Chapter 615: The Coming Dawn
I moved quickly through the burning keep. My wards flared constantly around me, a golden bubble that kept the flames and heat at bay. Occasionally, a chunk of masonry or a red-hot glowing chandelier crashed to the ground, making me jump, but I no longer trembled. My wounds were finally healed, and the power of Celestial Grace coursed through me. For only the second time, I could run without tiring, my body stronger and lighter than ever.
Borealis followed behind me, flapping lazily to keep pace. Occasionally, he’d put on a burst of speed and streak ahead, smashing through a door or scattering a group of soldiers struggling to escape the spreading inferno, but always returning once he’d cleared the path.
We burst out of the keep into the night. I gasped, icy air flooding my lungs. My wards had shielded me from the smoke and fire, but the sudden change to the bitter winter air was a shock to my system. I doubled over, coughing, and quickly soothed my lungs with a soulcast healing spell.
The battle raged across the courtyard, demons locked with soldiers in a desperate fight for survival. The gates lay shattered beneath the walls, and many of the mana cannons had fallen silent.
"Fall back!" a sixth-level soldier screamed, driving his spear through the throat of a fire scion.
"There’s too many of them!" the soldier, a woman also of the sixth level, screamed.
She brought her sword down on a fifth-level evolved ice demon, a serpentine monster with sinewy limbs. Her technique was powerful enough that it should have shorn right through it, but the monster roared and emitted a brilliant green aura. Its three-digited hand snapped forward and caught the blade just above the hilt. A thin trickle of blood oozed down its arm, but the creature released a pulse of gold mana and strained. The blade shattered in twain, leaving the soldier to stumble back, clutching the hilt of her useless sword. The demon recovered faster and pounced forward, tearing out her throat with jagged, crystalline fangs.
Similar scenes played across the courtyard. Everywhere, demons of all levels overwhelmed soldiers who should have slaughtered them without a second thought. It was the same everywhere: bursts of overwhelming green and golden light, a strength that surpassed the normal limits imposed by a soul’s level.
"There she is. Grab her!"