Very soon the group was able to hear some sounds, coming from the front direction, some feared it could possibly be the dark sea, but chose to believe in their guide. This trust was rightfully placed, well, if dozens, if not hundreds of these skeletons was better than the dark sea, in your book.
All of them appeared out of the darkness of the catacombs, and lunged at the group as soon as the radiant memory even slightly illuminated their figures.
It were Ray and Effie, the groups tallest and physically strongest members that took on the very first wave of the attacks. Both of them had a lot of experience dealing with nightmare creatures together by now, so fighting like this came natural.
Effie fought solely with her shield, smashing the skeletons that came for her with brutal efficiency. Ray had at first, tried one of his throwing knives along with the shield, but rather quickly realized that for some reason, these bones did not want to get corroded, and therefore also went just with his shield.
Nephis and Caster were the second line. They further destroyed everything that somehow managed to squeeze through the gaps of the first line.
The silver-haired girl had now thoroughly changed the grip on her long sword, with both of her hands holding it at the blade, and using the crossguard and pommel to destroy the skeletons left and right.
Caster used a less… barbaric approach and simply cut the approaching skeletons with his ghostly jian, as if they were butter and his jian was a hot knife.
Kai and Cassie had not yet needed to brandish their weapons as well. Where they were at the formation, was basically the core of it. Very soon though, they also would get plenty busy as well.
Behind them were, first the Stone Saint echo from Sunny, and then he himself, who had taken the position of the rearguard. A position that would face more pressure the more time went on.
The corridor was a straight at first, but soon enough the catacombs showed them what kind of labyrinth they really were. With each passing minute, more crossroads or diverging paths appeared in their way, making it easier for the skeletons to find their way past the barrier of steel and weapons in the front.
With the way the paths were turning out to be connected, the direction of the assault by the skeletons also began to shift. While the front still held off the entire population of those things in the direction the cohort was heading, now the others also began needing to do their part.
From both sides, as well as by now, from the back, came more and more skeletons.
Now, Sunny, Kai, Dancer and Saint needed to engage as well.
The amount of skeletons seemed to increase every single second, making it more and more strenuous on the front, as well as the back.
After also realizing this, Nephis gave a quick command, "Caster, support the rear! We got the front already secured, and you can move fast enough to support anywhere where need arises."
The legacy hesitated for a second, but followed the order without rebuttal, slowing down for a moment, while continuing to slash at every skeleton that moved. He went over the side where Cassie was running, to not get in the way of anyone, and in the end placed himself to the side of Sunny by the end of it.
Sunny wasn't really happy about it, but by now he didn't have much choice, he was already here, and indeed lessened the strain by a mile.
All the members of the cohort, along with the two echoes, continued on their way, it was only a few minutes in, that Ray noticed a little light in the corner of his eye on one of the many crossroads. When it returned on the next one, he began realizing what it actually was, and his face paled.
"Eff, we need to pick up the pace! They are here." he warned his companion, while both of them continued fending of the brunt of the horde.
"What do you mean 'they' are here?" Effie asked with a bit of strain on her voice.
"Who else, the host seems to actually have someone that knows their way around here. We need to pick up the pace, and tighten the formation!"
"Tsk, your rotten luck again. Everyone, pick up your pace, and move closer! We got company," Effie barked out, so that everyone could hear her.
"Kai, just carry Cassie at this point, and if you can, Sunny too!" Ray also shouted towards the back, and his friend followed the first part of his advice immediately.
Kai simply scooped up Cassie as soon as he began flying to not trip by accident, but that was already all. Sure, he could carry more, but not an entire person more. Sunny needed to run on his own.
After that, Kai ascended as high as possible to the ceiling to make space for the other behind them to pick up their speed.
With the added speed, this whole situation grew worse by the second. Everyone that was still on the ground had to always at the very least fight off two to five of these undying bastards.
And while it may have been harder for the front when compared to the rear, purely by numbers, it wasn't to say the rear had it any easier, as they had to mostly fight while running backwards, to not get their backs sliced open.
By now, everyone had sustained some level of injuries, well, besides Ray who used his aspect to evade most attacks that managed to get through his guard, which often gave him the edge and made it easier to kill the attacking skeleton.
But for the others it began to look bleak, more and more wounds accumulated on their bodies, with red coloring most of their armors, by this point.
At that moment, Sunny shouted from behind, "Hey! Effie! How far are we from the exit of this damned place?! When is it going to end?!"
Ray could see her sporting a short grin, before she replied, "What do you mean, "end"?" Before she eventually a moment later yelled, "What end, we're barely past the warm-up!"
He glanced over at her, and allowed himself another short moment, "No, but serious, how far do we need to still head?"
Effie sighed heavily in response, "We're still minutes away…"
Now it was Ray's turn to sigh. Putting any sings of regret to the back of his head, he ushered Neph to take his spot for a moment, which she did, while he was preparing his stuff.
About 5 seconds later, a shout came from behind the two, "Alright, I'm ready. Fall back!"
Trusting him, both fell back immediately, and Ray took the foremost position, his hands stretched out wide, and it was revealed what he had done just now.
"Just follow along and rest for a while, I should be able to keep it up for two minutes or so, not a second more though!" Ray said, as he held the veil in place.
The extreme pressure from the front seized nearly immediately. Because the skeletons were unable to perceive anything behind the veil, they did not begin moving, and therefore simply remained as piles of bones, on the ground.
"Thanks."
"Glad to have you here, handsome! I must say, that thing of yours is truly a blessing."
"That's what she said!" Ray simply needed to say that, the chance was too good to pass.
The two girls behind him ignored the bad joke, and Neph began the healing of Effie, before she eventually began her own healing process. As soon as he had been somewhat patched up, she headed further back, taking position next to the two rearguards.
Both of them definitely did not look good, but they were still able to fight, Neph still healed both of them a bit, before telling Caster to go back to the front, the moment the veil disappeared.
At that point, Sunny had to momentarily wonder how the vanguard had even that amount of leisure, that they could give up Neph so easily, but when he looked to where they were still running, he noticed the weird mass that hung there in front of Ray, who had at one point apparently taken over alone.
That was also when he noticed Effie even actually having a moment of respite, with merely destroying some stragglers that had formed just behind that weird thing of Ray.
As for Kai and Cassie, both were still airborne, with the Quiet Dancer flying next to them, and defending them from the few skeletons that reached them as well.
The true pressure was only on the back right now, and Sunny realized that Nephis had once more thrown herself at the most dangerous position.
Well, most dangerous seemed relative, since they were two divine aspect holders , along with a distinguished Legacy at the rear, accompanied by one of, if not the strongest awakened monster as an echo, for further support.
Sadly, even the short moment of respite for the front would inevitably end, and so it happened exactly at the two minute mark. Ray dismissed the veil, keeping just enough essence in reserve to hopefully make it through in one piece.
Effie noticed it instantly, and increased her speed again, once more acting alongside Ray as the spearhead, even though both wielded only their shields right now.
When he saw it, Caster also followed the previous order, and rushed to the front again, helping out the same way as the Nephis had before, in the second line.
The moment of rest had been able to rejuvenate Effie thoroughly, meaning she was smashing the skeletons, who were all respectively stronger than any normal sleeper could ever be, with the same barbaric brutality, as in the beginning.
It seemed to be going well for them all, but something always had to happen, and this time it was the rear who first saw it.
A light.
Among the horde of skeletons that attacked them, a distant light seemed to cut straight through the darkness, this also caused the assault on the rear to lessen, but the implication what it meant wasn't any better than the prior assault.
The group of the host was gaining ground.