The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

27; The Retaliation of Spells.

Geoff roared, as he rushed towards the beasts, bashing his way in with such force that he knocked them all back, creating a small clearing that allowed him to jump and lunge towards the rat king beast all within a few seconds. The rat king looked almost no different than the rest except its fur shone in a luster brighter than darkness and its beady eyes possessed sentience that made it to scurry back swiftly causing Geoff's sword to miss it by a hair's breadth.

Immediately after he missed his target, Geoff heaved his shield down and then raised his sword in defiance. This time his body shone in a brighter silver light that pierced through midst, pulling the attention of nearly every rat within his vicinity including the rat king. Their blood-lust rose in response as they lunged towards Geoff, their outstretched claws aiming to tear his armor to shreds and their sharp teeth clamoring for his flesh and blood.

Meanwhile Lukas in a swift move banished the Sigil of protection, eliciting the dome to vanish and in a half second another daunting voice filled the dark catacombs.

"SOLAR FLARE!!!!!"

A sudden bright radiance manifested on top of Lukas's staff. It was a like a blazing sun lighting up the hall almost like dawn has descended on the perpetually dark corridors. The rats hissed in pain as the harsh rays burned their irises. They have been used to the darkness so much such that the sudden radiance turned them blind, lessening the threat that Geoff faced into a mass of confusion and bewilderment.

At precise this moment, Rexsi unleashed his movement arts. He gracefully mingled in the midst of the horde, took Geoff by his waist and then rapidly retreated to safety with him in tow, escaping the devastation about to be unleashed.

And then Mira's voice was heard.

"Wall of Fire; Purgatory"

She softly cast, releasing her mana with a huge bang. Immediately in her vicinity a semi-curved wall of fire formed, this time the flames were so high it basically towered over the beasts. With a wave of her staff, her robes fluttering in the exploding air, the red hot flames swept through the hall like a hungry monster, swallowing and searing the unfortunate rats so intensely that that high pitched screams and hisses filled the hall and the adjoining corridors like tragic hymn of death.

Huge masses of rats become restless as the smell of burnt flesh filled the already stuffy air. Every where they turned to all they could only see was fire; fire that burned and fire that licked everything it touched to ashes. It scorched the floor and reached far beyond what Mira and others could have ever expected.

Renesme stunned by such a fierce show, quickly collected her wits as she hurled her own spell.

"Verdant's Arrows"

She muttered under her breath, twirling with her taut bow and jumping up into the air like a white gazelle, letting loose of a volley of projectiles with such finesse that it almost seemed as if she was dancing. The wind elemental arrows flew in a concentric arc and into the flames, covering the hall in less than a blink of eye.

And then it happened.

The Fire's Purgatory Spell practically spread the tongues of flames almost everywhere in proximity, with a few patches of furs still twitching under its intense heat. But the verdant arrows carried the flames even further with its deadly accuracy that a few rats, quite a distance from them were not even spared. The essence of wind in the projectiles stimulated the flames to ignite even hotter carrying its deadly heat even further than before not leaving a single rat alive. If they weren't somehow finished by the flames and heat then the green arrows were enough to claim them by piercing their large heads and burning their insides from within.

Lukas could only hold his stance for so long before he dropped to the ground, heaving huge long breaths and immediately regretting it as the acrid smell of burnt bodies gagged his throat and stuffed his nose barely allowing him a moment's respite. He had banished the dome and thus they were fully exposed to the c*****e they had wrought; with bits of flames still burning all over the place, the walls unrecognizable from hundreds of scorched marks and the ground littered with piles of melted flesh and bones with the smell so thick they could practically taste it.

Exhausted, Mira leaned on her amber staff. Her beautiful face pale and drained as her eyes flitted over Lukas with a strange expression. If there was ever day that took her by surprise, it was today. The unlikely priest considered the weakest among-st them has managed to astonish her more than once and despite the contempt he got in the first place he was the still the one who somehow managed to save their teams from the jaws from death.

"It's done." Renesme whispered as she lay on the ground, fully spent. Breathing hard and long she finally smiled. "We survived…"

".and lived to tell the tale." Rexsi finished. Despite his haggard bearing, his eyes were radiant under the haze of smoke and his face cracked into a rare genuine smile. "Suffice to say I am just about done with rats for a single lifetime."

Geoff leaned in his shield before he visibly shuddered. "Though is it really over?"

Everyone paled in response.

"Someone check…" Lukas said but he didn't even need to finish when Rexsi (the only one with a certain amount of strength remaining) immediately charted through the bloodbath arriving in an approximate area where the Rat king was last seen before the shower of arrows and fire.

A faint pulse caught his attention and when he approached it, he saw the burnt corpse with his own very eyes. Even for the rat king, the flames of purgatory proved to be too much. He looked around and judging from the remains, it seemed it had a half a mind to escape danger by hiding behind its minions but it was too late. The flames scorched its minions to death before the verdant's arrow carried its whisp of destruction by directly piercing through its thick skull, bursting half of its body into a steaming mass of blood and meat. That arrow was what claimed its final life, killing it from within.

"It’s dead.” Rexsi proudly announced.

The moment they heard from Rexsi; Lukas and others collectively let out their final breath of relief. It has been an intense ordeal for them for the past few minutes that it took all of their mental strength, prowess and mana to tide over the disaster. It didn't take long before Rexsi, Geoff, Renesme and Mira all stared at Lukas with gratitude in their eyes. Because they all knew that if it wasn't for him and his decisive actions, the dungeon they deem easy would have ended with far more serious causalities than what they were sporting at the moment.