Soren and Myrin watched the horror unfold from the distant corridor—completely enshrouded in the Violet Mirage illusion. And yet, even with the support of such magecraft, neither had the guts to even move a single muscle. They huddled to the floor like weak prey, waiting for safety to emerge once again.

Though at that moment, all Soren could think about was just how wrong their initial assumptions were…

For one, they couldn't have imagined that the source of the Soul Skinners was alive. They had expected it to be some kind of ancient relic—one that likely had ties to the Nameless Mist. What's more, they also theorized that the Floor Guardian was the one who unsealed this horrific nightmare and was using the Soul Skinners as his own soldiers.

And yet, the reality before them shattered these illusions. Not only was the source of this nightmare a living being, it was also completely in command of the army of fiends… And, it was now using them as a tool to fight against the ancient lich protecting the sanctity of this dungeon's floor… From the very beginning, the Floor Guardian had nothing to do with this disaster at all…

The fog of darkness swirled around the woman's figure—her mourning dress shifting with the tempest of shadows. On the other side of the metropolis, the ancient lich gathered its anima… Like a siphon, crimson aura circled around his floating figure, passing through the mysterious pages and into the inscribed runes…

And then, without another moment's hesitation, both sides began their assault. The ethereal woman took a step forward and slashed with her colossal shadow scythe, creating a ripple of darkness that headed straight for the lich. The old bag of bones didn't stop to dodge—instead, one of the pages hovering over him began to glow crimson…

A strange ripple effect seemed to come out of the etched runes that slowly began to spin in a strange pattern, and from within, an array of bones emerged that formed a shield in front of the lich.

The woman's attack was met head on. Both Soren and Myrin gripped the floor tightly as the hall shook from the impact. A boisterous screech filled the air as the remaining Soul Skinners rushed in the lich's direction—that attack from the women was simply a signal to her army to begin their gargantuan battle.

Seeing this, the ancient Floor Guardian glanced at the approaching swarm of shadows, and with a casual flick of his wrist, vanquished a third of them. It all happened so fast—one moment, the Soul Skinners were continuing their sprint toward the lich, then another moment, an entire legion of bone spikes erupted from below, impaling them all…

However, that was all he could do before the woman resumed her assault. With a single leap, half the metropolis was crossed as her monstrous scythe was pulled back for another slash. Seeing this, the ancient lich didn't hesitate. An entire sphere of crimson anima was woven together in seconds, and with a snap of the death mage's fingers, it exploded into a torrent of blood that seeped into every crevice of the mausoleums.

Soren witnessed the horror unfold as his face turned more and more pale by the second. First it was the stone coffins—their lids were pushed off. Then, the mausoleums—doors which have been sealed for thousands of years began to open one by one… And finally, the ancient chains holding the dangling corpses of those long forgotten began to snap, sending the cadavers to the city below.

The dead… They have risen once more…

Why didn't I notice… Soren thought as the blood within him turned cold. None of those dangling corpses were unarmed… They were all warriors! This entire hall is a burial ground for an ancient army!

And yet, [Eyes of the Fairy] went against that explanation… The 'undead' he was witnessing were never human to begin with. They were all alchemical creations. Not only were their bones made of stone, but he could see that in each of them, the blood that the ancient lich had created had seeped inside some sort of crystalline formation… A kind of Philosopher's Stone?

He was unable to completely tell, but the runes etched into their stone bones already hinted at such a conclusion—not to mention their skulls having horns…

In fact, a part of him speculated that even the Floor Guardian itself was a construct of some kind. However, he had avoided instructing [Eyes of the Fairy] into revealing any information of the two main combatants in this fight. He was afraid that they might notice his presence.

"Soren…" A child-like voice entered his mind—Tazzith. As shocked as he was, Soren decided to keep his cool and not reply.

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"I know you can hear me, you bastard…" The ancient demon scoffed then sighed, "Whatever, I'll just say what needs to be said—it will be up to you whether you want to follow through or not.

"Ignore that horrific woman—focus your attention on the floor guardian and record all of its information."

