Chapter 75: The Other Side (1/2)

Tal was trying very hard not to be sick. Ever since the group had entered the cavern, it had become increasingly difficult to focus, as riotous streams of mana were sucked into the gaping black abyss that hovered over the altar.

Worse, however, were the screams of terror and pain that arose from the squirming souls of those who had been killed since the start of the battle. The dark ritual the Cabal used to steal a portion of their essence prior to their re-entry into the cycle of reincarnation fueled the growing tear in the fabric of the universe.

Not for the first time, Tal felt a tinge of regret for the pact that gave her Spirit Sight. As much as she treasured her bond with the ghost, seeing the world through a spirit's eyes was often a little too overwhelming for a mortal mind.

It gave her the ability to perceive the otherwise invisible passage of mana through the world, the souls of the dead, and even those spirits that were either too weak or too shy to take on a visible form. Unfortunately, it took her quite some to get used to her new field of view.

Had Mike been privy to her vision, he would have said it looked like an animated version of a Van Gogh painting, done in chaotic, almost nonsensical colors.

After a day spent in existential agony, Tal was able to control her sight to a limited extent, but certain stimuli still overwhelmed her.

Prior to the cavern, the worst she had experienced was when Mike was throwing his power around at the barricade. Each time he'd called forth some new brute force application of magic, it had left her temporarily disoriented. Something that had prevented her from contributing much to the battle.

That said, Mike's mana was almost refreshing in its purity. If not for the ridiculous intensity it acquired when he released it, Tal would have almost found the experience pleasant.

The cavern was different. The mana here had been tainted by the foulness of the Cabal's ritual. Even descending the stairs into the subterranean complex had been a trial, as the act made her feel as if she was sinking into a pool of raw sewage.

By the time the adventurers reached the ritual site, it was all she could do to maintain her focus, as a pounding headache and near constant waves of nausea left her virtually helpless. She was debating about relating her condition to the others when they were discovered.

In his typically reckless fashion, Mike started the fight, throwing a stone spear at a priest-like figure that seemed to be leading one portion of the ritual. Surprisingly, the attack succeeded in slaying the man, which inspired his flock to seek vengeance.

Initially, she'd hoped that the sneak attack disrupted some aspect of the ritual, but Tal could only watch in horror as the priest's life and soul were ripped out and fed to the terrible abyss that hung before the idol, causing it to grow in size. As her companions started cutting their way through the cultists, a similar phenomenon occurred.

Evidently, the deaths of the faithful seemed to power the ritual in a far greater capacity. They needed to-

Tal was momentarily distracted by the need to save Brenden from a demon's attack. The beastman had been bantering with Mike, and had been caught off guard when a skeletal demon had emerged from the nearby shadows. It seemed like the omnipresent scent of decay was deceiving his normally excellent senses.

One positive aspect of her current condition was the ability to see mana dependent creatures like demons, even when they are concealed from normal sight.

”Focus. Surrounded.” She made sure to warn the group about the other enemies that were creeping closer.

She returned to analyzing the ritual's construction. As much as it made nauseous to even look at the thing, Tal needed to try and understand it if she hoped to disable it.

Of course, Mike chose this exact opportunity to try something flashy. She managed to give him a quick reminder to not disrupt the ritual site magically, but was still overwhelmed by the effects of the tidal wave he summoned and threw at their enemies. It succeeded in killing or immobilizing the vast majority of them, but sometimes she wished that he would use more precise and controlled methods.

As the group engaged the ritual caster, Tal once again tried to study the site in question. She wasn't sure, but it looked like it was locational in nature, and used the strange idol as a focal point. If that was the case, simply removing or destroying it would stop the ritual.

She planned on informing the rest of the party about her discovery, but a demon attack stopped her.

The odd amalgamation of insect and serpent moved with ridiculous speed for a being of its size, blurring between the rocks with a supernatural grace. It was mostly by luck that she was able to fend off the creature's first few blows.

”Stay behind.” Tal told Sera, already shielding the Oracle with an arm.

The serpent demon hissed in a disconcerting manner, and promptly vanished. For the vast majority of viewers, it would have been invisible, luckily Tal had just the right skill to still see it. So, when the creature went in for an attack at an unexpected angle, she was able to summon an earthen wall to block it.

The demon, no longer invisible, started hacking away at the wall with its mantis arms.

Tal was trying to come up with a plan to counter attack, when a sudden surge of mana from Mike's fight gave her a case of vertigo. At first she thought he must have attempted some other ridiculous magical stunt, but it quickly became apparent that the origin of the spell was from a far darker source.