After smiling, the Butler slowly rose from the ground and spoke a phrase in a strange language:
"Another troublesome human? I thought the dragon-man was an exception. It seems I need to reassess the strength of this race of servants…"
Rafael recognized that language instantly; after all, it had been called by his teacher Josiah the sacred language of the creators of Asshai and Stygai…
Rafael, seeing an opportunity to get answers, asked back:
"Race of servants?"
"Oh, a servant who speaks our language! Much better than that brainless dragon-man…"
Rafael jumped off Vulcan and stowed Firewyrn in the system's animal storage, but remained silent, awaiting an answer to his question.
"Yes, humans are nothing more than a race created to serve the Creators. But it seems you have forgotten this, and now you dare to blaspheme the house of our Lords…"
Before Rafael could ask what that meant, the man continued explaining, while licking the traces of blood from his lips:
"I think that's why the others and I were awakened; I must lead them to cleanse the Sacred Land of your filthy presences!"
As he said these last words, the "Butler" advanced towards Rafael.
In a single step, he covered the entire distance between them, long, sharp claws extending from his right hand as he aimed at Rafael's neck.
But when he was about to tear his throat, Rafael disappeared using Spatial Control, appearing beside Blood Armor's corpse.
He stored the entire body of the Master Bloodmage in his inventory while the necklace that was around his neck floated to his hand.
Rafael had only found the location of Blood Armor because it seemed that these necklaces attracted each other...
At the same moment, the woman in red advanced, trying to touch Rafael's body, but her attack passed through him!
It was an illusion!
Rafael reappeared beside the Reaper, using Gravity Control to sink him into the ground with powerful force, while using Fire Breath on the woman who had attacked his illusion.
The butler's eyes widened after the teleportation, and he shouted:
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Suddenly, Rafael sensed immense danger approaching from his right. He leaped towards the sky, dodging a sudden attack from a fourth, invisible creature he hadn't even noticed yet…
A terrible, putrid smell invaded his nostrils with the appearance of a gaunt monster with six arms and six swords, but the smell vanished the moment the creature hid again.
Still in the sky, Rafael drew the blood from Blood Armor's corpse towards him, forming blood wings on his back.
With a simple flap of his wings, sharp red feathers flew towards the four monsters on the ground. The blood-red feathers not only struck all of them, including the hidden monster, but many also hit the black ground, raising a lot of dust and tufts of phantom grass into the air.
When the cloud passed, the three monsters flew towards the sky, looking at the red blur that was fleeing at high speed towards Asshai. Despite their injuries, all three monsters recovered rapidly as the red feathers lost their physical forms and reverted to liquid blood.
The Butler flew at top speed trying to follow Raphael, but the Reaper and the Woman in Red couldn't keep up. It didn't take even 5 minutes for Raphael to reach the walls of Asshai.
The Butler arrived soon after, but was forced to stop; something prevented him from entering the City of Shadows. The same happened to the two monsters that arrived shortly after. It was the same for the Undead and Shadow Souls. They now formed an army of thousands as they circled the walls of Asshai, prevented from entering the city.
Raphael, noticing this peculiarity, looked at the three visible monsters and smiled at them before continuing his way to the Tower of Distortion.
The monster butler, seeing his smile, clenched his fists tightly and murmured:
"Impossible, the human servants shouldn't have the same Magical Affinity as their creators…"
***
Some time later, in other directions from the walls of Asshai, Rafael's clones also returned to the city.
One of them carried a third necklace, which was found on the body of a Shadow Soul. While the other returned empty-handed, having found no trace of Liza or Vitarys in the vicinity of the mine.
Inside the Tower of Distortion, a Valyrian woman with white skin, black hair, and green eyes embraced Rafael while sobbing and telling him about the deaths that had occurred and the ambushes that Jack, Natasha, and Omar had encountered…
Rafael's expression sank upon learning of the deaths of Zhang, Jhon, Vitarys, and Liza's serious injuries…
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Parsa, Scott Robertson, Pato Senalima, Lily Monarch, and Adriele Rodrigues!
Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, 704Corleon, Rodrigo, WhoisMitch, Leery Falcon, Grave Walker, adam, Evil King, and Emotional!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley, Avacus, and TabbyRabbit!