The team slowed down after moving out of the Rock Formation because the area beyond this point was no longer protected by the guards of Cinder Rock.
After going across a short distance full of energy disruptions, they arrived at the next zone—Range of the Sacrificed. This place was all about barren and empty mountains tainted by exceedingly high negative energy.
Angor did not have to ask where all the ominous energy came from, because he already saw several altars in view that had piles of bones placed on them that were releasing more dark energy into the air.
When the team moved above the altars, the bones, or the “sacrificed”, suddenly became animated. They used their hollow eye sockets to gaze at the travelers in the sky while trying to reach higher with their weapons. However, only a few skeletons with bows and arrows could actually hurl their attacks high enough, which posed no threat to anyone.
“The altars were built by the natives of the Abyss. Those who swore their lives to the demons will sometimes sacrifice their own kind like this. What you saw is far from the end of the victims.”
Madelyne’s words were soon proved as people saw swarms of skeletons waiting in line, even though there were fewer and fewer altars further ahead.
Following their trail, the skeleton army below “lit up” one after another and began mindlessly marching toward where the Frozen Wing went.
It took the team about two hours to fully move past the gloomy mountain range. However, leaving the skeletons behind did not help them forget the pressure left in their minds, for they had no idea how much more danger lurked in their path.
Seven hours after they departed from Cinder Rock, they encountered their first enemy, which was a flock of large, skeletal birds. The giant herd almost covered the entire sky in front of them, denying what little light they could enjoy in the Abyss. These creatures were both fast and reckless. The team had no choice but to confront them.
Even the most simple cantrip unleashed by an apprentice could knock a good number of the birds off the sky. But losing their comrades did not slow down their suicidal attacks one bit. As endless waves of them joined the battle from all directions, people had both their stamina and their mental endurance tested.
The fight dragged on.
An hour later, the sky finally cleared up when over a hundred thousand corpses were piled up on the ground, including the bodies of three unfortunate apprentices.
Even though the battle was won, watching the creepy creatures raining down from the sky for an entire hour would undeniably haunt everyone’s mind in the foreseeable future.
“Anything that can be solved is no problem at all,” Madelyne lectured Angor. “It’s only time to get worried if you’re stopped by something impossible to deal with.”
“Is there anything that even wizards can’t straighten out?” asked Angor.
“Definitely. For example—”
Sennefer’s amplified voice suddenly came and interrupted Madelyne, “Everyone, stop.”
Someone in the team panicked upon hearing these words, because Sennefer did not sound calm when issuing that order.
“Darn it.” Madelyne put up a serious look. “Guess I don’t need to explain. You’ll see such a problem soon.”
They had arrived at another mountain range. But this time, it was not empty. There were many grand, ancient-looking buildings scattered along the sides of the mountains.
“This is a secondary Demon Monastery,” Madelyne spoke to Angor in a small voice. “The HQ of the monastery is located at level 3. They built many smaller ones in the outer levels. They’re used by natives or other weaker residents in the Abyss to pay tribute to demons. But most of the time, you won’t find actual demons watching them.”
The team picked this route because it was safer compared to the other choices. As everyone believed, a subsidiary Demon Monastery would have a few half-demon devotees guarding it, at best.
However, the strong aura of a true demon emanating from the area ahead told them otherwise.
As soon as Madelyne stopped talking, they saw a bulky figure emerging from the buildings.
Black, spiky wings. A long, whip-like tail. A pair of goat horns.
“It’s a Baphomet.” Madelyne grimaced. “It’s a mid-level demon who could easily compete with truth-finders. Miss Sennefer should be able to keep it away from us. But... if a Baphomet is here, I suspect that an even stronger demon is just waiting somewhere nearby. When it comes, we’ll get killed for sure.”
Sennefer was hastily sending another order now. “I’ll buy you some time. You all get past the monastery as fast as possible, then we shall rendezvous at the Frozen Ruins!”
Nobody had time to provide other opinions, because the demon was already coming to their position while laughing in an ear-piercing voice.
Black ripples left its mouth and began spreading around the demon’s form. This was a concentrated energy of corruption. Anyone who touched it would have no hope of survival.
Sennefer unleashed a colorful energy beam from one hand and dispelled some of the approaching energy.
Seeing this, the demon lifted its careless attitude and cautiously inspected Sennefer’s strength.
Without giving her target time to prepare, Sennefer covered her body with a thick energy shell and rushed to the Baphomet.
The suppressive aura around everyone disappeared when the demon was distracted, thus allowing them to act again.
“MOVE!” Maher dashed away first and reminded everyone to follow.
The Baphomet tried to keep its prey, but it failed to do so when Sennefer was there to keep it busy.
As soon as Maher gave the word, Angor maximized Gondola’s output. At the same time, he told Toby to prepare and use “Griffin Mode” to escape the second something went wrong.
The disturbance caused by the two mighty combatants caught up with the team even though they had moved several kilometers away from the battlefield.
No one would argue that, without Sennefer, the entire team would have been wiped out by now.
The escape was not exactly safe because there were other enemies lurking inside the monastery. However, nothing stopped them from proceeding when they had over 20 wizards in the team, who were enough to deal with common half-demons.
They reached their next target in half an hour, which was the Frozen Ruins.
There was an empty underground cave here that served as a temporary camping site. The team never planned to remain here. But for now, they had to stop moving and wait for Sennefer.
It was Maher who did the explaining this time. “The union originally had plans to build another establishment here because there were no enemies in this area. But later, we found another form of danger, which was way more invulnerable than monsters and demons.”
As he spoke, they had been at Frozen Ruins for a while without hearing a sound.
There were even several small bushes growing beside the entrance of the cave. The peace and greens somewhat comforted people’s unsettled minds.
“The safe area is just inside. Follow closely.” Maher entered the hidden entrance first.
After walking on a path that led them deeper into the ground for about five minutes, they came to the main cave and saw several unlit campfires, probably used by other travelers seeking shelter.
“We’ll stay here for the moment and wait for Miss Sennefer.” Maher told people to settle down. “Remember, no one will go outside alone and without a good reason.”
Maher went off with several union guards, who would discuss their next plans around a fire.
Angor and Madelyne also found somewhere private and sat down.
“It’s not a good sign to see a Baphomet at level 1,” Madelyne muttered with a frown. “These things used to lurk in level 3 only. What brought it here, I wonder?”
Angor wasn’t paying attention. Even since coming to the Abyss Plane, the terrible feeling of dread kept lingering in his mind and wouldn’t go away. Even sailing across the Devil’s Water at the worst weather did not stress him out so badly.
He knew he could endure the pressure for a while, but he also knew that someone would lose it sooner or later. In fact, a few apprentices in the team were already showing signs of stress-induced madness.
The hopelessness and depressing tension would probably keep up for a long time.