Chapter 152

152 When the curtains close

Orus didn’t say anything when he arrived, just releasing the spell his bicorn had cast.

A circle of black fire appeared around Treevor before collapsing into a perfect sphere and filling the interior with hellish heat.

‘Boss, do I still need to buy time?’ Treevor asked through the mind link, totally oblivious to the heat around him. He conjured a layer of black ice on the surface of his body, keeping the temperature of the willow stable.

Treevor was actually grateful to the enemy, as this gave him time to confirm status around the fortress.

‘Just a little more. The elite troops are almost reaching the gate where Vanilla is and we can start the plan. Do you need some help there? All army elites are surrounding you as we speak.’ Athos replied, watching the fight through the falcon’s eyes.

‘Nah. I’m going to fight seriously from now on and I want to know how far I can go. But prepare a second large-scale spell in case something I need help with. Also, try something more useful than those spikes of corruption.’

‘The hawk can’t hold the spell alone long enough to aim, so many thorns miss their targets.’

‘Noted.’ Athos spoke and ended the communication.

“Well, let’s get serious-” Before Treevor could finish speaking, the bicorn burst through the sphere of black fire and impaled Treevor through the chest. The flames were blocking his mystical senses, so Treevor only detected him when his horns were already piercing his chest.

.....

General Orus didn’t want to give him time to think and stabbed him in the forehead with his glaive. The glaive’s blade glowed with a powerful light, presumably an enchantment designed to deal massive damage to undead.

Treevor sidestepped the glaive by bending his head back until it touched its back, at the same time grabbing the bicorn’s horns and kicking the ground, the roots of his feet digging into the stone floor.

He returned to his 5 meter size and lifted the bicorn along with Orus, before slamming them against the ground with all his might. Stone spikes rose from the ground and impaled the familiar, but Orus jumped and dodged the attack.

‘How troublesome. My defense really dropped, the bright willow would have withstood this blow.’ Treevor thought slightly irritably, touching the two holes caused by the bicorn in his chest. His real body’s ribs were fractured, but both injuries healed in seconds thanks to the darkness flowing through his body.

“Are you finally going to fight seriously?” Ruy asked angrily, conjuring a pool of lava under Treevor’s feet.

Trevor’s legs went under as they were seared, but Trevor just cooled the stone and yanked his legs out with brute force.

Spells rained down on their position, but Treevor used the boost of the spirits to dodge most, recasting his double barrier to cover the rest.

Treevor ran into the middle of the formation of adventurers, who quickly surrounded him, thinking he was targeting the mages.

Several spells specialized in restraining enemies were cast on Treevor, sealing his movements for a few seconds, but that was enough for the adventurers.

Dozens of aura blades rained down on his body, causing cuts across the entire barrier. The adventurers knew they couldn’t attack at the same time, so they all used ranged attacks to rain attacks nonstop.

‘Why did he stop casting spells all of a sudden?’ Ruy wondered, but didn’t have much time to think. The barriers were unable to withstand all the attacks and broke, so he and Orus charged forward at the same time.

They tried to cut off Treevor’s legs to stop him from running away, but the last one just smiled at them.

‘Shit-‘ Ruy belatedly realized that something was wrong and tried to stop, but it was too late. His vision and that of everyone around him darkened, a completely black dome rising in a 50 meter radius around Treevor.

Treevor had waited for as many adventurers as possible to gather around him before releasing the field of the dead. All light within the area of effect is gone, whether physical or magical in nature.

Wizards also became unable to cast spells, regardless of whether they were wearing conjuring rings or wands. Rings and wands would absorb the corrupted energy and self-destruct.

Enchanted items also became useless. Despite its previously stored energy, the corrupted world energy seeped into the metal and attacked the runes. The runes glowed with energy as they rejected corrupted energy and became temporarily unusable. Only skills were usable, but even those would have their effect reduced.

