Chapter 35: Rush to the divine flame

They moved deeper into the golden city with the tower always visible ahead, rising above every surrounding building while hundreds of thousands of golden figures continued kneeling toward it.

For the first few minutes, nothing unusual happened.

Merchants remained behind their stalls, peddlers stood beside loaded carts and armoured guards watched the streets without reacting as Karl’s group passed through them.

The Corruption Level continued creeping upward, but nobody wanted to stop here longer than necessary.

They had crossed several more streets when three golden guards suddenly stepped into their path.

"Sir, please stop."

Atherion slowed for barely a moment before continuing forward.

The guard raised one hand.

"Please bow before the Divine Flame and offer your faith and do not proceed farther."

Atherion glanced toward the tower before looking back at it.

"Move."

The guard remained in front of him.

"Sir, please stop and bow before the Divine Flame. You are not permitted to approach the sacred—"

Atherion shoved it aside.

"Fuck off."

The golden guard stumbled across the street but immediately regained its footing.

Then every guard nearby moved at once.

The one Atherion had pushed drew its sword while another thrust a spear toward his side. Atherion twisted away from the spear and punched the first guard directly through the chest.

The golden body shattered into several pieces.

Leon stopped beside him.

"That easy?"

Atherion looked at the broken remains and then his status panel changed.

[Corruption Level increased.]

"Fuck."

He immediately checked the new percentage.

"Killing them increases corruption."

Karl had barely processed his words when more footsteps started coming from the surrounding streets.

Golden guards were leaving their previous positions one after another.

Dozens quickly became hundreds as figures emerged from intersections, alleys and buildings, their previously empty expressions replaced by the same hostility.

"Submit and offer your faith."

Leon stepped forward and swung the flat side of his axe across one guard’s chest, throwing it through a nearby stall without killing it.

Mira avoided another spear before kicking the attacker aside, while Balder used his shield to force several guards away from the centre of the group.

Atherion simply knocked another one backward with his forearm.

Karl looked toward the tower.

"Don’t waste time fighting them."

A golden sword came toward his neck.

One of Karl’s undead knights appeared between them and caught the strike before pushing the guard away.

"Just run!"

Leon immediately understood.

"They’re weak anyway."

Atherion looked ahead at the growing crowd before nodding.

"Break through."

The entire group rushed forward, rhey stopped trying to clear the streets completely and simply forced openings whenever the golden guards closed around them.

Leon used his axe like a club, sending several guards rolling away without finishing them, while Balder charged straight through another line with his shield planted in front of him.

Mira disappeared into the shadows ahead and reappeared beyond every group that tried surrounding her.

Karl sent several ordinary undead around the sides instead of attacking directly.

Skeletons wrapped themselves around golden guards or dragged them backward long enough for everyone else to pass, while two larger undead simply lifted several attackers and threw them into empty streets.

It worked, at least for a while it did.

The tower grew larger with every street they crossed, but the guards also stopped falling away so easily.

Balder smashed his shield into another one and expected it to fly backward but the golden figure slid only half a metre.

"Stronger!?"

Karl activated Perception while the guard attacked again.

[Golden Guard]

[Level: 99]

[Classification: Commander]

Another Commander stepped into the street beside it.

Then three more appeared behind them.

Leon blocked a sword with his axe and pushed the attacker away.

"They’re still Level 99 but there quality is rapidly increasing."

Karl moved past him while sending a skeletal giant toward the approaching Commanders.

The giant caught two at once and drove them against a golden building, pinning them there with one arm while the others continued forward.

More guards appeared from the streets ahead.

Some remained Elites, but Commanders now made up a growing part of the crowd and their weapons were already strong enough to damage Karl’s weaker undead.

A spear pierced through one skeleton’s ribs before the guard tried pulling free.

Karl simply ordered the damaged summon to grab the weapon and hold on.

"Keep moving."

They rushed past it, the streets narrowed closer to the tower, forcing the group to fight through smaller openings while more golden figures filled the space behind them.

Atherion had already taken the front, forcing a path through whatever blocked them.

A golden guard swung toward his neck, but Atherion slipped past the blade, grabbed the guard by the shoulder and threw him into two others before continuing forward.

The next street was much harder to cross.

Several guards were already waiting between them and the tower, but three standing near the centre wore far heavier golden armour than the rest.

One carried a massive sword in both hands, while the other two slowly spread apart and blocked nearly the entire road.

Karl used Perception immediately.

[Holy Paladin]

[Level: 99]

[Classification: Lord]

Leon slowed when he saw the panel.

"Lord rank now? Seriously?"

The first Holy Paladin swung and Atherion blocked with his sword but was pushed several steps sideways, and another immediately moved toward Balder while the third started closing the road.

Karl clicked his tongue and raised the Death Stick.

Several portals opened across the street, two skeletal giants emerged first.

