Tucker stopped for a moment, his boot hitting the next step of the stone staircase. His body briefly jolted, but he didn’t turn around. He could feel the vibrations of the tower shuddering and the wind crying as he tightened his hold on the hilt of his lumenite blade.

  “Commander, is there something wrong?” Ray asked.

  Tucker looked over his shoulder before shaking his head. “No, let’s keep moving.”

  The plan they had devised had already diverged from what they had originally intended. Now all they could do was adapt and perform. With all the Lionheart knights battling on the floor below, they split the rest of the team evenly into three groups.

  The men behind Tucker nodded as they continued sprinting up the winding staircase. According to their intel on the layout of the towers contained designated floors, each serving its own purpose. The one they breached seemed to be where the final defense line was, with reinforcements arriving from the upper levels. The golems on the ground floor were only fodder meant to buy time.

  Tucker needed to resolve himself and press forward. Each second bought by his men was precious time they needed to use for their advance. His party continued to the final step of the staircase. Light pierced through the darkness behind them, and as they reached the next floor, they drew closer to their goal.

  Before the group was an array of teleportation platforms. Each one had lingering traces of mana cascading into the sky. This was the next step in their plan. The tactic that would isolate the Emerald Tower from the Avalon Empire. If they secured this level, then one of the chains strangling their operation would shatter, and the only problem would be those trapped in the tower with them.

  However, in the depths of the chamber were a dozen humanoid statues before them.

  Tucker scanned the distance between them and the teleportation platforms. It was only a hundred meters. Something he and his men could easily cross in a matter of seconds. Yet, none of them dared to make a move. There was a presence, one that Tucker could never forget. That sickening, repulsive presence that ate away at the surroundings while trying to devour whatever was in its path.

  “Commander…” Ray muttered, locking eyes with Tucker.

  Both of them were on the same page. This was the exact same sensation they felt in the sewers of Alexandria. And to Tucker, it was the same as what he experienced in the city of Everfall when he was nothing more than a mere rookie. There was a demon in their midst, hiding somewhere within the shadows of the chamber.

  Only fifty of them had made it to the next floor. This was the best they could do with the limited forces they had gathered. Tucker gestured to Ray, signaling for him to light the way, and without missing a beat, Ray held out his hand. He conjured a blazing bow, manifesting it around his blade. His fingers drew the bowstring back to his cheek.

  Fire coiled along the string, heat rippling in the surrounding air. Ray slowly exhaled before steadying his breath. He released the bowstring, listening to the soft whistle tear through the darkness while leaving behind a streak of gold and crimson.

  As it flew, its light spilled outward and repelled the shadows. Nearly the entire floor revealed itself in its warm embrace; first came the floor and the few stone statues before it. But then, as the radiant glow reached the walls, the men saw it.

  Hundreds of white marble statues piled on top of each other in grotesque abundance. Their humanoid figures were frozen mid-snarl as they lunged forward with their hands clawing toward the center. All of them had been piled together. Intertwined in a mass of corpses with hands tangled in the ribs of others, like some sort of sick and twisted play.

  But despite the horrific sight, Tucker’s gaze scanned through the chamber with his hand firmly on the hilt of his lumenite blade. The fleeting embers faded above his head, and the men formed a defensive formation with their commander in the center.

  Once the fire had completely died down, the shadows crept back in. Ray released his spirit essence. The flames dwindled as he lowered his sword slowly to his chest. Whatever had done this… was still here, and none of them dared to move.

  Tucker glanced over at Ray and said, “Stay alert. We’re moving to secure the teleportation platforms.”

  “I don’t like this,” Ray said. “For the mages to leave the teleportation platforms undefended like this… it doesn’t sit well with me.”

  “I know,” Tucker admitted. “I don’t like it either, but we don’t have a choice. We need to lock down these platforms so that the Emerald Tower can’t call for—”

  A rumble coursed through the tiles.

  All the men’s expressions hardened with their backs toward one another and blades drawn high. Tucker stared from one side to another. The rumble grew stronger with each passing second. Yet no matter how much they searched, nothing appeared. Only when a faint trail of dust fell did Tucker’s eyes widen, racing to the area above them.

  “Shatter!” he shouted.

  All the men immediately lunged away just as a colossal figure came crashing down where their defensive formation used to be. The ground shuddered as dust billowed outward. Tucker shielded his body with an aura, watching the tiles splinter with spiderweb fractures spreading from the point of impact, while Ray looked over at the knights, who returned a firm nod.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Split into your teams!” Tucker ordered in a stern voice. “Team one is with me. Team two and three will secure the platforms!”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” the knights responded with a thunderous voice.

  Two shield bearers stood before Tucker with their blades pointed at the enormous figure lurking in the shadows, while several more men surrounded their commander with swords enveloped in aura. Ray stood to the side, searching through the clouds that obscured their vision.

  Tucker narrowed his eyes, channeling a swirl of essence within his free hand. Without wasting a second, he flickered it into the thick blanket of dust blocking their sight and instantly cleared out the obstruction as it rippled outward. Yet what came into sight was something they had never seen before.

  The creature’s hide wasn’t flesh, but a shimmering iridescent set of scales the color of frozen moonlight. Every inch of its body was sculpted into a muscular frame ribbed with organic armor. Obsidian-sharp protrusions extended from its shoulders and elbows, while its long hands merged with black talons shaped like surgical hooks. And on its head was a crown of massive, recurved horns that erupted from its skull, fusing into a permanent skeletal mask.

