Chapter 236: Chapter 236 Things That Can’t be Stabbed
"Everyone needs to get back, away from this area," Aella said, feeling the immense evil from below the dirt. How had she missed this? It was emanating out loud and clear.
Halflings scrambled away, as the first fist punched through the soil off to Aella's right. Pulling her dark sword out, she waited until the undead elf had almost pulled itself free from the dirt before cutting it in half. Jumping back as it erupted into a cloud of dark magic, Aella immediately recognized the evil cloud that had formed. It was exactly like the poisoned gas the prisoners in her dungeon had let out when they exploded from Jozef's brother's help. Except, as she watched, it reformed itself into that of an elf, only made of the deadly cloud, instead of the body it had before.
"Can it be burned?" asked Precious, growling from her shoulder.
"If it can, what keeps it from spreading out and killing all of the halflings around?" asked Aella, watching as it slipped free of the earth and started drifting towards her.
"You better do something soon!" hissed Precious, his fur standing on end as all around them, more and more undead burst out of the ground.
Taking a breath to calm her beating heart, Aella remembered how she fought in the pits. This was the same. She had to fight to survive, no matter the costs. If she failed, she would die.
Waiting for the elf ghost drifted close enough, Aella swung her sword at it, and felt the sword seem to tear something as it cut through the cloud. The ghost continued forward, unperturbed about her attempts to cut it, reaching for her.
Jumping back again, Aella formed a flame in her hand and sent the blast of fire at it. The ghost screamed, exploding again, but this time, the cloud spread out, just as she had expected.
Slamming her fist into the ground, she sent rock shooting into the air, forming a wall around the area with all of the halflings outside of it. She was back in the pits again, with enemies all around her.
"Precious, I need you to make sure all of the halflings are alright. If even one of them is hurt, let me know!" said Aella, watching as the cloud of death bounced off the wall and rolled back towards the cavern.
Precious nodded and took off without any prompting. They both knew she was sending him out of the way so he didn't get hurt and to let her focus on the enemy.
With her as the only remaining target, all of the zombies began to shuffle towards her. She could cut them down easily, but she knew that they would all reform into the deadly cloud ghosts. And as she watched, the cloud she had exploded with her fire was reforming back into the ghost again. There had to be a way to kill them, but how?
Pulling out her second sword, Aella activated its ability to send swathes of air blades at the zombies, and watched in fascination as they fell to the ground in tatters. They didn't reform into clouds of poisonous gas or explode as the first one had. Turning towards the ghost as it approached her once again, she swung the sword at it, sending another swath of air blades and it tried to dodge them!
Amazed and excited that she may have found a way around their invulnerabilities, Aella began sending swath after swath, cutting down the dead as fast as she could move. After what felt an eternity, she found herself standing surrounded by the tatters of the undead she had cut down. Even the ghost was gone. Was that it? She needed to make sure, and to close the portal they had obviously came through.
Approaching the entrance to the cavern, that the halflings had closed off, Aella heard a noise behind her and immediately teleported five feet above where she had been. Looking down, she saw the ghost had reformed and was glaring at her in anger. Watching in horror, she saw every zombie she had cut down start to stir and reform as ghosts, too. They were all focused on her as their primary target, so she didn't have to worry about them spreading out and attacking the halflings.
"Stick me in one and I might be able to drain the evil magic away," said her sword unhappily.
"Are you sure?" asked Aella, not taking her eyes off the approaching monsters.
"If I take in too much evil magic, I will die," it said in her head. "But it may be the only way to stop them."
"Nope, not going that route," said Aella, trying to think of something else. Maybe she could trap them in an air bubble?
Forming a barrier around the closest ghost, she watched dejectedly as it merely drifted through it as if it weren't there.
"Get the Hero of Light," whispered shadow. "You don't want to control them, or trap them, so you need him to destroy them."
Aella glanced around quickly, judging how much time she had, then waited until just before the first ghost touched her before teleporting to the human city. Alfred had to be around here somewhere!
She started in the library, but when she didn't see him there, she teleported around town, calling out his name everywhere she went. This would have been so much easier if he had the tattoo already! With her time almost gone, Aella finally spotted him, walking down the street with Bridgette at his side. He was carrying her baby and they were talking about something.
Not waiting to ask permission, Aella grabbed the child, shoved it into Bridgette's startled arms and teleported with him in tow.
"Aella, what…?" he started, then glancing around cursed and drew his sword. They were surrounded by the ghosts and new zombies that had crawled out of the cavern. The ghosts that had almost reached the wall she had created turned at their appearance, and started heading towards them.
"I can't kill them!" she cried, dodging a blow from one of the zombies. "If I kill a zombie, it turns into a ghost!"
Alfred didn't say anything, only focused on cutting down the ghosts that drifted close enough for him to reach. As his sword came into contact with each one, it glowed briefly, and the undead creature faded away. This didn't stop the others from approaching in anger.
Aella spent the next few moments dodging blows and keeping the vast majority busy while he dealt with them one by one. As he cut the last one down, she paused and glanced back towards the entrance again. She could feel the evil still and was tired of getting surprised. Shoving the debris out of the way with her earth powers, she opened the roof of the cavern like a flower, exposing everything to the night sky.
"Is that where they came from?" asked Alfred softly, barely out of breath, as they looked down at the evil altar.
She nodded, studying the area to make sure there weren't any more undead to deal with. She didn't feel their evil, so she teleported them down before it.
"Jozef was using these to channel energy to his brother in the realm of the dead. I guess his brother finally got enough energy to rip a portal open. He's sending the undead through as an army to destroy this realm."
"But why would he do that?" asked Alfred, shaking his head in disbelief. "If this realm dies, won't that one die as well?"
"It doesn't matter," growled Aella. "We have to shut this one down and then start searching for others. Jozef said there were some in every kingdom."
"Then we need to hurry," said Alfred, stepping towards the altar. "I have to search my city to make sure there aren't any there!"
Aella watched as he took his sword and stabbed it into the altar. There was an ear-piercing screech that immediately burst her eardrums. Clasping her hands to her ears in pain, Aella watched as Alfred stepped back and slumped to the ground. Thick black ick was pouring from the altar where he had stabbed it, and Aella knew that if she didn't do something, something bad would happen.
Grabbing him under the arms, she immediately started healing him as she threw him over her shoulder and then reached for the sword. Something in her made her stop before she actually came in contact with the sword. Hovering above the growing puddle of black slime, she glanced at Alfred as he groaned. The moment her eyes left the altar, a hand flashed out and grabbed her wrist, jerking her through the open portal.
Alfred woke up as they were being pulled through the portal and with a shout of outrage and horror, he reached for his sword. His fingers wrapped around its hilt and he pulled it through the portal with them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sdrawkcab
Sdrawkcab Yay for Alfred!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone