Chapter 174: Fanatic Choir

The small blade rocketed through the air burying itself deeply into the corrupted mage’s throat just a fraction of a second before the fanatic could pull the crossbow trigger. The lifeless body tumbled over the railing crashing onto the pews below.

Leon spun smoothly stepping close to the marble pillar where the spy was hiding. He offered a dark wicked wink locking his intense midnight gaze with her wide terrified eyes.

"Keep your lovely eyes on the prize Valeriana," Leon murmured flashing a confident grin before diving right back into the bloody fray.

The beautiful information broker swallowed hard her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. The deafening roar of the battle faded into a dull hum as the blistering heat of his fleeting presence scrambled her rational thoughts. She gripped her compass tightly an intense breathless flush conquering her cheeks.

[Quest Complete. Stat Rewards Distributed.]

A massive surge of pure speed flooded his nervous system making his combat movements even more imperceptible.

The zealot army was rapidly dwindling under the coordinated assault of the warlord faction. The fanatics possessed corrupted power but they lacked the tactical synergy of Leon’s strike team.

Seraphina drove her flaming blade through the chest of the final armored knight kicking the burning body off her steel. She wiped a stray drop of sweat from her brow turning her fierce violet eyes toward the raised golden altar at the end of the nave.

"The front doors were just the welcome mat," Seraphina warned resting her weapon on her shoulder. "The real problem is waiting for us up there."

Leon followed her gaze. Standing behind the intricate golden altar was a towering figure wearing heavy ceremonial robes. The High Priest of the cathedral held a massive glowing tome in one hand and a jagged sacrificial dagger in the other.

The air around the altar vibrated with a sinister heavy resonance. The dark ritual protecting the catacombs was already in motion.

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The sprawling nave of the Grand Cathedral was littered with the broken bodies of the corrupted zealots. The air was thick with the scent of charred metal and freezing mist lingering from the intense elemental skirmish.

Leon flicked a few drops of dark blood from his heavy blunt weapon. He stepped over a shattered wooden pew keeping his gaze fixed on the towering golden altar at the far end of the central aisle.

The High Priest stood behind the ornate structure. He was a gaunt withered man with sunken eyes that burned with a sickly violet intensity. He wore heavy ceremonial robes adorned with the silver crest of the Divination Court. The robes seemed to writhe and shift as if shadows were actively crawling across the fabric.

Surrounding the altar were eight lesser priests kneeling in a perfect circle. They were chanting in a low chaotic language that made the teeth ache. The words lacked any natural cadence vibrating with a dissonant frequency that aggressively assaulted the senses.

"That is a binding array," Isolde warned stepping up beside Leon. The Emerald Knight tightened her grip on her glowing rapier her bright green eyes scanning the glowing runes appearing on the marble floor. "They are attempting to lock down the spatial coordinates of this room. If they finish that chant the air will literally solidify turning this nave into an inescapable prison."

"Then we interrupt the song," Leon stated cracking his thick neck.

He did not wait for a complex tactical plan. He activated his spatial footwork blurring forward with terrifying speed. He aimed to cross the remaining distance and shatter the High Priest’s skull before the chanting could reach its crescendo.

As Leon crossed the invisible boundary of the altar steps a dense wall of corrupted violet energy violently flared into existence.

The kinetic force of his sprint caused him to collide heavily with the magical barrier. The impact felt like slamming into a solid mountain of rusted iron. He was forcefully repelled sliding backward across the polished marble floor.

"Physical strikes will not breach a fully charged holy ward," Seraphina called out marching forward with her heavy broadsword drawn. "It requires an overwhelming elemental disruption."

The silver haired warlord raised her weapon channeling a massive surge of her Tier One Grandmaster core into the steel. A brilliant blinding wave of searing crimson fire erupted from the blade. She swung the weapon in a devastating downward arc aiming to cleave the violet barrier in half.

The volcanic heat crashed against the corrupted shield creating a deafening concussive shockwave. The barrier shrieked producing a sound like tearing metal but it held firm. The violent collision generated a thick cloud of suffocating steam that rapidly filled the altar area.

The High Priest laughed a dry rattling sound that echoed through the damp cathedral.

"Your crude elemental tricks are useless against the divine will of the stars," the gaunt man mocked raising his jagged sacrificial dagger. "The High Priestess foresaw your arrival. This barrier draws power directly from the final anchor buried beneath my feet. You cannot break it before the air crushes your lungs."

The heavy chanting of the kneeling priests grew louder increasing in tempo. The ambient pressure inside the vast nave spiked drastically. The oxygen in the room began to feel thick and syrupy making every breath a grueling labored effort.

Beatrice and Elara stepped forward attempting to combine their freezing and blistering magics to assault the barrier but the dense corrupted energy effortlessly absorbed their attacks.

Leon narrowed his midnight eyes analyzing the glowing runes etched into the marble floor beneath the barrier. He recognized the intricate geometric patterns from the ancient texts he had studied in the Sterling library. The barrier was indeed drawing limitless power from the anchor but the anchor was merely a battery. The array itself was anchored to the physical bodies of the chanting priests.

"They are the conduits," Leon reasoned his deep voice cutting through the chaotic noise. "We do not need to break the shield. We just need to break the men singing the song."

A digital interface hummed to life in his vision dropping a bright pink text box right over the silver haired warlord’s shoulder.