The White Haired Demon Slayer (Part-18)

The first to hit us was the stench.

***Sylvie Bransford***

Elaina has been really quiet ever since. With nothing but a small "thank you" as she got back on her feet, she started quietly collecting arrows from the bodies scattered around.

Ren seemed to have noticed Elaina's silence as well, but said nothing. Instead, just handed her a bow when she got done picking up arrows and stood quietly, clenching her fist with a sad expression on her face.

"We are going to save Luca now. Start moving." Ren commanded with a sense of absolute authority that we couldn't refuse, even if we wanted to.

And thus we started moving. Running through the hallways, we breezed through, instantly killing every unfortunate goblin who came across our path. Ren, no longer in his white hair form, continued to kill effortlessly. Even then, he made sure I and Elaina were pulling our own weight.

Elaina's demeanor while fighting had completely changed. While she no longer charged recklessly, her usual focused and calculated manner of fighting was also nowhere to be seen. Without a word, she would swiftly dispatch her enemies, using wind magic only to call back her arrows. The sad expression remained unchanged on her face.

I knew exactly the feeling that plagued her. And it reminded me of what happened just a few minutes ago. I still struggled to process it.

Everything happened so quickly. Elaina nearly dying in my arms, the feeling of despair as monsters closed in to finish us off. And then, instantly, every monster was dead. White hair, purple irises, glowing marks, and a giant blade. Ren saved us right when we needed him.

But all of it paled to what I witnessed next. The black space, devoid of any light, other than the glowing purple form in the shape of Ren. Unfathomable power, holding his hand out to me. Back in that space, the glowing form's presence felt warm to me. But now...

"Sylvie, focus. Eyes on the battle." Ren called out, bringing me out of my trance.

"Sorry," I said in a small voice as I refocused my eyes forward. Even then, as I looked upon the wide back of the man in front of me, dressed simply in black, I couldn't help but wonder...

"Who is he...?"

"We are close..." Elaina finally spoke up.

It was then that I realized Elaina had been using her tracking magic the entire time.

"Good. Get ready." Ren replied.

"No... wait. Something is wrong." Elaina sounded alarmed.

Ren stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. "Tell me."

Elaina's eyes widened with surprise as she replied. "The monsters... are fleeing."

"From whom? Luca? Liam?"

"I don't know... There are too many bodies. Corpses everywhere. My magic cannot even sense the ground anymore."

Concern broke through even Ren's calm and composed face. "We keep moving. If the goblins are fleeing, they will come towards us. Move with extreme caution."

And as expected, soon enough we could hear goblins screaming and running towards us. With weapons at the fore (hands for Ren), we prepared to engage them. But the goblins could not even consider putting up a fight. Fear was evident in their eyes and their screams. As they ran towards us, we kept killing them until there were none left.

What monstrous power could scare them so much? Even with Ren by our side, I had no interest in facing yet another powerful being.

We continued along the path that the fleeing goblins came from. We were close... and then it started.

The first to hit us was the stench.

A horrible putrid stench that I was too familiar with. It wasn't the stench of decaying bodies. Instead, it was that of too many dead bodies amassed at one point.

From my days as a part of emergency healer teams for regions devastated by monster attacks. I had seen enough heaps of corpses of humans and monsters alike.

This wasn't good.

And then there was the stream of blood. Sticky green blood, overflowing into the hallways. Goblin blood.

Without wasting a single moment, we stepped into the disgusting blood and continued to tread forward.

...

Hundreds, thousands... How many had he killed?

Elaina was right, the ground was no longer visible. Corpses of dead goblins and hobgoblins covered the entire floor.

The hall we peered into was once pearl white, as deduced from the color of the ceilings. But the walls, were covered with green blood to the point one couldn't even see a speck of white anymore.

The layer of corpses on the floor was at least a foot high. The bodies were spilling out into the hallways. Elaina used her wind magic to part the bodies for us to enter. The stench was getting worse with every step, but we had no choice.

As we made our way into the room, the view got clearer. Still surrounded by a few brave but stupid goblins, standing on a mountain of corpses, there he was. Luca.

Injuries had torn through his entire body. I knew with a single glance, there is no human way possible for anyone to be alive with these injuries.

