While the soldiers had all understood what they needed to do, that left the party and the royal dragons with a lot more to do. The angels had also found their places. Their strength and knowledge when it came to these kinds of battles had shown a lot more.
The Rise Empire angels were showcasing their light affinity swordsmaship right beside the light elemental dragonkin. It was odd to see them working so well. The angels in the air and the dragonkin on the ground.
However, this was also matched by the fact that the Fel empire angels were acting with incredible adaptation. The fights they were involved in appeared to become easier for them the more the undead regeneration. It was very clear that they were learning the weakness, speed, and dangers of every single undead enemy they faced. Some of the Fel angels were even calling out warnings or advice now.
This was enough to make Walker and the others very confident that they would not be needed. Even though more undead were showing themselves from other passageways, they were nothing that the army they had brought couldn't handle. Especially with the runes being destroyed more and more.
The understandings from the suet reward about runes was nothing major. Many had such a limited understanding over runes in general that this reward was small. The mages seemed to gain the most since they at least had some understandings when it came to the runes of their elemental affinities.
Where it really helped was that the soldiers were finding the important runes. Most had learned to discern the active, or the more powerful runes. From there it was a simple matter of being able to work in the destruction of the runes as they battled the undead that were regenerating.
Therefore, they were left with the new issue that everyone knew they would be facing at some point. Endless battle. The undead would keep returning no matter what. This put a pressure on their shoulders. A pressure that was telling them they would die eventually. That their mana and stamina could not keep up. That even if they survived, that the undead would not stop coming for them. That was what would haunt every single soldier until their powerful leaders handled the one behind it all.
The shattered altar was still in front of Rise as Current, Mordant, and the party came up to meet her. She was looking at the blood stained stones and monster parts with disgust. It was something she never wished to see. Sacrifices should not exist.
Once upon a time, dragons had been seen as a powerful being that could be swayed by such things. Riches or sacrifices, but that had only been foolish perception. Those dragons that created that perception in the minds of the weak had done so because they were weak and wanted power. Eventually, the royals dragons had stamped out such foolishness from the dragon race, but it had left some unfortunate misconceptions.
"We need to climb. I have a bad feeling that we will see much worse up there." Walker could sense that the mana was more erratic above them. As if it had been stirred up. As if someone had kicked a hornet's nest to make the stinging insects angry enough to chase anything that moved for days on end.
"I used a significant amount of mana to crush this and send light elemental mana through the rune formations. It was more than I believed I would need. That is why the grand elemental spirit helped me. It was a purity issue." Rise spoke calmly. Only those that knew her would understand that she was very unhappy to learn this.
"If purity was the issue, then that means the controller of these runes is on par with us." Mordant spoke out loud what they had all just realized. This ruler of undead or controller. The pharaoh mentioned in the last link of the chain quest was powerful. It could rival a dragon when it came to mana and the purity of said mana.
"Horizon needs to rest too." The grand elemental spirit had returned to Alice and she could feel that it had used a lot of its mana to boost Rise. That was the price to pay since they were in an area nearly devoid of light elemental mana already.
"But that did save my mana for the upcoming fight. I will work with the songstress to improve the chances of a victorious battle." Hearing that Rise was going to focus on buffing them caused a slight shock. She was acting out of character. Yet, this also made some sense. She had one goal and one goal only here. Rise wanted to purify the undead that were an affront to her light elemental existence and also that harmed a dragon many years ago. It was only right to sacrifice a little pride to do so. The pride returned with victory vastly outweighed the cost right now.
"Can everyone sense that though?" It was Su who spoke up. She felt that her blood was rushing through her body a little faster. That her heart beat slightly harder.
"Yes."
"It's an enemy." all the royal dragons replied but Midnight spoke the loudest. She growled out that it was an enemy. They all sensed it.
"I would say that it is whatever that thing did with dragon blood. We saw some of the pictures carved in stone of what happened to the flame dominator dragon. But what else happened to it? What else did the sick and twisted monster do with the body of the dragon when it was also experimenting on many more things?" Gil was calm as he spoke. He knew that the wrong word might bring the royal dragon to anger. However, he began to be the one that was angry. The more he thought about someone experimenting on so many beings…
Without even another word, the group began to move. The stairs that led upwards were made to be ceremonial. They could be seen from behind the altar and it was clearly showcasing the strength of those climbing it. Furthermore, it was showing off the appearance to all that would climb it to everyone that would be watching. Set up just to show off to those that worshiped the one at the top. It was arrogant.
Every step brought the feeling of danger closer. But for Mordant, it brought the feelings of uncontrolled darkness closer. He could sense that he could not tear away the darkness mana around him from whoever was controlling it. He also could sense the additional, more mysterious, manas within the darkness. It was a sickening mix that made him feel he might lose his lunch. That was hard to do to a dragon that was naturally resistant to many things.
"I am going to use a multi buff skill on everyone first. When we get to the top we will see…" Walker already noticed that the top of the stairs was close. He stopped speaking and began to use his buff skills on everyone. He also mentally called out to Fluer for assistance with natural mana. He would sue as much as he could to battle against this undead. Even if he had to use the eternal orb and lose it, he was fine with that. As long as they defeated the evil existing here.
As they emerged, Walker sensed the death mana around. It wasn't proper though. It felt like something broken. Like it was only trying to mimic death. But he could also sense hostility. The same feeling that anyone would sense when facing a wild monster trying to make them as prey.
'Mummified pharaoh
This being is what is left of the great plague that came upon all who lived in this land. The mummified pharaoh was one who desired control over all things. After finding broken runes, they began trying to claim the power of death for themselves through raising other undead and experimenting with living beings.
By committing many great acts of evil, it became evident that controlling death was harder than they knew. To grow their strength, this being caused a plague on the land while also manipulating the people of the land. After successfully convincing some and murdering others, this being was able to attract a great amount of death mana.
Unfortunately, the failure to grasp it caused them to lose their mind to a degree. Now they only care for reversing the failure and causing a greater cataclysm that would attract more power to them. This way, they believe they will rise above the others and become a true god of death.
The fact that they have failed left them to create false death runes, become what is considered a false death god, and also brought them to a cursed state of undeath. The more that…'
Walker could have read more in to it, but the being sitting on the top of the pyramid had started to shift in the large black gold throne in front of them.
….
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