Waves of mana burst through the side of the ravine as Damien's group fought their way through the undead horde.
The Netherworld Fog had grown to the point where it was impossible to see anything even a few feet ahead of them, and from this abyss of smoke, a never-ending stream of undead harassed them without pause.
It was a horrifying sight to see. The massive number these undead represented could only be approximated by gazing into the deep tsunami-like shadow approaching through the fog.
Damien's side was still going strong. While their numbers were large, it was lucky that these creatures were all in the 2nd class as well, otherwise, a siege like this would have immediately ended them.
He still had the Twin Moons out, not changing his strategy to deal with enemies and only focusing on keeping the path clear and waiting for Bertram's instruction.
The real spectacle was on Ruyue and Elena's sides.
Ruyue was also a force of Yin, or rather, she was a controller of Yin with far greater status than small undead like these. She didn't use ice or her own abilities, instead choosing a far more brutal approach that conserved her mana.
RAAAAAAH!
A ghoulish howl filled the air as countless mutilated corpses rose from the ground in a flurry of grey mana. They meshed together strangely, forming an army of new beings out of those who died!
However, this new group of undead wasn't an enemy, but a product of Ruyue's machinations!
She controlled the Death aspect of Yin, spreading her influence into the surroundings. She wasn't summoning her own undead, but reutilizing the Death Mana in the surroundings to revive them under her command!
Actually, Ruyue's 2nd class didn't have such capabilities. The class she earned upon reaching level 50 was called Daughter of the Moon. It was focused on her Moon affinity, which later merged into her base Yin affinity, and ice. It was also the origin of her spear art.
However, Ruyue's affinity with Yin had always been extreme. The reason she was so limited in the past was because she wasn't able to realize it.
Her new understanding, combined with her long-existing talent, allowed her to connect with Death Mana, albeit at a very subtle level.
She abused this to create a horde to fight against the horde, taking a new replenishing supplement almost every minute!
While Ruyue and Damien had to get creative with their powersets to find ways to counter the army, Elena didn't share their worries.
When she hit 3rd class, her fighting style experienced a huge change.
However, before that, the path she pursued was the limitless warrior, the path of a Valkyrie who never lost steam in the midst of battle!
The Life and Light Laws that had transformed into more ethereal concepts were reverted back to their foundation, where their only purpose was to sustain Elena infinitely!
And she was making sure they did exactly that.
Huge pulses of pure golden-white and greenish-white mana surrounded her body in a furious vortex as she slashed out with Yggdrasil's branch and swept away wave after wave of undead.
Those who attacked Elena were mainly Netherworld Spirits, a ghostly race that absolutely abhorred life.
Elena's powerful life aura made her an immediate target, but at the same time, Netherworld Spirits were the undead species most susceptible to her blade.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three explosions rang out as one, coming from all three open sides around Bertram.
Damien, Ruyue, and Elena all let out a massive flux of power, blowing away another wave of undead.
The cave Bertram was leading them to was only a few tens of meters away.
Just a little bit more and they'd reach it.
They pushed.
BOOOOOOM!
Damien gritted his teeth and poured out most of his mana in a single compressed blast from Hel's barrel, a true implosion of space that tore even the Netherworld Fog out of their path.
At the same time, Ruyue slammed her foot into the ground and sent out a ripple of mana, molding her undead army into a huge chimera golem that tore into the undead horde and broke their waves.
And Elena, she covered their backs so perfectly that her effort almost went unnoticed. There wasn't a single undead that could approach within 10 feet of the group without being exploded and purified by waves of Light Mana.
"Get goin! It's right there!" Bertram exclaimed, blood rushing to his head in excitement.
50 meters…
40 meters…
30 meters…
At a certain point, the Netherworld Fog started to fade out naturally, and even the undead stopped approaching with such ferocity.
Before they knew it, a shadow covered their bodies.
It was only then they realized they were finally safe.
"Phew…!"
Damien exhaled a sigh of relief. He stretched his body and spread his awareness again, still not losing his wariness.
"Hm? This is…"
He realized almost immediately that they weren't alone in this cave.
There were roughly 50 other adventurous practitioners present. Half of them were huddled together in their own small groups, while the rest stayed in each other's vicinity like a huge expedition group.
Their conversations revolved around the strange timing of this undead wave and the hair's width they all survived by, but they all ceased the second Damien and the rest entered the cave.
The adventurers all watched the group in scrutiny, assessing the new survivors who'd shown up in this place.
Damien and the girls, however, paid them no mind.
'Let's just get what we need to do done. Conflict with others is just wasting time.' Damien thought to himself, finding an open space and sitting down.
The girls followed his actions, while Bertram carefully scanned the cave walls and jotted a few things down on a small notepad.
"This place is usually the best since the spider bastards in this cave aren't as hostile as the rest, but who knows what's happenin' now!" He exclaimed sighingly as he took a seat near Damien.
"Old boy, Human-Faced Spiders only have one weakness: their eyes. Don't forget that."
Damien nodded, glancing at the ceiling with a frown.
'He can't be speaking for no reason, but if he thinks something will happen, why enter the cave in the first place?'
He shook his head, throwing away the thought.
'No, a moment of respite is better than nothing. We've burned through over a hundred mana elixirs in the past 15 minutes. This strategy lets us tear through obstacles, but it's too inefficient to last the whole expedition…'
Damien furrowed his brows in thought, pondering over different ways for them to save mana but still move with the same speed. Meanwhile, the attention of the groups around them seemed to fade.
At least, for the most part.
Two groups in particular had their eyes on Damien and the girls for different reasons.
The first sat in a dark corner of the cave, outside the perception of most.
Unlike the rest, they were hidden by a thick veil of mana. Of course, this wasn't a strange thing to do in a place like the Severed World, but in their case, it was definitely malicious.
Because behind that barrier, four people sat in a meditative posture, unmoving like stone buddhas.
Their bodies were covered in Human-Faced Spiders, the venom from these beasts flowing freely through their systems.
But they didn't reject it, no, they accepted it wholeheartedly to further their training.
However, their lack of reaction seemed to anger the spiders around them, an anger that spread from spider to spider and alerted every creature living in the cave.
Their perceptions were joined together in a single web that translated their thoughts and allowed them to share vision, and through it, they reached a consensus.
The new arrivals, Damien's group…
…were exactly the people they'd been looking for.
