Chapter 65 - Decay Magic

Leon frowned when he looked at his knuckle. The grey skin was already peeling off.

"This may not go how we expected."

Cracks were in the wall where the necklace landed, yet other than cracks that already existed, the necklace was undamaged.

Mark narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps we should retreat, there does not appear to be anything for us here anyway."

Leon nodded.

"Let's try that."

Osric was cringing.

"I would appreciate some help."

The armor that covered Osric's arms had decayed and fallen off.

Leon was already running down the path.

"Just run."

Osric's face twitched, a mist covered him and a wolf came out. The wolf's fur coat was a bit duller than what I remembered.

Despite the fact a patch of my skin was missing, there was no pain. In fact, there was no feeling at all. I was of the same sentiment as the rest, wanting to leave right now.

The necklace didn't seem to be happy with our decision. Instead of sending the dagger to one of us, it flew to the gemstone that was under my crystal.

There was no time to do anything, the gemstone was sent into the room the necklace was in and the necklace began drawing in mana.

As of now, the four of us were trying to run down the bridge and Leon was leading the way.

Suddenly, Leon stopped and pushed us back.

"Run back."

The path made of earth was decaying. The four of us hurriedly made our way back to the room. As we did so, the dagger was thrown towards Mark.

To his left was Leon and to his right, was Osric. There was no room to sidestep

Mark sighed.

His feet glowed and right before the dagger was about to hit him, his figure suddenly appeared behind it.

My mind tried to move the crystal over to the gemstone, to cut off the mana supply. But, the gemstone began floating and moved out of the way.

...This was a little unfair.

The necklace was trembling.

"I will kill you."

Mark smiled.

"Misplaced hatred. What else is new?"

Leon frowned.

"First destroy the gemstone."

The walls and floor below us were cracking. To make things worse, a spell was being formed next to the necklace.

Osric's snout twitched.

"Split up!"

Without much thought, we all moved away from each other.

Once we did so, a huge black mass was thrown towards Leon, almost hitting me and Mark.

The mass was not as fast as the dagger, but not slow by any means.

Leon shoved his hands and arms into the floor, shattering the stone under him. The ground shook, and Leon lifted a huge chunk of stone into the black mass.

The stone quickly decayed, splitting apart from each other and becoming flakes upon hitting the ground.

Thankfully, the black mass also disappeared.

Did this thing even have a weakness?

I guess the only thing left was to break the gemstone.

Though my crystal and Osric as a wolf chased down the gemstone, it was elusive.

Whenever Osric pounced at it, it would just barely dodge out of the way. It was as though just enough effort was put in to dodge it.

If that was the case...

"Hey guys, try to lure the gemstone over to me."

My hand pulled out my stake and held it tightly.

Leon nodded and chased the gemstone. Mark followed him and the three of them as well as my crystal herded the gemstone.

I ran towards the gemstone, but my mind had a bad premonition. My head turned to the side to see an incredibly wide black mass moving towards me.

The black mass was not sent directly towards me, the shot was led. It was wide enough that if I teleported forward it would be the end for me.

My head turned around. My eyes widened and my pupils constricted.

Before the black mass reached me, my figure disappeared. The black mass was left to collide into the wall, instantly making the bricks crumble.

In the meantime, the gemstone was cornered and Osric was about to pounce on it. The necklace abruptly casted a spell. A thin black beam was sent towards Osric, who stopped in his tracks, letting the spell pass right by his snout.

Using that opportunity, the gemstone elusively made its way out.

A sigh escaped me. My hand unfurled the cloth bag on me and took out the fifth black fruit, tossing it into my mouth.

My mind quickly shook off the feeling from consuming the black fruit and forced a teleportation.

Right when my figure appeared, it disappeared once again. At this rate, the gemstone would not be able to escape.

Yet, before that could become a reality, a mist was conjured between me and the gemstone.

The mist itself was not dense but covered a wide area.

Teleporting inside would probably be a bad idea...

It was not difficult to command my crystal as my vision was hardly impaired However, I was now stuck on the other side of the room.

The necklace no longer bothered throwing spells at me, instead, it paid all of its attention to throwing various spells towards everyone else.

A very wide black mass was sent towards Osric. Osric attempted to run to the side, but it was simply too wide for him to make it.

The black mass was about to hit Osric and a hint of despair was in his wolf eyes.

Then... the mass suddenly stopped before hitting him.

At that moment, my crystal stopped chasing after the gemstone and went over to Osric. The spells were unable to move past the range of the crystal.

Osric's body relaxed and he continued to chase after the gemstone.

Hmm... I could clear the mist too. Not to mention if I ran while within the crystal's range, the necklace would be unable to throw any spells at me.

The crystal did not chase after the gemstone and floated over to me.

It cut straight through the mist, parting it.

Once the crystal reached me, my legs raced over to the gemstone with the crystal above my head. The mist parted ways and the gemstone was getting closer.

By staying under my crystal, it wouldn't change the fact four things were chasing it. However, with my ability to teleport, the gemstone might slip up, letting me destroy it.

Once my figure was halfway through the mist, the necklace began trembling and let out a scream that shook the room.

The necklace was no longer casting any spells, but a mist started to fill up the whole room.

My brows furrowed.

"Get under my crystal!"

The other three did not wait and sprinted over to my crystal.

Once they made it, a mist filled the whole room. During their sprint, the corner of Leon's robe had touched some of the mist and decayed.

The necklace was still trembling, but not casting any spells.

For a few moments, it was an awkward stalemate.

The four of us stood under the crystal, while the rest of the room was filled with an ominous mist.

Osric's paw rubbed against the top of his head.

"Thank you, Jay. Anyways, the crystal seems to struggle with maintaining that spell. Maybe we can wait it out?"

Mark frowned.

"Who knows if the room will still be standing by then?"

The entire room was covered with cracks that were worryingly expanding. Though the necklace seemed to have trouble holding this spell up, we could not afford to wait.

Leon's eyes locked onto the gemstone which was now on the opposite side of the room.

"If only we could extract mana from that gemstone, then this battle would be beyond simple."

My eyes scanned over the walls that began crumbling.

...Leon, Mark, and Osric were unable to do anything without mana. As for me, I could teleport.

My brows furrowed.

My only chance seemed to be teleporting to the gemstone and destroying it. But it was so far away.

Though, I have done long teleportations before...

It was difficult to control.

The memory of when my hand disappeared entirely was still fresh in my mind.

But what other choice was there?

A sigh escaped me.

"Don't stand too close to me."

The other three took a few steps back and my hand lifted up the stake.

My eyes locked on the gemstone, while my heart was pounding fiercely.

...Here goes nothing.

The space around me distorted for a few seconds. My eyes widened and my pupils constricted.

Then my figure disappeared.

The space was a chaotic place. My body rocked from side to side making my heart clench.

The experience reminded me of my vision. It was when my body curled up into a ball and the surroundings heavily distorted.

This teleportation was not near that level, but it made me wonder how that version of me had so much confidence in the destination.

While my mind was absorbed in its own thoughts, my body appeared.

The gemstone was behind me and shattered into pieces.

Then my body began decaying.

I didn't think this through.