Echoes of the Lost Elf-Chapter 40 - 39 : Haunted (4)

"She wasn't trying to summon something... she was trying to open a portal to Hell."

Historias's voice cut through the eerie silence. The others turned to him, their expressions shifting from exhaustion to alarm.

He wasn't looking at them. His sharp, unwavering gaze was locked onto the trembling walls, the flickering shadows, the watching eye.

Adriana tensed. "Wait—what?"

Historias stepped forward, his sword still at his side. "Annabeth Higgins wasn't acting of her own will. She was being controlled."

Zephyr, still shaking off the mana drain, scoffed. "By what? Some cursed spirit?"

"Exactly."

The air grew heavier.

"Spirits of this nature are parasites," Historias continued, his tone even, yet carrying undeniable weight. "They latch onto vulnerable minds, feeding off emotions—fear, curiosity, ambition. Annabeth thought she was in control. In reality, she was just a tool."

Leon paled. "So... what happened to her?"

Historias's eyes darkened. "They used her life as a sacrifice. She didn't just 'die mysteriously.' She was killed—a necessary price to tear open a crack between realms. A crack that let some weaker spirits slip through, while keeping the truly dangerous ones at bay."

Silence.

The weight of his words settled over them like a thick fog.

Then Kael swore under his breath. "And let me guess—if we're here now, that means whatever's on the other side is getting stronger."

The air pulsed. The shadows twisted. The eye in the darkness blinked.

Historias exhaled. "Precisely."

A chill ran down Historias's spine.

It was feeding on mana.

The realization settled in like a lead weight. When he had tried to summon a spirit earlier, the thing on the other side had latched onto his mana like a starving beast, devouring it in an instant.

And it hadn't just taken a little. It had taken a lot.

More than it should have. More than any of them could imagine.

Zephyr and the others had no idea just how deep his reserves ran. They only knew he had a lot of mana—but not the full extent of it. If this cursed thing could drain almost all of it...

Then it had just grown stronger. Much stronger.

Historias clenched his jaw, forcing himself to remain composed. His body felt heavy, his limbs slightly sluggish from the loss. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but it was alarming nonetheless.

Adriana, sharp as ever, caught the flicker of tension in his expression. "Historias," she said carefully, gripping her sword. "What happened?"

He exhaled. "The spirit on the other side—it's been consuming all the mana it can reach. That's why my summoning failed. When I tried to call upon a spirit, I unintentionally fed it."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "How much?"

Historias hesitated for half a second before answering.

"Enough that we need to leave. Now."

Before anyone could respond, the temperature in the room plummeted. The walls trembled, and the eerie, shapeless void beyond the cracks began to shift.

Something was awakening.

Something that should have stayed sealed.

......

A low, guttural growl reverberated through the space. It wasn't a sound that belonged in this world—it was something ancient, hungry, and wrong.

The cracks in the air pulsed, widening.

Shadows slithered from within, writhing like living tendrils. A single, glowing eye flickered open in the abyss, locking onto them with unholy intelligence.

Zephyr exhaled sharply. "Well. That's horrifying."

Leon took a step back, gripping his weapon. "Please tell me someone has a plan. A really good one."

Historias's mind raced. His mana was still depleted, and using magic would only feed the thing further. That meant no direct spells, no summoning, no conventional escape.

Which left...

"We need to cut it off." His voice was sharp, decisive. "If we can sever its connection to this world before it fully manifests, we can stop it."

Adriana's grip tightened on her sword. "How?"

Historias's gaze flickered to the remnants of Annabeth Higgins's failed ritual. The ancient symbols, the shattered remnants of a summoning array...

It was incomplete, but not beyond repair.

"We finish what she started," he murmured.

Kael stared at him. "You want to complete a ritual that killed her?"

"No." Historias stepped forward, eyes gleaming. "I want to reverse it."

But the thing on the other side wasn't going to let them.

With a sudden, deafening shriek, the eye in the void split open, revealing rows of gnashing, dripping fangs.

And the shadows lunged.

.......

The shadows rushed toward them like a living tidal wave, tendrils stretching out, seeking flesh and mana alike.

Zephyr, fueled by pure instinct, charged headfirst into the fray, his twin daggers slicing through the inky mass. Each cut dispersed the shadows for a moment, but they reformed instantly.

Leon swung his greatsword in a wide arc. "This isn't working!"

Historias's eyes flickered with calculation. Of course. These things weren't physical beings—they were manifestations of the cursed spirit's will. Trying to cut them was like trying to slay smoke.

"Pull back! Focus on defending!" he commanded.

Kael shot an arrow infused with ice magic, freezing a tendril mid-air. Adriana followed up, shattering it with a precise slash. But more took its place.

Meanwhile, Historias ran toward the ruined summoning circle. He sketched a correction in the air, mana flowing into the symbols. If he could invert the array, he could—

A clawed shadow slashed toward him.

Before it could reach him, Zephyr kicked off the ground, flipping mid-air, and drove his dagger into the tendril. "Oi, whatever you're doing, do it faster!"

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Historias didn't answer. He was already rewriting the spell.

The original array had been an invitation—a beacon calling something forth. He needed to turn it into a seal.

