Chapter 59

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Nothing happened for a moment before they heard a cracking sound. Tracey took a step back, and two of the coffins, the ones directly adjacent to the exit, fell down with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

With both the dust and Miyuki's mist, visibility had been reduced to near zero, yet as the coffin was opened, the two monsters that had been unsealed became highlighted in red for Ethan's group. Meanwhile, they saw the other members of the group in blue.

Illusions were most often used to hinder, but here Miyuki was manipulating everyone's sight to highlight the figures of everyone, effectively circumventing their blindness.

Concerning the monsters, they were just shy of three metres tall, their bodies covered in lean muscles. They would have looked human, were it not for their size and their bird heads. They had the heads of a bird of prey, possibly a falcon.

They were also dressed in ancient armour and were armed with a couple of khopesh swords that would have looked ridiculously large for any human but were fit for these monsters.

Facing them, even Ethan was feeling intimidated. It wasn't his first time facing monsters, but these ones had something about them that made his muscles tense.

"Apollo Sagitta!"

One moment the two monsters were standing just fine, and in the next, they both had a hole in the middle of their chest, about two fingers wide.

The two monsters crumpled to the ground, and everyone turned to look at Henry. Snyde seemed to be almost in worship as she exclaimed, "Apollo Sagitta?! Where did you learn this spell?"

Henry smiled politely but chose not to answer, "It was a while back."

Tracey looked at Ethan, her question clear before she even asked, "Is this a special spell?"

Ethan shrugged, having never heard of it before. Snyde had heard her question, however, as she provided an explanation, her expression not any less fanatical than before: "Apollo Sagitta is the treasure of any Curse Breaker! It is famed as the most effective spell against creatures of darkness. The only other person I know with this spell is Professor Rakepick, and she is the best in the world!"

Ethan noted that in her excitement, she had once again slipped with Rakepick, which made him wonder: Was her story all there was to it? Although he was sure it was his paranoia speaking, Ethan still kept it in mind, just in case.

Miyuki, who was still focusing on managing the enchantment, sent a signal to Ethan, and upon receiving it, he said to the others, "Two more are coming."

Seeing that his father already had his wand at the ready, Ethan sent him a pointed look and added, "Maybe let us deal with those? Or don't one-shot them at least."

All he got was a smug smile.

Still, as two more coffins cracked open and the monsters stepped forth, Henry did not use the same spell, but it was still one of a fiery nature as a potent flame latched onto one of the monsters. It did not react to it, even as it visibly melted with every second.

It was not a surprise that Henry would opt for another fire spell because creatures of darkness had two main weaknesses: fire and silver.

With one of the two falcon-headed monsters dealt with, Ethan turned his attention to the second one as he went for his usual combo.

"Incendio!"

Instead of a cloud of flames that he would usually use to blind the enemy, Ethan manifested a smaller but more concentrated fire projectile, in the approximate shape of a spear, that crashed in the middle of the monster's chest.

It did not have the same effect his father's spell had, but the monster's chest was still charred black.

"Flipendo!"

Ethan did not aim at the monster's upper body but at its left knee instead. As expected, the monster was resistant to most forms of magic, but even with reduced effect, the knock-back effect pushed its knee back. Had it been a human, their kneecap would have been shattered.

"Diffindo!"

Ethan would have aimed at the neck, but the animalistic head looked stronger than the rest of the body, and the connection between it and the human part did not look hastily sewn, so he had aimed for the midsection instead.

The spell had little effect, unfortunately, barely drawing any blood. The monster set its sights on Ethan, peering through the mist as it looked straight at him.

The others were not idle, with Snyde attacking first with a potent fire spell.

"Lacarnum Inflamarae!"

A head-sized fireball was fired at the monster, and this time it reacted to the attack, swinging one of its khopesh at the fireball.

The sword must have had some anti-magic property, as it easily sliced through it, making it explode. It was a powerful fire spell, however, so despite not being hit directly, it still had its hand blown off.

Yet, the monster was unrelenting, not showing any sign of pain at the loss of a hand as it ignored Snyde. Its knees bent slightly before it made a powerful leap towards Ethan, crossing the distance between the two of them in an instant.

Looking at the raised sword ready to fall on him, Ethan's eyes widened as he jumped back, casting the levitation spell.

The sword barely missed him as Ethan fell into a backward stumble, and the monster was ready to strike again, only for its dropped sword to stab it in the back.

The monster looked down at the sword coming out of its chest with soulless eyes. It did not care for injuries or even its own demise; it simply took in the facts.

Meanwhile, Ethan was left panting as he scrambled back to his feet, just when he received an alarming warning from Miyuki, which he quickly transmitted to the rest of the group: "There's something wrong with those monsters! They're all coming out!"

Ethan did not have the time to explain, but through Miyuki, he could sense what had gone wrong. It was not her fault, as the enchantment was still in place over the four remaining coffins, yet the monsters sealed were somehow awakening.

Everyone tensed at his words but did not get to prepare as the four remaining coffins cracked open as one, and four identical monsters set their sight on the group.

Making a split-second decision, Ethan pointed his wand at two of them and said, "Custodia Malum!"

It was a shielding spell, but Ethan did not manifest it right in front of himself, but instead in front of two of the coffins, blocking the passage of two of them. The two monsters recoiled back into their coffins as they hit the silvery barrier as if they had touched a scalding piece of metal.

They could not easily destroy the barrier either, as the coffins were too small for them to properly wield their swords, so as long as Ethan could hold on to the shield, they would only have to fight two of them.

Henry, Snyde, and Bilaal all used a different fire spell to attack the two remaining monsters, with the clear intent of finishing them off as fast as possible, but they were no longer unresponsive.

They moved with surprising speed as one of the two placed itself in front of the other, shielding it as it did its best to parry the incoming spells. It was noticeably better than the last one had been, managing to parry Snyde's and Bilaal's spells, only falling when it was impaled by a fire spear fired by Henry.

However, while it died, it had managed to protect the other monster, who hadn't headed for any of the members of the group but instead for the silvery barrier.

Henry was the one who reacted the fastest, firing another quick spell at the monster, but as it was about to hit, the monster's swords impacted with the shield, destroying it with a single blow.

A sword extended out and shielded the monster, negating the spell.

Moving as one, the three monsters stood next to each other, and all their gazes settled on Ethan, their swords at the ready.