Chapter 110: The Fifth Wave[3]
The emerald light of the supreme card overshadowed the silver of the other. With a grand whooshing sound, two summons formed in front of him.
The mount was the red wolf, which was a lot bigger than he expected. It was the size of a jeep, towering over them all, its mouth full of jagged, snarling teeth. But its bronze eyes were gauging and interested.
The second summon was a creature made of green, glowing wind. Some kind of elemental. It was vaguely human-shaped, with a triangular head and a tornado for feet. Its glowing green eyes narrowed at Faust.
’What?’
Faust ignored them and called his other two summons with a burst of silver light. The silver-armored knight and archer bowed their heads to him. Only shadow existed beneath their helmets and silver glowing eyes.
They both dropped to their knees. That’s more like it.
He turned back to his two summons and tried something.
’Instance Replication!’
The light show repeated itself and two new summons appeared.
The replicated mount was a horse, but a beefy one. It was a bit larger than even the giant red wolf. It scratched the floor with its hooves and neighed nervously as the wolf turned to it.
The replica of the supreme-grade summon card was...
"Oh my god, what the fuck is that?" Nirvana said with a horrified expression.
The summon was huge, towering over everything at almost ten feet. It resembled a dinosaur, like a brachiosaurus. Grey-skinned, with scales like armor and four legs as thick as pillars, it was already a unit.
But then it had spined wings.
And at the end of the spines, it had faces and mouths.
All the heads were full of jagged, terrifying teeth, and its eyes were black and hollow like they had been carved out.
It lowered its small head, perched on a neck longer than three cars, then pointed its wings at him too.
All together, it had nine faces.
Its hollow eyes stared into Faust’s. He stared back without flinching.
’Appraise.’
[Nine-faced Scourger(Replicated Summon)]
[Combat Power: 570]
[Details: The heralds of Lord Scourge. They vomit crimson, corrosive spit. They fly in defiance of logic and are extremely durable.]
’Some kind of demon summon?’
"All of you, guard us," Faust commanded. "Don’t let a single knight get close."
The Silver knights moved immediately. Despite the puppets being far stronger than them, they raised their weapons fearlessly.
The mount summons looked at Faust’s stern gaze. The red wolf whimpered and turned. The horse strode along with the Silver knights.
The supreme summons were still. The scourger’s nine faces split into a horrible smile that made even Faust’s blood run cold.
Then it turned and trudged towards the entrance and the knights now marching at them.
The wind elemental glanced between the demon and its new master once, then turned too.
"Oh my god, never summon that thing around me again," Nirvana whispered.
"That thing is scary as hell," Zen agreed. He had drawn a water arrow nervously.
Thalia was watching him. Faust hadn’t checked, but he was sure she also appraised all his summons.
"So unfair," she muttered with a small smile.
"Enough, let’s poison ourselves," Faust said quickly.
Zen held up a hand. "Before that, Nirvana, please make sure the antidote is still with you?"
She pulled out a large transparent pitcher of a blue gel-like potion.
Unwillingly, they gathered round the stone basin filled with dark water.
"It’s pretty salty, don’t spit it out," Nirvana warned.
Faust watched Thalia express disgust with an expressionless face.
"It’s seawater," she said.
They cupped the icy water with their hands. Faust jolted from the sudden shock. It was impossibly cold.
They looked at each other before taking the first sip, asking with their eyes whether they were actually doing this.
Nirvana drank first. Faust quickly followed.
His throat constricted. A painful shiver passed through him. The icy, salty water scratched his throat all the way down.
Greg sputtered, spraying the water over his shirt. Thalia retched after she swallowed, eyes wide. Spider squeezed her face and walked away.
Nirvana and Zen took it pretty well. Faust did too, apart from the slight squirming.
Then they looked down at the bowl to see they had barely scratched the surface, and grimaced.
It was a long, grueling drink. They stopped every few minutes to stare blankly at the summons battling the Puppet Knights.
Ten knights remained. Each had a combat power of 700, and his strongest summon had barely 600.
But where they lacked in raw power, they made up for it in strange, powerful abilities.
The Nine-faced Scourger rose into the air like a horrific bird of prey, spewing toxic red sludge from its mouth and cackling in a haunting voice.
The shriek of the wind elemental’s power joined in a deadly chorus. It swept knights off their feet and into the toxic sludge.
The knights slashed at it but were unable to hurt the wind. The crimson spit of the scourger melted their steel slowly but surely.
Soon the knights could only raise a hand weakly from the floor, melting away solemnly.
More knights joined, but the Silver knights riding Faust’s mounts slowed them down. The system wasn’t lying when it said the mounts would be faster than Faust.
The wolf slipped between the knights in an agile blur. The archer summon on its back launched arrows quickly and with shocking precision, turning the knights into pincushions.
The Knight summon rode the horse gallantly, charging down the puppets. The horse was not as agile as the wolf, but in a straight charge, it was barely visible.
More knights came, but Faust watched them languidly.
His skin felt stiff and frozen. Breaths escaped him in gasps. In his belly, the seawater felt like a block of ice weighing him down.
The bitter taste of salt on his lips was maddening.
’Nirvana did this for multiple loops.’
He had to give it to her—this was hell.
Almost absentmindedly, he reached into the bowl for another scoop of water, and his fingers brushed the cold stone of the empty bowl.
He rose up weakly, shivering, then stared into the bowl and smiled.
"We’re done."
They pulled themselves up and dragged themselves through the ghostly vine maze. The brush of the silver thorns was stinging and painful, but on his icy skin, it felt ignorable.
Soon they were on the other side, staring at a stone archway.
Zen fell to his knees first, rasping, "A-antidote."
The gel-like antidote slid down his throat soothingly. Faust felt the pain and cold retreat softly, like a small fire was lit in his chest.
"I already hate this place," Spider muttered.
The pouring rain and screaming thunder echoed outside. Faust rose and gripped his axe tighter.
"Let’s keep moving."
