Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 5: Death Floor (2)

"How annoying." Sonic clucked his tongue as he glared at a group of Death Knights. Behind them, a basketball-sized orb floated within a purple pillar. Sonic recognized the dungeon core, but it was protected by a life-seal. Life-seals were barriers tied to a living being's life energy. Such barriers were nigh-unbreakable without killing the beings linked to it. Due to the life-seal, Sonic's strategy of avoiding fights to save time came to a crashing halt. He had no choice but to fight now.

Still, it was just annoying. Sonic looked at the level 190 Death Knights that would give most parties headaches with mellow eyes. With a slight snort, he charged at the angry defenders.

The Death Knights roared as they swung their swords at the kafu. Death scythes tore through the air, but Sonic seamlessly weaved through the attacks, before breezing past the Death Knights. The defenders quickly turned around, but violent tornadoes suddenly swallowed each one. Thousands of tiny wind blades embedded within the tornadoes shredded the Death Knights to pieces. Seconds later, the tornadoes dissipated with a small explosion, leaving nothing but dust behind.

"Second core down." Sonic lazily placed thistle in his mouth as he walked over to the dissipating barrier. With a snort, he kicked out, sending a wind blade that shattered the dungeon core. Ding! Sonic grinned when he received a confirmation point alongside a flurry of experience points. However, he did not waste time enjoying his victory. The team was on a very short deadline. Every second counted!

After confirming the core's destruction, he immediately charged over to assist the rest of his team in clearing the last one.

Elsewhere, Brilith's team was just about to finish their assault on the last core. Their efficiency in eliminating the cores was frightening. Though, they did owe a large part to Brilith taking point to transport through the undead army. Still, it seemed like they would have the glory of finishing their objectives first.

Just when they were on the cusp of victory, Brilith's expression suddenly turned red with anger. She suddenly roared, "Kashi!" and then send several tree branches shooting into the sky like missiles.

The rest of Silver Spear also turned to the sky in shock to see something rapidly descended upon their location. Within the blink of an eye, a dragonified Kashi came into view. The daeben's eyes were desperate as he tucked his wings and slipped through the branches' assault.

FTB appeared in Kashi's hand, and he trained an arrow downward. Brilith frantically wrapped thick trunks over her vulnerable teammates, shielding them from Kashi's attack. The wisben was livid as she glared at Kashi with hate, "What do you think you're doing? Do you have the luxury to betray us right now!?"

Kashi let his arrows do the talking. Bang! Bang! Bang! A dozen arrows fell like meteors from the sky. However, the arrows crashed through the Death Knights, shattering them in one blow. The draconian then swiftly landed, and grabbed the core as the barrier dissipated. Only then did he finally relax and let out a sigh of relief, "Oof, just about made it on time."

Brilith released her vines when she realized that Kashi was not there to kill them. However, she was not easily placated. She glared at the draconian with an accusatory glare. "What the hell was that? I cannot work with you if you keep doing impulsive acts like that."

Kashi scratched his cheek and bowed in apology. "My bad. I really needed one core."

Brilith could not understand what Kashi wanted to do with a dungeon core. Summoned did not have the authority to wield these cores in any meaningful way. In fact, Summoned could only destroy them. How was Kashi holding that core? Brilith probed him for information. "Your team had four!? You could not grab any of those?"