Elijah completed his transformation into the Shape of Spores just in time to intercept the skittering creature. It moved through the air, using the shadows like a spider’s web as it launched itself at him. The beast’s multitude of legs were nearly ten feet long apiece, meaning that it was more than large enough to envelop Elijah completely.

  It hit with the thud followed by a sound like crumpling paper, latching onto him and biting him with a mantis-like mouth. The first attack didn’t pierce Elijah’s Shell ability, but the next managed to get through. A second later, scales and bits of rubbery flesh went flying through the air.

  Elijah didn’t remain idle, though. With a surge of strength, he grabbed hold of a pair of legs and pulled. Chitin cracked, and the thing’s papery flesh ruptured. However, he wasn’t able to rip it apart like he had the spiders.

  And then, the rest of the creatures erupted from the hole in a tidal wave of legs, chitin, and unsettling sounds. Like the one with whom Elijah grappled, they moved through the air in three dimensions, though they did so with a little less dexterity. They were also much smaller, measuring only a few feet across.

  But that didn’t make them any less dangerous, as Elijah realized when he felt a cold venom coursing through his body. He countered it with Wild Resurgence, though its spread was mostly opposed by his inflated regeneration. Still, it burned through him, freezing his flesh and forcing him to focus on moving.

  He pushed through it, activating Throne of Spores as the other two members of his party reacted to the flood of creatures. Hu Shui flitted back and forth, his blades severing limbs with every teleporting attack. Meanwhile, Benedict summoned his dagger and raked it across his forearm. A spray of blood formed into a small ritual circle suspended in the air, and after only a second, an imp leaped free.

  The ugly, little creature let out a crow of elation as it erupted into flame and plunged ahead. It exploded a moment later, and with enough force that it destroyed two of the skittering monsters. Moreover, the flash of light from the fires of its self-combustion showed the room in stark – albeit brief – relief.

  And it was absolutely covered with the creatures.

  Thousands of them, at the very least, all covered in grey chitin over dry, charcoal skin. They skittered over one another, then raced forward along thin webs of shadow that persisted even in the light. Elijah’s initial impression of the creatures was mostly accurate, though his supposition that they were arachnid in nature was replaced by the surety that they were closer to mantis-cockroach hybrids with as many as twelve long, multi-jointed legs each.

  That brief glimpse faded with the fire, and Elijah focused on guiding his fungal tendrils throughout the swarm of shadow-born insects. He eschewed quality in favor of quantity, pushing himself to summon as many thick, vine-like creations as he could manage. His ability responded to his intention, manifesting hundreds of rubbery tentacles that erupted from the ground and wrapped around his enemies.

  They tore free, proving that even the weakest among them was powerful.

  At the same time, Elijah grappled with the alpha, and to his surprise, it very nearly matched him strength-to-strength. On top of that, given the way it moved, it was obviously a creature of massive dexterity.

  But as strong and coordinated as it was, it was wholly reliant on its chitin for protection. It had no other defenses against Elijah’s attacks, and once he’d shattered the grey plate on its chest, he knew it was only a matter of time before he overcame the enemy.

  The only issues were that it was not even remotely alone, and it would take some time for Elijah to defeat the thing.

  And his companions were ill-equipped to fight such a pervasive tide of enemies.

  Or so Elijah thought right before Benedict repeated his kamikaze-imp attack, causing an even larger explosion. Meanwhile, Hu Shui moved more quickly than Elijah had ever seen, his swords flashing with pure white ethera with every attack. The sound of metal on chitin filled the air, sounding like someone had shoved a plastic bottle into a garbage disposal.

  None of his attacks were capable of destroying the armored chitin. Not alone, at least. However, Hu Shui never struck just once. Instead, he attacked a hundred times in the space of a few seconds, and that was enough to get through to the comparatively softer inner flesh.

  But Elijah could feel just how much ethera the man was using. The same was true of Benedict, who had a finite amount of blood at his disposal. The writing on the wall was clear – despite holding their own, the situation couldn’t last. Sooner or later, they would succumb to the onslaught.

  Fortunately, Elijah was there to pick up the slack.

  If, before coming to the Labyrinth of Dead Gods, Elijah had questioned just how far ahead of his peers he was, he no longer had such concerns. He knew he was so far ahead of them that he was practically a different species. Their presence was as much a detriment as it was a boon, especially in the middle of a fight.

  While they both had parts to play – mostly regarding understanding what was going on – each battle served to cement Elijah’s belief that he was better off fighting alone. It was too bad, then, that he had a pair of allies to protect.

  With that in mind, he let loose with Nature’s Claim, throwing instances of the spell out rapid fire. In the meantime, he directed his tendrils to restrict the enemy and slow them down. Thus, he prevented his companions from being entirely overwhelmed.

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  Soon enough, yellow spores filled the air, choking the creatures even as mushrooms sprouted from their backs. Fungal rot impaired their movement, and a few of the weaker among them fell from their shadow webs to end up twitching uncontrollably on the floor.

  At the same time, Elijah fought the larger creature. Realistically, it wasn’t much lower level than him, though it clearly lacked any significant advancement in cultivation. Because of that, it couldn’t stand up to him for long.

  Even so, the battle was far from easy, and to overcome his foe, Elijah ended up having to use Savage Might and flare Heart of the Tempest. With that influx of attributes, he finally managed to rip the thing in two. It showered the chamber in bits of shadowy flesh and glistening mucus.

  But the job wasn’t done.

  As Throne of Spores dissipated, Elijah shifted into the Shape of the Scourge, then bounded forward. In the new form, he was much, much faster than any of the creatures. He used that to his advantage, dispersing Ethereal Sepsis and Spreading Blight among them. That, combined with the still pervasive spores filling the air, made short work of the creatures.

