The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

24; The Underground Rats.

The first thought that passed through Lukas's mind was that the beast reeked of a putrid disgusting smell of rotten food and sewage all mixed within. It had reached a build of a small band wagon, countless times larger than any of the rats in his past life. With dark oily fur that gleamed under the bright light, which allowed it to slink around without making much noise, beady dark eyes( that were now turning milky white) warranted its ability to see in darkness with ease, and with its long whiskers it fitted the perfect vision of what an underground rat should be.

But this one had a green arrow shot directly between its head, courtesy of Renesme's scouting.

"I found it hidden in the alcove above." She said as she knelled to pull her arrow. "I would have nearly missed if it wasn't for the occasionally skittering with its whiskers"

Half elves made for great trackers since it wasn't just their elegance, and grace but also their perked up ears allowed it an inhuman sense of hearing that other humans could only achieve with years of training or with specific spells.

"It does not that seem that much of a threat at all." Rexsi said as he used his dagger to prick the dead corpse. Renesme added "This is just a hatchling. Its strength is not even half of an apprentice mage."

She was about to portray her thoughts that the beast might have been placed as a sentinel on their path but she immediately shot down the idea. What kind of foundational beasts had the smarts to place a sentry in the first place? But then she remembered their previous conversations and how it seemed excessive for all of them to be sent down here. She lightly shook her head and then whisked off with a swish of her cape while saying "I'm going to search ahead again and see if there are more beasts around."

The Rogue snorted "if she ends up killing everything then how can my blade taste some blood"

Geoff shook his head "Let her do this. You can have your fun later when it gets serious."

Mira's face pouted all the while "Its revolting." she couldn't help but complain.

Lukas glanced at her before an idea formed in his mind. He waved his Starlight staff and it didn't take long for small motes of light to fall on them. At the end of the spell each mote of light hovered on their shoulders, purifying the surrounding stench and also recovered a small shred of their energy.

Mira astounded gave him a grateful smile. Lukas lightly nodded in response. It was just a small cosmetic spell that he had stumbled upon and mastered that helped provide some weak light, recover a little energy and most of all purify the air in case such as these.

They left the corpse behind. As much as they knew most of the known demonic beasts' flesh and blood are valuable and could be sold; the dead rat was one of the most common beast in the continent. Everything on it was basically worthless and hence everyone kept walking, aiming to finish their mission and swiftly get out of the depressing dungeon.

It didn't take long for them to witness an even larger corpse,. This time Renesme was nowhere near it but they could tell it was her doing. A clean strike of one of her arrows had burrowed deep inside of it and the fact that it was larger than the first and even more foul didn't escape their notice. They steeled themselves for a fight. By now they were sure the mission they were given was never that simple and so they stood alert and ready and followed the map to the latter.

But even their caution erred when Lukas took a momentary pause to etch one of his runes. By now it has already become routine of theirs and just as Lukas had finished as fast as he had started a hidden figure lunged from above, its sharp nails just a few mere inches form Lukas's shocked face. He didn't even get a chance to cast a spell when a translucent shield materialized in front of him. The looming figure crashed into the glass like dome, cracking it heavily before it rebounded back in the midst of hisses. Lukas only had a short time to look as his Ring of Protection dimmed a little before his eyes settled on the culprit that had nearly taken his life at the precise moment of carelessness.

By now the whole team had already responded, Geoff barged forward hefting his shield for a bash, Mira had already fired a fireball at it while Rexsi silently disappeared into the shadows ready to strike it to death. Lukas felt a twinge of fear before it transformed into embarrassment and anger. It was already bad enough as it was but now the fact he was ambushed and had to depend on his sister's ring to protect him, raised the ire in his heart. He first cast a shield behind the rat to limit its path of escape before sending a beam of light directly to its eyes intending to m**m them and make it defenseless.

