As they walked Lua idly listened to the conversation between Sunny and Kai. Not caring much for it at the moment, she elected to mostly ignore it. All was well for a while, the group walked in silence, Sunny's shadow surveying the front ahead of the vanguard.
Lua began to ease up slightly but that was ground to a halt when she felt a new emotion ping into her head via her flaw. An emotion from a new person, annoyance and rage were present.
Lua spun her head around, Cassie following a moment later. Sunny frowned. "What is it?"
"We're being trailed.' Lua concentrated on the one way her connection her flaw formed between her and others. Triangulating the location quickly, thankfully the [Asura] attribute seems to have enhanced her ability when it comes to identification and memorisation of people's unique soul signatures.
"Harus." Lua ground out her teeth with slight panic. Knowing the reaper's reputation made even her wary of him. It wasn't his raw combat power that she was worried about, after all by this time she was a Dormant Demon.
But it was the fact that no one had even seen him kill or even survived. That was where Lua's caution was founded. On the graves of many others.
Nephis and the others all stopped at her words. "Where?" Nephis asked.
"Don't know, we need to keep moving for now." Lua turned around and kept walking, this time at a greater pace.
Sunny spoke next "I'm going to withdraw the shadow and send it back to take a look. Stay vigilant."
Effie gave him a nod. Of course, as the pathfinder of the party, she was always vigilant. He was just warning her so that she could adjust her approach.
The group continued to walk as if nothing was happening. The strength of their current group was similar to a Fallen one if they went all out, so they knew that Harus would have to play a cautious game when approaching them.
Sunny shivered, seemingly having located him. He relayed his confirmation of Lua's identification to the group.
Neph frowned. "Is he alone?"
Sunny nodded. "Yeah."
Caster quietly scoffed. "What is Gunlaug thinking, sending one man against us seven?"
However, Neph did not share his disdain. Turning to her left, she glanced at Effie. There was a grim expression on her face. "What do you think?"
The huntress hesitated for a few moments. Then, looking down from her considerable height, she simply said, "I think we need to run."
Caster scowled. "Run? Why? Surely, no matter how strong Harus is, we can take him down. None of us are weak, either. Even if we can't defeat him one on one…"
Effie shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? We can't fight Harus. No one can. Many people have tried, and they're all dead now."
She gritted her teeth. "He is a monster in human flesh, Caster. He is insanely powerful. But that's not even the problem. The problem is that no one knows his Aspect. All we know is that once Harus comes for you, you die."
She sighed. "I've seen many people try to resist once they catch wind that Gunlaug is going to send Harus to get rid of them. Strong people, weak people. Some tried to fight him alone, others recruited fearsome allies. Come the next morning, all of them were dead. No matter how powerful they were or how many of them gathered to give him a fight, no one ever survived. All that was left was blood and corpses..."
"Effie is right." Lua interrupted Effie's explanation. "I'm not sure I can take him right now. He is far too dangerous to fight without preparation, let alone when his aspect is a complete mystery."
Caster frowned. "So are you telling us that we stand no chance?"
"No, but without knowledge, we shouldn't risk it. Even our informant doesn't know." Nephis spoke soberly
Effie grinned. "Ah, so that mysterious friend of yours is not omniscient after all. Well, in that case, my advice stands. We should run."
At that moment, Sunny finally spoke up. "But, Effie… can we even run away from him?"
The smile disappeared from her face. Suddenly grim, she hesitated for a while, and then said, "I know of a way. But… it's going to be dangerous. Very dangerous. However, I don't know how else to shake him off our trail. So you decide, princess."
Lua paled, "You don't mean…" Effie nodded.
Neph was silent for a bit, and then simply nodded. "We will face Harus some other day. Right now, reaching the resting place of the first cohort is the priority."
The unruly huntress exhales, almost as if relieved. Then, she said, "Then follow me. And prepare yourself…"
The group's course changed course, moving through the ruins with pace. All the while Lua felt Harus' emotions remain just as strong 'We aren't gaining on him' she thought through gritted teeth.
Finally they arrived at the lighthouse which served as the entrance. Sunny sighed. "Where to now?"
Effie gestured at the massive ruin. "Inside. Call your shadow back and keep it close. When we enter the lighthouse, we will have to act quickly."
As they climbed into the toppled lighthouse Effie summoned her radiant Memory, bathing the interior of the ruined tower in light.