  Of course, neither Benedict nor Hu Shui slowed their own attacks. In fact, the latter sped up until Elijah could scarcely track him. It was only then that Elijah realized that the man had cast a buff to his reaction speeds, which served the same purpose as Heart of the Tempest, Lupine Reflexes, and the Sash of the Whirlwind.

  If anything, it was even stronger than those combined buffs.

  Once things were under control, Benedict sliced his other forearm, then waved it forward. Blood sprayed in a wide arc, solidifying into dozens of ruby red chains that wrapped around the creatures. As he dragged them toward him, he used his other hand to build yet another ritual circle, which hung suspended in the air for only a second before descending upon the captured insects.

  They let out a collective scream of multitudinous clicks as the ritual activated. It sucked the life out of them, channeling the resultant combination of ethera and vitality into a nascent portal. The gateway to hell grew wider and wider until a demonic creature climbed free.

  On the surface, it shared many characteristics with an Earthen bull, with sweeping horns and a recognizably bovine stance. However, its flesh looked like it was made of volcanic rock, cracked and steaming. In those cracks bubbled red magma, and its eyes glowed like embers.

  It snorted, sending smoke and fire curling toward the ceiling before it charged into the remaining creatures. They tried to attack, but when they drew close, their carapaces began to bubble and smoke, making them vulnerable to the demon’s deadly horns.

  As the bull demon rampaged, Benedict sank to his knees, panting with clear exhaustion. Elijah shifted into his human form, then planted himself between his ally and the ongoing battle. At the same time, Hu Shui continued to fight, flickering in and out of combat without fail.

  For the next few minutes, he – along with the demon – finished the enemy, leaving the floor coated in shadowy flesh and mucus-like blood. Elijah couldn’t see it – the room was still too dark – but he could feel it all the same.

  Finally, the fighting faded, leaving the chamber silent but for the bull demon’s continued snorts.

  Hu Shui teleported next to Elijah, where he took advantage of the ongoing Blessing of the Grove, which showered them with rejuvenating rain. The blooming sunflower also gave off a little comforting light while cleansing them of the ongoing effects of the shadow creatures’ venom.

  Breathing hard, the Astral Duelist said, “You truly are a horrifying man, Mr. Hart.”

  “You can call me Elijah, you know. We’ve been fighting together for months now,” he responded. He’d never enjoyed being called by his surname, but he had yet to make a thing of it. Now seemed like as good a time as any. “And you’re pretty terrifying yourself.” He glanced back at Benedict, asking, “You okay?”

  “I’ll be fine in a few minutes,” came the strained response.

  Elijah nodded, then stepped forward. Within a few feet, the shadows had swallowed him. Slime and bits of flesh squished between his toes as he walked toward the pit. It was a little disconcerting not being able to see, but Elijah was more than accustomed to using his other senses. However, when he drew close to the pit, he felt that even Soul of the Wild felt like it had been suppressed.

  Not completely, but enough for him to notice.

  For the next couple of minutes, he circled the hole in the ground, though he found nothing of note. Sure, there were plenty of glyphs encircling it, and the engravings were even denser in the cylindrical walls, but he couldn’t interpret them. What he could feel was that the stream of ethera that had flowed from that first chamber through the tunnel ended inside the pit.

  “What do you think it is?” he asked when the other two finally joined him. They moved haltingly, lacking his senses to guide them.

  “I’m not certain,” Hu Shui answered, hefting his lantern. The illumination weakened within inches of the item, then faded altogether after only two feet. “If it’s what I think it is…we need to study it.”

  “How long?” Elijah asked. “There’s no guarantee that more of those things won’t be back.”

  “As long as it takes. I believe this is important.”

  Benedict agreed with that assessment, so Elijah had little choice but to trust their judgement. After all, even if he was more powerful than they were – and by no small degree – their understanding of magic far exceeded his. Left to his own devices, Elijah would likely just forge ahead and smash his way through anything that stood in his way.

  For a while, he tried to study the runes as well, but he made little progress.

  Finally, Benedict announced, “I think I know what this is.”

  “Labyrinth of Dead Gods,” Hu Shui said. “It makes sense.”

  “I’m missing something,” Elijah stated.

  Hu Shui asked, “Do you know much of the origin of the various realms?”

  Elijah shook his head, but when he realized that neither of them could see him through the shadows, he gave voice to his lack of knowledge.

  “They are the bodies of gods,” Benedict stated.

  “Not literally,” Hu Shui cut in. “It’s more that they are reflections of a pre-system hierarchy of power. The entities who created them did so simply by existing. They grew so powerful that they were forced to choose between slowly deteriorating or channeling their strength – their very natures – into separate realms.”

  “That’s…that sounds like a creation myth.”

  “Many of the guides I read said the same thing,” Benedict pointed out. “I am inclined to believe them.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hu Shui argued. “Myth or not, the name of the Primal Realm finally makes sense. This…this whole thing is meant to channel not only the power of the ley line, but also the energy from the other realms.”

  “To what end?” Elijah asked.

  “I don’t know, but I suspect that when this is all said and done, we will discover the answers,” Hu Shui stated.

  “And in the meantime?”

  “I think we should clear each wing,” Benedict suggested. “When that’s done, we’ll know more about what’s expected.”

  “At the very least, we’ll learn more about djinn magic,” Hu Shui pointed out.

  Elijah wasn’t sure if the man was more excited about that or conquering the Primal Realm. However, he didn’t have enough knowledge to suggest a different route, so he agreed with their plan. Once that was done, they began the long trek back to the central chamber.

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