The Strongest Spellblade

Legend Xanatos

“So, he failed to tempt Justin,” I muttered and waved the shadow away who had just delivered the divination report. It was a paltry and weak attempt to target me, but it was still annoying. The monsters were circling and looking for weakness. They could tell I was wounded and weak at the moment.

Blood Gore had gone off on a final descent along with the other supreme legends. I would not be able to get useful items from him going forward, which further reduced my influence. I had been reduced in power and influence quite a bit, but I wasn’t dead.

“Yonder thinks he can play games. Then it is time to flip the board.” I reached up and brought my right hand over my left eye. My thumb and finger reached out for my eye. I hesitated for a brief moment and ripped my right eye out of my skull.

Blood poured out of the eye socket as I extended a tiny blade of Mana from a fingernail and cut the nerve connection, freeing my eye. The Dark Cabal bound its members in many ways to prevent betrayal. But I had a found a way around such covenants.

My right eye was no ordinary eye. It was the eye of a demon I had fought and captured when I was much younger. All the oaths, skills, and chains that tied me down were placed into the eye with some clever application of Mana. If the eye had truly been mine, then my soul would have been bound as well.

But with a demon eye, I was able to circumvent all such precautions and use its power to rise up in the Dark Cabal. Being able to use monster skills was such a boon at times. A great way to deflect suspicion from me. But now I had to act before I was completely cut off and killed.

A shame that the demon would suffer and die horribly after it had served me so well over the years. Tying its eye to me, was quite ingenious. While Elena might have killed my master, the last Soul Mage so long ago, she hadn’t killed all of his apprentices.

“Xanatos Body And Soul Restoration.” I used a tier 6 skill to completely heal my body. My original eye returned to its socket. I had put the knowledge of the Dark Library into good use while I had it, creating custom skills. Clutching the demon eye I stood up and then hesitated.

I tossed the demon eye into the air and focused. My Mana swirled as various runic symbols appeared around the eye. A wonderful trap for the fools that would come to confront me. They would find the eye and nothing but their deaths. The demon would be resurrected in the heart of the Dark Cabal and be quite upset.

“Hahahaha,” I laughed as I left my room. I had everything that I needed.

“Going somewhere?” Yonder came out of the shadows to confront me.

“I am leaving Yonder. I am going to retake the Dark Library myself. And you can’t keep me here,” I declared.

“There is a reason council members aren’t allowed to leave,” he replied.

“Ah, but those oaths bind you, not me. Soul Shred!”

“Soul Shield.” A ringing noise echoed throughout the headquarters as the two tier 5 skills impacted each other. I swung my long sleeve and a Soul Serpent shout out. A useful pet and one that would cause Yonder to suffer.

That was the power of a pet that many overlooked. Overwhelming attacks in a split second to kill your target. I didn’t want to waste time playing around with Yonder when others could come and be annoying.

“Spatial Fracture!” Cracks appeared in my vision as everything seemed to become disjointed. A weak tier 4 skill and poorly chosen. Against most monsters this would have been the perfect counter preventing it from closing in and almost all skills from reaching a person, something I was counting on. The Soul Serpent turned ethereal and phased out of physical existence while shielding itself from the turbulent Mana, avoiding the attack. It was an unstoppable attack that couldn’t be blocked. Getting an egg of an ethereal monster was beyond priceless.

“Ahhh!” Yonder screamed as the serpent bit his neck. I didn’t know why I even considered him a threat. I calmly walked over and looked down at his struggling body.

“The fact I even considered you a threat to me is a joke. But no matter. I will rebuild the Dark Cabal with the Dark Library once more. I have no need of foolish and useless council members,” I declared. Yonder tried to say something or use some skill. Once bit by a Soul Serpent, there was only suffering and the inevitable march of death. It was a shame that I hadn’t risked him in the fight against Elena. But he wouldn’t have been able to close the distance with her.

She truly was a vexing existence. Hopefully she died on her final descent screaming and in pain while monsters devoured and violated her in every way possible. Unlikely, but a man could hope. Without hope and dreams of the future, we were nothing but mindless constructs.

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I reached out and put a single finger against Yonder’s forehead. I was going to enjoy this as I allowed myself a rare smile.

“Suffer.” That was my favorite tier 3 skill. I rarely got to use it, but I decided to indulge myself with my victory. After five seconds, I lifted my finger. Yonder was truly dead and would never recover.

“Return,” I said and held out my arm. The Soul Serpent quickly shot back into the sleeve of my dark robes, and I continued my exit from this den of foolishness and ineptitude.

Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock

“We are getting worn down,” I muttered as we recovered from the last fight. The giant spiders that had created a storm of spatial fractures were annoying. Spiders were always the most annoying.

