Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Chapter 262 Fall of Ingur

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/GAZE!/

The giant eye in the sky turned to the army and a powerful presence washed over them for a moment.

All around him, the soldiers reacted as they started to shout maniacally, meanwhile, Ermin and the sisters looked at their Statuses as a new debuff appeared on their screen.

"Presence of the Dark Lord… What is this…"

"All Stat decrease and we now take double damage from dark magic?..." Eleonora exclaimed out loud as she closed her Status screen

'So tanking won't do us any good... Well, I already didn't have any plans of doing so anyway.'

"So?... What was that about?" She asked as she turned to Dale

"A consumable item I got, I wanted to see what it did, though I didn't expect it to be so… Chamative." 

"It increases the difficulty of the instance a little but so does our rewards…" Dale replied awkwardly and slowly as he tried to explain himself

"You don't have to talk like that, we had no intention of blaming you… Since regardless, won't the result be the same?" She asked with a smile

"..."

After a slight moment of hesitation, Dale agreed, saying:

"I had no intention of letting them go..."

"We can talk more about that later, look." Ermin interjected as he pointed at the eye in the sky

'I thought the Debuff was the end of this mess, but it's doing something else now.'

/SHUA SHUA!/

From within the pupil, a mass of dark energy manifested into the world as it spread in the sky like a curtain of shadows.

Like a waterfall, the shadows fell on the ground, connecting the eye to the ground.

/ROARR!/

Then, out of nowhere, a mass of monsters jumped from within the dark fog, rushing to the army of knights with animalistic brutality!

Ghouls, zombies, and other similar abominations could be found within the dark army as they climbed above each other and ripped themselves apart in their feverish rush for blood and gore.

And no matter how many poured out, the shadowy curtain kept creating more, and an endless source of darkness.

"Tsk… How is this supposed to be just an increase of half a Star?" Ermin complained as he stared at the approaching army

"As long as that eye lasts, we won't be able to move properly... Nor will the army." 

"I'll take it out." Dale said with confidence as he took a step forward

"... Planning on stealing all of the contribution again?" Eleonora asked Dale

"Heh… Try to follow me if you can." He said with a light smile as he stepped forward

Unknown to him his Stream chat was exploding with Emotes.

"I'll dive straight into the Castle and eliminate the Dark ArchPriest, while you..."

"We'll take care of the trash, that should net us enough contribution to make this worth it." Erminia said with an excited smile as she held her longbow, a bit too big for her

"Like she said… That's what we'll do, even if it hurts my pride a little to be carried around."

"... Sorry about that."

"You don't have to apologize, we're the ones who should be pulling our own weight!" Eleonora said as she dashed forward, eager to fight the zombies

"TSK! That madwoman! Those undead are all over Level 25… Sigh, I have to go, good luck out there, not that you'll need it." Ermin said as he looked at Dale

"Don't hold back, it's not like these soldiers will mind anyway." Dale said as he turned to Ermin

"I had no plans of doing that!" Ermin replied as he dashed after his sister

"Umn… Beat them up?" Erminia asked from the side

"But of course." Dale said with a smile as he turned to the eye in the sky

/SHIINE!/

As he said that, the commander of the army pointed his weapon upward and a beam of golden light penetrated the dark clouds, illuminating the world underneath it.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE EVERLASTING SUN!" He exclaimed loudly to the entire army

""FOR THE EVERLASTING SUN!"" The soldiers exclaimed in syntony as everyone started rushing forward

"... For the everlasting sun?" Dale asked Erminia with a chuckle

"... FOR THE EVERLASTING SUN!" She replied loudly as she ran as well

/Chuckle…/

"Well then… HUPP!"

/CRACK!/

Dale pressed his foot against the ground, dashing to the skies with great momentum, flying above the army of soldiers like a comet.

/Gaze…/

As he did so, the eye in the clouds turned to him, noticing his presence.

[DING]

[D…]

Several notifications played by Dale's ears, but he didn't have the time to pay attention to them.

He felt slight discomfort and chill run through his body as he approached the floating eye, even a slight sense of incoming danger…

But as he sharpened his will, Dale pulled a spear from his inventory, throwing it upwards towards the eye as he channeled his energy within!

/Fwoosh… BOOOOM!/

The spear was initially absorbed by the giant pupil, vanishing within the endless abyss, however soon enough, light burst from the inside out, scattering the eye into thin clouds all around.

The eye had never been a physical construct as it had been, in fact, rather fragile.

Its only defense was how high it actually was, but that was no problem for Dale…

Albeit now, he started to fall.

"..."

'With this, they should be able to grind a bit better.'

The disruption of the Dark Ritual destroyed the waterfall of shadows that continuously spawned new creatures, permitting the Legion to march forward unimpeded.

Without reinforcements, the previous undeads were all slain mercilessly… However, one might question if slaying the dead once more was a form of mercy.

/BAM!/

/DASH!/

Dale crashed against the horde of zombies but did not pay it any heed as he once again dashed, running across the fields to the gates.

