Chapter 300: Light Against the Miasma

The moment Arthur finished speaking, the battlefield changed.

The Miasma around the Darkness Mirror began to churn. At first it was only a distant movement, and then came the sound. Branches snapping. Heavy footsteps. Low growls rolling through the forest.

Mithra slowly turned her head. "Something’s coming."

Athena’s eyes narrowed. "Not something."

A shadow moved between the trees. Then another. Then dozens. Purple eyes opened all through the darkness.

Arthur tightened his grip on Phanetium. "Everyone, get ready."

The first corrupted Beast burst out of the trees, then another, then ten more, and within seconds the road ahead was packed with them. Wolves, boars, huge reptiles, bird-like Beasts, and massive creatures Arthur couldn’t even name, every one of them laced with purple veins and staring straight at the group.

Sun raised his weapon. "How many?"

Athena looked toward the forest. "Hundreds."

Arthur looked past the first wave, where more movement stirred, and more beyond that. Thousands of purple eyes flickered in the distance.

He exhaled. "That’s a lot."

Vedas stepped up beside him. "Finally."

Arthur glanced at him. "You sound happy."

Vedas smiled. "We haven’t had a proper fight in a while."

Arthur laughed. "Fair."

Luna moved to the center of the group, and Arthur looked at her. "You stay here."

"I know."

Arthur turned to Star and Eden. "You two stay with her." Then he looked at Vedas. "You’re on the front line with me. But she’s our guide. If anything gets past us, I want you back beside her."

Vedas looked at Luna, then back at Arthur. "Understood."

Star bounced beside Luna, and Eden settled above her shoulder as the formation closed around her. Athena and Athy moved to the front, Mithra and Melo took the left flank, and Sun and Kong took the right. Arthur stood at the center of the front line and raised Phanetium.

The hammer began to glow, and the Light Mirror answered. The sanctuary’s boundary pushed outward, the Miasma recoiled, and suddenly the corrupted Beasts found themselves standing inside an enormous field of golden-white light.

Arthur smiled. "Let’s see how far we’ve come."

The first Beast charged, and Arthur swung.

A massive wave of Light exploded across the battlefield, hurling the Beast backward along with several more behind it. Before they could recover, Arthur raised his free hand.

[Columns of Light]

Golden pillars erupted from the ground. One. Five. Ten. Dozens. They tore through the corrupted formation and sent Beasts flying in every direction.

Sun stared. "Arthur! Since when can you do that?!"

Arthur grinned. "Since now."

"That’s not an answer!"

Arthur laughed as the enemy’s front line collapsed.

Vedas flashed forward, and King Maker swept through the first group.

BOOM!

One Beast was launched straight into another. Vedas spun and struck again, and a second one fell. A third lunged from the side, and he caught it with his golden armored arm, stopping its charge dead before throwing it several meters across the ground.

Arthur looked over. "Still think you need my help?"

Vedas smiled. "I never said I did."

He charged again, and the front line became his. He didn’t fight the way he had when they first entered the Everglades. There was no hesitation and no wasted movement, only deliberate strikes carrying the full strength of a Level 37 Goblin King as he tore through the corrupted Beasts.

Arthur smiled. We’ve really gotten stronger.

Something crashed down beside him, and Mithra landed with her fox traits fully showing, multiple tails sweeping behind her. She grinned. "Left side is clear."

Arthur glanced over. "Already?"

"They’re not exactly difficult anymore."

Three corrupted Beasts attacked her at once. One of her tails struck the first, her claws tore through the second, and she twisted around the third and kicked it into the ground. Then she looked at Arthur. "See?"

Arthur laughed. "Show-off."

"You started it."

Melo moved beside her and spread her five tails, and a strange mist rolled across the battlefield. The corrupted Beasts caught in it grew disoriented, some attacking empty air and others stumbling into each other.

Sun noticed. "That’s useful."

"Melo is suppressing their senses," Mithra said with a smile.

On the other side, Sun and Kong were fighting in a completely different way. Sun slammed his weapon into the ground, and the earth erupted in a wave of stone that threw several Beasts into the air. Kong leaped onto one of the rising rocks, his crimson-enhanced arm swelling as he punched downward.

