Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Kalamus House (11)
The group stepped through the portal door with their hearts racing. The air inside was heavy, thick with a metallic and ashen stench, as if the very chamber had been forged in the bowels of hell.
The chamber was vast, a colossal circle covered in runes glowing with a sickly red hue. At the far end, upon a cracked stone altar, stood an imposing figure.
A knight.
But not an ordinary one.
The gray armor was corroded and fractured, as if time itself had tried to destroy him without success. His eyes, two burning embers, locked on them with absolute hatred. From the helmet, two black horns jutted out like spears, and in his stomach gaped a grotesque mouth that breathed fire, releasing a tongue of flame with every contraction.
The sword he carried was more than three meters long and literally fused to his right hand. It was not a weapon... it was an extension of his body.
The being stood at least four meters tall, and his very presence made the chamber tremble.
"What... what the hell is that?" murmured Lyra, clutching her staff.
Jax stepped forward, face stern, his hands gripping the hilt of his sword.
"It’s not just any demon... it must be the warrior written about in the book. Or at least... it once was."
At that moment, the creature’s eyes blazed with murderous light, and a deafening roar exploded through the chamber. The sound made the walls vibrate, forcing Zela and Riven to cover their ears. The reverberation was so brutal that small stones fell from the ceiling.
The creature lunged at them, dragging its sword along the ground, leaving a blazing trail of sparks and fire.
"Positions! Now!" shouted Jax.
Zela and Zyra charged forward with swords in hand, while Riven took position at their side to cover the flanks. Elnara and Lyra drew their bows, aiming at the monster. Anya and Karely began chanting, their hands surrounded by glowing arcane circles.
But the charge of the cursed knight was devastating.
The first strike came down with such brutal force that Zela and Zyra, even together, barely managed to block it. The impact dragged them several meters back, their boots screeching against the floor.
"Damn it... he’s too strong!" growled Zyra.
From the being’s stomach erupted an inhuman roar, and the monstrous mouth spewed a torrent of fire that forced the group to scatter. Jayde darted into the shadows, rolling across the floor, while Leila and Manaia raised a wall of light to shield the healers.
Jax rushed in from the side, his sword wrapped in mana, and slashed at the monster’s knee joint. Steel clashed against armor... but not a single scratch was left behind.
The knight’s red eyes found him instantly, and the cursed blade came crashing down like thunder. Jax raised his weapon in time to block, but the blow hurled him against a stone column, cracking it.
"Jax!" screamed Lyra in terror.
The monster roared again. The flame in its stomach grew with every beat, illuminating the chamber as if they were standing before a living furnace.
There was no doubt.
This being was not just an enemy.
It was a guardian.
The last vestige of Elkid, corrupted and condemned to guard this chamber until the end of time.
Elkid advanced like a living wall. Each step thundered like a war drum, making the chamber quake. His sword, fused to his hand, glowed a burning red, as though forged from the very core of a volcano.
Zela let out a battle cry and charged, her steel wrapped in mana. Alongside Zyra and Riven, she unleashed a coordinated assault against the monster’s torso. The blades bounced off the mithril-and-steel armor, leaving nothing but sparks.
"It’s like hitting a mountain!" spat Zyra, recoiling with her hands numb from the vibration.
Elnara and Lyra loosed arrow after arrow, each one imbued with explosive mana. Every impact thundered through the air, yet the giant barely flinched. The fiery mouth on its stomach opened wide and spewed a blazing torrent that forced the archers to dive to the ground to avoid being incinerated.
"Ice spells, now!" ordered Anya.
She and Karely raised their hands, summoning a circle of frozen magic that descended as a storm of jagged crystals over Elkid. For a moment, the fire in its stomach went out, but the creature writhed in fury, unleashing a wave of searing heat that shattered the ice, melting it as if it had never existed.
Jax charged head-on, wielding both swords. Each of his strikes was thunder, a clash of titans against the cursed shell. In one exchange, Elkid intercepted his blow with overwhelming force. The collision was so violent that both of Jax’s swords shattered in a burst of steel, and at the same time, his armor cracked under the pressure.
Jax’s body was flung through the air, crashing into the stone wall. Blood scattered in the air, and for a moment, silence fell across the chamber.
"JAX!" all of them screamed in unison.
Their leader fell to his knees, spitting blood, his chest burning with pain. His eyes glowed with rage, and slowly, he rose again.
Mana around him began to burn like living fire.
"No more... holding back..." he roared in a deep voice.
The pressure of his energy coursed through the chamber, forcing several of the girls to shield themselves from the wind surging from him. His footsteps echoed with certainty as he advanced once more toward Elkid.
"All of you... ATTACK WITHOUT MERCY!"
Obeying the command, the warriors charged the flanks, striking with everything they had. The archers fired volleys of arrows imbued with fire, ice, and lightning, while the mages unleashed elemental storms that engulfed the beast. Manaia, Leila, and Lyra raised barriers of light and cast healing rays to keep the others on their feet. Jayde slipped through the shadows, hunting for weak spots, stabbing at the joints of the armor with venom-laced daggers.
The entire chamber became an inferno of light, steel, and magic.
Explosions shook the ground, lightning split the columns, the air thick with smoke and fire.
But...
Elkid barely staggered.
His red eyes glowed brighter than ever. The mouth on his stomach split open in a monstrous laugh, and a bloodcurdling roar erupted, followed by a wave of flames that swept across the chamber.
The damage he took was nothing but scratches to a creature forged of mithril and living steel.
"No... we’re not hurting him at all!" cried Anya, gasping as she maintained a containment spell.