Chapter 117 Too Easy

Chapter 117 Too Easy
Lulu
“I'm coming with you!”
My pace ground to a halt as Scott blocked our path. Caspian had already bared his claws, stepping directly in front of me.
“I won't get in your way. I just want to save my son. Please, Lulu, give me a chance to be the father I ought to be…”
I yanked Caspian’s arm. I didn't speak aloud, but our minds were linked, and I told him I was letting Scott join us.
No special reason—I just figured the more of us there were, the less likely we’d be overwhelmed later on.
Caspian ordered Beta Rohan to step in for him back at Sapphire Water. The two of us agreed to set off as a group of four.
Up ahead, Dylan ran ahead, leading the way. As a Levithaqua Sage-level sorcerer, his body was wrapped in a faint yet dense, deep blue aura.
He cast a pathfinding spell every hour like clockwork to make sure we stayed on the right track.
"Their barrier's getting thicker," Dylan’s voice was barely audible over the howling blizzard. "Vane definitely anticipated this. But your blood tracking—along with Scott's—has locked onto the main altar's coordinates."
Caspian ran alongside me in his wolf form. He’d intentionally shifted so he could pounce on Scott the second he tried anything clever.
\[Stay behind me and Dylan as soon as we breach the gate, Lulu.\]
“Right, Caspian,” I whispered through our link, fighting to catch my heavy breath.
Inside my chest, Pyrrha whinnyed restlessly. She could feel Vane’s oppressive aura too.
"There," Dylan stopped dead at the edge of a rocky cliff.
Below us sat a hidden fortress, carved straight out of the mountain's core. A burst of energy spewed from an opening in one of the walls, nearly hitting our line if Dylan hadn't deflected it just in time.
"Vane, Malphas, Sariel, and Borg. They’re already waiting for us."
"We haven't got time to negotiate," I said sharply. "Smash the gate."
With an ear-splitting howl, Caspian leapt across the chasm. Dylan raised his hands into the air, chanting to unleash the force of his water surge.
“Hydros: Unda Magna!”
In the middle of the arid, frozen Evrusia Mountains, Dylan forcefully ripped moisture straight from the atmosphere. Thousands of gallons of water condensed into a rolling wave, slamming into the stone fortress and blowing it to smithereens.
A massive explosion collapsed the central stone gate. The three of us surged inside, charging into a vast, pitch-black main hall. Debris flew everywhere as Caspian bolted forward.
In the middle of the room, near a winding staircase, four figures in black cloaks were waiting for us.
Vane stood front and centre, clutching his staff, with Elijah lying helpless on a magic circle altar behind him.
Beside Vane stood his three strongest Dark Sorcerers: Sariel, on high alert, pulling back his cloak sleeves; Malphas, wearing a sly smirk with a snort; and Borg, who had already raised his hands in the air.
"Persistent, aren't you?" Vane sneered with a wicked grin. "Too late, though—the elemental heart enlightenment ritual has already begun!"
"Give me back my son!" I screamed, beside myself.
Borg stepped forward, whipping his hand out to hurl a wave of jet-black fire right at us. "Die, the lot of you!"
"Borg's mine!" Dylan shouted.
Dylan swept his arms through the air. A massive surge of water shaped like a water dragon soared upwards, crashing into Borg’s black fire and snuffing it out instantly.
The dense pressure of Dylan's water spell actually shattered Borg’s magic armour, sending the dark sorcerer flying into the wall.
At the exact same time, Sariel conjured a dozen illusions of herself to mess with our vision. But Caspian lunged without missing a beat.
I was sure he’d already figured out Sariel's attack pattern from when they fought yesterday.
Caspian bounded forward, slicing through the illusions with claws coated in compressed water blades. Sariel shrieked as Caspian’s water-blade claws tore through her chest for real.
"Malphas, drain that wolf's power!" Vane barked furiously.
Malphas unleashed life-draining shadow chains towards Caspian. The black chains rattled dangerously, trying to suck the life force out of him.
"Don't you touch him!" I screamed.
Inside me, Pyrrha flew into a total rage. A blazing streak of red-gold elemental fire shot from my palms, burning right through Malphas’s shadow chains and triggering a searing blast that set his body ablaze.
Malphas collapsed, howling in agony as my elemental fire consumed his dark aura.
A brutal battle raged all around us. Before I even noticed he'd shifted, Scott lunged forward in his wolf form and bit down hard on Vane's arm, making the sorcerer grunt in pain.
Honestly, this felt way too easy. There was no way they were this weak.
\[Lulu, go! Get Elijah now!\] Caspian roared, pinning Sariel down beneath the stone rubble.
Without wasting a single second, I darted through the flames and falling stone, making a break for the altar.
My heart was hammering against my ribs as my eyes landed on Elijah’s tiny body. My baby boy lay weak on top of the black rune engravings, his breathing painfully faint.
"Elijah... it's Mummy, sweetheart," I rasped, tears streaming down my face.
I scooped his tiny frame into my arms, hugging him tight against my chest. The warmth of his body felt like my shattered heart was coming back together again.
He was alive. I'd actually reached him.
"Caspian! Dylan! I've got Elijah! We need to get out now!" I yelled, turning on my heel and sprinting towards the hall exit as fast as my legs would carry me.
Caspian and Dylan started falling back in step, cutting off the cornered Dark Sorcerers.
I clutched Elijah even closer, shielding him from the falling dust and rubble. The exit was only a few metres away. Relief washed over me—we were actually going to make it out.
But Vane, severely injured up on the altar, wasn't about to just let us walk away. He raised his staff and rapidly chanted a forbidden spell.
“Virga, Serpens Fias!”
A snake emerged, taking the place of Vane's staff. It was twice the size of Scott’s wolf form. The beast lashed out at Scott’s wolf form.
Before I could react, Malphas closed the distance behind me in a flash. I couldn't dodge anywhere near fast enough in human form.
\[Let me take over,\] Pyrrha growled.
Before I could even shift, Malphas swung his arm and launched a black spear straight at me.
"AAAGHHH!"
A piercing scream ripped from my throat as the spear impaled itself and exploded right into my back. A blinding, searing pain slammed through my flesh and ribs.
My body went completely numb. Elijah slipped right out of my hands.
\[LULU!\] Caspian's frantic roar echoed in my head.
My sight went dark and blurry almost instantly. The agony spreading through my back felt like wolfsbane poison.
Instead of fresh blood pouring from the wound, a black liquid seeped out, soaking through my clothes. My muscles spasmed, and every vein touched by the fluid turned jet-black.
“Did you really think we'd lose to three pathetic wolves blindly charging in?”