  The men’s gaze remained locked on the demon with its thrashing nest of tendril-like tails weaving through the air behind it. The thin, whiplike structures with barbed arrowhead stingers serpentine freely on the ground.

  But before Tucker could give out his orders, the air quivered.

  “Incoming!” Tucker shouted.

  In an instant, one of the whiplike tails shot toward their formation. Its barbed arrowhead caught the faint streaks of light in the chamber as it cut through the air. The sharp sound of the wind crackling tore the loose debris from its hold as the impact exploded against the two shield bearers with a deafening crash. Shock ran through their bones, yet they held.

  The two knights braced beneath the weight as their metal boots slid against the tiles, crushing the stone beneath them as the force rippled through their bodies. Azure auras enveloped their figures, strengthening their stances. If it had been the Thirty-First holding the line, they would have collapsed, but before Tucker stood two of the kingdom’s best knights.

  Dust and shattered stone rained down as the first tail recoiled for another strike. But seeing the brief window of opportunity, none of the men waited. The two shield bearers sprinted forth with Tucker and Ray close behind, while the other knights circled around. An earth-shattering roar tore out from its jaws. Its massive frame blotted out the faint traces of light from the chamber, and it lunged forth to meet the men in the middle.

  The whiplike tails lashed out at the knights, with the first shield bearer colliding head-on with the barbed spikes, barely deflecting it to the side as the next charged on. Then came another aimed at Tucker. But before it could get close, the second shield bearer stood in its way and firmly planted his shield on the floor.

  “Not on my watch!” he roared, aura flaring as both forces collided with a thundering bang.

  Tucker watched as the shield bearer and the second tail vanished into a cloud of smoke. He gathered the wind along his blade, forming tight spirals as his emerald aura flared. The monster’s gaze locked on the knights circling it, but soon snapped its head toward him with its jaw wide enough to swallow a man whole.

  In the space before its mouth was a crimson sphere of darkened light. Energy was gathering at the center, and right before it could fire, a knight drawing the bowstring of his longbow on the teleportation platform released his arrow. It crossed the open space in the blink of an eye, striking the energy before it could fully manifest.

  A burst of light engulfed the chamber, but Tucker didn’t slow down. He leaped onto the ashen tail and ran along the surface while plunging his sword into the scales. Emerald aura brimmed along his lumenite blade as Tucker sprinted upward while carving a long gash into its flesh.

  Black ichor splattered on the floor.

  “Foolish humans…” the demon whispered, spectral soot escaping from its jagged jaw. “Thou hast set foot somewhere thou dost not belong.”

  Tucker didn’t respond. Sparks and dark blood burst outward as the metal bit deeper into the scales. His gaze met the demon’s, and at that moment, the fiend grinned.

  “Ah… I see, it’s you…” The demon muttered with another tail, grinding across the one Tucker ran on.

  Tucker’s gaze remained cold. He dug one final deep gash in the demon’s tail. “I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Perhaps not, but I know of thy tale against Serevoth,” it responded.

  Tucker scoffed. “You demons always try to play these mental games.”

  With no other choice, Tucker slid down from the side and landed on his feet. The monster lashed out with a series of arrowhead spikes raining down on the watchman, but Tucker was already repositioning, forcing it to turn.

  “Drive it back!” Ray ordered, his spirit essence roaring as he conjured a javelin of flames.

  Right as the demon raised its claw to cleave the ground before the knights, he hurled the projectile forward. The muscles in his arms screamed with tension, releasing the force trapped within. A shockwave tore through the air. Debris was blown away, and the inferno javelin struck the demon’s forearm, tearing a gaping hole through the fibers of its tendons.

  More black ichor fell, forming pools of demonic blood. But unlike before, it oozed. The surface bubbled as if it were alive before slithering to the outer reaches of the chamber, and seeing this, Ray’s eyes sharpened. He wasn’t the only one to notice. The knights who were circling around the arena to flank the demon watched as the trails of ichor vanished into the darkness, yet before they could strengthen their vision with aura.

  A chill traveled through their bodies.

  At first, one hand shot out from the darkness. A single swing of their blades easily repelled it. Then another burst out, and then another. Soon, dozens of hands attached to long white limbs were stretching out from the depths of the twilight.

  Every single one wanted to seize their souls. But the knights wouldn’t get caught so easily. They cut down waves of arms rushing like a tide with streaks of aura crashing back into the outer reaches of the chamber. However, the number seemed endless.

  Ray gritted his teeth. His hands were trembling. Tucker and the other members of the first party were battling the demon. If they retreated a single step, then their comrades would get surrounded. Parts of his essence had already burned through the murky ichor, but if he tried to enter the Spirit Reflux state, this would be his last battle.

  This wasn’t like their plans. The demons should have been on the higher levels. Now, he wouldn’t be able to help Tucker move to the upper levels. His veins slowly burned as the aura in his body fed into his essence. The slightest mistake would trigger spirit backlash. But there was no other choice. They needed to break through, and if he conserved his strength, then everyone else would pay the price.

  Ray slowly exhaled once more, remembering the sensation that hammered at his heart. From the flames that rose around him, Rover returned. He gently patted his companion’s head as the pounding grew fiercer. The memories of Alexandria came back, and soon the spirit essence in his body roared once more, rushing back toward his heart as the flames fanned.

  The inferno this time was different. It was far stronger compared to before, and the rate at which he burned through his aura had decreased. He could feel the spirit band protect his heart, pushing back at the energy, and once more, Ray entered Spirit Reflux.

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