Even Blood Gore didn’t make a snide remark. That was a clear sign we were struggling and we were still only on the 26th layer of the dungeon.

“I have been carefully plotting the direction of the next passage and it has been moving. A double twist for this layer,” The Mathemancer said.

“Moving?” The Librarian asked in annoyance.

“Yes. It is moving away from us. I suspect that there is a super champion, that has the passage to the next layer. We have to find and kill it to open the way forward. I have also been tracking the way back. I also suspect that to return we would have to complete a similar task killing a super champion,” The Mathemancer said.

“No wonder no one returns. What a nightmare,” Blood Gore said with exhaustion dripping from every word.

“None of us thought a final descent would be easy. But I am not ready to go back just yet,” I replied and there were nods all around. “How far?” I asked The Mathemancer.

“I would estimate around 100 kilometers in a straight line. But while these caverns are big, there are still walls forcing us to detour,” he replied, and I shook my head.

“In math and in life the shortest way to any location is a straight line. No need to make things complicated. I will take the lead. Blood Gore you cover the group. I will cut a way forward,” I declared.

“I will guide you and let you know about any adjustments that need to be made. But with your Depth Sense, just heading right for the passage should be enough,” The Mathemancer said.

“I will prepare to seal the route behind us. Forcing any monsters to go another way,” The Librarian said.

“They don’t like each other. The monsters. The environmental effects force them to keep their distance from each other. Otherwise, the energy would clash. And they seem more intelligent, less willing to cooperate with other monster types,” Blood Gore pointed out key points that even I hadn’t noticed since we had been fighting the groups of champion monsters one at a time.

“Anyone need more rest? I suspect we won’t be able to stop again until we reach the 27th layer,” I asked.

“These old bones have some more fight,” The Mathemancer said.

“Bah. Just a minor setback,” The Librarian added.

“I never get tired of killing,” Blood Gore replied.

This was the strongest team ever put together in all of history and this was why. There was no weakness in purpose or thought. I brought up Sarah and turned towards to face where the passage was. I began running forward.

As I ran forward, I began to swing Sarah with absolute precision. Crossing such a distance would be difficult, but not impossible. Teleporting with this much Mana in the air was asking to die horribly. But what I could do was a bit of spatial manipulation.

Runes formed in front of me and kept themselves oriented with my body even as I moved. This wasn’t as complex as what I did last time. But it would require a lot of power. I thrust forward as we ran.

The runes flared with Mana. Space twisted and then sprang apart and pulled forwards. “With me!” I shouted as my teammates moved in close and each of them placed a hand on my armor as I jumped slightly off the ground.

The terrain of the dungeon rushed by us. Behind us there would be a massive shockwave, but that did not matter right now. A large stone wall was in front of us, but it parted. Cutting would have been near impossible, but separating out the space and moving through it was doable.

My hand began to smoke as the amount of Mana I was pushing through my blade was immense. That was annoying, but I could live with such an injury. We burst out of the stone wall and crossed another open expanse. Some kind of giant millipede monstrosity was in our path.

It exploded apart as we flew through it. The passage location was shifting and I forced my sword to turn slightly. The spatial tunnel I had created turned slightly as well. “Almost there!” The Mathemancer shouted in my ear.

I could sense that we were getting closer as well. Timing would be tight. As we went through another stone wall, I twisted my blade hard. Some of the runes shifted. The spatial effect changed and we weren’t ripped to shreds as it finished.

We all skidded to a halt in a large ornate chamber. There were statues and torches throughout the area. We all recovered quickly and began scanning the area for threats.

“Oh, visitors?” my Danger Sense screamed at me. Something that had not happened in a very long time.

An elven looking being rose up from the floor of the chamber. The ears were right, but the eyes and Mana were off. The thing looked like liquid metal becoming solid. He wore a simple gray robe with a black rope belt. There were no symbols or ornamentation. “A demon,” The Librarian whispered and I prepared myself.

“Yes, a demon. I find this place quite enjoyable, waiting for the strong to come to me. No escape, no back up. But this time there seems to be a crowd.”

“A demon, I will enjoy killing you,” Blood Gore said loudly.

“Oh, do you think you can human? I suppose the formalities should be observed, I do possess some etiquette after all. I am Agares.”

“Blood Gore The Butcher.”

The rest of us did not respond and he shook his head. “Well, no matter. I will enjoy consuming you. I just like to have a name with my meals,” he replied.

“What lies at the bottom of the dungeon? Why do you guard here?” The Librarian asked.

“It is a convenient spot. I let my prey come to me. And the Mana here is quite comfortable. As for what lies below? Well even I can’t be bothered to go further down,” he said with a shrug. Blood Gore rushed forward, not willing to wait any longer.