Chapter 350: Charmed

Uriel’s frame streaked across the plain, his steed moving at a dazzling speed, his lance destroying all obstacles and hindrances on their path as they moved.

Behind him, keeping up, were the rest of the human forces with him; both Lucas and Dorian stirred their spectral steeds towards Uriel...

"What is going on? What was that?" Lucas asked with a thick Spanish accent, staring intensely at Uriel, anticipating a reply.

After all, since Uriel reacted before the beast was even around, it only made sense that he had an idea of what this threat could be.

Uriel’s jaw remained clenched, his mind mired in the scene of his own death; despite his affinity with the stars that mobilized time, there were still side effects, like small cracks in his soul.

It was as though he was experiencing both time lanes at once, and he was so preoccupied with maintaining clarity that he had no chance to give the two other curious leaders a proper reply.

The earth began to tremor with a timed, specific rhythm, a footstep, and whatever was behind it had to be huge.

A faint, musky odour streamed into the air, riding the wind straight into Uriel’s lungs, filling his nostrils with that familiar, vile stench.

Uriel’s expression crumpled — that thing was following them, and given the ridiculous abilities it wielded, outrunning it wasn’t a possibility.

Crash!

In the distance, trees fell, splintering apart in the wake of whatever was charging towards them, the dreadful presence thickening in the atmosphere, along with a trickle of another, foreign presence...

No, not foreign! Seth!

Uriel’s face brightened at once, his grasp over himself amplifying, as he gave the signal, steering his steed towards Seth’s presence.

Maybe! Just maybe, the combined might of him and Seth could do something to that abomination.

Uriel took a quick, fleeting glance backwards, and there he caught sight of the monster’s outline, trampling its way towards them, crushing everything in its path.

Uriel felt sick, his chest heaving and his gut churning, a familiar nausea afflicting his senses all of a sudden, his fingers trembling in horror, as he instantly realized the monster had gotten in already...

The beast was never that huge — if it were, Seth would have seen signs or trails when he found Uriel’s dying body, but he didn’t.

Uriel’s heart went cold, his blood flow racing; the beast had infiltrated his mind just like the last time.

He yipped, spurring his steed to go faster as he could feel the shadow of the grim reaper breathing over his shoulder — that thing had gotten to his head, and before the hallucination could get any stronger, he had to find Seth quickly!

The earth continued to rumble, the group blitzing across the plain and into a flame storm! Trees around them caught sudden flames, the atmosphere suddenly going smoldering hot, the tint of the air going gold.

"Where are we going, Mormont! You’re going to get us killed!" Dorian yelled hoarsely from his steed.

Uriel winced and frowned, his grip over the astral mount’s reins so tight his palms began to sting; he flung his head to the side, mustering all the will he could to give a loud order.

"Keep charging ahead, it’s all an illusion!"

The soldiers frowned — how could it be an illusion when it hurt so much? Each breath grew tortuous by the second, almost like inhaling a whole bundle of crackling, red-hot coals in one go; it was excruciating, their skin blistering, as the liquid layer protecting their eyes evaporated at a steaming-hot pace.

And Uriel was telling them this was all an illusion? The doubt settled in the air, the pain beginning to influence their decisions.

Should they leave Uriel and retreat? But that won’t do — that monster, hot on their heels, might just make quick work of them.

Hissing and gritting their teeth, everyone decided to put up with the pain, as they bolted into the forest, everything getting worse by the second.

... 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Meanwhile...

A sickening squish rang out as the dark, bubbling blood of the feline corrupted sprayed into the air, a spear stuck out of its eye socket.

Its muscles twitched for a few seconds before the beast collapsed dead; this was the last of them, at least that was what he believed.

So if he had truly gotten rid of the culprits of the future disaster, then why didn’t he feel at ease in the slightest?

The atmosphere felt cold, the hair across his body standing erect, goosebumps rising like a wave, all while a sickening stench flooded his nostrils.

"What is that smell?" Seth grunted in disgust, raising his arm by the wrist to shield his nostrils, his spear dislodging from the corrupted corpse as it flowed through the wind to settle right over his shoulder.

He was about to keep moving when he paused, his ear twitching, and caught the sound of galloping heading his way...

’Wait, this presence... Uriel!’ Seth’s face lit with urgency; springing that way, he leaped into the air, balancing upon the spear, letting it carry him zipping out of sight, turning into a distant streak of light in a second.

Seth couldn’t harness the toxic, corrupt-dense atmosphere to fly, so he had no choice but to come up with this alternative to grant a more convenient means of faster travel.

His hands continued shielding the lower half of his face as he burst out of a dense pack of trees; the silhouette of Uriel and a group numbering about a hundred, all alive, filled Seth with relief.

Maybe he was just paranoid, and the felines really were the only threat; his mental waves coiled around the bone-carved spear, thickening as he reduced his distance from the earth, preparing to rein back his speed.

But then he realized something was off — everything about the situation didn’t seem right. Why didn’t Uriel and the others feel relieved on seeing him?

No, it wasn’t that — they couldn’t see him at all! And something was wrong with their postures, their expressions; it all showed that they were fleeing something terrifying...

So why was it that Seth couldn’t feel any looming force or silhouette? He let the spear loose, allowing it to soar high, giving him a better view or chance at spotting what they were running from, but still nothing.

The forest rattled and trampled in their wake, yet falling back to silence as they moved, dead still, almost as though nothing existed within the dense body of wood.

Though his senses said otherwise, Seth had long learned not to trust his senses in this corrupt zone, so, still on high alert, he decided to get closer to Uriel and inquire what was happening before planning a move.

As his silhouette soared through the wind fluidly, four pairs of sinister, hazy white eyes, making eight, sparkled in the dark, crimson-shaded forest, locking on Seth’s fleeting frame from the distance.

Instantly a mental attack was launched...