The cavern erupted into chaos. Lord Gareth, his face twisted in fanatic rage, unleashed another wave of dark spiritual energy, forcing Eric's hastily erected barrier to shimmer and crack. Dozens of Crimson-Marked cultists, their eyes glowing with malevolent green light, surged forward, their corrupted Qi flaring, aiming for the intruders.
"Hold the line!" Eric roared, pushing a surge of his suppressed draconic Qi into his barrier, reinforcing it just enough to withstand the initial onslaught. "Kord, focus on those spiritual chains! Try to sever the link to those Spirit-Devouring Vessels! Anya, Seraph, keep those cultists off Kord! Lysa, Jin, Roric, protect the entrance! Ensure no one gets in or out without our knowledge!"
The team, their training kicking in, moved with practiced efficiency. Kord, now fueled by a grim determination, began unleashing powerful Earth-elemental formations, aiming for the glowing spiritual chains that bound the emaciated figures to the pulsating organic constructs. Anya and Seraph, moving with fluid grace, became blurs of motion, their daggers and illusions weaving a deadly dance among the charging cultists, diverting their attacks and creating openings. Lysa conjured formidable defensive barriers at the cavern entrance, while Jin and Roric engaged the cultists there, preventing any escape or reinforcements.
Eric, meanwhile, focused on the primary threat: Lord Gareth. The Nascent Soul cultivator was immensely powerful, his corrupted Qi a suffocating presence. He moved with a sinister grace, unleashing devastating dark spiritual attacks that forced Eric to constantly dodge and weave, relying on his superior agility and preternatural instincts.
"You fool!" Lord Gareth sneered, a bolt of corrupted lightning tearing past Eric's ear, scorching the stone where his head had been moments before. "You meddling Imperial dog! You think you can stop the inevitable?!"
"Inevitability of what, Gareth?" Eric retorted, his voice strained as he parried a powerful, materialized claw of shadow with his Wyvern-blade. The impact sent a jarring shockwave up his arm. "Betraying your family? Draining innocent lives? For what?!"
Lord Gareth laughed, a chilling, distorted sound that echoed through the cavern. "Betrayal? No, little boy. This is liberation! You wouldn't understand. You are but a dog of the Emperor, a pawn in a dying game. The Empire is weak, rotting from within! Its false light will soon be extinguished!"
"And you believe this 'Crimson Veil' offers something better?" Eric demanded, ducking under a sweeping arc of dark energy, his eyes scanning for an opening. "This corruption? This brutality?"
"Brutality is merely a means to an end!" Gareth's voice boomed, filled with fanatic zeal. "The true power lies beyond! Once our Great Lord is manifested, all the 'kings' and 'emperors' will understand! They will bow before true might!" He launched another barrage of attacks, each one imbued with terrifying power, clearly intending to overwhelm Eric.
Eric kept dodging, weaving, his movements a blur. Gareth was giving him a hard time. The pressure was immense. He needed to take down Gareth quickly, or his team would be overwhelmed. The cultists, though weaker individually, were endless, their numbers putting immense pressure on Kord and the others.
He tried to get closer, to exploit any momentary lapse in Gareth's defenses, but the Nascent Soul cultivator was too skilled, too cautious. As Eric lunged, seeking to exploit an opening, Gareth anticipated it, unleashing a close-range burst of dark energy that nearly struck Eric directly. Eric managed to twist just in time, but the concussive force still slammed into his side, sending him sprawling.
"Pathetic!" Gareth scoffed, striding forward, preparing a finishing blow. "You're out of your league, whelp!"
But as Gareth advanced, Eric, still on the ground, his hand darting into his pocket, pulled out a small, glass vial. With a swift flick of his wrist, he shattered it against the cavern floor. A thick, purple smoke immediately billowed outwards, filling the confined space, its scent acrid and oddly sweet.
"What is this?!" Gareth roared, momentarily startled, his vision obscured by the swirling mist.
"A parting gift!" Eric yelled, charging through the smoke, his Wyvern-blade held high.
Gareth, though momentarily disoriented, was a Nascent Soul cultivator. His spiritual senses were still keen. He effortlessly parried Eric's first two attacks, his hand a blur as he deflected the blade, then countered with a sweeping kick. Eric absorbed the impact, his bones groaning, but he kept pressing the attack, a relentless barrage of precise, suppressed strikes.
Gareth parried, then countered again, his movements still powerful, but a subtle change was taking place. He felt a strange sluggishness spreading through his limbs, a faint dullness in his usually razor-sharp senses. The purple smoke, he realized, was doing more than just obscuring vision. It was a potent nerve agent, designed to subtly slow one's reaction time and dull their spiritual perception.
"This... this poison!" Gareth hissed, a flicker of genuine alarm crossing his face. He extended his hand, unleashing a powerful burst of Qi, blowing away the thick purple smoke, revealing Eric directly in front of him.