CRACK!

The Beast slammed into the ground, and Sun laughed. "You’re getting too comfortable!"

Kong squeaked proudly.

"Don’t encourage yourself," Sun said, shaking his head.

Above them, Athy ruled the sky. Her armor gleamed as she cut between the flying Beasts, intercepting one after another, and every time something tried to dive toward Luna, Athy was already there. Below her, Athena summoned Aegis in front of Luna whenever anything slipped through the formation.

"Nothing is getting through," Athena said.

Arthur glanced back. Star was bouncing at Luna’s feet and Eden hovered overhead, while Vedas had fallen back beside her after his last charge. The center was completely protected.

"Good," Arthur said.

Then the next wave hit. A massive corrupted Beast charged straight at him, and Arthur planted Phanetium. Light erupted from the ground and slowed the Beast down, and Arthur stepped in with a single strike that sent it flying.

He didn’t even stop moving. He went straight into the next one, then the next. Phanetium was unlike any weapon he had ever used. Every swing carried Light and Creation, and every strike tore the Miasma off the Beasts it touched. He didn’t have to overpower each one on his own. The hammer turned the entire battlefield in their favor. With every clash, the Light Sanctuary grew, the Miasma retreated, and the team pushed forward.

Arthur looked around. Mithra and Melo had crushed the left flank, and Sun and Kong had broken the right. Athy held the sky, Athena held the center, and Vedas was tearing through the front again while Star and Eden kept Luna safe.

This wasn’t the same group that had entered the Everglades. They had become a real team.

Arthur laughed.

Sun looked over. "Why are you laughing?"

Arthur blocked an attack. "Because this is easy."

Sun’s eyes went wide. "Don’t say that!"

Arthur smashed Phanetium into the ground, and Light burst outward, throwing a dozen Beasts back at once. He looked at Sun. "See?"

Sun sighed. "You’re impossible."

The battle went on. The first hundred Beasts fell, then another hundred, until the ground was covered with defeated corrupted creatures. But the forest in the distance was still moving. More were coming.

Arthur looked at the endless mass. "There are still thousands."

Vedas landed beside him. "Then we’ll keep going."

"Yeah," Arthur said.

They advanced, and every step brought the fight closer to the Darkness Mirror. The Miasma grew thicker and the Beasts grew more aggressive, but the team kept cutting through them. Eden shared her vision with everyone so they could see attacks before they landed, and Star darted through the gaps to hit anything that slipped past. Luna stayed in the center, keeping them pointed toward the Mirror.

Then Arthur stopped.

Vedas noticed immediately. "What is it?"

Arthur didn’t answer. Another wave was charging, but something was wrong. The Beasts weren’t spreading out, and they weren’t trying to surround them. They were all moving in the same direction, toward the group, toward the road, and toward the Mirror.

Arthur looked at the battlefield, then at the Mirror, then back at the Beasts, and his expression changed. "It’s not trying to kill us."

Vedas frowned. "What?"

Athena had heard him. "What did you say?"

"They’re not fighting us because they want us dead," Arthur said.

Another wave crashed against the Light Sanctuary, and Arthur raised Phanetium. Light exploded, and the Beasts were thrown back. He looked past them to the black structure.

"They’re trying to stop us."

Athena’s eyes widened. "From doing what?"

Arthur stared at the Darkness Mirror. "From reaching it."

For a moment, nobody said anything.

Then Luna spoke from the center of the formation. "Then we don’t need to defeat all of them."

Arthur smiled. "Exactly."

He raised Phanetium, and the Light Sanctuary surged outward, shoving the Miasma aside and opening a path straight through the corrupted horde.

Arthur pointed at the Darkness Mirror. "Everyone."

Vedas raised King Maker. Mithra’s tails spread wide. Athy rose into the air. Sun and Kong braced themselves, Athena raised Aegis, and Luna tightened her grip on the compass.

Arthur stepped forward. "We break through."

The whole team moved as one. For the first time, they weren’t fighting to survive.

They were fighting to advance, straight toward the Darkness Mirror.