The symbols glowed, the air trembling. The creature behind the crack must have sensed it, because it roared in fury.

Then—everything went still.

The shadows hesitated. The crack in the air throbbed violently.

And the spirit on the other side shoved its true arm through.

A grotesque, blackened limb, pulsing with veins of cursed energy, pierced through reality. The pressure was suffocating.

Leon took an unconscious step back. "...That's bad."

Historias didn't hesitate.

He slammed his palm down on the spell formation.

The symbols flared brilliantly, twisting, consuming the mana around them. The crack in the air began to shrink, fighting against the intruding limb.

The entity shrieked in rage, resisting.

More shadows swarmed.

"Hold them off!" Historias ordered.

His friends fought like demons. Zephyr blurred between the tendrils, daggers flashing. Adriana and Kael held the front, blades and arrows striking down shadow after shadow. Leon anchored their defense, cleaving through anything that got too close.

The ritual circle glowed blindingly bright.

The crack began to seal.

The limb of the cursed entity was now trapped mid-way.

Historias narrowed his eyes. One final step.

With the last of his remaining mana, he forced the symbols into completion—

And the world snapped.

A deafening howl echoed through the chamber. The crack imploded, the limb severed, and the shadows vanished.

Silence fell.

The oppressive presence was gone.

All that remained was the charred remains of the ritual circle... and the severed limb of the cursed spirit, rapidly crumbling into nothingness.

Zephyr fell back onto the ground, breathing hard. "...We are never doing that again."

Historias exhaled, staring at the space where the crack had been. "Agreed."

....

Adriana was the first to notice.

"Historias—?"

The High Elf staggered, his usual grace faltering. The moment the seal snapped shut, the weight of exhaustion slammed into him like a collapsing mountain. His vision blurred. His entire body felt hollow, as if every drop of mana had been ripped from his core.

He knew sealing something of that scale should have taken at least seven or eight Tier 5 mages, but there had been no other choice. It was either force the closure himself or risk that thing breaking through completely.

Still, even he had limits.

His knees nearly buckled.

A hand shot out, catching him just in time.

It was Zephyr.

His usual cocky smirk was nowhere to be seen. "Oi. You good?"

Historias forced himself to stand, his pride refusing to let him collapse completely. He exhaled slowly, controlling his breathing, but even that felt like a monumental effort. "I... will manage."

Leon let out a low whistle. "Damn, sealing something like that should've taken a whole squad of high-tier mages. Just how much mana do you even have?"

Historias didn't answer. Not because he didn't want to, but because he genuinely didn't have the energy to waste on words.

Kael frowned. "We need to get out of here."

Adriana nodded. "Agreed. But how?"

They all looked at the space where the door had once been. The exit was still gone.

Historias closed his eyes. He couldn't even sense the lingering magic in the room anymore. His reserves were completely dry. If there was a way out, someone else would have to find it.

Zephyr clapped his hands together. "Welp. Guess it's time for some good old-fashioned destruction."

Leon grinned. "Now we're talking."

They were about to brute-force their way out.

Zephyr cracked his neck, flexing his fingers. "Alright, so we're stuck in some cursed, mana-eating dimension. What's the plan?"

Historias exhaled slowly, regaining some balance after nearly collapsing. "The entity on the other side is growing stronger with every drop of mana it consumes. We cannot afford to delay."

Adriana's expression hardened. "Then we need to cut off its food source before it reaches a level we can't handle."

Kael frowned. "And how exactly do we do that? Historias already sealed the crack, but if the entity is still feeding, there must be another link keeping it tethered to this space."

Leon crossed his arms. "So what do we do? Search for some hidden cursed object? A ritual site?"

Historias's gaze sharpened as his mind pieced the fragments together. "The girl—Annabeth Higgins—she was the key. Or rather, her sacrifice was. The curse anchored itself through her death." He straightened slightly. "That means the focal point should be where her life was taken."

Zephyr grinned. "So we just find that spot and burn it to the ground?"

Historias gave a faint smirk. "In a sense."

Adriana glanced around. "That's great and all, but we have no idea where that is."

Before anyone could respond, Nyx suddenly started walking.

She moved without hesitation, her glowing eyes flickering with something unnatural.

Leon blinked. "Uh... do we follow her?"

Kael sighed. "We always do."

Without another word, they fell in step behind Nyx, heading deeper into the cursed dimension, towards the heart of Annabeth Higgins' doomed experiment.

Zephyr whistled. "Nyx, you got something you wanna share? Maybe some hidden GPS function you forgot to tell us about?"

Nyx didn't even glance back. She kept walking, her movements precise, as if she knew exactly where to go.

Leon muttered, "This is actually getting creepy."

Adriana sighed. "You're just realizing that now?"

Historias, still regaining his balance, watched Nyx carefully. "She's following the remnants of the ritual's energy. The distortion here hasn't settled, which means the echoes of the past are still present."

Kael raised a brow. "Translation?"

"She's tracking the event itself."

Zephyr grinned. "So, Nyx is basically Google Maps for haunted places?"

Kael still walking, spoke. "Shut up, Zephyr."

The group trudged forward, shadows twisting unnaturally around them, the air growing heavier with each step. Something was waiting for them at the end of the path.

...........

POWER STONES !!!!