So one of my problems lately has been that my wordbank has grown pretty small because I'm not reading any regular YA novels/I've been dropping a lot of my xianxia stories. Gunna pick up some books to read and try to gain some inspiration. Hopefully within the next 20 chapters or so you'll see some new words and techniques ;p
"Wake up." Dan shook Lineir's shoulder and he immediately exited meditation. "It's time to go."
Lineir rubbed his eyes as everyone else similarly got up. He remembered his watch which had been uneventful. They had camped out in the abandoned building and he had watched the exits for a while before the candle burnt out. Dan had set a concealment ward which had caused the wandering skeletons to ignore this particular apartment.
"Ahhh what a refreshing night." Ting yawned loudly tossing her raven hair over her shoulder and tying it into a ponytail. Yu accompanied her and they had a quick breakfast of food from their spacial rings. When everyone was ready they headed out the front door. However, instead of heading out into bright morning sunshine it was still pitch black night. The Death Qi was so thick in the city that the light of the sun never touched the building tops except as melancholy notes on the highest spires. Their sad song was a beautiful sight to behold if anyone was left alive to see it.
PENG!!
Flash
There was a twanging noise and a bright flash as one of Dan's protective wards lit up. A second later Yu whirled as a holy barrier in front of the entrance to the apartment. In front of the squad's shocked eyes an arrow coated in some crimsom liquid hit the barrier and shattered spraying a foul liquid upon the holy light wall.
"Ambush! Everyone out of the courtyard! Move move!" Yu yelled immediately and they filed out as he held his glowing hands at the ready to block any further attacks. Behind them, the holy light barrier shattered as the corrosive poison from the arrow ate through its Qi.
"Red poison, beware one of the Low Demon Clans is here!"
Lineir had immediately stealthed at the first sign of combat and was attempting to move in a random direction away from the group. By purposely moving in line with the direction the arrow had come from he reasoned the archer would actually least expect him to be there! Then he activated his Madness Eyes!
"20 degrees left behind that tower!" He transmitted mentally to Yu. Immediately Yu relayed the message to everyone and seamlessly De launched a huge molten orb towards the doorway of a distant tower!
Magma Mass!
As the orb of liquid fire traveled Yu also concentrated his gravitational power on it and supercondensed it into a burning bead! When it landed on the tower door he released the Laws of Gravity and the condensed fire raged out!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!
A massive flame whirlpool devoured the huge wooden door and inside a shriek was heard as someone was hit!
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Twang Twang Twang!!
"On me!!" Dan yelled as he released a powerful defensive ward which covered the open area forming a protective box of white light. Multiple arrows struck it as the group crouched behind.
KACHA!!!
The barrier shattered along with the arrows and everyone began to run.
"Get out! Get out now! The Undead will come for the Holy Qi!" Yu yelled as they scrambled to escape.
Peng
One of the squad, the only other woman in the squad, Yen, was struck in her calf by an arrow. It pinned down and immediately the skin around her leg started to smoke! She ripped out the arrow but collapsed as her own armor prevented her from reaching the wound! Her fingers scrabbled hopelessly against the metal of her leg guard.
"Go! I won't make it to the Pillar!" She yelled as her face contorted in pain. Dan tried to pick her up but she threw herself away from him. "Don't waste your time, this is Demon Poison and the Undead are coming now that you've used your barrier."
Dan's face was tortured as he reluctantly turned to go, his hands flashing as various talismans activated to deflect a hail of arrows which tracked his movement. On the ground Yen also used her slender arms to deflect arrows but was eventually struck several more times. When Lineir left she was no longer moving. Just like that the squad became one less, down to a dozen including him!
"Damnit! If only I had a little more time!" Dan roared as his sleeves expanded and thousands of talismans came down like vicious bombs. The tags whipped back and forth in the wind as he ran and he looked like a wild beast ready to sacrifice it all to go toe to toe with the enemy!
