A Sigh of Relief

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Duskwraith(Lvl-2)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No

--

I hurriedly chose Yes for all of them.

--

[Duskwraith(Lvl-2)][Progress- 79%]

Do you wish to evolve Duskwraith to Level 3?

Yes/No

--

"That's my Ace," Aria spoke and walked out of the knight's embrace. The figure of the knight around us had already begun crumbling, so ignoring the notification, I, too, began hesitatingly following after her toward the crater.

At the side of the crater was Vexis kneeling down on the ground, panting. It must have taken a lot for him to activate that spell.

In the center of the crater laid the fresh corpse of the boss duskwraith. Seeing his lifeless body, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Can't believe we survived." Thorne let out a sigh of relief and collapsed down on the floor, followed by Tess and myself.

Thorne and Tess took out some medical supplies and began fixing their wounds. My attention, however, was focused on the corpse. It would have been so nice to have that thing as my revenant. Unfortunately, while fighting alongside Aria, I noticed that I could only turn monsters killed by myself into revenants. Why was that? I had no idea. Only the window wouldn't show up, no matter how hard I tried.

Besides me, Aria remained standing and glanced towards an exhausted Vexis. Seeing that look, Vexis stood up with his bloodied arm and began walking towards the now destroyed stairs.

That's weird. They were going near that room.

Things seemed a lot more complicated to me for some reason.

SLICE!!!

A slicing noise caused me to turn my head around. In front of my eyes, I saw Thorne's decapitated head flying through the air into the empty crater.

Besides Thorne stood the beast, with one of its arms gone and its entire body covered in shattered scales soaked in black blood.

My blood went cold, and I immediately activated Static Timefall. The world slowed down, but not the beast. It took one look at me and rushed in the opposite direction, towards the stairs.

Besides me, Tess screamed, hoping to warn Aria and Vexis, but it was too late. By the time Vexis could turn around, the monster was already upon him. Its fearsome jaw clenched shut around Vexis's neck, after which it proceeded to rip his head.

Silence covered the fort as Vexis's torso collapsed on the ground in a shower of blood. Injured and exhausted, none of us even dared breathe, too afraid the monster would come for us next.

As for the monster, it sat above Vexis's corpse, letting out a strange sound as if laughing.

The thing had not only taken its revenge, it had also eliminated the strongest of his foes. To him, the rest of us were nothing but livestock, ready for harvest.

The beast was gloating in its victory, and my mind was spinning at a speed I couldn't fathom. Something, there must be something I could do. Upgrade Shroud to Level 3? No, I didn't have the mana. Try to make a run for it in the desert. The thing was too fast to let me escape.

One by one, all sorts of escape scenarios flooded my mind—until, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something.

Aria had begun slowly walking towards the room near the stairs.

That was it. I didn't know what she was doing or what was up with that room, but the Aria I knew wouldn't do something like this without any reason.

I glanced at the monster, who was now busy eating through Vexis's flesh. This was my chance, the thing was distracted. I just had to Aria on this, there must be something in that room that could save me.

Not using any spell, I, too, slowly began walking towards the room. Tess, perhaps catching on too, began quietly following after me.

Seeing us moving, Aria paused for a bit and then continued moving. I needed to enter that room before her, no way did I trust her to keep the door open for me and Tess to open.

We were about twenty steps away when the beast paused its feeding and turned around, facing us.

My chest tightened. Time was up.

In a flash, I activated Static Timefall and shot forward, my feet pounding the ground as Aria lunged inside the doorway. Behind me, Tess used the flying spell from before, and I barely glimpsed her lifting into the air when the beast's roar split the air. Its hulking form lunged, jaws yawning wide, and then—crunch. It caught Tess's leg in its maw, tearing it clean from her body.

Tess screamed, and I forced myself to move, watching as the creature, with a low growl, gnawed on her severed leg.

It wasn't going for the kill anymore. The bastard was toying with us.

Reaching the room I stood besides Aria. "If there is something in this room that can save us, you better use it now." I almost shouted.

"Here, take this," Aria whispered and stepped aside. I quickly grabbed the door's handle and prepared to shut it at a moment's notice. Even in such a situation, she didn't want to be the one her subordinate saw shutting the door in her face.

Tess was a lost cause, still a couple of feet from the room it would take beast less than a millisecond to reach her and tear her to shred. And seems like it was planning to do so after all.

Swallowing the bone and everything, it was about to lunge at her when suddenly a fountain of blood rushed out of its mouth, causing it to kneel.

He was still injured. Aria immediately grabbed my hand, stopping me. Tess saw it too, knowing full well this was her last chance at survival she casted the flying spell one last time and shot inside the room.

The moment she entered I pushed the door handle to shut the door. Seeing us trying to hide the beast raised it's head and rushed towards us with whatever strength it had left, crashing into the stone door head first.

All three of us had made it.