Chapter 20: Ugly Skeletons

Wren stared at the skeleton like creature in front of him, it was a little interesting and disturbing for him. The skeleton moved without any muscles and tissues to connect the bones, with a killing intent of course. 

The skeleton dashed at Wren, with a inhuman speed. Baring it's teeth to tear Wren's flesh, Wren jumped off from the trajectory sending the creature straight to Effie only for the beast to be met by direct hit from Effie's shield sending it few meters away.

The skull and ribcage were shattered, sending bone splinters on ground of the narrow tunnel. The strange creature fell to the ground like a broken marionette. Sunny stared at the fallen monstrosity, confusion etched on his face.

'Wait... that's it?'

However, Wren and Effie both knew that it wasn't over. The huntress yelled, tearing him away from these thoughts:

"Don't stop, move!"

The cohort rushed forward, following Effie into the depths of the catacombs. When Sunny was approaching the remains of the reanimated skeleton, he noticed something that made a cold chill run down his spine.

The bones were still moving, slowly assembling themselves back into the shape that resembled a human. Just as he stepped past the creature, one skeletal hand suddenly thrust in his direction, trying to claw at his leg. If not for Sunny's quick reaction, it might have succeeded in injuring him.

With one slash of the Midnight Shard, he crushed the clawing hand and threw it away. Falling on the stones a few meters back, the hand remained motionless for a moment, and then began crawling back to the quickly recovering skeleton.

 'What a cheap trick.'

Wren was observing through the darkness, alerting of similar creatures ahead of them. They would appear in pairs, then these pairs will grow into small groups and then an entire legion of these undying skeletons would be on them.

These monster cannot die, until there invisible source of power is not destroyed. Drawn by its unseen pull, the bones were putting themselves back together one after another. Those too damaged to be of use were simply replaced by one of the bones scattered on the floor of the tunnel. Soon, the skeleton would inevitably rise again.

'These skeletons, they are minions of maybe an awakened no a fallen tyrant.'

Things were going to turn from bad to harrowing soon, and they did. All that started was the moment when the sound of a rustle slipped away from the parts distant to the impenetrable darkness.

'So they are here.'

Though the flood of the skeletons would soon start to flow in front of them, Wren wasn't worried about it, the creatures had challenged him at his own element. Sighing, Wren activated his Aspect, his left eye turned pitch black and then a manic voice resounded it Wren's mind. 

[Ah, it has been eons. Since you have called for me, Wren.]

Wren however didn't reply back to Ark. He just gave a small nod, although it had been only few months since he had not used his aspect, Ark was just using it a way to exaggerate that how much he had missed to bath in blood. 

'What a peculiar flaw of mine, well first flaw.'

[So, who do we to kill and bath in their bl-, I am out of this, call me when you are fighting someone who has flesh and blood.]

With that Ark went silent, Wren sighed silently as he felt a little bit of weight getting lifted up from his mind. Focusing in front of the path, he sighed a little then augmented the slayer of shadows, and himself.

'So this my first time fighting, with one hand of course.'

He didn't needed to regenerate his other hand, until he felt the need to do it. Everyone took their position, Effie and Nephis taking the front while Caster and Wren took their rear. Kai, Cassie, Sunny and Saint took the rear of the vanguard. With this the formation was completed. 

***

Pretty soon, the undead creatures were upon them. First in ones and pairs, then in small groups, the bloodthirsty skeletons assaulted them in a constant stream. Appearing from the darkness of the catacombs, they lunged at the cohort in a whirlwind of bony claws and teeth, each bearing the same eerie skeletal grin.

Effie and Nephis, who were at the front of the group, faced the brunt of the attacks. The huntress exerted her inhuman strength, bulldozing through the skeletons like an incarnation of ancient fury. Her round shield acted as a wrecking ball, shattering the undead monsters left and right.

Nephis fought with the elegant fluidity of water… but also with the crushing force of a devastating flood. She was holding the longsword by the blade, using its crossguard and pommel as an improvised mace. With white flames dancing in her eyes, she moved from one skeleton to another, skillfully deflecting their blows and crushing one skull after another.

If anything got past them, Caster was there to deliver the finishing blow. His sword shone with a ghostly green light, slicing through bones as if without meeting any resistance. The proud Legacy fought with graceful precision, always managing to immobilize the enemy with just one clean strike. The skeletons fell to his sword before even having a chance to retaliate.

Wren was there too, although Caster had been taking out the most, Wren was taking care of the blind spots of the vanguard, his sword slicing through bones of the hidden skeletons unnoticed by the people in front. He was also restricting the movements of upcoming hordes by creating barriers of darkness that was straining his brain, although no one had time to be thankful of that.

The four powerhouses made paving the path through the horde of monsters seem almost easy. However, Sunny knew that it was anything but. Each skeleton was stronger and faster than a human could ever be. It took incredible skill, resolve, and coordination to cut through their ranks without slowing down even for a second.