But that was the moment Eric had been waiting for. The split second of distraction, the slight delay in Gareth's movements, the revealing of his position. As the smoke cleared, Eric's eyes blazed with a fierce light. He had been planning this from the start.
With a roar, Eric channeled a sudden, precise burst of his true, Foundation Establishment Stage 8 power, focusing it into a single, devastating thrust of his Wyvern-blade. The sharpened, draconic Qi pierced Gareth's spiritual defenses, bypassing his slowed reaction time, and slammed directly into his chest.
Gareth's eyes widened in profound shock and disbelief. He had been hit. A direct, critical hit. The true power behind Eric's "suppressed" aura had been unleashed for a fleeting, fatal moment. Blood, dark and thick, immediately welled around the blade, pouring from the wound.
Gareth gasped, a choked sound, his powerful aura flickering erratically as he stumbled backward, collapsing against a stone pillar, the dark blood staining his ornate robes. He lay bleeding on the cavern floor, his eyes still burning with a mixture of rage and disbelief.
Eric stood over him, his chest heaving, his own Qi depleted from the sustained battle and the final, decisive blow. "You will answer for your betrayal of the Empire, Lord Gareth," Eric stated, his voice cold and unwavering.
Gareth coughed, a ragged, bloody sound. His eyes, now tinged with a desperate, malicious light, fixed on Eric. "You... you may have won this skirmish, boy... but you are too late... the ritual... it is almost complete..." With a final, defiant gasp, Gareth's hand moved, activating a hidden spiritual formation on his wrist.
A blinding flash of crimson light erupted from Gareth's dying body. The enormous red portal in the center of the cavern, already pulsating with malevolent energy, suddenly flared with terrifying intensity. It ripped open wider, tearing at the fabric of space itself, revealing a swirling void of endless darkness.
From the swirling depths of the expanded portal, a chilling, guttural roar echoed, a sound that shook the very foundations of the cavern. And then, a torrent. Not just monsters, but a literal horde of monstrous beasts, far greater in number and power than anything they had encountered in the Shadowfell Peaks, began to pour forth into the cavern. B-rank beasts, A-rank beasts, even some elusive S-rank behemoths, their eyes glowing with raw, destructive power, their roars filling the air with a terrifying symphony of death.
"Team Leader! What is this?!" Kord yelled over the growing roar of the horde, his face pale as he struggled to maintain his defensive formations against the renewed surge of cultists.
"Gareth activated a failsafe!" Eric roared, his voice raw. "He's opened the portal completely! They're pouring in!" He looked at his team, their faces reflecting a mixture of shock and desperate resolve. "This is no longer a capture mission! This is a full-scale defense!"
His mind raced, assessing the dire situation. They were deep within enemy territory, surrounded, with an endless stream of high-rank monsters pouring through a massive portal.
"Regroup!" Eric yelled, his voice cutting through the growing chaos, pulling his team back from the immediate fray. As they converged near the still-pulsating red portal, the ground literally shaking beneath their feet, Eric issued his commands, his gaze sweeping over each of them.
"Anya, Seraph!" Eric's voice was sharp, decisive. "Your speed and illusions are critical! Your priority is civilian evacuation! Get to the village! Coordinate with the local guards! Get everyone out! There's no stopping this horde, but we can save lives!"
Anya and Seraph, despite the overwhelming odds, nodded grimly. "Understood, Team Leader!" they shouted in unison, already moving, their forms blurring as they sprinted towards the cavern exit.
"Kord, Lysa!" Eric turned to them. "Your formations and defensive capabilities are paramount! You will establish a primary defensive line here, at the mouth of the cavern! Channel your Qi into building the strongest possible barriers! Slow them down! Buy us time!"
"Understood!" Kord bellowed, already beginning to channel his formidable Earth-elemental Qi, Lysa complementing him with her precise energy barriers.
"Jin, Roric!" Eric looked at the two remaining agents, their faces grim but determined. "You will form the secondary defensive line deeper within the manor, cutting off any monsters that breach the first line! Make sure none reach the populated areas of the estate! Use the manor's architecture to your advantage!"
"Right!" Jin shouted, Roric nodding fiercely beside him.
Eric then looked back at the endlessly churning red portal, the roar of the beasts growing louder, more terrifying. He was exhausted, injured, his Qi depleted from the fight with Gareth. But there was no time for weakness.
"And me?" Kord yelled over the din.
"I will try to sever the portal!" Eric roared, pointing to the pulsating vortex. "It's the only way to stop the endless tide! Until then, hold the line! Save the people!"
The cavern vibrated with the raw power of the emerging horde. Eric, gritting his teeth, his hand instinctively going to his Wyvern-blade, prepared for the most desperate battle of his life. The true war against the Crimson Veil had just begun.