Perilith was in a state of flux all around Nero, loosening the chains on the restriction that kept all beings in the Neophyte level. He needed to return to his team as soon as possible to ensure that there was nothing wrong, and possibly even work on escaping Perilith.
There were protocols in place for if something like this happened - and they all had cards that would act like beacons only Kolari forces could detect for rescue teams to find them. While activating those cards was an obvious necessity, they couldn’t really depend on rescue teams either, for it was unknown how long it would take for them to arrive, and what other sudden changes might take place.
Right now, he was in a situation where every second was critical, and every single decision he made could affect not only his own life or death, but that of his team as well. As such, he decided to raise his strength to the absolute max that it could without instigating the breakthrough to the Initiate level.
Although as an Initiate he’d be able to use higher starred cards, and have more strength himself, the process was not short - not to mention that Nero lacked any starred cards to begin with.
Nero pulled out Radix Augmentation and used it on the skeletal corpse, not wasting a second. These skeletons hadn’t been cursed, or else using Radix Augmentation Nero could have pushed his body to a higher limit, but pushing his Neophyte level to the max was also pretty good.
As soon as he used the card, Nero felt an overwhelming pressure filling his body. After all, in its final moments, the skeleton had gone from being a Neophyte to an Initiate. Immense practice in using the card, however, allowed Nero to accurately gauge just how much energy he needed to reach the very peak of his level, deactivating it at the right time.
After that, he turned around and rushed out of the mausoleum, making sure not to make a sound or attract any attention. Who knew if leaving this underground cave would be as easy as it had been to enter it?
*****
Outside the wooden tavern, the base was filled with an unusual calmness. The neverending fight outside the defensive wall had entered a rare lull, allowing momentary peace. Such a peace was perfect to allow the army to recuperate its strength, and tend to the wounded.
It was nothing that these experienced soldiers hadn’t faced before. Yet there was an unspoken tension within the camp. The subtle signs of a conflict between the officers in the camp were present for those with the experience to see, and only military discipline had kept the conflict from escalating.
Lieutenant Earl had made the decision to send the Neophytes into Perilith once more, but there was a heavy debate ongoing regarding whether such a thing was absolutely necessary or not.
News had been leaked that the Sage Morphius Kade had been summoned to answer for the actions of the army repeatedly using Neophytes in war. Once the news leaked, the soldiers too formed opinions amongst themselves.
Some claimed that there was not a single weak or fearful Kolari, and to serve one’s country is a duty of all card masters. Others argued that Neophytes had never taken the oath. The oath - the one that all those who enlisted or served in the army were made to take. The oath to protect Kolar, and vanquish all curses. How could the ones who needed to be protected, be the ones protecting? Which empire had used the weak to defend the strong?
An entire generation had already been crippled as a result of the Lumina ruins. How could they continue using Neophytes whenever it seemed easy or convenient? Where was their honour?
Those who said that having Neophytes fight was an act of a coward were then countered by those who stated that Lieutenant Earl had even sent his own son into Perilith for the sake of the mission. How could that be the act of a coward?
Such whispers were rampant across the camp, but nothing would come of it, because the ultimate power to make decisions lay with the higher ups. Whatever they decided is what would happen.
Besides, it was only a matter of time before a decision was reached in the case against Sage Morphius, which would determine whether they would continue to send Neophytes into Perilith. It was only a matter of a couple more days at most.
It was amidst this tense, yet relatively calm environment that the sight of a running soldier suddenly attracted all eyes. They noted the grave expression on his face as he bolted to the command building. They also noted that he had rushed over from the wooden tavern.
The entire camp, or at least the ones who had seen the incident, held their breath. They could feel it - something significant had happened, and the lull in the camp’s activity was about to end.
As if to confirm their theories, an alarm sounded just a moment later. All the soldiers rushed towards their reporting stations immediately, ready to fight another battle if need be. But, as it turned out, there was no other battle to fight. No, instead, there were emergency rescue missions that had to be initiated.
Countless soldiers felt their hearts drop to their stomachs. Something had gone wrong in Perilith. In that case, could mere Neophytes even survive long enough to make it out? No one knew the answer, and the stern yet focused expression on the lieutenant’s face was a clear sign that he didn’t know either.
*****
Vanessa struggled to pick herself up as she felt Perilith shake.
"Lina, protective formation," she struggled to say even as she searched through her card case for any card she could use. There were a number of contingencies covering, and hidden within her body, but she had control over none of them. They would activate automatically as the need arose, and that need had to be extremely critical for them to activate.
Back in the Lumina ruins, only when she had injected herself with the serum to strengthen her innate ability had one of the contingencies activated - thereby barely allowing her to continue injecting herself. The problem was, each time one such contingency was activated, it would be used up, leaving her with fewer means.
Right now, her condition wasn’t bad enough to activate one such contingency since Dave hadn’t given her lethal poison. However, her condition also wasn’t good enough to be useful, which was a headache.
With Lina’s help, she had managed to pull Bael and Noman to herself, so she activated a card which erected a protective field around them, but that was the extent of what she could do. Whether she was willing or not, she had to leave the rest to Lina and the others for now.
She closed her eyes and focused on regaining proper control over her aether. Once she managed to achieve that, she’d be able to help out with the fight. Until then... she could only hope.
But while Vanessa, in her weakened state, left everything to hope, that was not something Lina had the time for. She and the six others surrounded Vanessa, Bael and Noman, while they in turn were surrounded by agitated beasts.
Whatever Dave had done to agitate them was still effective even though now Perilith was undergoing an upheaval. There was a feline beast, one with light brown and white fur, growling and circling the group, acting as the leader.
Its aura had already broken into the Initiate level, yet it did not attack. Not yet. Even in its agitated state, its instincts were strong, and so it waited till its strength stabilised, and things normalised. If Nero were here, he would have taken advantage of this moment to attack. Yet Lina only knew what she had been ordered, and that was to defend.
Each moment that they were not attacked, she continued to succeed in that order, she made them seem as little of a threat as possible. Precious seconds of time were bought. Precious seconds of time were wasted.
In a dozen or so seconds, the trembling of the dimension finally stopped, and the shivering aether finally began to calm down, once again hitting a barrier, restraining the dimension to that level.
The feline beast, deciding that the time to wait was over, struck. Lina and the others, in perfect form and with impeccable precision, stepped forward and defended. So far, their defense had been impenetrable. This time, however, they faltered. On the very first strike, their formation broke, and one of the soldiers stumbled backwards.
Abilities were used. Weapons were used. Shields were used. Between the sounds of banging and screaming, not to mention the severe dizziness, Vanessa had no idea what was happening around her. Yet when a spray of warm liquid splashed on her face, she was forced to open her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a lifeless corpse.