"Cool it Dan!! We have a mission. Come on, Yen's clan will be compensated." Yu grabbed Dan's arm and dragged him along. Lineir off to the side was warily looking out for arrows. He doubted he would fare well if he took a direct hit if even a Celestial Pinnacle Genius had been taken down.
EIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!
************************
"Pathetic human scum. Look at them run. They're drawing so many Undead to them that they're clearing a path for us. Us Lower Demons shall start off the hunt with first blood!" Wei Xing grinned as he rubbed his hands.
"Sir...they're running into THAT place." One of his subordinates said and Wei Xing paled as he looked where the trembling finger was pointing.
"Oh...crap. Leave the stuff, LEAVE!" He yelled as he grabbed his men who had been relaxing as the scouting party had conducted their ambush. "Our poison won't do squat to the Nephilim!"
**************
EIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!
Undead shrieks rebounded throughout the city like the chants of some ungodly protest. No matter where the squad ran it felt like they were running into them. From every direction, what they faced was Undead. The harassing arrows of the ambusher's had stopped as they had presumably been left behind. However, now that Celestial Pinnacle Undead were beginning to appear frequently...as well as hundreds of Divine Realm and thousands of Mortal Realm skeletons....this place had degenerated into a living hell!
"Stay with me! Keep up!" Yu yelled as he fired off gravitational distortions everywhere. The numerous black holes would crush a hundred skeletons to dust at once but he was too busy to form and collect any black orbs. As such he had no way to quicky deal with the mounting amount of Celestial Pinnacle Undead which had begun to follow them. They were unshakeable and could not be killed without someone dealing with them directly but there was no time to engage them so they built up until over a hundred Celestial Pinnacle Undead were following them and more joining by the second!
"The next alley! Come on, we need to find a way to lose them!" Ting led the group into a side alley. In a flash they disappeared into it, and miraculously there were no Undead. "Keep running! We can funnel them through here and slow their numbers down!"
It was a good plan. In the narrow alley only 4 or 5 men could run abreast at a time. It would thin out the horde of skeletons. Quickly they sprinted through the alley without paying much attention to where they were going. De conjured a massive wall of flames which the pursuing skeletons had to walk through to hunt them. It seared all things below Celestial Realm to ashes but eventually so many Celestials walked through that the wall simply crumbled.
"What the hell is that!" Lineir suddenly stopped though he was at the front of the group and alerted everyone.
"What? Why did you stop and break stealth?" Yu asked furiously. This was no time to overreact. However, what he saw made his face turn pale. "Oh...that...RUN!!"
Fwap
A flicker of movement in the sky. The abomination which Lineir had seen swooped in with terrifying speed. The beating of massive wings battered the air above and made one feel as if some massive beast of ancient times was above. However...what they saw was far worse, something so terrible as to rob the breath from their lungs.
"What is that thing!" Lineir panted as he hurried to keep up with everyone. Yu had no time to answer as he turned back and his eye's widened as far as they could go.
"Duck!" Everyone immediately got down and rolled-
Swish!
A sound like a thick saber cutting through leather assaulted their ears. The very wind screamed in pain as the thing tore through it in a way nature never intended. Ting slashed her sword up in a wild reply strike!
Elemental Spiral!
A rainbow vortex shot up as Yu also summoned a massive gravitational attraction pulling the thing down. There was a shriek which shredded everyone's eardrums and talons scraped at their heads before the thing vanished again. On the ground Lineir caught sight of some torn feathers. The feathers were twice as long as his hands and just as wide.
"....?"
"Dan it's a Rotwing. Use your talismans. Send that thing where it belongs!" Yu urgently plead with Dan and the priest looked at his sleeves. However instead of finally detonating the rows and rows of talismans he simply shook his head.
"Yu, it's no use. I can't take that thing out with what I have. At best I can wound it." A foreboding feeling crawled up Lineir's spine as he realized that this opponent was not something they could match. Then he heard the terrifying noise like steely bone grating upon leather once again as the air turned tumultuous. It was back. And now there was more than one.