Marcus was tired, his body groaned in protest as he kept pushing it to walk further than it was used to. While he had been strengthened to impossible levels by his advancement, a mage’s physical body was still their bane. Looking back, he saw the group that trailed him, like ducklings following their mother.

  They seemed to be in even greater peril than him, which was a granted in these woods. The dark woods were named so after the heavy darkness that caked the trees and animals. Said to be affected by a dark magic long ago when dragons used to crawl and phoenixes lived in glaciers.

  This magic made all who walked in them feel the true weight of their sins.

  That was what was written but Marcus, now that he had been inside, would refute that notion with his being.

  “Runes” His voice was barely a whisper that got strangled by the countless sounds. “The whole thing is covered in runes.” His eyes allowed him to see things beyond most.

  He couldn’t see a lot, but a peak behind the curtain was allowed from time to time. Now looking at the dark and misshapen trees, he saw runes. Ancient and powerful with mana so great that one drop would be enough to power his core for endless years. However, one theory that it was a creation of the system, he debunked it. The runes looked far too primal compared to the work of the system.

  It was known to be perfect, each rune made by it a work of art that mages of old and present fawn over. Many had forsaken all, sacrificed their being to creatures beyond the veil so as to replicate it’s work. All have failed.

  That was why, when looking at the runes that dotted this structure, he was sure someone, old and powerful, had carved it.

  “How much longer is this path?” The paladin asked. His voice was filled with exhaustion.

  “We have two more left.” He reassured them. His eyes looked away from the runes, which faded from his vision. He knew that he would need his mana for what was to come and like a bad fortune he was proven true.

  Deep in the woods, under the cover of darkness, red and yellowed eyes began to shine. With the increasing weight of gravity on their shoulders, the group panicked a little but when a soft growl shook the air, like a machine they all assembled.

  The paladin stood guard with the demon a few places behind but still with him, Justine funneled mana into his swords while walking some distance to the side, an ambush predator in the making.

  The warlock, stood close to Marcus as she used he siphoned power to summon a deep red flame onto her arms.

  The beasts inside the darkness took this chance to attack, one giant feline with something akin to water flowing from it’s pores leapt towards Justine, while a large scaled serpent slithered towards the necks of the paladin and Bael.

  “The scale of judgment has tilted into our favor as has the holy light.” The paladin all but shouted the words causing a glowing halo to emerge onto his head , floating silently. All around him a hot and blinding light emerged. The serpent winced a little when the light touched it but when nothing happened after a few seconds, it pounced at Bael with greater malice.

  Marcus took out his wand and layered the rune in his mind with another, one that shone crimson. The crimson rune fell onto the feline creature and it let out a small grunt, before throwing a sharp glance towards him.

  It didn’t attack, only continued to harass the celestial swordsman but Marcus didn’t miss the way the two yellowed eyes in the darkness shifted from the paladin to him.

  “Great, hope you can handle these on your own.” He worried that they couldn’t handle them, a battle between two mid rank two beasts in their territory against an early rank group almost always ends the same. His hope was that they had something special about them, and from how they carried themselves, with the arrogance of genius, he hoped they had some bite to back it up.

  The rune on his mind didn’t show itself but a deep festering wound appeared on the feline creature’s ribs, where his first had hit.

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  Battle runes were simple constructs, a burst of mana holding together knowledge and intent leading to an unstable rune that deals some instant damage but the effects are short lived.

  This was proved when the festering wound stopped growing and the vitality of the beast flooded it leaving a path of skin without fur, but dealing no damage other than the small distraction caused by pain.

  Justine saw this and attacked, however, his sword was met with a wall of dark liquid. It seemed to have come from the pores of the beast but that didn’t matter as a small slashing effect, colored a deep black by the mana tore across the beast’s side causing it to howl in pain.

  While Justine had drawn first blood, the paladin and demon were bulling the serpent. It had some torn scales and the skin beneath it was seared raw both by the light and fire from it’s opponents.

  Looking at his side, he saw the warlock, flames still floating above her with a face filled with fierceness.