The dazed rat collected its wits almost immediately, and tried to escape before it smashed itself with the shield behind it. It had managed to evade the threatening beam of light but the fireball crashed into its body almost immediately. It didn't even get a chance to breath before a sea of fireballs and slashes of swords pelted it to near death when a silent slick passed its thick neck claiming its life the moment it materialized.

"Quick thinking" Geoff praised him under his helmet. Rexsi smirked causing Lukas to be angry and embarrassed. Trust the rogue to beat him while he was down, his mind already planning to 'accidently forget' to shield him the moment he finds himself in a bind. Next he swiped his bloodied knife on the glossy fur of the now dead and burnt rat while Mira helplessly smiled. No one made any remark on his inattention and they adjourned on their way meeting Renesme a few seconds later.

"I heard a scuffle behind... What happened?" she asked.

"One of the rats that seemed to be hiding in the walls surprised us." Mira quipped. No one added anything but of the few glances gave away a hint that something must have happened.

Her eyes lingered on a silent Lukas. "Then I might as well stay with the team. Just in case something else happens again"

With that she rejoined the team and they plowed straight ahead in a confident fashion. They met several confrontations on the way which further proved it was the right idea for her to rejoin.

The waves got stronger and more frequent as the number of the underground rats increased with time well. Fireballs were cast; taunts were used by Geoff the Knight while Rexsi was busy one shot killing any of the surviving masses. Renesme's role altered between sniping and crippling them making for easy kills all around. Lukas's job was just left in zoning as his shields was able to create a breathing space for other team members, allowing them to conserve their vigor, fight the creatures in a certain order and even recover some of the energy lost in battle

With time they silently came to accept Lukas's role in handling the monsters and his impeccable time with his lights spells which in turn made their team work improve in more ways than one.

And so they went on killing, each of them had already killed tens of the beasts that seemed to be endless before it suddenly stopped. All the while Lukas hadn't forgotten to cast the small runes of detection and Renesme got more proficient in activating and deactivating the clear jade eyes spell making it easier for her to initiate and retreat as she pleased.

More than a moment passed and all around them was profoundly still. The path behind them was littered in the sea of blood, stench and patchy furs so the abrupt silence left everyone nervous and on edge. Especially after they referenced the map and it showed that they were near the main hall placed directly in front of their last destination.

"Have we killed them all?" Mira asked tentatively.

Geoff seemed confused and wary "I don't think so" he said. By now his shield was caked in blood and scratches. Even Rexsi had a serious face. "With the way they kept coming, it clearly showed they bred in large numbers in the last years."

"But something feels wrong…" Renesme spoke with certainty.

Voicing what everyone ultimately felt, they all agreed in response. Lukas added "Well at least we all arrived in one piece. We have to be even more careful as we might find the rest of them at the coming hall."

They slowly walked and when they finally arrived at the adjoining halls with large stone doors wide open they were dumbfounded.

There was not a beast in sight.

The Hall itself was large, rectangular in shape and the moment they stepped in a hazy light shone from above lighting up the walls of archaic statues in an eerily ocean of blue. The Statues this time were all of humans except some had wings while other possessed bizarre traits of animals like hooves for legs, claws for hands and one even had sharp teeth that gleamed under the half lit darkness.

"I guess this is the place they met…" Lukas observed as he raised his ball of light even further up, increasing its brightness such that it shone on more than half of the hall. It was huge and when you added the cracked figures and the antique tapestry hanging on the aged wall it gave a feeling of ancientness to it.

Lukas had a moment to contemplate of the history across time and take in all of the lost grandeur wondering on how a sinister place like this looked in its yonder days when he snapped back his head and then looked beyond large stone doors they had just entered. A moment not too late Renesme's ears flickered and then they both spoke.

"Behind us…"

"They are coming."

Each of them warned their teammates. Lukas's heart took a dive with each passing second. The runes he had placed behind were lighting up and fading, triggering one rune after another until the nearest one reached his psyche. He wasn't sure how exactly many of them they were or how much but he was sure of one thing.

They were coming in huge droves and this was clearly an ambush set up by beasts that were deemed with no strength or power in the first place.