Looking around, Effie found her bearings and led them deeper into the tunnel, extreme tension apparent in her every move. While walking, she began to speak.
"Listen to me very carefully and do as I say. Once we're inside, don't separate from the group. Stay together and keep your weapons at hand. The place we're going to is full of Nightmare Creatures. They're not too strong, but they're… special."
She bit her lip. "Don't even try to kill them. Just defend yourself and keep moving. If you stop, you'll most probably die. Same thing if you slow down and get yourself surrounded. But if we can preserve our formation… we might survive. I hope."
When they finally found the hole, Lua dove in first. She briefly heard sunny and Kai complain but she didn't have time for distractions. As she landed in the catacombs, 3 brilliant purple blades manifested around her.
The blades hovered near her armour, protecting her, as she called Talon of Unrest out of her soul sea. The bone dagger appeared in her hands. The tunnel was too narrow to use her spear and even the essence blades were struggling for space. Moving them in front of her like a shield she waited for the others to arrive.
Nephis was first, an expression of extreme concentration on her face. Followed by Caster, Kai and Cassie then Effie and finally Sunny.
Everyone had summoned their memories as they entered the tunnel. Although the tight space made them difficult to use. Lua took point leading the seven, her 3 essence blades serving as a forward shield and offensive tool.
Sunny and Cassie were talking but Interrupting their conversation, Effie called out to him "Hey, Sunny. Now would be the perfect time to invite your girlfriend to join us."
The rest of the cohort stared at them with confused expressions.
Sunny gritted his teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you, she's not my girlfriend!"
Noticing the weird stares that people were giving him, he sighed. "Effie! Tell them!"
The huntress did not even continue to tease him. "Sunny also has an Echo, and a powerful one at that. Go on, summon her."
Lua was surprised as a moment later, the Stone Saint stepped into the tunnel out of his shadow. Her ruby eyes were burning with crimson flames from behind the visor of the helmet. 'A… Shadow?'
Lua elected to make no comment as they began their journey and Effie educated them about what the catacombs are. Eventually Sunny asked "Can we get back to that thing you said about how very few people manage to escape from here alive? Why is that?"
The huntress grimaced. "That's because…"
However, before she was done speaking, something appeared out of the darkness and barred their way.
"Shit" Lua cursed, one of the essence blades shot forward and sliced through the walking skeleton like butter.
Effie screamed. "Stay together!" She bolted next to Lua and slammed the remains of the skeleton with her shield, sending the bisected body flying into a wall and crumbling. Lua sprinted forward, Effie following "Don't stop, move!"
***
As the cohort ran through the endless tunnels of the catacombs, the undead began appearing in higher and higher quantities, Lua took most of the initiative, her floating blades shredding the bones before they could get too close, but she knew she couldn't keep this up.
The constant mental requirement of keeping 3 separate blades formed and moving was taxing. Even with the [Blessing of Mind] and [Blessing of Spirit] enchantments on Winter's Warmth, it wasn't easy.
'We need to hurry.' She thought as she pulled on the mental tether of her armour, the draconic helmet appearing over her face just as she headbutted a skeleton which made it past her blades.
The undead's head popped into splinters like a balloon, but she didn't stop. Effie was next to her, plowing away any undead with her outrageous strength, Nephis and Caster fighting just behind them. The two legacies ensured nothing was unscathed.
'I can't keep this up', Lua mentally cursed as she recalled her three essence blades to her hand. As the blades approached they merged, forming into a single blade which was three fold as powerful.
Grasping the grip Lua swung down on a particularly large skeleton. It was obliterated. As the group pressed forward through the maze the skeletons began to attack from all sides, the previously destroyed, already rising again.
Lua turned everything but the enemy out, ignoring how the others were fairing. She was the most powerful combat wise, which meant she was their main weapon. 'Talon is useless right now.' Realising the enchantments on the Talon of Unrest were useless against the undead, she switched approach.
The Talon of Unrest's enchantments were mostly suited to facing living targets, so using it against the undead was largely useless. Granted the transcendent dagger cut through them like paper, but her essence blades weren't any slopier.
Lua spun, letting go of the Talon of Unrest, dismissing it in a flurry of white sparks, grasping the essence blade with both hands she switched to a full swordsmanship style. 'Things will get dicey soon' She grimaced at the wave of undead flowing towards them.