Chapter 116: Time for the Elders to step up

For the time being, no one has made a move. Kanan didn’t wish to provoke those Elite Typhon Warriors and fall into some kind of trap. Though the Verminus Plant is a monster, he would never question its intelligence after everything that has happened.

Despite being outnumbered, the united front between tribes had begun forcing the Verminus-controlled corpses backward, cutting through tangled roots and rotting flesh while the living fought shoulder to shoulder. For the first time since the battle began, hope spread across the northern plains. The dead were still numerous, but they were losing ground.

Then five figures entered the fray.

"Shit!" Kanan hadn’t expected them to appear so early.

Nik moved first, his spear piercing three warriors before any of them could properly react. Nak swept her staff through the air, releasing a burst of elemental energy that hurled an entire group into the dirt. Patty leaped over an advancing line of fighters and landed among them, her sword flashing with such precision that each strike found its mark. Wak carved through the warriors with his axe, combining its brutal swings with explosions of fire, while Bone simply charged forward, smashing through the defenders with fists that struck like falling boulders.

The warriors tried to overwhelm them with numbers. It made no difference. Within moments, the five Sorcerers had broken through the united formation, leaving fallen warriors scattered across the battlefield.

"Those five..." Elder Trena muttered, staring in disbelief. She and the other elders had made their way to Kanan after handling business elsewhere.

"They were Sorcerers when they lived," Telah said grimly as she gazed at the battlefield, Selin beside her. "And death hasn’t taken their abilities away, it seems. They can still see and dominate spirits, transfer spirit energy, command the dead, and create constructs. If anything, their lack of fear, due to being dead, makes them even more dangerous." She explained to those who didn’t know their abilities.

Selin tightened her grip on her sword. "You’re telling me they can make themselves stronger while fighting?"

"So can we," Kanan answered. "I’ll be supporting you from afar. Don’t worry."

"Wonderful," Selin muttered, watching Bone tear through another group of warriors. "I was hoping this would be difficult."

"Then let’s stop them before they cause any more trouble." Elder Hal said before leaping off the wall.

The others followed, each of them picking their own target.

Trena charged toward Wak, Hal confronted Patty, and Lars vanished in a blur as he intercepted Nik. Nala stepped into Nak’s path, while Telah and Selin moved together to meet Bone.

Surprisingly, the Sorcerers didn’t put up as much of a fight as the Elders assumed.

Nala parried Nak’s staff and countered with a spatial distortion that sent the weapon glancing away from her body. Nak responded with a feint, switching from a fire attack to a blinding beam of light at the last instant, but Nala twisted space around herself and slipped beyond its path.

Nearby, Trena met Wak’s fiery assault without hesitation, touching the ground beneath him and detonating it in a controlled explosion that forced him to retreat. Hal and Patty traded a rapid series of strikes, his energy constructs intercepting her exceptionally refined swordsmanship, while Lars kept pace with Nik’s spear through sheer speed, dodging thrusts aimed at his throat and chest by fractions of an inch.

But Bone was different.

Telah’s spear crackled with lightning as she struck from the front, forcing Bone to defend himself while Selin circled around him, condensing fire along her blade and cutting toward his exposed side. Their coordination kept him occupied, and for a time, they managed to match his overwhelming strength.

Then Bone caught Selin’s sword arm.

He yanked her forward and drove a fist into her stomach, launching her across the battlefield. Telah immediately thrust her spear toward his neck, only for Bone to seize the shaft and drag her into a brutal headbutt that sent her crashing to the ground.

"Selin!" Telah shouted, struggling back to her feet

Selin coughed, forcing herself upright. "I’m fine! Just tell me how we’re supposed to kill something that hits like a mountain!"

"Don’t fight him with strength alone!" Telah replied, wiping blood from her mouth as Bone advanced. "He’s using healing spirits to repair the damage his own attacks would cause. He’s deliberately pushing his body beyond its limits!"

Bone slammed his fist into the ground, sending a shock through the earth that threw both women off balance.

"And he’s using spirit energy to reinforce his body!" Telah added as she rolled away from his next strike. "If he hits you cleanly, it could break bones!"

"Could’ve mentioned that earlier!"

"I assumed you understood when he threw you halfway across the battlefield!"

Across the plains, the other Sorcerers were beginning to gain the upper hand as well. They had tested their opponents and were now unleashing more of their power, reinforcing their bodies and weapons with spirit energy while drawing additional strength from the spirits they dominated.

Kanan felt the change immediately.

From behind the front lines, he had been channeling spirit energy into the Elders and Selin, strengthening their bodies and sharpening their attacks. When the Sorcerers began amplifying themselves, he pushed more power into his allies, raising their strength again.

For a brief moment, the balance returned. Then the Sorcerers increased their power once more.

Kanan’s expression tightened. ’They’re matching my amplification.’

Trena’s explosions became more destructive, Hal’s constructs grew denser, and Nala’s spatial attacks struck with greater force, yet Wak, Patty, and Nak continued to press them. Lars was moving faster than ever, but Nik’s spear kept finding openings, each thrust forcing him into increasingly dangerous evasions.

Even Telah and Selin, bolstered by Kanan’s power, were struggling to survive Bone’s relentless assault. His blows battered their defenses, and every mistake threatened to leave one of them broken on the ground.

Kanan poured even more spirit energy into the fighters. "Hold on!" he shouted, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "I’m giving you everything I can!"

The Elders did not retreat. They were being pushed back, injured and exhausted, but none abandoned their opponent. Behind them stood their home, their people, and the children who had nowhere else to go. They would not let these monsters take it.

Yet Kanan could feel the danger growing. Even with his help, the Sorcerers were steadily overwhelming them, and if the battle continued like this, his allies would die. He needed to eliminate the source of the control over the corpses.

Closing his eyes for a fraction of a second, Kanan reached outward with his heightened senses, searching through the sea of spirits and the countless corpses moving across the plains. He swept past the warriors, the fallen, the writhing roots, and the lingering spiritual traces left by the Verminus Plant due to its connection to spiritual beings.

’Where are you?’ He asked himself

A blast shook the ground nearby. Kanan barely acknowledged it, concentrating as desperation tightened around his chest. He searched deeper, following the strange presence that connected the dead to the living infection.

Then he found it. The host was a little boy from the Typhon Tribe. The child stood among the corpses, his small body controlled by the Verminus Plant’s central consciousness.

For one instant, Kanan froze. Then his eyes widened, and spirit energy erupted around him.

"Found you." He launched himself forward, rocketing across the battlefield toward the boy, leaving a streak of blue light in his wake.