After the first pillar of bones was shot, all hell broke loose, in the great chamber.
Nevertheless, the only reason no one completely panicked – or instantly died – was revealed to them by their trusty pathfinder. "Its just thrashing in its sleep! We need to get out of here, before that bastard actually wakes up!"
This was directly proven right, as the lord of the dead was shooting bone pillars in random directions, making any chance to predict the incoming pillars nigh impossible.
Every member of the cohort was dodging the pillars with the methods that fit them best, or were available in that moment.
For example, as one of the follow up pillars after the very first one, had been shot and then lay motionless between the members of the cohort for a second, most had thought the danger this particular pillar could cause had diminished greatly.
But there was their mistake, because in the next instant, it had already been whipped to the side, nearly hitting both Effie and Ray who had been standing on that side of the pillar.
Both of them had narrowly avoided the siege-ram like hit, by throwing themselves on the ground, allowing the terrifying limb of it to fly just above them. Mere centimeters away from their bodies.
After that, no one underestimated the pillars anymore. No matter how far away they were from them.
The only salvation in the chaos of bones and dust, was that Kai, who had managed to catch the golden rope, was finally standing on the stone palm that had once fallen down and destroyed the ceiling partly, binding the rope around one of the palms fingers, and letting it fall down, for the members to climb up.
Cassie was the first one to climb the rope. It was an obvious choice, for the members of the cohort. She took about ten seconds to climb towards the distant ceiling. A feat no mundane human could've ever achieved, which also made some of the people present remember, that their blind seer had also been absorbing soul shards for as long as most of them had.
Ten seconds did not sound very long, but for the ones still in the chamber, it could've been just as well an eternity. Every single one of them was giving everything to barely stay alive.
"EFF, YOU GO NEXT!" Ray shouted to their pathfinder, while barely sliding under another pillar of bones.
Their tall huntress wanted to refuse, but after a moment of hesitation followed through with it. As soon as the rope was in her grasp, she used her enormous strength to nearly leap up the rope. Effie needed not even half the time Cassie had used to reach the top.
Even though the rope was currently free, no one remaining on the ground was able to instantly take the chance to escape. The number of bone pillars… limbs?… was already staggering enough to keep everyone occupied.
Under any other circumstances, at the very least, Ray and Caster should've been able to escape the chamber, but right now their essence' were simply too low, to dodge the incoming attacks and make it up while using their abilities.
Ray had a crazy thought, but since it was really crazy, he hesitated for a moment, but seeing their current situation, and considering the lord of the dead was slowly waking up, he knew there wasn't that much more time.
"EVERYONE! Start moving towards the rope!" Ray shouted to the others, while simultaneously running straight towards the giant pile of bones.
Caster and Nephis were left speechless for a second, both thinking 'What did he think we were trying to do this whole time?' before nevertheless trying their best to get closer to the rope.
As Ray closed in on the fallen tyrant, he immediately noticed the frequency of the attacks from the pillars increasing, as well as the accuracy of them. The damnably bastard was indeed close to waking up.
Multiple times, attacks came dangerously close to him, but he, by some kind of miracle, managed to evade every single attack by a hair's breadth.
It was just as he wanted to continue with his plan, when he noticed something else in the corner of his eye.
"SUNNY, WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Indeed, the dark-haired young man was nearly as close to the tyrant as he was. Ray's mind nearly short-circuited by this sight. Luckily, he managed to get a grip just in time, to sidestep another pillar heading straight for him.
'Whatever! If he wants to kill himself now, then who am I to care…'
Following this train of thought, Ray pulled on the last bit of his reserves, and activated another veil.
The veil was barely the size of Ray, but it should be enough.
'It works!'
As soon as the veil was activated, it was as if Ray had created a completely new blind spot in the nightmare creatures perception. For the lord of the dead, from the point where Ray was standing with the veil active, nothing existed.
And the position of the veil wasn't random, but was at the exact angle the rope was located in. Noticing the immediate cease of any more attacks, Nephis and Caster used the chance their comrade had created for them.
Caster was the first to grab the rope. He immediately activated his dormant ability and basically teleported to the palm above.
Therefore, Nephis did not need to wait at all, as soon as she finally arrived at their lifeline, she threw one last look over to the last two members, before also climbing up as fast she could.