One caught the Holy Paladin fighting Atherion from behind and locked both arms around it, while the second dropped directly in front of the other two and forced them apart.

More undead followed.

"Don’t kill them."

Karl directed several smaller summons toward the guards flooding in from behind.

Skeletons tangled themselves around legs and weapons while larger beasts simply used their weight to hold Commanders against the ground.

A giant grabbed three golden guards at once and pressed them against the side of a building.

Leon looked over while running past.

"Damn."

He ducked beneath another sword and kicked its owner into Karl’s undead.

"As always, you’re kinda smart."

Karl looked at him.

"Kind of?"

"Don’t get too excited."

Leon jumped over a fallen guard.

"I might still dominate you someday."

Karl scoffed.

"You won’t dominate me even in your dreams."

"That’s what people say before getting dominated."

Mira appeared from a shadow several metres ahead.

"Can you two stop flirting while we’re being chased?"

Both of them looked toward her with an offended expression but Mira just ignored them and kept moving.

Karl’s undead continued clogging the streets behind them, and the distance to the tower finally began shrinking quickly again.

The number of Holy Paladins increased closer to the base, but there was no longer any need to defeat them.

A skeletal giant took one sword through its shoulder and still wrapped both arms around the Paladin long enough for Karl’s group to pass.

Another undead beast was thrown into a wall, got back up and immediately jumped onto the same enemy again.

The tower entrance was finally visible, Atherion reached the final street first and then suddenly he stopped.

Karl nearly ran into him before looking past his shoulder.

There were no golden guards waiting at the base, only corpses.

The stairs leading toward the tower were covered with broken golden bodies, and several had been torn apart so violently that pieces of armour lay scattered across the entrance.

Leon lowered his axe slightly.

"What happened here?"

Karl stepped toward the nearest corpse.

[Holy Knight]

[Level: 99]

[Classification: Overlord]

He checked another one and the same result appeared.

A third corpse lay across the stairs with most of its chest missing, while several others had been thrown through the golden railings surrounding the entrance.

Then Karl noticed the largest body, it had collapsed directly in front of the tower doors.

[Holy Knight Captain]

[Level: 99]

[Classification: Mini-Boss]

Karl looked toward the open tower entrance.

"Someone really is already here."

Atherion crouched beside one of the nearest corpses.

Several deep grooves had been carved through its armour, and another body farther ahead had similar wounds across its neck and chest.

Atherion touched one of the marks before standing.

"Claws."

His expression became colder.

"That beastly bitch survived."

Karl remembered the fox-like Beast Human disappearing beneath the collapsing stones.

Apparently, she had found another route.

"Then she’s ahead of us."

Atherion immediately moved toward the entrance.

The first corridor had already been cleared.

Several blades were still stuck halfway out of the walls while broken trap mechanisms lay across the floor, and the formation ahead had been torn apart before it could properly activate.

Leon looked around as they moved past it.

"Well, at least someone did the hard work for us."

They continued upward and found more of the same along the next few floors.

Poison traps had already been triggered, hidden wires were cut apart and several sections of the walls had been damaged where mechanisms had been forced open.

Mira glanced at several deep claw marks across one of the walls.

"She definitely came through here."

Atherion kept moving without slowing.

Karl followed behind him while watching the traces left along the path.

The farther they climbed, the brighter the golden light became and the faster his Corruption Level continued to rise.

Several more strands of his hair had already turned golden.

Nobody bothered mentioning it anymore.

Another staircase led them into a partially destroyed corridor where broken pieces of stone and metal were scattered everywhere.

Karl stepped over several thick iron rods lying across the floor and briefly frowned.

Those don’t look like part of the traps.

Atherion noticed them as well, but neither stopped.

The staircase ahead continued upward until a bright golden light appeared at the top, forcing everyone to narrow their eyes as they approached.

A wide doorway stood open in front of them, Atherion entered first.

Karl followed closely behind and immediately saw the golden flame floating above a platform near the centre of the room.

Light moved continuously around it and spread through the engraved lines beneath the floor.

Divine Flame.

Before Karl could look at it any further, Leon suddenly stopped beside him.

"Oi..."

Karl followed his gaze toward the side of the room.

The fox Beast Human was pinned against the wall.

Several iron rods had been driven through her arms, legs and torso, leaving her hanging there while blood slowly ran down the golden surface beneath her.

Atherion’s expression changed.

"She didn’t clear this place."

Karls eyes moved back toward the centre of the chamber.

Someone was standing beside the Divine Flame.

A tall figure covered beneath a dark cloak had one hand extended toward the golden fire, completely ignoring everyone who had just entered.

Leon slowly tightened his grip around his axe.

"Then who the hell is that?"

The cloaked figure finally moved.

Its hand lowered away from the Divine Flame before its head slowly turned toward them.

"So here you are..."

The figure faced Karl.

"My precious."