"Do you think that we are just going to let you get away." Mrazivy said, her eyes gleaming with fury.
In the next moment she took off, flying directly towards Vaughn with her sword ready to cut him down.
However, the most direct path to her target was by flying over the Font of Death, something that had unforeseen consequences.
The bubbling dark sludge-like liquid burst up and attempted to entangle Mrazivy. It had sensed her life force and wanted to snuff it out.
This forced Mrazivy back to the edge of the Font of Death onto the hill of black sands surrounding it and away from Vaughn.
"Roxene, Blitz, Inten, go around and cut them off." Marcus said.
If those that were among the living could not pass over the Font of Death, they would need only go around. Capturing or killing Vaughn was their priority here.
Yet, before any of them could get far, the crimson skeleton wreathed in blood red flames vanished. It had used space magic to teleport, and this forced Marcus, Mrazivy, Roxene, Blitz, and Inten to be on guard against a sudden attack.
Except the crimson skeleton's target had never been any of them. It reappeared on top of Zaila who was restrained within the Font of Death.
It then pulled out a long, barbed spike that was pitch black in color and jammed it deep into Zaila's back until it had disappeared from sight.
'Laser.'
In an attempt to stop the crimson skeleton, Marcus fired his fastest spell at it, but his laser spell never connected.
The space around the crimson skeleton had been warped by its own magic and the laser bent around it and harmlessly flew off into the distance.
After his failed attack, Marcus watched the crimson skeleton teleport away and return to Vaughn's side.
It was quite clear that it was going to warp them all away next, but Marcus was not going to let that happen.
He used his Light Speed Movement unique skill to travel the distance between them in less than an instant and came out swinging with his scythe. There was simply no way he was letting them get away so easily.
"CLANG!"
Unfortunately, Marcus' scythe did not reach its intended target. He had been aiming to cut Vaughn down in one strike, but Argus had blocked him with his war hammer.
Still, Marcus took this moment to take out the spatial disrupter he had made with Thabon years ago now. This would prevent them from escaping with space magic.
"You certainly got a lot stronger since I last saw you. How the hell did you get so strong in such a short span of time?" Argus said with a grimace on his face.
While he had blocked Marcus' attack, the force behind it had caused his hands to go numb for a second.
Of course, Marcus was not here to have a discussion and prepared his next attack immediately.
'Death Dance.'
Spinning around on the tips of his toes Marcus turned into a whirlwind and began hammering away at Argus with a flurry of attacks coming from different directions.
It did not take long before his scythe had left dozens of lacerations on Argus' body and red and dark grey blood began flowing out of his wounds.
Seeing Argus' blood, Marcus was now certain that he was no longer one hundred percent human. He had somehow been turned into some sort of half demon.
Nevertheless, while Argus had become much more powerful than he had been during the civil war in Tralenstein due to his demonic transformation, Marcus had reached even greater heights thanks to the special dungeon.
With just a few more attacks Marcus was certain that he would be able to defeat Argus, but he was not only fighting one opponent.
Hundreds of iron feathers began swarming around him before he could finish Argus off and a giant sword of iron came crashing down on him.
Just like Marcus, Vaughn was a user of iron magic, and he had prepared several spells during Marcus' clash with Argus.
Having to switch to defense, Marcus cast his own spells to counter Vaughn's and blew away the masses of iron that had been coming at him.
'Only a bit longer. The others will be here in just a second.' Marcus thought.
He may not have been able to beat Vaughn and his cronies on his own, but he had jumped into the fray mainly to prevent them from escaping. In an all-out fight, it was pretty clear that his side was superior.
But it was right before they were able to begin a concentrated assault that a calamity awakened.
It had been unclear what the crimson skeleton had done to the Phoenix Zaila with that long black spike, but now its effects were apparent.
The chains around Zaila slackened and the powerful phoenix awakened.
However, there was no clarity of reason in her eyes, only pain and rage.
Immediately the entire area exploded in flames, and Zaila, the guardian beast of Aezam went berserk.
"It is a shame that we will not be bale to fully control her as planned, but she should serve as a good enough distraction." Vaughn said, smirk on his face.
This had been his plan all along since he realized he could not beat Marcus, Mrazivy, and Marcus' beast companions. He had only needed to create a suitable distraction that would allow him and his compatriots to get away.
"If you want to keep chasing us you are free to, but I wonder how your wife and those beasts will hold out without you." Vaughn said, before flying away with Argus, Frederica, and the crimson skeleton right behind him.
Watching them get away, Marcus ground his teeth and wanted to go after them, but Mrazivy and his beast companions were already caught up in Zaila's rampage.
Soon his hesitation did not matter anymore as Vaughn and his group exited the range of his spatial disruptor and disappeared. They had made their escape.
'Damn it!' Marcus thought as he turned around and flew towards the rampaging mythic grade beast.
The others were able to keep her contained and were putting up a good fight, but Marcus was the only one that could truly put this to an end.
Zaila was clearly under the effects of several negative status conditions, something that his Supreme Skill would be able to fix in an instant.
'Ultimate Refresh.'
Once Marcus got within twenty meters of Zaila, he shot out the silver ball of light that contained the power of his supreme skill. The silver light washed over Zaila's body and he pale flames and bleached white feathers that had formed from the corruption of the Font of Death vanished.
Clarity quickly returned to Zaila's eyes and it seemed that her frenzy had come to an end. Or not.
Just a moment after she seemed to have recovered from her berserk state, her eyes glazed over once again, and she turned her head towards Marcus and opened her beak.
A blast of fire that was more like a compressed beam came out of her mouth and consumed Marcus before impacting the desert and carving a molten canyon through it.
"Marcus!" Mrazivy shouted.
Normally she would not have been so concerned even if he got hit by an attack, but this was a blast that had come from a mythic grade beast that was several levels above them. Even as tough as he was, Marcus was not invincible.
Frantically she began rushing towards where he had been, but Marcus reappeared in front of her and stopped her before she put herself in the line of fire.
"I am fine. Got pretty lucky that she is in no state to focus on using spiritual energy." Marcus said with a relieved sigh.
He had been completely caught off guard by that blast since he figured that his Supreme Skill had solved the problem. If not for his swift reflex to turn intangible, he would have been burned away to nothing.
Still, now that he had a moment to think, Marcus could not figure out why his Ultimate Refresh had seemingly failed.
"I don't think it was unsuccessful." Mrazivy said, understanding what Marcus was thinking by the expression on his face.
"You can see that the undeath corruption has faded and she has recovered from it thanks to your skill. I am guessing that you also cured her berserk state, but the source is still within her. Even if you continue to erase the status effect, it will just come back so long as that stake is inside her."
Nodding his head, Marcus agreed with Mrazivy's speculation. His Supreme Skill erased any negative effects on the target's status and brought it back to normal, but it did not prevent them from being afflicted with a status effect again. So long as the source of Zaila's berserk state was lodged within her body, he would be unable to permanently heal her.
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