Caster had Nephis heal as many of them as she could without completely exhausting herself by focusing on the critical only.
After she was done with that,Caster spoke up.
"It's time to go. Gather your strength. We are almost there!"
His voice resounded through all the survivors.
The Sleepers looked at her with tired eyes, the light of hope igniting in them with renewed strength. Slowly, they rose to their feet. Those who were relatively fine supported those who were seriously wounded. Those who had lost consciousness were being carried by their friends or fellow warriors.
Soon, the procession of humans headed deeper into the Spire.
Caster was walking in the front guiding Cassie, Effie right behind him holding the unconscious Kai in a princess carry. Nephis and Sunny were on either of his sides.
Gemma and Harus were at the rear of the Dreamer army.
Soon, they passed through the barrier of coral and approached the center of the Spire.
There, the dark sea was imprisoned under an indomitable seal.
In front of them was a vast pool of black water. Its surface was perfectly still and flat, like that of a harrowing mirror made from pure darkness. Although the water was opaque and no one could see how far down that gargantuan well went, Sunny felt as though it was unimaginably deep. He felt that it reached such depths that mere thought of light would be impossible there.
As they watched in solemn silence, a subtle ripple spread across the surface of the imprisoned sea. It was as though it was straining to spill over the edges of the pool and break free. However, the invisible powers that held it down were too mighty to overcome, even for this vast, boundless, inconceivable creature.
Turning away from the eerie black mirror, Caster peered into the darkness and frowned.
Hidden in the shadows, far away from the light of human lanterns, countless figures were standing motionlessly, staring at them.
'Finally...'
Hidden in darkness, countless coral golems were staring mindlessly into the distance. They were very similar to the creatures that Sunny had fought to get to the Star Sigil, but also different.
Because they weren't copies of ancient heroes… just that of mundane people.
As such, they wouldn't be too dangerous. A single Sleeper could fight dozens with ease, let alone the experienced, powerful warriors of the Dreamer Army. More than that, the golems did not seem to be hostile.
However, ignoring them, Caster started rising through the corals to the second floor.
But just as he did that a wide ray of blinding light fell from somewhere above and swiped across the interior of the Crimson Spire, annihilating the tranquil darkness.
Caster simply tanked the light ray, knowing that he has near complete soul damage resistance.
The ray had soul damaging properties like the sun, but to a much stronger degree.
"Hide in the shadows!"
Swiftly, the Sleepers dove behind growths of coral and pressed themselves against them. A few unfortunate ones lingered for too long and were exposed to the light. They didn't scream or struggle, just fell down to the ground, their lives extinguished in a split moment.
The rest froze, consumed by tense fear.
Worst was yet to come though...
Guided by the light, the mass of coral golems suddenly surged forward, moving toward the place where the Dreamer Army was hiding. Their movements, which were aimless and mindless before, were now full of malevolent will.
Looking at Nephis and Sunny by turning around, Caster spoked up.
"Someone will have to hold down the Terror. And as I have been preparing for this moment, I will obviously... distract it... or kill it if I can. Once I'm gone, lead the people to the Gateway. Make sure that everyone escapes."
Nephis and Sunny nodded with a grim face. They both knew fighting a fallen terror won't be easy at all.
"Sunny, lead them all. Nephis protect the rear, and order Harus to make make sure I'm alive after everyone leaves. Let me emphasize it. Make sure, Harus goes to find me."
After that he looked at Cassie and Effie and smiled at them, not that Cassie could see it.
"I'll meet you guys outside."
They both nodded.
"Make sure you do. You have to give me the response..."
"Let's meet again."
With that, Caster bent his knee, and jumped with all his might. The might of a titan.
Supported by the enchanted cloak, [Dark Wing], he shot up with considerable speed, then pushed himself off the pillar of coral and flew into the darkness.
The ray of light swiped in his direction, but Caster still somehow managed to dodge it, crashed into another coral growth, and launched himself off of it a moment before another annihilating beam of light had reached it.