Soon, he was forced to taste the true menace of these undead abominations for himself.

Sunny, Cassie, and Kai were relatively safe at first, but with each passing minute, their situation worsened.

The catacombs were a real maze. More and more often, the tunnels they were taking began to open into complicated crossroads and connect with other branching paths. When that happened, undead creatures could lunge at the cohort from the side, bypassing the impenetrable barrier of Changing Star and her two champions.

More than that, as the number of skeletons destroyed by them increased and several minutes passed, the abominable monsters began rising back from the ground and dashing in pursuit of the party, soon attacking it from the rear.

Eventually, the cohort was constantly assaulted from all sides.

When Sunny first had to raise his sword to repel a straggler that lunged at him from the side tunnel, he acted with calm precision engraved into him by countless hours of practice. Slashing with the Midnight Shard, he cleanly beheaded the undead creature. Augmented by the shadow, his tachi managed to cut through solid bone without that much effort.

Sunny knew that losing its head won't kill the skeleton, so he instantly shifted his balance and kicked the monster in the chest, throwing it back.

Although he expected that this would happen, the lack of the familiar voice whispering into his ear still unnerved him. Usually, he would have heard the announcement of the kill already.

But these abominations were immortal, so the Spell remained silent.

Lamenting the fact that he would not be getting any shadow fragments today, Sunny moved away from the decapitated skeleton and sighed.

'Well, at least this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.'

…But just a few minutes later, he bitterly regretted thinking those words aloud.

***

'This is getting bad.'

Wren thought while the slayer of shadows slice through the skeleton bones, immobilizing it. The strain on his brain was growing by every second that passed, enough to force Wren from maintaining the barrier, and make him bleed a little from his nose.

Wiping the blood off from his nose, Wren gripped tightened on the slayer of shadows. He had to switch into battle, as the cohort was flooded with frenzied skeletons desiring to bare their teeth on the flesh of the human members of the cohort. 

A idea suddenly popped in Wren's mind, something that was very daring and would also take a toll on his strength. But this risk was a calculated risk and would give them a little relief when they will take next turn. 

Without wasting any second Wren jumped, leaping out of the formation in front of Nephis and Effie. In this meantime, a shield made up of darkness formed in front of him. Biting his lip to divert his focus from the mental strain, he landed powerful kick on the shield, it was powerful enough to make the shield move forward, pushing the horde of skeletons in front of them. 

Effie was stunned to speak anything to Wren, Nephis however wasn't affected and order the cohort to take the turn. Wren was running in front of the cohort now, slicing almost every skeletons lunging in front of him, the slayer of shadows whistled when it sliced the ancient bones.

While Wren was cleaning the path way, Nephis had ordered the others to switch their position, with Caster and Effie now, being the vanguard and Sunny being it's rear. In this short time, Lost from Light and gluttonous woman shared few words once he got there.

"Hey, doofus. You… look like shit."

Sunny glanced down and had to agree with her. With his armor torn in a dozen places and soaked through and through with blood, he looked pretty much exactly as dead as the Nightmare Creatures they were fighting.

However, Effie's state wasn't any better.

He smiled crookedly.

"Thanks. You're quite a looker yourself, you know."

The huntress scoffed and then turned away to face another of the undead abominations.

"Hold fast! We're almost there!"

She told the truth.

The end of the narrow tunnel was in front of Wren, however the skeletons were still blocking the way, growing annoying of them Wren decided to finish it once for all to clear the path for their escape. 

He dashed in front of the harrowing creatures, raising the slayer of shadows towards his shoulder, rotating his whole body he became a swirling abomination that cut every foe in front of him even leaving gashed on the wall of the tunnel.

Everyone were surprised with the method, Wren decided to take care of the remaining skeleton creatures but time was more important and they cannot waste their breath for meaningless talk.

The tunnel they were moving through suddenly opened into a large cavern. A few meters in front of them, the floor of the catacombs was broken, collapsing into a vast, seemingly bottomless chasm. That terrifying abyss was filled with darkness that even Sunny's sight couldn't pierce.

The chasm was no less than forty meters across and stretched far into the distance to both left and right, like a dark border separating the world of the living from the world of the dead. A rickety rope bridge was drawn across it, connecting to a similar-looking tunnel at the other end of the abyssal chasm.

The rope bridge looked like a derelict of ancient times. It was flimsy, slippery, and rotten through and through.

'She doesn't expect us to actually use it, does she? It's so obvious that this thing will collapse as soon as we step on it! Has she not seen any sageuk?! Even if others somehow survive, there's no chance that I, with that damn [Fated] Attribute, will make it to the other end...'

Sunny turned to Effie and scowled, really hoping to be surprised by her answer.

"So, what now?"

The huntress looked at him in confusion.

"What else? We cross the bridge!"

Wren suddenly had an annoying thought.

'Ugh, Why the fuck, do I have to take care of everything?'