  “Moon.” His voice cut across with sharpness. The woman turned to look at him with retorts already planed at her lips but she swallowed them when she looked at the state of battle. “Go help your friend kill that awful cat.” He said once more as his eyes turned towards the serpent.

  Even when on the brink of death, it kept on fighting with unending ferocity and the reason showed itself when the seared skin slowly mended itself. It was slow but with the drunken gait the demon had started to show, Marcus could almost see the end result.

  The demon lying in a pool of his own waste, while the healed serpent consumed the paladin. It’s poison made sure of that. While he weaved a new rune into being, filled with the intent to stop the poison, he vaguely saw the yellowed eyes move.

  The next moment he felt a sharp pain in his ribs and looking down saw the warlock at his side. An annoyed but worried expression on her face.

  “What are you doing here? The boy needs your assistance.” He had seen the boys tired expression when he released that slash and Marcus was sure he only had three or maybe two of them left before whatever resource he was using crumpled away.

  “Something is wrong.” Her voice was dressed with paranoia as she pointed to the paladin. He was in the same state as the warlock and the eyes were trained on him. The demon was holding the serpent’s maw open while it tried to bite his face off. The boy wasn’t doing any better as he was stuck inside the wall of dark water.

  Marcus formed a battle rune that pushed the serpent into the air when it struck, freeing the demon who rushed towards the paladin, giving him a jab to his ribs although due to the haste, ended up hitting his liver causing the paladin to kneel over coughing while his hand reached for his side.

  “What is wrong with you?”. A rage filled whisper managed to escape his mouth but was covered up by coughs.

  The demon didn’t stop as his spear left his hand and found it’s mark on the serpent. It didn’t penetrate it deeply but the demon didn’t care. “Ibil’s wrath.” He whispered a spell causing the spear to transform into a flaming javelin, held together by molten rock.

  The heat caused it to slide deeper inside and once deep enough, in accordance to the demon, the spear detonated into a shrapnel of molten rock and solid flames.

  A shriek of pain erupted from the serpent’s mouth with it’s forked tough shaking in the air. The demon want done yet as with a gesture, the spear reformed on his arm where it was thrown again, however this time the yellowed eyes turned towards him and the demon froze.

  Spear at the ready but the motion never came. The serpent recovered faster than Marcus thought possible from a hole through the torso, and the sizzling skin and molten scales that covered it. It tried to swallow the frozen demon but once it was close, he moved. Driving the spear through the gum towards the skull and when it struck bone and refused to move, the demon uttered.

  “burns forever.” The sound came out like a gong and from within the serpent, flames erupted. Flames that wormed their way throughout it’s whole body and finally erupted from it’s eyes. The serpent’s demise was painful but absolute.

  With fast but precise movements, Marcus applied the same rune he had cast on Bael. Each member of their group, including himself, had a small mark on their spine that would send a small current through their bodies were they to stop moving. Carried by the battle rune was another source rune, those that held and we’re made with effort. It would grant them a proportional increase in their strength for a few seconds, enough to avoid death not deal it.

  The new addition caused the boy to be started but before the small hole his movements had made inside the water was filled, he seemed to whisper some words to his swords. They slowly glowed before melding into his flesh.

  A sharp feminine howl escaped his open mouth, only muffled by the water that entered it. His body changed and became something Marcus would only call a monster.

  Long pale hair with even paler skin and nails that bordered on claws. Another shriek escaped his mouth and this caused the dark liquid to part and the wall fracture. His body transformed once more into a pale smoke that shot towards the feline creature that had been licking it’s wound clean waiting for his death.

  From inside the pony sized, a more bestial figure emerged. Drenched in gore with dark spikes protruding from his elbows and a wolf like snout filled with danger like teeth.

  The beast did nothing except look at the dying feline. While Marcus was surprised his gaze turned towards the yellowed eyes to find them gone, like mist under the sun.

  “It will continue hunting us, until we leave these woods or we kill it.” The paladin spoke solemnly as everyone nodded