Sadly, when Nephis was barely halfway up the rope, the veil began to dissolve.
'Fuck…'
This was the only thing Ray was able to think, before one of the many bone limbs stroke him dead center and launched him backwards. The only reason he even survived the frontal attack, was once again the wonderful enchantment of his trusted armor, [Last Bastion], which took the brunt of the damage, it then simply dissolved.
Nevertheless, Ray was sent flying. The only good thing about it? He was sent flying straight towards the end of the rope.
By the time he reached the lower end, Nephis had also been able to nearly reach the palm.
Ray reached out his hand, and managed to grasp the golden rope, which in turn swayed heavily towards the direction he was headed for, just a moment ago. Nephis who was originally just about to climb up, now needed to hold on for dear life, and luckily managed to do so.
She quickly bridged the last part, and climbed up the palm. All the while, Ray was already climbing the rope too.
When Sunny too, finally reached the golden rope, it instantly began contracting. Ray had already been able to climb up, by then.
As Sunny was leaving the giant chamber, a thunderous roar echoed across all of the chamber's walls.
The Lord of the dead had awoken, just as his prey managed to escape.
---
Reaching the stone palm, Sunny climbed on it, and instantly fell to his knees on the muddy ground, dead tired.
He was breathing heavily, as he was enjoying the sun, after nearly months without much of it, but soon a shadow crossed his sight. Nephis stood above him, with a dark expression, glaring deeply at him.
"...what?"
She also went down on her knees, getting on the same height as Sunny, "Are you insane? Why would you do that?"
Sunny had wanted to chuckle in response, but ended up coughing heavily. Only when he was able to breath properly again, did he answer, "Yes, no? Maybe? I don't know. I just... saw something shiny."
The moment, these words were spoken, another shadow appeared. This time it was a lot bigger than Nephis'. Right above him stood Ray, with a furious expression on his face.
Before the dirty young man even had the time to say anything, he was already lifted into the air by his much taller companion.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, YOU MORON?! YOU RISK NOT ONLY YOUR LIFE BUT OUR LIVES TOO, FOR SOMETHING 'SHINY'?!"
Ray was utterly furious for the first time, ever since having arrived here on the forgotten shore. He simply couldn't believe that a person he once wanted to call his friend would risk their lives to get something 'shiny'.
Here he was, giving his last bits of essence to make sure his companions were able to get out of there, and Sunny, who had left them all already once behind, risked it all.
"You already saw that I did it, didn't you, ...also, it was simply your fault for being so close to that bastard in the first place…" Sunny, who had barely managed to escape Ray's grip, due to his apparent exhaustion.
Ray could simply not believe these words. "Have you completely gone mad in the dark city? What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Sunny, on the ground again, could only smirk upon hearing this, "Mad? Heh, maybe I have. After all, the thing I've spoken to the most in the past months was a stone. As for what is wrong with me, I guess a lot. But I'm at least not some moron, who would throw his life away for just anyone, like a certain hypocrite."
Originally, Ray wanted to say more, but he stopped, due to noticing what the young man in front of him was trying to do.
Not wanting to take any more of this bullshit, Sunny summoned his tachi, which after few seconds, had already been fully weaved into existence, straight into his hand.
Ray hadn't done anything to intercept him, but his eyes took on a severely darker glint, before he spoke in the darkest tone anyone present had ever heard before, it could've just as well been mistaken as a demon's voice.
"Think very carefully about what you are going to do next, Sunless. I will warn you only once. Once, not a second, nor third time… and trust me, you don't want to find out what happens if you don't step down now."
His voice caused everyone's bodies to tense automatically, and their faces to turn pale. Sunny, though, had it the worst. He felt the full extent of whatever Ray was releasing right now. All of his senses screamed, but his stubbornness didn't allow him to step down.
Not like this.
Before any of the two people could move though, two others stepped forward, having successfully resisted their bodies' protests.
The first one was, of course, Nephis, who stood between both of them, her longsword already at hand. The other, surprisingly, was actually Kai, who had stepped directly in front of Ray, and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, in the hope to calm him down.
And indeed, it worked. Ray turned around and began walking away…