A Path of Bone and Poison 99 The Inverted Tower 2

We had no choice but to descend the staircase and travel into the first floor of the tower. Everyone's nerves were high as we entered, not knowing what to expect.

Bailey led the way, with Leisha acting as her guardian. Bailey was using her perception to the max, but thankfully it seemed as if the stairs were a safe zone, that we would only truly encounter enemies when we reached the next floor. The torches and spiral staircase made it feel as if we were descending into a dungeon, the entire atmosphere giving me an ominous feeling.

I do not know what I was expecting to see when we arrived at the bottom of the staircase, but it definitely was not this. We appeared on a rather large fishing boat in the middle of the ocean. The boat was completely uninhabited and had seen recent signs of a viscous battle.

Though there were signs of a battle, there were no corpses, not even a single blood stain could be seen. But I could sense the faint presence of magical energy in the air. As if the battle had not occurred long ago, a few hours at most.

Even could not locate a single enemy, when though she strained herself to do so. It was almost as if whatever had happened here had just completely vanished from existence.

Despite the complete lack of enemies, I could not shake the feeling that we were being watched. I could even almost swear that I could occasionally see something from the corner of my eye. Only for it to be completely gone when I turned to look.

After conversing with the party, I found that I was not the only one who was experiencing this. The hair on the back of my neck began to rise as I thought about it. There was only one type of enemy that fit the current situation, and I knew the battle would be one that pushed us far beyond our limits.

Only one of us was equipped to handle this kind of opponent. Only one of us could be relied upon to pull the entire party to survival. We would have to pin all our hope on Hylia and hope that it would be enough.

The beasts we would be facing here were none other a species of astral creature that was native to a small island in the ocean. A type of astral creature that had thought to have went extinct.

[Soul Devouring Locusts]

A species of Locusts that lives on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean. These flying insects are known for their unquenchable hunger. They devour their prey until not even their souls remain. Over the millennia they have adapted to become an astral creature. They can travel easily between the astral plane and the mortal plane, making physical attacks useless against them. They have a high resistance to most types of magic, with their one weakness being Holy energy.

As I thought about the creatures it was almost as if it was a queue, a gigantic horde of the beasts appeared in thin air. The amount of them was sickening. Their bodies blocked out the sun like a buzzing storm cloud. The buzzing itself was extremely loud, loud enough that it was impossible for us to speak over it. Impossible for us to hear anything but the rhythmic buzz of the creatures.

Fear immediately filled my heart as I looked at the horde. This is not an easy opponent. And this was only the first floor. It was not surprising that there were so many deaths here. This level of difficulty was much too high for the average party. It was much too high for even good parties. Those that made it to the 5th floor or higher were the real MVPs.

The image of the skeletal face of the Necromancer King once again entered my mind. It was as if he knew this was coming. He knew that I would have no choice but to call upon necromancy once again.

As much as I wanted to resist his unholy powers, I knew that in this fight I would be unable to hold anything back. I would need to give my all to help Hylia. We all would. She was the complete trump card of this battle. She was the only one we had.

Using her telepathy, she immediately issued commands to us. A part of me wanted to resist, I had always been the one in charge. But I managed to push down my pride. She was our only means of communication. She was the only one whose attacks would be at 100% efficiency. The rest of us would be lucky to even be half as effective as normal.

The orders we received were very clear. Bailey was to stay in the middle of the formation. She was the weakest. But her perception might come in handy if they were to phase out again.

The rest of us were to make a tight circle around her, each of us would oversee a direction. Sierra says to cast several fire walls directly on top of us. This would not only damage the locusts when they attacked, but it would also provide constant healing to us. She would not be attacking, rather in this battle she would be reduced to support.

Leisha would be getting the short end of the stick as she could only attack with her claws and teeth. She would need to be in the thick of things. She would be receiving the most damage, So Sierra would need to be mindful of her, occasionally using her fireballs to heal her.

Hylia would be leading the attack. Her arrows were guaranteed to kill the locusts in a single shot, and her target would be the larger locusts. She would be clearing the biggest threat for all of us, making the fight slightly safer.

Her voice was firm when she spoke to me, but it was laced with regret. I was to attack using my grenades. Only my grenades. I would blanket the area causing as much damage as I possibly could in a large area. With no stealth or vital strike, and the already halved damage from the locust's resistances, the damage would be much lower than normal. I would just have to make up for quality with quality.

Thankfully, I was still wearing my gloves. I had experimented on the way down and found I could both wear my gloves and have my pistols equipped; however I would only receive the benefit of one of them. This discovery would make things far easier in the future.

Chapter end