With most rays now pursuing him as he leaped from one coral pillar to another, ascending higher and higher, the Dreamer Army could once again move.
'Fuck me... I'm fighting a fallen terror.'
***
Sunny had never expected to become a leader of anyone, let alone of five hundred desperate people. But now, that was exactly the situation he found himself in.
He led the Dreamer Army forward, climbing higher and higher. Every couple of minutes, they would have to leave one root and make use of another, sometimes moving across stone galleries that were situated here and there on the walls of the Crimson Spire.
At some point, both the vanguard of the human procession and its rear became embroiled in a rolling melee with the sea of coral golems. Those in the middle only had to keep their eyes on the layers of coral and stone structures overhead to make sure that nothing fell on them.
This battle was not too terrible, however. The constructs were slower and weaker than even the mundane humans whose visage they were meant to recreate, not to mention almost completely mindless. Not a single human had fell to their attacks yet.
…That was not to say that surviving the onslaught of countless golems was easy.
Somewhere high above, meanwhile, the flashes of white light slowly turned into one continuous, radiant halo.
Caster had probably already reached the pinnacle of the spire.
The fact that none of the annihilating rays had returned to attack the Sleepers served as proof that he was still alive, drawing the attention of the Terror away from them.
'Where are you… where are you…'
At the head of the Dreamer Army, Sunny cut through another golem and suppressed a curse.
Where was the damn Gateway?!
…And just as he thought that, the shadow finally found what it had been looking for all that time.
Their way back to the real world.
Soon after, the remains of the Dreamer Army cut through the mass of golems and escaped it. Running with all the speed they could manage, the crowd of young men and women approached the Gateway and froze, stunned by the sight of it.
Hypnotized by it.
In front of them... was the hope that they had forgotten for so long.
The torturous promise of freedom that had taunted them every day, hidden away in the terrifying, looming silhouette of the Crimson Spire.
Their way home.
Salvation.
"What are you staring at, idiots?! Pick up your jaws and move! Battle formation! Protect the rear! Wounded and non-combatants go first, everyone else holds off the damn golems and then follows! One at a time, bastards!"
***
Upon reaching the top of the tower, Caster immediately engaged the terror.
The terror was a giant creature whose body was made out of a perverse fusion of crimson coral and mutilated human flesh. In a sense, it was similar to the crimson golems he had seen at the base of the Spire. It was a twisted approximation of a living being, one that radiated a horrifying sense of madness, wrongness, and loss.
It was immensely stronger than him, in every regard. The only saving grace was that the terror's soul attack was ineffective on him.
The terror shot out another halo of light in all directions at the top most floor of the spire.
It didn't annihilate anything.
And Caster was utterly ineffected by it.
But the problem was that the terror was not vulnerable at all.
Despite the disappearance of the Dark Sea that restricted it... it seems that the terror didn't get enough kills to get it to start evolving.
The terror was at its full strength.
'Crap...'
One slam from the terror, that Caster could not even hope to dodge, even with his aspect at full power, threw him off to the coral pillars.
It ruptured a part of the echo.
Luckily it had a liquid nature that allowed it to fix itself in time.
Another halo was shot.
Caster tanked it again.
The terror went crazy.
It finally changed its ways.
Now... it didn't shoot rays that burnt the soul itself, but rays that burnt everything that stood in its way.
'Fuck.'
With that, Caster jumped into the flames.
He was being shot behind due to the immense force of the flames.
The flame was burning him... or rather his echo, evermelt.
Evermelt itself was made of heat, but even it had difficulties in enduring the terror for a long time.
Caster just had to endure this for as long as the dreamer army left.
There were 500 of them, it would take a while.
He knew he could no longer hold back anything. So he summoned the armor of vivienna under the echo and book of books in his other hand that didn't hold his sword.
With that... he removed Evermelt off of him and sent it to cover the terror and burn it.