The corrupted world energy also slowly corroded the adventurers, while also making the air toxic.

In short, they were fucked.

Treevor broke free of the restraining spells and conjured bullets of darkness at everyone around him. The blind adventurers were hit and died before they could understand anything. The only thing they could do was give one last dying scream to let the others know they were under attack.

‘Fuck! Where is the attack coming from??’ Ruy wondered as he improved his hearing, but the darkness bullets didn’t make a sound. One of the bullets flew towards his temple, but his shadow expanded and engulfed him, saving his life at the last second.

“Let’s trade brother. I can see thanks to the shadow serpent, so I’ll be more useful.” The black fang whispered as they switched places and Ruy had no choice but to agree.

“Be careful, Roy.” Was all he said.

Despite being able to see, there wasn’t much Roy could do. With his magic gone, all he could do was carry Olivia and run as fast as he could out of the field of the dead. His familiar could only dive into the shadows with a single prey, so he had no choice if he wanted to save both his brother and his teammate.

Unfortunately for them, being the only ones getting away attracted Treevor’s attention.

‘How can they see without light? Is it a skill like the boss Sensory Field?’ Treevor thought as he slaughtered all the adventurers around him. He didn’t bother chasing him, knowing they couldn’t get far.

Its vines spread out and released blades of aura that slashed everyone within the field of the dead, before Treevor raised them as undead. In less than a few seconds, over two hundred adventurers were killed. The only one who managed to save himself was Colonel Orus, but he didn’t escape unscathed.

His armor had protected him from the slash, but he was still suffocating on the ground without being able to breathe. His gear was as good as Astrus’s, but it wouldn’t do anything to protect him from the toxic air around him.

Treevor didn’t think much of it and just grabbed him by the foot with one of the vines before lifting him and slamming his body to the ground. And hit it again and again until you kill it.

It was a shameful death for a soldier who had come here to avenge his brother, but Treevor didn’t bother with him and just turned him into an undead while healing all the wounds caused by repeatedly hitting the ground.

“Go out and kill everyone.” Treevor ordered his newest subordinates, who immediately obeyed.

Outside the field of the dead, Roy had just left when the spell wore off and the skeletons of adventurers charged at the living.

“Retreat! Mission failed, all retreat!” Ruy left his brother’s shadow and screamed as soon as he saw a skeleton wearing the colonel’s armor.

The adventurers didn’t think too much of it and immediately split into the smaller streets to give themselves more chance of escaping, but the same cannot be true of their personal guard. They were completely loyal to the colonel and the late Astrus.

They raced furiously against Treevor, but the adventurers stood in their way. Tanks stopped them from advancing, while mages cast spells on them.

The tamers also decided to flee, but Treevor threw himself in their midst and started a massacre. A tamer’s strength mostly depended on the familiar they possessed so each one of them was unique, but that didn’t matter in front of Treevor.

He grabbed an ice bear with just one hand and smashed it against the nearest familiar, before killing both tamers. A tyrannical gorilla tried to punch him in the face, but Treevor grabbed him by the shoulders and tore him in half.

Treevor continued slaughtering the fleeing tamers for a few more seconds before Athos’ voice rang in his head.

‘The elite troops have already stormed the gate. Let’s close the curtains now.’ Athos spoke happily.

‘I understood. Is anyone still outside?’ Treevor asked as he impaled a flaming bull with his talons and hurled the body at his tamer.

‘The mercenaries and foot soldiers are near the gates along with the out-of-mana mages. The common troops that Vanilla drove out didn’t dare to invade again, even after the elite troops arrived.

They are making their way around the fortress and retreating to a small group that stayed behind recording the entire fight. I’ll send extermination units as soon as the curtains fall to make sure no one survives.’ Athos reported.

???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????

‘I’ll go to the mercenaries as soon as I’m done here.’ Treevor said and Athos nodded.

In the next moment, the entire fortress disappeared and was engulfed in darkness.