The monster fell to the ground, and everyone sighed in relief… to think that a single summoned monster would cause that much trouble to them. Still, the atmosphere made everyone recover their guard, but it was too late.
"Mages are so easy to kill… they keep saying nonsense to attack just once," The black knight said, and his voice came from behind.
Ervan let out a gut-wrenching groan of pain. His body slumped forward, his hands clutching his side. Everyone turned their heads, their expressions filled with shock and confusion.
Just as everyone looked at him, their eyes widened in horror as they witnessed a figure emerging from the shadows. The Black Knight suddenly appeared behind Ervan and pierced Ervan's back with his hand and then grabbed the final relic hidden in his robe.
Even from a distance, Cailena used Heal, again and again, to stop the bleeding and save Ervan's life while Malon dashed at the black knight while Ailen fired numerous arrows, but he disappeared in the darkness again, and soon everyone saw a shadow leaving the room through the opposite direction.
"Go… after him…" Ervan muttered when everyone was walking toward him, and then he closed the wound in his body with ice magic. "Stop him… I will follow you from behind."
They hesitated for a moment, but eventually, they nodded and left the room. All of them would be as good as dead if the true enemy were to show up now.
They found a door behind some red curtains and immediately followed the path ahead until they found a large chamber that seemed to mimic another throne room.
At the heart of the chamber, where one would expect to find a majestic throne, there instead stands an imposing and somber sight—a colossal coffin of ornately carved obsidian. Its surface reflects no light, rendering it an abyss of ebony darkness. The coffin's lid, adorned with macabre and intricate designs, appears to have been hewn from the very essence of nightmares.
From the coffin, a palpable sense of power emanates, enveloping the room in an aura of dread. The air itself seems to grow colder, causing a shiver to creep down your spine. It is as if the coffin holds within it the essence of the abyss, a vessel for the darkest of forces.
The surrounding space is devoid of life, save for the silent sentinels that guard the macabre throne room. Stone statues, frozen in poses of eternal vigilance, line the chamber's perimeter. Their hollow eyes, devoid of warmth or humanity, seem to follow their every move, their presence a constant reminder of the unyielding grip of death.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think that they want to revive Dracula or something," Aion thought.
The dark knight had already put the relics in some spots around the coffin, and the whole thing began to tremble. The dark knight was laughing maniacally while he was seeing the coffin slowly opening.
Aion wondered if the dark knight would be the first to go down. While everyone was trembling like leaves while the atmosphere was getting darker and more ominous. Those were bis thoughts… it was a pretty cliched thing to happen… the boss kills the minion while saying something like: you took too long, useless scum.
In any case, the coffin slowly opened up, and then it revealed Tenebres inside. Emerging from the confines of the coffin, a tall blond man steps forward, his appearance a chilling contrast to the ominous surroundings. His lean and sinewy frame is adorned with nothing but a pair of weathered leather pants. These pants, however, are entwined in an intricate web of chains, the metallic links glinting ominously in the dim light of the room.
As the man strides confidently forward, the chains clink and rattle in discordant harmony, each link serving as a testament to his captivity and dominance. They wrap tightly around his limbs, crisscrossing his torso and securing his every movement, an iron embrace that seems both restrictive and yet, strangely empowering.
His hair, a cascade of lustrous blond locks, falls effortlessly around his shoulders, adding a touch of beauty to the eerie scene. The strands appear untouched by the passage of time, flowing as if caught in a perpetual state of mid-motion. They frame a face that is both striking and unsettling, with high cheekbones and piercing azure eyes that seem to hold a captivating, otherworldly gleam.
A smile, vast and unnerving, stretches across his face, seemingly at odds with the gravity of the room. It is a smile that reaches from ear to ear, revealing gleaming white teeth that glimmer in the darkness. There is a feral quality to his grin as if he finds delight in the macabre and revels in the wickedness that surrounds him.
"I am back…" Tenebres said while grinning and while the chains were cracking up.
Once the chains broke, some nasty burn wounds were revealed, but then they began to close up insanely fast. If the chains were made of silver, Aion truly would feel like Tenebres was a vampire. He thought that he was joking, but maybe his joke was spot on…
"My lord… I apologize for the delay in freeing," The dark knight said after he bent his knees.
"It is fine, my valiant warrior," Tenebres said while grabbing the relics from the coffin and then smashing them with his hands easily. "Think nothing of it. You have served me well, and I will give you the rewards that you deserve. Choose any city of the world, and that will be yours."
"Yes!" The dark knight said and then got up. "My lord, these are…"
"Yes, I can smell them… disgusting," Tenebres said while showing an expression as if he was staring at a pile of cockroaches turd. "It has been so many years, but those bloodlines still insist on getting on my way…"
Soon after, Ervan appeared in the room while he was having a hard time standing up. His face turned pale when he saw Tenebres and how alive he was, but he still didn't lose his fighting spirit.
"Since all those that can seal me are here, I suppose I should spare myself the hassle and just kill you all," Tenebres said while smiling. "This won't be very fun or fulfilling, but it will be a good warm-up."
"I don't think so, demon," Ervan said, and then he made the ice in his wound vanish.
Blood began to gush from the wound again, but Ervan used that to surround him and the others with it. After not so long, the blood began to glow.
"... I will let you take this victory now, but you will lose the war," Ervan said and then fell on his knees. "Tempora aeternam, abrigo potestatem! Chronos, bend thy cosmic tapestry to my will. Past and future, I beseech thee, intertwine. Grant me passage to the realm of moments untold. With this chant, I bind the hands of time."
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