Numbers x Casket-Chapter 7: Battle of Attrition

"No, it's too dangerous; we don't know what's waiting inside for us. Let's report it first," the old man announced his decision.

Then, he glanced at Lindsay and asked her to contact the guild. However, there was a signal interruption, and the communication device was not working.

They kept on trying until almost an hour had already passed.

"This is really weird," Lindsay commented, frustrated about the thing.

Accompanied by a deep sigh, Efraim looked inside the pit. His left eye turned into a cyan-colored hexagram, and he stared into the never-ending darkness, but he saw nothing, not even a single digit.

Given this fact, he turned off his Flair and closed his eyes, expanding his energy to feel if there were any presence inside the pit, but he also felt nothing.

'It's too deep,' he thought.

Afterward, the ground started to shake, causing Efraim to almost fall inside the pit. The trembling lasted for several seconds, and the moment it stopped, a magic circle appeared in the sky with the huge pit as its center.

The group of equators stared at the complex hexagram, their eyes widening in astonishment. Then particles of black energy began to gather on it, and after a while, the lines began to emit a crimson hue.

"W-What is that?" One of the equators stuttered, asking; fear was evident in his eyes.

"Based on its outline, it's a summoning circle," Lindsay conveyed, sharing her knowledge.

"And I'm afraid that spells bad news for us," she added.

Upon hearing her remark, the old man held the hilt of his sword. Then he asked. "How much time do we still have before it completes its casting?"

"Not that long for us to escape, but still enough to prepare for battle," she replied.

Then she raised her staff, and hundreds of icicles materialized around her. The others drew their respective weapons as well and entered into a fighting stance. The same for the appraiser; he unsheathed both of his blades while looking above.

Afterward, screeches and roars reverberated in the area, and then a horde of fiends descended from the sky. Orcs, trolls, undead knights, and even ghouls trampled into the open ground, causing some of the equators to lose their minds in fear.

The fight hadn't started yet, but they already dropped their weapons and ran with their tails between their legs.

"Everyone! Engage in battle!" The old man exclaimed, ignoring the deserters.

Lindsay launched the icicles, piercing several fiends in the process while Efraim danced across the battlefield. In every swing of his blade, limbs fell down and blood splattered on his clothes. Even the old man didn't hold back. He stormed towards the enemies' backline, targeting the lich who controlled the undead puppets.

Upon seeing the advances of the three people, the rest of the group set aside their fear.

'We can do this,' they all thought.

However, contrary to their expectations, Efraim noticed that something was odd; he couldn't count how many monsters he had defeated, but the numbers of fiends remained the same.

In light of this fact, after slashing the neck of the ghoul in front of him, he took a second to glance behind, and he noticed that the corpses were getting disintegrated into tiny fragments. Then these particles were being absorbed by the magic circle.

'That's why I feel like it's endless,' he thought.

Without wasting any more time, he propelled himself upward, searching for those responsible for casting the spell, but he found no one.

He clicked his tongue and leaped towards the magic circle, its blade aiming at one of its symbols. However, a barrier emerged on it, preventing him from destroying its outline.

"Efraim!" Lindsay yelled upon seeing the appraiser tumble into the air.

"The enemies are not decreasing! We need to destroy the magic circle! Do you know how?" He replied before plunging downward and moving towards Lindsay.

"I can, but it will take time," the mage replied as soon as she saw the appraiser approaching.

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"How long?" Efraim asked while fending off an arrow from a troll.

"A quarter of an hour, more or less," Lindsay replied after firing another bunch of icicles.

"Then start! I'll protect you," the appraiser stated with strong conviction.

Upon seeing how determined he was, Lindsay nodded in agreement. Then she decided to summon the four-headed golem, giving her another layer of protection.

Afterward, she stared into the magic circle, decoding each of its symbols to have a proper understanding of its effect while completely ignoring the fight happening around her.

This scene continued for a little while until something charged towards Lindsay, coming from above. Cracks appeared on her defensive barrier, but she still stood there, disregarding the winged monster attacking on her side.

The creature had bat-like wings and a head and body resembling a human, while its lower part was a tail of a snake.

It pulled back its arm and was about to strike a punch into the barrier, but Efraim appeared behind it, cutting it in half.

'These are all minions,' Efraim thought.

Then the cyan-colored hexagram came into view as soon as he activated his second Flair; he looked at the horde, and he was not mistaken.

All of the monsters had numbers written in black color. They were nothing to him, but the waves were endless, turning it into a battle of attrition.

He glanced in the direction of their captain; he was still doing fine, keeping the lich in check, preventing it from summoning more undead monsters.

Meanwhile, the other equators were having difficulty in handling their energy. They managed to repel the horde, but their breathing was becoming rough and unstable as time passed by.

Upon seeing this, Efraim looked at Lindsay; her brows were knitting together, and there was this glittering radiance in her eyes while her mouth was mumbling something.

Despite their current situation, Efraim couldn't help but smile while staring at the fixated look on the mage's face.

'She's almost as dazzling as her,' he thought; a slight sadness could be seen present in his eyes.

Afterward, he returned to the battlefield, helping his comrades drive the fiends away while keeping those who wanted to approach Lindsay in check.

. . . . .

Somewhere in the abandoned city, in a ruined place filled with burned paintings, a man could be seen sitting in a destroyed throne. In front of him was a giant floating orb, which displayed a spontaneous battle happening above ground. His forefinger was tapping on the chair's arm while a large beast was sleeping soundly beside his feet.

"Hmnn, those three are quite capable, especially that person," he said, his crimson eyes staring into the black-haired woman.

He watched the fight, enjoying every moment of it. The silent cries of humans and the screams of dying fiends were a beautiful symphony in his ear.

The next second, he stood up and walked towards the broken window.

"Hedda, are you in there?" he stated out of nowhere.

Then, a woman emerged behind his shadow.

"What are your orders, My Lord?" the individual asked, kneeling while lowering her head in respect.

"Bring that woman here," the man with the crimson eyes ordered.

After that, he turned around and looked at his servant.

"And the rest's fate is up to you to decide," he added, his voice dull and cold.

"Consider it done," the woman replied, and she vanished in the room as shadow enveloped the entirety of her body.

. . . . .

Equipped with just his blades and monstrous agility, Efraim danced in the middle of the fiends. He was already drenched in blood; even his face was filled with the sticky crimson substance.

His appearance was more like a monster than the fiends he encountered. He glanced behind, checking Lindsay's safety, and after confirming it, he raised one of his blades to block an orc's downward slash. Afterward, he concentrated his energy into his arm and pushed the giant monster, causing it to take a few steps backward. Then, Efraim ran towards it, his blade leaving a deep cut on the ground.

As soon as he closed the gap between them, he moved the blade upward, splitting the orc in half.

Intestines, brain particles, and blood rained down, but Efraim ignored it and proceeded to massacre the next wave of fiends.

However, he came to a sudden halt upon noticing a strange shadow moving towards the other equator's location.

"Not so fast," he whispered and dashed to chase the silhouette.

As he got closer, a dagger emerged from the shadow, targeting Efraim's head. The appraiser raised his blade and deflected the attack, then he increased his speed and outran the shadow.

However, to his surprise, it split into five, each moving on the other equator's location.

Efraim clicked his tongue upon seeing this development. Then he shook his head and shouted.

"All of you watch out! There's something hiding on the ground!" he warned the others.

Afterward, he followed the shadow heading in Lindsay's direction while ignoring the rest.

. . . . .