He didn't even bother with defeating the Undead within his range, he only cared about reaching the Citadel as fast as 'humanly' possible.

/Gather… Gather…/

/Muttering…/

But they wouldn't let him go as he pleased, they weren't that passive.

Since the army was still out of their range, it was now Dale against an army of Dark Priests!

Ominous mist formed above the walls, and the Dark Priests' voices could be heard from all around as they chanted like in a choir.

/FWOOSH!/

Multiple spikes made out of Obsidian rained from the skies atop Dale, flying each at incredible speeds.

At the same time, the world around him distorted as a pool of shadows formed on the ground.

Around him, shadowy creatures formed, dashing at him without form or expression.

On the wall, multiple more Spells were being made.

It was getting annoying.

/BAM! BAM! BAM!/

Dale easily evaded the spikes and the creatures as he ran, while the ground itself wasn't strong enough to stop his momentum at all.

Once he felt he had run enough, he jumped once more as he faced himself with the gate…

/Raise… CRACK!/

/CREEEEAAAK!/ 

Raising both legs and curling them, Dale delivered a catastrophic double kick on the massive metallic double gate, blasting its locks open as it was forcibly opened!

/Chatter!/

/Chaos!/

"Heh."

Hearing the chaotic discussions of the Dark Priests as the successive dispelling of the strange magic that previously bothered him, Dale stood there where it was surprisingly safe.

Directly underneath the gates, the spells of the Priests could not reach him while their dark soldiers were still fast approaching, taken by surprise due to his exceptionally fast breach.

Even then, Dale could feel some degree of weakness in his body, but due to his stream, he didn't open his Status, but he could tell what it was.

He had been cursed.

"Phew..."

'If I want to get the five-minute Hidden Objective award, I need to hurry up a bit.' He thought silently as he cracked his neck

He also had other reasons for staying still, the gathering of Heat Stacks and also just in case the curse didn't last long.

He needed to let it reach at least 100 Stacks to activate its first real effect, Draconic flame.

Or maybe even 200, as at that moment, all of the bonus Stats given by Heat will double.

Anything more than that was impossible as Five Minutes was exactly when both his timer ran off and his Stacks of Heat stopped rising.

Nevertheless, he couldn't wait that long.

/ROAR!/

/SMASH!/

While he was focused on what to do, a towering undead reached him, a massive flesh construct about ten meters in height whose entire body was nothing but compact muscle.

It slammed its fist down with boiling fury, threatening to flatten Dale.

/SLAM!/

But Dale did not cower, he also thrust his hand upward…

/SPLAT!/

/ROAR!!/

Dale's hand proved to be stronger, as, in their clash, the golem's hand splattered into three large chunks and many more pieces as it couldn't handle the force applied to it.

"The bigger they are…"

/SMASH!/

He jumped, smashing his fist directly against the monster before landing on the ground and kicking the ground, rising upwards.

Ingur was a Citadel built on the edges of a mountain, but in truth, it was more like a massive tower that dug into the mountain.

With its lower parts built around the base of the mountain, Ingur had many levels like the floors of an apartment, housing tens of thousands.

And if he wished to meet with its ruler… Then he just needed to climb to the utmost floor.

Unless the ArchPriest was smarter than he expected and had actually hidden in some uncharted territory...

But that wouldn't be climatic, which villain would hide in some secretive room and not within a gorgeous throne room as he awaited for his fated foe to arrive?

/Crack… DASH!/

Using his fists as anchors, Dale ascended the stone, breaking the solid stone blocks of the city as he reached upwards.

He looked back once, seeing the army and the priests on the wall, he thought about taking those out, but then again, he needed to leave some for them.

"You have… About three more minutes?" Dale asked as he scratched his head

/DASH!/

With that in mind, he continued his search for the Arch Priest.

…

/A few minutes later.../

/SPLATTER!/

/SLASH!/

"More coming from the side! Ghouls!" Erminia exclaimed to her sister

"On it!"

/Muttering.../

While Dale raided the Citadel, Rodi and his sisters were hot in action as they pierced through the forces of the Dark Priests together with the Legion of the Sun.

"Are those the gates? I can finally see the entrance clearly." Eleonora asked out loud as she cut the heads of another small group of undead

These monsters were all but trash mobs, so even if they were on the same level as them, they would still fall rather quickly.

"We don't have the time for that! Just swing..."

[DING]

[You have completed the Mission, Fall of Ingur (Reenactment)]

"Time's up..." Ermin said as he continued to cast at the undead all around

"Ah! Come on! We were just about to arrive..." Erminia said out loud as she stopped pulling her bow

Despite her frustration, Ermin felt relieved.

What mattered the most in the event was speed, nothing else.

Even if they couldn't get the main rewards if they could get side rewards like last time every time... Then it would more than make up for it.

Above all, this was a 16-person mission done by only 4...

[Calculating contribution and Mission progress…]

"Don't stop fighting! The zombies are still here!" He exclaimed as he continued casting his Skills

"I got it!"

/Pull... Release!/

/SPLAT!/

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Notes