The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 793: Chapter 804: Mutation

Apart from Bruto’s suggestion, Lancelot couldn’t think of any better solution. He untied the string of skulls he brought with him and one by one placed them on the black crystal altar.

The top of the altar was large enough for him to pile up the skulls into a small heap. Lancelot placed nine, but when he was about to place the tenth, he suddenly stopped his motion, and he looked around uneasily, as if he suspected someone was secretly watching them.

Everyone was confused by Lancelot’s strange behavior. If there were enemies, he should have directly warned them, right? Perhaps it was something else that made the human knight feel threatened?

“What’s wrong?” Bruto immediately asked, “Is anything amiss?”

“My intuition is telling me not to continue…” Lancelot said with an odd expression, looking down at the skull he was holding in his hand, “You know, my intuition is always accurate.”

“Could it be because of this skull?” Bruto leaned in closer, “You mean it’s not entirely dead?”

“It’s not about the skull.” Lancelot took a deep breath, “It’s that something will happen once it’s placed… Something very dangerous for us.”

“I see…” Bruto twisted his shoulders, rotated his neck, and lifted his shield and warhammer, “Go ahead, I’m ready.”

“…” Lancelot’s mouth fell open with surprise, and then he ended up with an expression of wry amusement. He patted Bruto hard on the shoulder, then turned to look at the others, “We are likely in for a nasty fight, you all know what to do.”

The companions exchanged glances, and each began to cast spells.

The elf priest was the first to use Circle Upcasting, casting a Fourth Circle spell that could strengthen companions’ life force. Then he summoned a glowing golden ghostly guard in the room, which would automatically attack approaching enemies, also a Fourth Circle Divine Art; to protect the more vulnerable Scholar, he also cast a Second Circle spell, Guarding Bond, which made the target easier to resist physical attacks and magical effects while close to the caster. The downside was that when the target took damage, the caster would suffer the same amount of harm.

Finally, he focused his casting to perform the Blessing Art, a Divine Art that granted three targets a slight edge in all activities involving opposition. Alamir placed it on himself, Kalalin, and Barrend.

As a Curse Swordmaster, Tanya also had spellcasting abilities. However, her spellcasting pattern was different from that of wizards and priests: the half-elf had pitifully few spell slots, only three in total, but all were Fifth Circle slots, which meant unless it was truly an emergency, she would never use her spellcasting ability lightly — but now it was time to use it.

She cast a spell on herself called the Armor of Aegis, summoning a layer of armor that looked like frosted shadows over her body. Though originally a First Circle spell that could slightly enhance the caster’s life force and deal minor frost damage to attackers, when cast with the power of the Fifth Circle, the effect became astonishingly potent. In Lancelot’s perception, Tanya’s life force had become as formidable as Bruto’s.

The Scholar first cast Mirror Image on himself, summoning three identical illusions around him—though perhaps it’s inappropriate to say so since the one in the middle might not necessarily be his true form. He had many options for his next move: he could cast a Haste Spell on Lancelot to maximize the Human Knight’s attack power, or he could cast an advanced invisibility spell on himself, which would greatly enhance his survival capabilities in the heat of battle.

However, Kalalin’s ultimate choice was to cast an advanced Invisibility Spell on himself, a Fourth Circle magic that, unlike its basic version, did not break the invisible state when attacking or casting spells. However, it only lasted for one minute.

The Scholar did this, of course, as part of the strategy agreed upon with his companions beforehand. As soon as his figure vanished into thin air, Lancelot, who was already prepared, placed the last skull on the altar. After he let go, a certain red light lit up inside the black crystal altar. The light branched inside the altar, casting a web-like glow on the bottom of the skulls.

In the next second, all the skulls were flung into the air as if someone had tipped over the altar. Everyone was startled, and Lancelot’s first instinct was to draw his sword, but the skulls were not flying toward him—they were wobbling towards a pile of skulls at the other end of the room, quickly blending in and becoming indistinguishable.

“Huh… it seems like there’s nothing to it…”

No sooner had Bruto’s words fallen than a low rumble suddenly filled everyone’s ears. The tension on everyone’s faces rose again, but with a bit of discernment, one could tell that the sound was coming from a great distance and only lasted for a few heartbeats before stopping.

“Perhaps it’s the sound of a mechanism operating,” Kalalin sighed with relief, “If we go back to that hall we were in before, we might find that the stone gate is already halfway open…”

“Lancelot, it seems your intuition has failed… or perhaps it hasn’t. The real danger might actually be beyond that stone gate…”

The Dwarf wanted to say something more, but a strange pressure suddenly prevented him from speaking further. More abnormalities began to manifest in the room: Alamir’s Hardhead Hammer, which had previously shone like a torch, dimmed in an instant as if it were a dying bonfire; in the dark air, numerous peach-colored light spots appeared, resembling jellyfish swimming in water, floating slowly and erratically through mid-air.

In the eerie and tense atmosphere, the enormous pile of skulls in the corner of the room began to stir. Skulls, irregularly shaped like rocks tumbling down a hillside, bounced and rolled from higher ground, and a vast shadow gradually rose into the air, filling everyone with a sense of impending doom.

In the next instant, those light spots suddenly flared up, as if someone sleeping had abruptly opened their eyes. In the center of the light points, a giant skull, over five feet in radius, materialized. Where the nose bridge should have been was an eye socket-like hollow, flickering with strange, malicious peach-colored flames; and below that lone socket was a large mouth brimming with sharp fangs and teeth, looking even more terrifying without flesh to cover it.

“Oh, damn,” the typically graceful and composed Elf Priest Shuni sounded as if she were being choked, “That’s a Dead-Eye Tyrant… we’re done for…”