The left side of his body was covered in blood, absolutely devastated. A large gaping hole had torn through the left side of his gut, but for some reason, blood was moving on the surface of his wound without spilling out. He was clearly using magic to avoid bleeding out from his gut. But it was limited only to that one injury.

His left eye had been stabbed. It wasn't even closed, just blood from his eye socket flowing down his face. All the way from the corner of his upper back, his left shoulder had multiple cuts and stab wounds, each bleeding slowly over the rest of his body. His back seemed shredded with more cuts and claw marks. Even though his left hand was hanging lifelessly by his side, it still held his knife by the fingertips, as if refusing to let go at any cost.

The right side of his body had its own injuries, but they weren't as bad. The right arm still had its arm guards attached, gripping his second knife.

Luca himself was just standing lifelessly, staring at the ceiling, his expression as lifeless as his body. His remaining eye wasn't blinking and no chest movement of breathing could be seen.

Wait... no

Please no... not Luca...

My knees buckled. I couldn't feel the strength to walk anymore in my legs. Elaina rushed over to me as Ren looked back with concern, calling out my name.

I couldn't bear to imagine it. This couldn't be happening. No way he suffered so much, no way he fought so much... that he died standing.

I had heard cases of this. People in battle who were so dedicated to fighting that they actually died standing, still holding on to their weapons, refusing to go down, even in death.

To even remember such a thing was making my head light. My vision was blurring as Ren walked over to me and yanked me up by the shoulder to shock me back to life.

"Sylvie! We need you! On your feet!" Ren commanded firmly, looking right into my eyes. His expression was so fierce it reminded me of his glowing purple eyes, bringing me back to my senses.

"Ren, look!" Elaina screamed out, pointing towards Luca.

A goblin had made its way up the corpses to Luca. Even with fear evident on its face, it raised its club to strike. It happened so quickly. Before Elaina could even notch an arrow onto her bow, Luca's face snapped towards the goblin, staring right into its soul with his one good eye. And in a flash, the goblin's head went flying off its body. Green blood spraying into the air from the stump that had once been its neck. The body fell as it joined the pile of corpses Luca was standing on.

Luca was alive!

Happiness flooded my heart as tears started rolling down my face. I can save him! I know it! I can save him!!!

But it wasn't over.

The sudden movement hadn't done Luca any favors. He was already so weak that even the small action made him lose his balance. I watched in horror as Luca painfully stumbled down the pile of corpses. The goblins cheered as they rushed to finish him.

But this time, my team took action just as quickly. Elaina covered Luca's body in a capsule of swirling air to cushion his fall, while Ren appeared right below to catch him. Luca slowly descended into Ren's arms, who held him as gently as possible. As Ren returned with Luca's fragile body, Elaina dispatched arrows all over the room to take down the charging goblins.

"Can you save him?" Ren said with a pleading expression that had now completely replaced his calm, commanding expression.

"I will."

I covered Luca in my light green magic to inspect his body. This should slow down any negative effects that have been cast on him, for example, curses. I casted another layer of status preservation magic on him. This should soothe his mind and put his body in a state where it would accept external manipulation. In a bid to protect itself, the body would often fight against any external attempt at treatment.

I wanted to cast another layer of magic to nullify his feeling of pain, but I decided against it. Pain is often very important to keep the person bound to the body when the soul is absolutely ready to leave. The same way pain keeps a person conscious when the body is ready to let go.

"Ren, I'm gonna need mana. Lots of it. Elaina, use your magic to help him breathe. His lungs are filled with blood. I will need to flush it out."

Ren immediately put his hand forward to let me extract from his enormous pool of mana. "Someone will need to be on defense."

"Just give me mana and then you handle it. I need Elaina for the procedure. If we can't get him to breathe, he'll die any second now. Elaina come on."

I didn't even care about how Ren's Mana felt to me. My entire focus was on Luca. Ren stepped back as Elaina took his place. I converted Ren's extremely potent mana to normal in my body and put an enormous amount into Luca's body.

I summoned to my left hand a dark green orb with multiple glowing points blinking all around it. This will allow me to understand what was happening inside the body.

On my right hand, small control discs appeared on each fingertip. This will allow me to control my magic inside his body.

With everything set, the procedure can now begin.

Luca, it's alright. I will save you.