The echo seemed to be on the verge of literally boiling away into vapour when it suddenly disappeared.
Caster dismissed it.
'35 fallen shards... lightning strike.'
Lightning gathered first as a shimmer, a pale flicker that danced across his fingers like restless fireflies. Then it thickened, grew sharp, a radiance too fierce to be mistaken for mere trick of the air. The glow bled into his palms until the very bones seemed carved from light.
Then his hands thrust forward.
The world split in a blaze of white.
Whiter than the terror's halo.
The terror of the crimson spire... was struck again and again, wrapped in a storm of light.
And in that moment, beneath the ruinous blaze, Caster stood... his body frail, yet his hands hurling the judgment of the skies themselves.
The ground split where it had stood, a chasm swallowing the remnants. Smoke poured skyward, tinged scarlet.
Lightning tore through its veins, devouring it from the marrow outward. The stench of scorched flesh filled the air, mingled with the sharp tang of storm.
A moment later it burst.
The crimson shell split apart in a roar of thunder, fragments of flesh and stone flung wide like shrapnel. Light poured from its sundered body, searing and wild, and the shockwave hurled dust and bone across the field. What remained of the terror collapsed in upon itself, nothing but blackened ruin steaming upon the ground.
And then there was silence, save for the faint hiss of smoke rising from the crater where it had stood.
The silence was broken by the spell's charming voice.
[You have slain a Fallen Terror...]
[You have recieved a memory...]
The Spell was about to say something else, but then the entire Crimson Spire suddenly shuddered. This quake was much stronger than all the previous ones, making it feel as though the gargantuan structure was about to topple. Caster heard the deafening sound of breaking stone.
Almost at the same time, he was suddenly enveloped in absolute darkness, all light disappearing from the echoing interior of the ancient tower.
'It's happening.'
The tower was suddenly covered in darkness.
He looked at his attributes by summoning his runes.
He had another one.
Attribute: Soul Conduit.
"Haha..."
He felt the spire start breaking.
And soon, he heard something again. It was Harus' voice.
[We're done. Are you alive?]
Caster responded.
[Yes, the terror is dead. But I need help to leave. Come up.]
Soon after, Harus came up.
He saw the insane condition the pinnacle of the spire was in.
Then he looked at the burnt corpse of the nightmare creature.
He was terrified at the sight.
"You killed it?"
"Yes."
He helped Caster up, who was on the ground, unmoving. Still in his armor.
They walked down the spire gracefully. And upon reaching the gateway Caster said something to him.
"Let me go. I wish to leave on my own two legs."
Harus complied. And then he asked something.
"You killed Gunlaug right?"
"Yes."
"Why? After he agreed to every one of your demands..."
Caster didn't reply. He simply formed a sword from evermelt and slashed at Harus' legs below his knees, instantly taking both his legs.
Caster had caught him offguard.
Harus didn't expect this out come.
"W-why?"
"One of us needs to stay to... keep the gateway active."
"You bastard!"
Harus activated his aspect on him, blinding him.
'As expected... I really don't have anything against this.'
However, that was exactly the reason why he took both of Harus' legs.
"So long, Harus."
With that, caster simply turned around and walked into the portal.
Still blind.
Harus simply layed there. Couldn't even see Caster.
He crawled over.
But he couldn't do anything.
Caster had already entered it.
He made it out alive.
Just a few seconds after he disappeared in a flash of light, the crack in the stone reached the circle of runes and broke it.
The shine of the Gateway grew unstable and swiftly faded away.
At the same time, the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore ignited one last time with a bright, intense explosion of light, and then extinguished.
...Left alone in the collapsing tower and with no more light to shine upon him, the beaten, broken figure of Harus disappeared from Caster's sight.
And Harus was trapped there, alone.
Then... the Crimson spire fell and Harus fell down hundreds of meters with no hope to survive.
And then...
Nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Harus simply died upon impact.
His nightmare was over.
[End of Volume One: Empty Hell].