When three seconds passed, the Earth Spikes surrounding and protecting the ten druids in the shape of a crescent returned to where they belonged, beneath the ground invisible due to the white bone dust. When five seconds passed, the four fire users positioned themselves at the four corners and began muttering magic words.
Two seconds before the bone army reached the Elemental Ten, Alator raised his staff into the air, and when there was a breath's time left between them and death, the young druid's voice was heard along with flames erupting from the four staffs simultaneously.
"Taranis"
While the wind overflowing outwards from where the Elemental Ten was advanced with all its speed, it carried the flames it swept before it dozens of paces forward, turning everywhere outside the small circle they formed into a lake of fire.
One of Alator's dual element affinities was wind, and he used this to strengthen attacks just like in his battle with Nafız. There was one single and obvious difference from that time; the attack he carried out using the wind element was clearly something he did with his last remaining strength, he was currently unable to stand on his own.
Right after Siomha supported her leader by putting his arm around her shoulder, she took over the command authority and ordered the transition to the next phase of the plan.
"Set up the walls that will protect the path!"
The ice and earth element users turned their directions towards the weird-looking piece of rock Nafız, who had just called out to them, was sitting on. Magic circles appeared under their feet, their staffs called the wandering elements to their aid, and the two sides of the hundred-pace path were adorned with landforms that weren't there before.
On one side Earth Spikes, on the other side Ice Blocks, they formed a safe path extending through the enemy running to fill the place of the burned bags of bones. This was Alator's plan; to create a gap of maybe thirty, maybe twenty seconds with his last strength, to form a passage that would allow them to go to Nafız.
The two druids embracing their leader the moment he was in Siomha's hands started running without looking back. As if having spent most of their energy in the moments they faced enemy attacks wasn't enough, they had put whatever strength they had left into their final attacks. Either they would run the path surrounded by ice and earth on both sides in a single breath, or the journey they embarked on by turning their backs to everything their ancestors bequeathed would end here.
They were aware of this, but it was as if the bone army had understood something too, and they were attacking with even more fervor than before so that the prey they trapped in the palms of their hands wouldn't escape. When the Elemental Ten reached halfway down the path, those taking the place of the bags of bones disciplined by fire had reached the place where they used to stand.
The barricades hindered the others, making it impossible for them to get in front of them, but there was no obstacle before the enemy reaching the beginning of the passage. Of course, the ice and earth element users could cast another spell and seal this place if they had enough power. Since they gave their everything to the previous attacks, this was impossible; moreover, the bags of bones were running so fast that there wasn't enough time to mutter the magic words.
Despite everything, if they turned their backs and ran, it was certain they would all die; after making eye contact, the ice element users stopped running, planted their staffs into the ground, and started muttering the magic words.
Without someone sacrificing themselves, there was no chance for Alator's plan to succeed. If they managed to establish the last line of defense here, the others would be able to reach the safe zone, and if they succeeded in this, their deaths wouldn't be for nothing.
The decision they made wasn't something everyone could dare, but they had already made this decision the moment they intended to reject the path walked by their Druid ancestors and carve a new path for themselves. The moment they headed towards a new, adventure-filled direction instead of the known route experienced for hundreds of years and cleared of its dangers, they had accepted that their end could be like this.
When the bag of bones, having opened its mouth wide, jumped to bite her throat while she was still muttering the incomplete magic words, the beautiful druid closed her eyes. These moments were when she was completely defenseless; all she thought about was completing her spell and managing to hinder the enemy for her friends, even with her dead body.
"How touching, I can't hold back my tears!"
Their leader's wind had managed to bring them back from the edge of death many times, but the blood-red energy blowing this time would only bring destruction. The ice elements that had almost managed to gather scattered, just like the bags of bones, whose standing together was a mystery in itself.
"Step back and see what a real warrior is like!"
Two blood whips appeared in her hands; her hair, braided in a ponytail following their every movement, was also beating the air along with them. The Elemental Ten, who managed to reach the side of the weirdly shaped rock she sat on just now, couldn't even see the movements of Nafız, attacked by hundreds of bags of bones at the same time.
There was an invisible line five paces away from her, and the enemies making a move to cross it paid the price for their audacity by being shattered. Their end wasn't just losing a piece of themselves and becoming immobilized; there were even those among them turning to dust.
The Blood God, roaming the battlefield for about five minutes, caused a white path to form in the places she passed. The sight was within the druids' expectations, but the result was surprising enough that they could only cover their mouths with their hands.
The bone army had stopped attacking; waiting out of reach of the whips, they changed their positions with every step Nafız took, practically opening the way for her to advance towards the shapeless rock. The orc warrior wouldn't break their hearts either; greeting her surroundings like a pop star advancing to her latest model vehicle amidst the flood of love from her fans, she came next to the druids.
At that moment, the bone army mixed into the soil as if it had never existed, and the gray fog curtain that hadn't been seen around for a while managed to tamper with the evidence by covering the proofs of the struggle that took place. It was as if this wasn't the place that hosted the ancient struggle between life and death a few minutes ago; it was as still and un-surprising as the surface of a lake on a windless day.
"Please tell me you understood your enemy, at least have achieved this!"
A deep silence, not a peep other than the cry for help a stone falling down the slopes of the fog-covered valley let out until it shattered. Then Alator's frequent but feeble breaths, unable to find their rhythm for days, are heard; the Leader of the Elemental Ten gathers strength to speak.
"The enemy isn't actually the bags of bones, it's the power keeping them together, and when the body this power uses is destroyed, it returns and forms a new one!"
Even though the exhausted Alator said his final words in a tone only those a few paces beside him could hear, his voice managed to reach the Blood God.
"Even if you have many shortcomings, your intelligence is not one of them; while being completely useless, at least you managed to analyze your enemy. That was the reason for the last gamble you played, right? The moment you realized you were fighting an enemy you couldn't destroy, you tried to find a way to escape, which was your only option!
The consciousnesses guarding the entrance of the Reward Dungeon are the last remains of those who failed inside, and they continue their existence for centuries, perhaps millennia, to try to take over the bodies of those coming here.
What a great cycle of torture; you either took over a body before it entered the Reward Dungeon, or you either gain new rivals or they turn into people you can't touch. You saw how they retreated when they realized they couldn't win against me, didn't you?
I hope you too learn from the mistakes you made, Alator, otherwise it would be a real pity for a consciousness like yours to perish here among piles of bones!"