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| Temple of Demonic Soul, second part of Kraal'Thragon |
3.3.20.2. Throne of the Lost Soul
Meanwhile, the eight Paladins move
on. Advancing to the second floor of Kraal’Thragon, Cristophe and the
infiltrators fight their way through another maze-like area, going upstairs and
downstairs through traps, secret rooms and ambushes, all specially designed to
thwart marauders.
With his glowing white sword
Excalibur, Chris hacks through an abomy, spilling the large, stitched undead
monster’s gut out, CHRAAK!! And Hernan fills in to handle the next foe.
Only then Chris has enough time to
observe the surroundings. To his surprise, the walls are as though made from
organic substances like membrane and leather, and they are actually pulsating,
alive! The colors are meaty red and blackened purple, and with pungent odor to
add, he feels like being inside a dragon’s stomach.
BLUUURSH!! Suddenly, bolts of Soul
Bullet come. Chris blocks a few with his sword and shield, and one bolt hits
him on the back!
‘UNNH!!’ The pain. Chris turns and
sees the one who shot him, and it’s a lich! Four of them immediately move in.
The undead mages don’t stop. They
shot another barrage at the Paladins, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!! Chris immediately
rushes forward and blocks most of them with his shield. BASH, BASH! More bolts
hit Adler, Hernan and Dejan, adding to their injuries.
‘Step aside! It’s my turn!’ Iris
outstretches her hand and casts, ‘Eshmyriad!’
SWISH-SWIISH! CRASH-CRASH-SWISSH!!
Violent, sharp Hurricane sweeps
through the hooded skeleton squad, penetrating their protective aura and slices
through the bones-in-the-robes.
As the spell ceases, two liches in
the front row fall apart, pieces of bone scattered on the floor. The other two
are still standing and shoot some Soul Bullets again at Iris. The next thing
that happens is they collapse, also in pieces.
The victor, Iris stands tall,
readying to take the next shot.
‘The course is clear! Let’s move
on!’ Adler shouts and darts away, ahead of the group.
The rest of the group
follows, and with a snort, Dejan talks to Chris, ‘Are you going to let him do
that? You’re the leader here, not him.’
To this, Chris shakes, his head, ‘Adler
will never regard me as a leader, though I outranked him in nobility. He is
only happy as long as he’s the one calling the shots. Besides, anybody to free
to suggest anything, as long as it helps the whole group, like Kyflynn did.
If I think Adler is wrong, I’ll sure try to
correct him. And he must convince me again, like Kyflynn did.’ Without saying
another word, he rushes forward.
Suddenly, Chris is overcome with
fatigue and he leans against the grotesque-demonic rotten meat-like wall. He
takes a deep breath in that quick break, and then he gasps! Looking down, he
sees several tentacles on his body, holding him up, pressing him into the wall
and choking him to death!
‘GGGNNNHHH!!!’ Chris grits his
teeth and struggles to free himself from those tentacles that apparently came
from the wall bearing the same color, pattern and fleshy, oozing shape.
However, the wall saps Chris’
energy! The more he struggles, the more of his mana gets drained out of his
body. The pain is excruciating like being tortured to death, pushing Chris to
the limit as he screams, ‘GGGYAAAHHH!!!’
The next moment, Chris becomes so
powerless even to scream. His head hangs down, and before he runs out of energy
to keep his soul inside his body, CRASSH!! CRASH! CRASSH! Suddenly the pressure
on Chris is loosened and gone!
As his strength gradually returns,
Chris opens his eyes and sees Adler in front of him and the sapping tentacles
are all cut off, most likely with the great sword Kraal’shazar.
Upon establishing eye contact, the
Borgian Knight turns away, shouting, ‘Eidos, patch the Heir up. The rest, get a
move on!’
Eidos the Chronomage comes to Chris
and puts a vial of spirit potion into his mouth without saying a word. With his
mana and stamina refreshed, Chris staggers to stand up. He limps a bit, and a
hand comes and supports him.
It’s Robert!
‘Come on, Chris,’ the white-haired
Knight says, we need to find a way out of this area. The wall is alive and
dangerous, thanks for making us aware of it and understand about its nature.’
As he walks with Chris
side-by-side, Rob comments, ‘If only the demon walls trapped Adler, he wouldn’t
be acting high and mighty just now.’
Chris chuckles a bit with his heart
relieved a bit, and he strides quicker with his newfound spirit.
Robert’s words are none truer than
the fact that none of the Paladins gets drained off by the demon walls. Even if
one got caught and entangled, the others are ready, chopping those deadly
tentacles off instantly.
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| The Halls of Blood - Further inside the 2nd part towards the Throne Room |
The challenges, however are only just begun. The Demon
Labyrinth, with its walls enchanted into a living monster is really vast and
complicated.
The tentacles also come from the ceiling and the floor,
adding surprise to danger. The abomies and banshees come in waves, giving the
heroes hell.
As they arrive in a three-way junction, Adler shouts
instruction, ‘We’ll split up four-by-four! I, Eidos, Robert and Carolyn take
the left way. Chris, Hernan, Iris and Dejan take the right. If any group finds
an exit, you know what to do.’
The Paladins immediately split up without a word and a
sign of protest. Chris and his group stride off quickly, taking turns around
corners while Iris tries to detect peculiarities with her magic.
Three more turns, and the group stumbles into a group of
dark minions: the specter knights. The leader of this group of six is a very
large and tall knight in all-black armor and a big, horned helmet, riding a
very big, headless horse.
Iris immediately warns her comrades, ‘Beware! I sensed a
high-level dark energy within them, especially the big one. His aura is nearly
as strong as Nöac’s!’
The big knight, larger than three Desmonds merged
together with his visage but a dark patch hidden beneath the visor of his
helmet points his great broadsword that looks like been made from a dragon’s
back bone and shouts with a thunderous voice, ‘So, the rats have come this far.
But, that’s as far as you can go, because I, Dullahan will have your heads to
add into my collection!’
==oOo==
Image Sources:
Top: Temple of Demonic Soul by Michael Chen Lin (http://chenlinsart.blogspot.com)
Bottom: Elizabeth's Blood Palace in Ninja Gaiden 2 Game (source: http://www.frequency.com/video/demonic-choir/19039042 )
FireHeart - Legend of the Paladins Book Three: The Lion, the Eagle and the Serpent
Author: Andry Chang
Navigation:
Next: Part Two -(Script 333/487)
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