The request left Soren stunned. Record its information? Is he insane? Although Soren was clueless, he was not stupid. When the pair headed toward this primeval hall, they had theorized that the floor guardian would likely be in the Mystic Grade… And yet, everything he was currently witnessing was going against this notion. It was becoming harder and harder to understand its level of strength.

Trying to pry into such a creature's secrets seemed like suicide.

Tazzith's words reached him once more, "I know what you're thinking, but sometimes, risks are necessary. The information that thing holds will be very valuable to you… And besides that, you probably have already noticed how your Abstract Rune works, right?

"Fairy Witness… It demands you to witness things as an observer, and to understand that which is left misunderstood… That is how your rune gathers its influence within the Beyond. How can you call yourself a scribe if you do not adhere to this principle?" The mockery in His voice was obvious to Soren.

In the next moment, he noticed the fight between the Soul Skinners and the Undead Constructs erupting chaotically on the ground. A sea of bones and shadows indiscriminately merged together as slashes, tackles, stabs and many more strikes were thrown around. At first it seemed somewhat equal, but the disparity between the Soul Skinners who were practically mindless servants and an experienced army able to create formations and coordinated assaults on the fly was becoming more and more apparent.

In the air, the enchanted shadow woman continued her assault against the ancient lich. Swords made of flesh were parried by inextinguishable shadows, and strikes from her scythe were met by an onslaught of blood and bones… He couldn't even count how many strikes were done in just a few seconds—twelve, fifteen? Or possibly even more? Even with [Eyes of the Fairy], keeping track of it was becoming harder and harder.

As this was happening, his thoughts were also clinging to what Tazzith had said… In a way, He was right. At the moment, his Soul Weapon's Fairy Witness rune was sitting on 4 Insight fragments. Three of which were gained during his trip across the Beyond, when [Eyes of the Fairy] had become permanently active with no way of stopping it…

It was only after that journey that Soren had theorized about how his rune functioned… Fairy Witness, just like any other Abstract Rune, demands the influence of Astral Anima.

Every Abstract Rune has its own way of spreading this influence. Though, the Law of Mirrored Influence makes it quite clear: through the manifestation of Mysteries. Soren's usage of [Eyes of the Fairy] and [Record] fulfills this requirement, but how effective it could be depends on what type of information he was recording and how difficult it was to obtain it.

In the case of his journey across the Beyond, he not only uncovered knowledge of countless roaming spirits—beings never before cataloged or witnessed—but also delved into domains long shunned by scholars and magi alike… Places like the Dark Forest…

And then, there was that wretched Crimson Eye… He had gazed into its grotesque form and saw within something that no one should ever be allowed to see…

Only then did it become clear how he amassed such staggering influence—rising from a mere insight fragment to wielding four. And now, he only needed only one more to complete the initial set. With five insight fragments, he could finally merge them together into a single Expression fragment.

According to Sienna, that transformation would not only empower his rune, but might also awaken new skills within his Soul Weapon…

And now, the perfect opportunity has arisen. It wasn't everyday one could witness a clash between such legendary forces—remnants of a long forgotten age…

Soren's greed-filled gaze was locked tightly at the skeleton's figure. With his lips curling up into a smile, he decided to speak to Myrin for the first time since this battle had started:

"I am about to do something extremely reckless. Prepare to run away if anything goes wrong. Feel free to leave me behind if you want to." He whispered calmly.

Without giving his elven companion a chance to contemplate his words, Soren immediately gave the mental command to [Eyes of the Fairy]—to see the unseen… And to gaze upon that which has not been gazed upon in millenia.

Above the hall of the dead, the unshackled monstrosity commanding the army of shadows finally landed a blow. Her abyssal scythe crashed into the lich's collarbone, fracturing it into pieces as he inertia from the impact sent it plunging toward one of the pillars holding this theatre of death intact.

The ancient Lich swiftly got back up and prepared another spell. Slowly, the damage to his body recovered as the bone fragments stitched themselves together with his crimson anima… And yet, for a moment, his hollow eyes trailed toward something insignificant in the distance…

A lowly fairy… Arrogantly gazing upon its form with its disgusting eyes…

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