‘…What the hell is that?’
Marilyn stared at the scene in front of her with a dumbfounded look on her face. She blinked a couple of times to make sure of what she was seeing. However, it seemed like her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. The statue’s sword was large enough to slice and completely flatten Zich’s body onto the earth, yet Zich showcased the opposite outcome. His sword was smaller than a needle in comparison to the statue, but it deflected the statue’s sword.
Bam!
The statue lost its balance and flung its feet around. Zich took that opportunity to run towards the statue; while he did this, he massacred the shadows in his way.
Thud!
Zich jumped from the statue’s podium. He landed on the statue’s face and swung Windur.
Baaaaam!
There was a giant explosion. After receiving a blow from Windur, the statue’s face arched sharply. The shattered fragments of the statue’s face scattered in the air. Zich stepped on the largest fragment and flipped backwards.
Whoosh!
A terrifying air blast swept the place where Zich used to be. The statue had swung its arm and made a terrifying noise. Its fingers twitched as if it was wondering why Zich was missing from its clutches. However, Zich’s counterattack didn’t end there.
Booom!
The statue tumbled backward and crushed the shadows in the area. Then, Zich landed next to Lyla. He sliced the shadows rushing towards him and looked towards where the statues had fallen.
“I can finally handle them now.”
“Thank goodness.” Lyla tilted her staff sideways. Lightning gathered at the ends of her staff and burst out simultaneously.
Cracklee!
Bright lightning swept through the shadows like a black tsunami and gathered momentum to even swallow the statues. The shadows disappeared without a trace. Watching this outstanding display of power from behind, Marilyn gulped. Yet, Lyla didn’t look satisfied and even clicked her tongue.
“It really doesn’t work on them,” she said. Although her lightning magic erased the shadows, the statues continued to move even after receiving her attacks. It was almost irritating how unaffected they looked. Of course, this didn’t mean that her magic was useless. At least to the shadows, Lyla’s magic was calamity itself. With her strengthened magic, the shadows were completely obliterated.
‘…Amazing.’ Marilyn unconsciously gulped again while watching the battle. She had already expected them to be strong, but witnessing their power firsthand was another matter. Their skills exceeded her expectations.
‘Should I join their efforts to escape?’
It seemed like Zich and Lyla planned to escape the tomb like this. If the two were chased out of this place, the system would be safe for now. Yet, Marilyn quickly changed her mind. ‘There’s no guarantee that they won’t give up.’
While she attempted to contact her leader, Zich and Lyla might try to halt the system again. Since they thought the Brushel System was attacking them, it was a high possibility.
‘I should end it here.’ Marilyn was certain that her relationship with them would have to end in this timeline. However, she couldn’t attack the two carelessly. While aiming for the most critical moment, she had to wait and pretend to be on their side.
Whoosh!
Mana swirled around Marilyn’s staff and light flashed from it. The light struck an approaching stone statue.
Bam!
The flash of light landed on the statue, but the statue appeared unaffected. It continued to walk towards them with large strides viciously. Marilyn shot a couple of more flashes at the statues, but they failed to inflict any damage to them.
“It seems like curses don’t work on them either!” Marilyn said, and Zich clicked his tongue.
“Maybe they nullify all types of magic. By the looks of it, I bet even holy magic won’t work on them.”
“I will fight off the shadows like Lyla then!”
“Please do. I will handle all the statues.” Zich blocked another gigantic stone sword flying his way.
Bam!
The stone sword bounced off high like the previous one, but this one didn’t lose its balance.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two swords attacked Zich at once this time. After slicing off the shadows lingering around his surroundings, he lifted Windur. Then, he looked up towards the two stone swords. Although they were both coming down at him simultaneously, there was a time difference between them. Zich placed Windur on the stone sword that arrived slightly first.
Bam!
A different sound from before erupted. Compared to last time when he crushed the last statue with sheer strength, he diverted the stone sword’s power sideways.
“Hmph!” Then, he collided with Windur more strongly against the stone sword flowing away.
Bam!
The second stone sword landed and collided against the first stone sword that Zich flicked away. Although it had lost a lot of its momentum from Zich’s impact, its force was about the same level as the first one thanks to his added strength. Naturally, the two stone swords bounced off against one another.
Bam! Bam!
The two statues lost balance. Zich jumped in between them and swung Windur widely against the statue’s ankle closest to him.
Crack!
Windur crushed half of the statue’s ankle. The statue was already off balance, so this hit caused the statue to fall down on its knees. Zich then swung Windur towards the other statue’s ankle. This statue was more off balance than the other statue, so it tilted widely and fell. Unfortunately, the second statue collapsed on top of the statue on its knees.
Crasssssh!
