it impossible for anyone to use it in the future.
The artifact was with them, the monolith had anchored itself to Liara's soul and now it was inside of her, situated close to the vortex in order to stop the souls from doing anything to her.
Reign and Liara had done it on purpose. At first, he thought that it would be too dangerous to place the monolith there as the vortex had fragments of the demoness's soul in it, but from the memories Reign had seen, the vortex was able to completely isolate the souls inside of it.
It was only thanks to the demoness's last action that the souls were able to sense the fragments outside of the vortex, allowing them to go inside of those who had fused with them and influence them.
Other than that, they were completely blind to the outside situation, the only way for them to know anything that was happening was to use the power the demoness had left and influence the soul, just like they had done to Liara before.
They could briefly even take over her body to see what was going on, which was how they were planning on working with the monolith to slowly corrode the vortex and free themselves after a long period of time while still searching for more fragments.
With the monolith now suppressing that power from the outside, the souls truly had no idea what was going on, nor could they influence the outside of the vortex in any way.
"We've made it out," Reign declared, his voice filled with a sense of accomplishment. "But we're not out of danger yet. We need to move quickly and find a safe place to regroup and plan our next steps."
Liara nodded in agreement. "Reign is right. We can't afford to rest for long. The demons will surely investigate the energy disturbance caused by the artifact."
"Our immediate priority is to put as much distance as possible between us and the dungeon," Reign stated. "We need to avoid any direct confrontations with demons until we make it to the Lumon region."
"After all, the demons still have no idea what has happened, so if we can make it back on time, we should be able to keep it a secret from the rest of the world before the artifact becomes powerful enough to help you guys out."
"When that time comes, you should be able to easily start taking over the surrounding regions, allowing the world to regain its powers," Reign told the others who nodded at him before they all suddenly froze.
"So that is what you are planning on doing, how shrewd of you little human."
Before they even realized it, tens of demons had suddenly appeared around them, a couple of them floating in the air and staring down at them with cold expressions.
The auras coming from the demons around them made the entire area shake, especially from the ones above.
'Four of them are Tier VI, and those two … impossible, I never heard of any Tier VII demons being present in this world!' Reign's eyes constricted as he stared at the overwhelming power he was able to feel from the demons around them.
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