"There, are we close enough?" Thane whispered in a low voice as he moved slowly between two pillars of rock.
The area around the mountain was crawling with monsters infected by the sentient blood. They were all connected, so fighting one would immediately alert the rest.
"Yes, I can feel it," Enzo responded with a nod.
Since fighting would sooner bring them ruin than success, they decided to sneak their way into the mountain.
"I am the shadow…" Enzo closed his eyes and muttered, and in the next moment, he phased into the shadow beside him and disappeared from view.
Seconds later, in a cave across a stride of land where monsters patrolled, a figure cloaked in black rose from the shadows and smiled.
'Shame I can't bring anyone outside the void coffin with me.'
Enzo thought in his head as he turned back to where Thane and Nibbleskin stood.
This would be the perfect time to leave Thane behind, but the cunning bastard had convinced Nibbleskin to stay with him.
"First things first," Enzo said, dropping the void coffin on the ground and placing his hand on the side. Immediately he did so, the door slid open, allowing Victoria to step out.
"Hm, finally," Victoria muttered under her breath as she looked over at Enzo.
The shade of the mountain cave covered her from the rays of the sun. At least from this point of the journey, she would be useful.
"Sorry it took so long," Enzo said. He could only imagine how cramped the void coffin would be. Well, he had never been inside, but he thought as much.
"Thank you, Enzo… I won't forget all you've done," Victoria smiled.
If not for him, would they have gotten this far? He was the antithesis of this whole thing.
"Ahh," Enzo was taken aback for a second as he realized that this was real life for Victoria and the rest. She really had been imprisoned here for years, while he? This was just part of a trial to becoming a star weaver.
She felt gratitude for all he had done for her without needing to, but he also had to help her even if she didn't want it.
"You're welcome," he smiled, not knowing what to say other than that.
Hearing this, Victoria nodded with gratitude and turned to the edge of the cave where light rays beamed. She stopped at the edge of the shadows. Then she stretched her hand into the light.
Blood soon accumulated around her fingertips, and a second later, several shots flew out and struck a pile of rocks in sight.
???
The moment that happened, all the infected beasts in the surroundings followed the stimulus of sound and rushed to it with frightening frenzy.
A distraction, one that opened a line of sight for Thane and Nibbleskin to rush over without making a sound.
"You're good?" Enzo asked as he reached for Thane's shoulders.
Thane seemed to have accumulated a lot of stress these past few days, always looking over his shoulder.
"Hm!!" He jumped away, a chill running down his spine for a moment.
They were close to the end of this journey of theirs. At this point, he had expected to have killed at least a single person from the team, but till now he hadn't faced any success.
Worse was, Enzo seemed to have caught on to his plans and was hiding things from him, including weapons. Who wouldn't be worried in his situation?
"Calm down, Master Thane," Enzo spoke with a mocking tone.
He could understand Thane's worries, especially since Victoria wasn't confined by the void coffin anymore. He was still cautious of him, though.
"I… sorry. The stress of this godforsaken planet is getting to me," Thane said with a smile.
His bright face was now covered in varying levels of dirt. He no longer looked like a knight in shining armor, he looked now more like a thief in the back alleys of a drowning city.
"We will be out of here soon," Victoria commented as they turned deeper into the cave system.
They had to go up. There they would find the teleportation circle that would take them out of this godforsaken place.
"Let's go."
And so they began their ascent towards liberation.
Two cycles later.
"Well, this is a shit show," Thane commented as he pulled out a bone sword from the neck of a creature. It didn't take more than 30 minutes after they entered the cave systems to alert the sentient blood.
It had minions everywhere and had begun to hunt them down.
They all looked exhausted after killing droves upon droves of enemies.
"Let's take a break," Victoria said, seeing the look on their faces. Despite the intensity of the attacks, Victoria didn't seem moved. To her, this was light work, which said a lot about how hard the sentient blood was trying.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Enzo muttered, heaving a sigh of relief. Soon they made their way through some cracks in the wall and appeared above the cave system and right outside the mountainside.
The survival rate for the monsters possessed by the sentient blood outside the cave systems was extremely low. The steep mountain edges were just completely unmotorable. Even Victoria and the rest could only rest there, much less a horde of beasts.
"Fayloon."
That of course didn't stop Victoria from taking precautions. She muttered some words of power and caused the crack they used to seal up with a strong silk weave.
"That should keep them away for a cycle," she said, walking over to the edge of the wall and sitting down.
The rest followed suit, resting their bodies on the ground. It had truly been a hard few days.