Raging Flame

Jeffrey was trying hard to stall Dale, but without its shield, it was harder to defend himself against Dale attacks Dale continued to push towards the cave exit, some of his bandits tried to follow him but Jeffrey soldiers held them in the cave.

-" Little noble let's see how much you can keep up." He and Jeffrey traded blows while running, Dale was turning frailer, his hair was now white and his arms were dried up. His spear fed on his blood essence making it a powerful weapon but its downsides was enormous too, he could only use it for about ten minutes.

Jefrrey was exhausted too, he gave his shield to Cyl in fears of Monark setting a trap, while his armor was quite good too, Dale spear was too domineering,

Jeffrey took a deep breath and dashed, his energy revolved around his body, and an arcane sphere slowly formed around him, when Dale saw this his eyes flashed he was pretty familiar with the techniques of the Strafhampton family, he even was present when the Duke fought a few times, but he couldn't recognize this spell.

As Jeffrey closed on him the spheres shone and expanded covering the two, Dale was instantly shocked he felt as he is slowed down, he tried to gather distance again but it was useless, so he decided to face Jeffrey head-on.

He thrust his spear but Jeffrey easily dodged, the sphere diminished their speed difference, as Jeffrey swung his sword Dale blocked and kicked Jeffrey who in turn swung his sword once again as he was pushed backward, the white sword aura was aimed at Dale chest.

Dale ducked tried to gain distance once again but Jeffrey attack was too fast and he rolled to the side, taking vantage of Dale carelessness Jeffrey cast a spell.

-" Starry Deer Charge." The light blue aura gathered around Jeffrey and he dashed like a comet to Dale.

Seeing Jeffrey approaching him Dale tried to cast a spell too, but as he tried to gather energy his eyes and nose began to bleed. The usage of the spear finally reached the limit and he felt weakness wash over him.

He gazed hatefully at Jeffrey and tried to roll to the left, but the attack still hit his right shoulder, a jet of blood shoot up and Dale spear flew up in the air. Not delaying a single moment Dale kicked and ground the dashed away, before Jeffrey could react an enormous aura appeared, the person who emitted it was still far away but he felt terrified.

Dale smiled as he felt the aura and soon his body was forcefully dragged back. -" Next time we meet I will take your head little noble." Dale gaze was poisonous, he lost so much this time and he didn't know if Monark managed to perform the ritual, but as he was getting dragged to safety Jeffrey jumped at his spear who also was getting pulled.

When Jeffrey reached the spear his armor shone, the aura tried to pull the spear away but soon the force died down.

Seeing this the man far away smiled and tried once again, but this time the force was greater, the aura was even visible to naked eyes, the red aura materialized in a tentacle and reached once again, but Jeffrey armor shone even brighter and the tentacle receded.

Seeing this the man sighed and began to walk away, his presence was already felt and soon people were bound to gather here.

Jeffrey smiled and ran back to the cave, he was worried about Cyl and the villagers.

Inside the cave, Cyl was struggling against the flames, after a bit of effort he felt his body getting heavier and gave up of totally putting the flames out, the flame was too exquisite and his energy was already low, so he decided to just open a path to the door.

-" The path will open soon, get ready to escape." Cyl screamed to gather everyone's attention. The villagers gazed hopefully at the sea of flames in front of them.

As Cyl sword came down he stopped making runes, the White deer behind him shone once again and advanced towards the flames. Once he reached the middle of the flames the light expanded and created a pathway to the door.

Seeing the lights make a tunnel through the fire the villagers started moving, the crowd moved in a hurry, but as they got closer to the fire they slowed down, this helped the evacuation get more orderly, Byrth who was still holding Luckas waited for most of the crowd to began moving and looked back to Jothyr.

Jothyr looked back and nodded, his group started to move too, some of the villagers were already crossing the door. Luckas was much calmer now, the light from the deer that shone on them looked calming and soothing, while he was still afraid of the fire he wasn't completely out of himself.

As the group was reaching the pathway Luckas fearfully gazed at the flames and as if responding to him the flame flashed and moved towards them. Everyone was alarmed especially Cyl who was maintaining the pathway, as he anxiously looked at the flames suddenly noticed Luckas group and gazed at them.

He knew what was happening, he witnessed a similar incident a few years ago, at the time the eldest son of the Marquis finally started to cultivate, and at his coming-of-age ceremony, a similar phenomenon occurred but with wind instead of fire. To any experienced cultivator, this phenomenon was magical in itself, after all, they could notice that the fire moved as if a primal consciousness awakened in it.

What made Cyl even more surprised was that the phenomenon looked even more powerful this time, the fire around the room gathered around the pathway clashed against the barrier of light. Cyl gaze turned dark and he put even more power in the spell, the phenomenon strengthed the fire, and, arcane energy now permeated the flames, the light barrier started to crumble.

Seeing this Byrth looked worried and started to run towards the exit, his injuries were heavier after the fight with the Dark Palace cultivator so he limped as he ran, seeing this Jothyr helped him carry Luckas to the door.

Seeing the flame gathering around them Luckas panicked once again but this time he fainted because of the shock.