The two statues collided and rolled on the floor. From their impact, the stone floor cracked, and a cloud of dust rose into the air. The shadows swept into their collision were also wiped out. Zich thought of running towards the other statues and stopped. It wasn’t ideal to get too far from Lyla, and the statue he was targeting was already raising its body.
‘There’s no need for me to go overboard.’ While slicing numerous shadows, he approached Lyla and Marilyn.
“It must be easy for you to deal with them now,” Lyla said as she annihilated the surrounding shadows with fire and lightning.
“It’s better than last time. But they aren’t opponents we can deal with lightly.”
“It seems so by the looks of it.”
“How about you?”
“It’s as you see.”
The blue light shining off her staff circled around her.
The shadows’ movements stopped. Like dolls made by a mad dollmaker, the shadows froze in place immediately—but that wasn’t the end of it.
Crack! A crack formed on the shadows’ surface until the shadows’ body shattered. The shadows’ remains rolled on the ground and soon disappeared.
“You are also taking care of them much more easily than before.”
“I’m sure it’s because my skills have greatly improved, but it’s also thanks to Marilyn.”
Zich turned his head and looked toward Marilyn. While facing forward, she was murmuring a spell.
Flash! Light popped off her staff and burst above the place where shadows were gathered. The shadows’ movements became clearly dull; she had cast a curse that slowed down movements. While preparing her next spell, Marilyn noticed Zich’s eyes on her.
Squint!
She closed one eye, winking at him, and shifted her attention back to her spell. Zich smirked and jumped into the battlefield. Swords clashed, fireballs and lightning swirled, and curses shot across the air. Stone statues and shadows fought against these enormous powers with their own immense powers and numbers. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t stop Zich and Lyla as they had gotten incomparably stronger than the last time they had come to this place. Stone statues and shadows gradually broke apart, but the one thing they didn’t do was run away. They continued to rush toward Zich and his companions to kill them. Eventually, the stone statues and the shadows surrounded Zich, Lyla, and Marilyn in a circle. Yet, Zich and his companions continued pushing forward, and it looked like they would be able to escape out of the tomb any moment now.
Bam!
Zich struck Windur against one of the statue’s waists. The stone statue’s remains scattered in the air as it took steps backward.
Boom!
It collided against another stone statue that was cornering Zich and his companions. It didn’t fall thanks to the collision, but it restricted the movements of a couple of other statues. However, this wasn’t the only cluster of statues.
Bam!
Another statue blocked Zich and his companions’ path. Like he was used to it now, Zich swung Windur skillfully and blocked the statue in front of him.
Whoosh!
A giant stone sword fell. It was an attack frightening enough to make all the hair on one’s body stand. The shockwaves and the poundings it caused could flip one’s stomach upside down. Yet, Zich had managed to strike back many of these astounding attacks dozens of times, showcasing what a monster he was again. Still, that didn’t change the fact that the statue’s attack would be critical if it managed to land on him; he would probably die if he received the whole blow. Marilyn’ eyes narrowed chillingly as she saw Zich and Lyla’s backs in front of her. They seemed completely capable of passing through this overwhelming siege and breaking free. However, Marilyn couldn’t let them be. She took a couple of steps backward and headed towards a place swarming with shadows.
Her actions seemed suicidal. She remained unscathed because Zich was protecting her; without him, she wouldn’t have been able to survive as a curse caster. Black shadows rushed towards her, and their hands looked like they could rip her to pieces. Surprisingly, the shadows paid no attention to her and passed right by her. Then, Marilyn stretched out her staff. Her spell was already complete, and mana was gathered at the ends of her staff; she had prepared the strongest curse that she could possibly muster, and her target was Zich.
Of course, with Zich’s overwhelming mana, he would not die to this curse. However, it could create an opportunity for the statues to attack; and when Zich was gone from the picture, it would also not take that long for Lyla to also lose her life. Marilyn stared at Zich’s back. He was swinging Windur against the stone swords flying his way. She engraved this scene into her mind and thought, ‘Goodbye, my love.’ The curse poured out and sneakily and gloomily crawled towards Zich’s back.
Slam! There was a series of gigantic collisions. The stone statue’s sword struck the floor. Marilyn calmly stared at the place where the dust had erupted. She had to witness the end of the person she loved, but what she saw was different from her expectations.
“Huh?”
Marilyn felt goosebumps on the back of her neck. She felt like something she couldn’t see with her eyes was aimed toward her. The shadows and stone statues around her moved.
Boooom! There was another collision. The shadows near her disappeared due to immense power—Marilyn was shocked by the dirtied stone swords in front of her, but what shocked her, even more, was the sight beyond it.
“It finally led to this.” She heard a chilling voice. “You really were the betrayer, Witch.”
As a stone sword blocked it, Windur flashed.