Chapter 397: Chapter 395 – Sun Prison.

The horrific incantation continued to flow from Ozrelak's lips, the words an unholy and blasphemous chant, echoed through the whole compound. A sinister aura enveloped the area as the warlock started to transform. His body twisted and contorted, morphing into a nightmarish tumor of flesh and strange appendages.

“Ha ha, the shitty Warlock actually did it… I guess we are all fucked now…”

A woman's eerie laughter filled the air as her body was lifted off the ground. A dark, sinister tentacle had impaled her chest, and from the wound's center, peculiar blisters emerged and burst. Within moments, obsidian-dark liquid enveloped her body, causing it to contort into grotesque poses before being abruptly pulled into a larger, unholy mass of flesh and tissue.

She had been critically wounded during her confrontation with Roland earlier and was unable to respond to the attack coming from one of her own allies. Upon realizing what had occurred, her rage transformed into chaotic, uncontrollable laughter. As her body was drawn into the grotesque mass, she continued to chuckle, her eyes fixed on the armored man enveloped in a blue aura of mana.

The epicenter of this horror was the Eldritch Warlock himself, and the bodies of his two previous companions, Kovak the Necromancer and Jezryna the Abyssal Assassin, were merging with him. But this wasn't the extent of it. A vast quantity of dead bodies and former cultists were also drawn into this nightmarish amalgamation. Masses of tentacles and tendrils shot out from the fleshy mass to consume anything connected to the cultists. From within this grotesque, meaty structure, a strange, pulsating sound, akin to a heartbeat, emanated, and its pace continued to quicken.

“Guild Master…”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!”

Roland nodded as he observed the unfolding spell in progress. The mass of organic tissue was already under bombardment from his turrets and restored golems, but the regeneration was too extreme for the available mana to keep up with. To address this issue, he turned to the others gathered there, requesting that they contribute their strength to the effort.

Although the Warlock had been wounded, it was evident that it wasn't sufficient to stop him. On the other hand, the guild master, despite his own deep wounds, persisted in gathering his aura to launch a cleaving attack that shot toward the expanding mass. It tore through the earth once more, severing many of the writhing tentacles. Upon striking the growing tumor, it revealed some of the pinkish flesh within.

Others present who were capable of ranged attacks also joined in. Agni harnessed a significant amount of his mana to unleash a scorching ray of sunlight as a swift follow-up attack after the Guild Master's cleave had opened up the mass. Lobelia conjured multiple elemental arrows and released them nearly simultaneously with impeccable timing, striking the now-exposed vulnerable spot. Meanwhile, Roland issued orders for all of his turrets and golems to concentrate their fire on the forming monstrosity, fully aware that whatever emerged would be much more formidable than the three cultists it had been composed of.

The plan seemed to be working, and the mass of monstrous innards emitted strange wails of displeasure as the inside and the pulsating organ were exposed. Taking advantage of this moment, Roland retrieved a weapon he had concealed to the side - a red spear made of mithril, which he intended to use as a javelin.

By infusing his own mana into the runic patterns, the spear was enveloped in a chaotic array of golden lightning energy. It was a combination spell, replicating the divine lightning that some Paladins were capable of conjuring. Most of the electrical energy concentrated at the tip as he swiftly hurled the javelin in the direction of the pulsating organ. With the others assisting in restraining the tentacles, the spear only needed to pierce through a few tendrils that the transforming monstrosity attempted to shield itself with.

At last, the magical energies detonated in a furious display of lights. The monstrous entity emitted multiple echoing shrieks, as if produced by numerous individuals. The thrashing tentacles that had been relentlessly lashing out at everyone, obstructing those attempting to approach, began to slump to the ground and wither.

“Ha, we did it! These cultists are nothing!”

You are reading story The Runesmith at novel35.com

Armand was the first to shout out in joy when he noticed that the strange appendages had stopped flailing. The one around him had subsided enough for him to step on them without concern. However, he soon realized that something was amiss. Everyone except him was fixated on a specific object protruding from within the withering pile of flesh, and it resembled the large monolith that Roland had encountered in that village.

“Something isn’t right, Armand get away from there!”

Roland urgently called out to halt his friend from approaching the relic too closely. Instead, he activated his golems to aim their attacks at the spear that was lodged into the artifact. It was the very same one he had seen in Edelgard. Although the spear had managed to pierce through some of the outer shell, only a few centimeters had penetrated. The once-silvery red color of his weapon, surrounded by golden mana, was now shifting and contorting, transforming into a corrupted shade of obsidian.

The relic, which initially appeared to be nothing more than a chiseled piece of peculiar rocks, was now veined with strange, pulsating lines that synchronized with the beat of a heart. Roland's spear, which had been thrust into the relic, was forcefully pushed out by a new mass of flesh, unveiling the pulsating organ within.

The outer shell began to fracture, revealing a strange black heart with multiple small eyes, all fixated on the group that was attempting to destroy it. When he and the others gazed into those eyes they were momentarily stunned. The weakpoint had been revealed but none of them could move to deliver the finishing blow.

The black heart within the relic continued to pulsate, radiating malevolent energy that seemed to seep into the very core of the group's beings. The eyes on the heart fixated on them, and it was as if the heart itself was aware of their every thought and movement. As they stood there, immobilized by the heart's eerie gaze, they could feel an overwhelming sense of dread and despair creeping into their minds. Each of them was bombarded with their deepest fears and regrets, haunting memories that they had long buried.

Even Roland, who had designed his armor to resist various mental attacks, struggled to maintain his sanity. Armand, Elodia, and the Guild Master were all gripping their heads and screaming, their eyes darkening as if they were being consumed by some kind of demonic force. However, one particular canine among them appeared to be unaffected by the heart's gaze, and it promptly made this fact known.

“Awooo!”

A howl resounded through the entire compound and was followed by a radiant glow of reddish sunlight. It enveloped the screaming creature and momentarily snapped him out of the paralysis effect it was creating. Roland didn’t hesitate to activate one of the devices that he had installed to counter the occult and undead. The walls, ground exploded with mana energy as runes started shining everywhere. His entire home started radiating divine mana everywhere, with such a large concentration of it around even Armand and the others were able to snap back out if it.

The creature didn’t appreciate the alleviation of the spell and produced a strange wave of black energy that shot out in continuous waves toward them. Everyone was blasted away while the spell continued. They all were flung in different directions, each landing with a painful thud as the waves of dark energy continued to wash over them. The divine energy in the surroundings did provide some protection, but the force was still overpowering. It felt as if the very essence of their being was being drained away by the sinister waves.

The shroud of necrotic green energy underwent a transformation, morphing into a pitch-black obsidian hue. It forcefully pushed away all light, with only the divine runes managing to halt its advance. Where the Warlock had initiated his transformation, an egg-shaped spiral appeared and rapidly continued what had been set in motion. A bestial howl erupted from within as a being finally materialized before them.

All the golems, turrets, and even the floating cubes began to tremble as a strange surge of energy interfered with their runic components. They could no longer continue firing, and Roland was unable to muster the power to reform them with his skills. Only thanks to the divine rune emulation were they able to perceive anything, and their adversary finally materialized.

---