Chapter 160 - The Well
The room was silent, awkwardness had fallen upon them. Lord Damian's son slowly walked back, hands raised in front of him as a sign of surrender.
"Oh, you're Adventurers?" Corey gasped. He cupped his mouth with his hands. "I need your assistance."
"What?" Lance's eyes quirked up after hearing him.
"Help," Corey whispered. "My father is not the same anymore. Please, help him."
"What do you mean he's not the same anymore?" Elliot asked, walking over to him and pulling him inside the room. Elliot looked around the hallway, checking if anyone was there. When he found no one, he closed the door and he locked it.
"H-He has these incredible powers. But they're dark and they don't feel right too," Corey said. "My father used to be a great man, but he somehow fell into the darkness. And he also talks to a well in the dungeons and– it's scary."
"Calm down," Elliot said and caressed the young boy's back. "Wait, did you say he talks to a well?"
"That is right," Corey nodded. "He goes to the dungeons after he finishes in his Pleasure Room. He will then talk to the well and a woman's voice would answer him."
"Ah, you already know about it then."
They felt their world stopped turning when they heard Lord Damian's voice speak. With his hands on his chest, he sat up and the ribbon around his head slowly tore apart like they were turned to ash.
Ed hopped of the bed, pulling Gomorrah with him and they ran to the group by the door.
"There are more people in this pathetic Realm who needs my power, borrows my power, and begs for my power," Lord Damian said and chuckled. He opened his eyes and revealed a glowing pitch black pair of orbs, both seemed to paint the night sky with darkness. "You think, I the Queen of Hell would not seek this opportunity to extend my rule?"
"Malice," Elliot grit his teeth and took his sword out from his Inventory. He gave everyone their weapons and raised them against Malice.
"Oh, do you really think think you can defeat me?" Malice smirked. "I am Malice, the Queen of Hell. You were lucky there were a lot of you before, but now, it's just us. No one else will come to help you and I can just finish you all. To much of my delight."
"When possessed, Malice can use up to 30% of her power," Lance informed them. "The strength we witnessed at Solaguer wasn't even half of her real power and we were already struggling. Now it has come to this once more."
"We can do this," Elliot said. "Malice had the Forest Folks then too. We have to agree that they split us up into groups. But now it's just us against her."
Lance took a deep sigh and nodded, "If we can knock her vessel out, we can eliminate her. This plan is temporary, but it's all we have for now."
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Connor asked. He let his flames trail down his weapons, ready to fight. "Attack her head on?"
"No, we can't risk harming the Lord," Lance said. "This is going to be tricky but we need to contain her. I'll use my ropes and you guys will tie her up just like how we tied the Frost Mother Nymph before. They have about the same level in terms of strength."
"Okay," Elliot agreed. "Everyone, position!"
Their plan was to surround Malice and distract her from Lance while he distributes the ropes they were going to use to tie her up. He needed more time to conjure a thicker and stronger rope to avoid Malice from easily breaking it.
The boys ran around the room and successfully surrounded Malice in Lord Damian's body. They raised their swords and assumed an attacking position as a bluff, just so Malice would keep her guard up and not try to target Lance."
"Infernal Blazing Winds!" Connor slashed his sword and staff in Malice's direction. Small flaming tornadoes were launched from his weapon.
"Eternal Chaos Excavation!" Ed leaped and slashed his sword forward, creating a thick crescent shaped attack made from his aura.
"Dragon Strike!" Hope pierced his sword through the ground and created a rift towards Malice. The rift got wider and wider, the hole inside it seemed to glow with a dark gray light. The light shone brightly and created a beam that fired in Malice's direction.
"Enhanced Lotus Blast!" Elliot casted but did not use it yet. "Hasty Aspire!"
With a blink of an eye, he had slashed the eight strikes of the Lotus Blast skill and the last strike for the flower.
Their attacks came in different directions, making it impossible for Malice to escape. She smirked and raised both her arms, dark flames appearing on her arms before the attacks swallowed her figure.
The explosion from the collective attacks made the outer wall of the chamber fall into ruins. The smoke from the attacks and the dust from the destroyed stone wall blinded them.
Even though they knew Malice wouldn't be defeated so easily, it didn't stop the boys from hoping that this was already finished. And as the seconds pass, the dust and smoke slowly dissipated.
They watched in shock as Lord Damian's body stood there unscathed. He had black flames trailing down his arm from his shoulder and his eyes were still pitch black.
"That was a pretty combination of an attack," Malice sighed. "I didn't even need to use all my powers to block it."
The group knew that Malice was only taunting them. They purposely made their attacks mild so Malice would not think of leaving the Lord's body and let him die. Their main role was to distract her while Lance was conjuring his binding ropes.
"Are you done?" Elliot turned to Lance. "We can't distract her for more."
Lance didn't listen to Elliot and continued to weave his rope with his mana. He had to make sure they were thick enough so Malice couldn't move Lord Damian's body and cast a counter spell.
"Oh, Terrans," Malice sighed and conjured black spheres around her. "Our friendship will be cut short. And I'm not even sorry."
"Now!" Lance yelled and waved both his swords around, spewing out the ropes that the othet four got immediate. "Malice! You will never win!"