Way of the Knights

Chapter 348 - Arrival

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The space above their heads was ripped by a mysterious force. 

A massive gate appeared, filled with ancient air and a dreadful appearance. As Raven uttered his words, the massive gate opened up and revealed a swirling portal that emanated with hair-raising presence. 

Countless of heads appeared from the portal. Each faces were crying tears of blood but their eye sockets are empty. Their hands were frail and had sharp nails, each one constantly voicing moans of despair, regret, unfairness and unwillingness. 

This gate serves as the connection towards the material plane and the other side. As the gate opened, it allowed the souls of the deceased to visit the material plane once again and answer the summons of Raven. 

The leaders of the camp had pale faces as they stared at Gate of Souls. Their bodies started shaking from head to toe as they witnessed the souls being vomited by the gates, and it didn't help that they could recognize the faces of these souls. 

Raven was back on his seat with a glass of Moonshine. He rested his back at the seat, seemingly undisturbed by what is happening around him. He swirled the contents of the glass and said:

"I did what you asked and spared you. But I don't know if your victims will do the same."

As soon as he uttered these words, the souls that are coming out of the gate immediately roared with unending rage and fury. 

The souls all flew towards the one's who humiliated and killed them. Each soul tore a piece of flesh from their killers and also a part of their soul in the process.

Pained roars, cries of despair, and hair-raising sounds echoed from the cave. And throughout this whole chaos, Raven remained impassive with his behavior and quietly watched everything unfold before his very eyes. 

His eyes contained nothing but pure contempt, his heart was closed from all of their begging or pleads. His face had no changes as he watched how the justice deprived souls avenged their deaths. 

But even after all of this, Raven still didn't feel like it was enough. 

So without any hesitation, he raised a finger and pointed towards the Gate of Soul. His archaic voice then echoed at every corner of the cave.

"Hear me, by my authority. I summon the souls of the deceased. I call upon the victims of all evil-doers within my vicinity. Return at once to the material world and avenge your deaths and all injustices that you have suffered. Answer my summons and you shall be given a chance for retribution."

This technique shaved off 10 years of his longevity but Raven couldn't care less about that. What brought him even more satisfaction, is that fact that the Gate of Souls roared even more. 

A sea of souls emerged from the gates, answering his summons by returning to the material plane and flying towards their killers. Most of these souls were women, some are men and infants, all appeared as vengeful spirits that is radiating with a blood thirsty aura as they flew towards their targets. 

The whole camp descended into a mass chaos. 

Cries of terror, despair, regret and unwillingness was heard from all corners. The ground started turning red from the blood and gore. Pieces of flesh and organs flew across the room. The camp was filled with vengeful souls who are devouring the flesh, bones and souls of the ones responsible for their deaths. 

And even in this mass genocide, Raven sat prettily and calmly on his chair while sipping on Moonshine from time to time. 

By the time that Raven emptied the glass, the vengeful souls had already gone back to the gate of souls, of course not before paying respects to him. They didn't go back as vengeful spirits, instead they returned as avenged souls, ready to walk towards the path of reincarnation. 

Meanwhile, an extremely unpleasant smell wafted throughout the cave. Raven stood up from his seat and looked at the mess around him. 

With a light scoff, he shook his head and started walking towards the exit. 

It was then that he suddenly sense presence closing in to the camp at an alarming speed. Raven frowned at this, but when he felt their aura's, his expression drastically changed. 

He suddenly disappeared. Leaving the chaotic and gory mess of his activity just now. 

***

Five people dashed through the wilderness with a clear objective in their minds. 

Clad with their shining Golden Armaments and their own trusty steeds. They flew across the atmosphere with sharp battle intents and their firm aura's which could make someone feel incredibly small. 

"There's their hideout." 

One of them spoke, pointing at the opening on the cliffside which should normally be hidden but is currently completely exposed right now. 

They all nodded at each other and ordered their mounts to descend. They then got off and moved as a group. 

The one that's currently walking in front of them, was a tall and muscular man with a wheat-colored skin tone. Each step he took was firm and unshakeable, looking at his firm back gives one a sense of security and protection. He was holding a black oval Tower Shield that looks like a shell of a turtle, his right hand grasped a 9 foot long black spear with a serpentine design. 

This guy was none other than Paul, the Defender of the team. 

Behind him was a gorgerous young lady with a blazing red hair who also carries a long sword, a green haired archer bombshell, a lean and sharp looking man carrying two short swords, and blonde goddess holding a golden spear. These people are Ellen, Anne, Mark and Luna respectively. 

It wasn't the first time that they came here. They received a mission a few days ago about some mysterious activities within the borders of the Yellow Zone, just a little beyond the monitoring zone of the Skynet Array. 

It is said that a resource gathering team went missing on that area, and since the place is close to the Red Zone, the investigation fell on the team's hands. 

Upon arrival, they got into a skirmish with the Black Curtain Guild. They decimated the group and interrogated them, which them revealed the existence of the nearby camp. They sent a letter back home that they will tear down the camp before going back and thus, infiltrated it. 

Unfortunately, Mark's the only one who could go inside without getting noticed, but that also didn't work since someone managed to sense him and send hordes of enemies against him. Another skirmish happened and they escaped. 

They then formulated a plan and this time, they decided to drop all pretenses since the camp was already informed about their arrival anyway. And that leads us to the present. 

"What's wrong?" Anne asked Mark upon seeing him frowning. 

"Huh? Oh! Nothing much, I just smell something very foul but also familiar. I'm trying to remember what that is."

"You can smell it too?" Paul asked while remaining vigilant. "I can as well. And I think it smells like corpses."

"Now that you say that…" Mark raised his brow and continued: "Yes, it does. This is the smell of corpses. TONS or corpses."

"Something's up here." Anne said suspicious, "Let's pick up the speed."

"Roger."

The team then accelerated towards the cave. But just before they entered, Paul signaled the team to stop. There is a very unnatural look on his face. He then turned towards Ellen and said:

"Babe, can you throw a flare inside?"

"Sure." Ellen nodded and conjured a fireball at the tip of her sword. She then sent it towards the mouth of the cave, lighting the entrance for them to see. 

As the fireball travelled inside, they managed to see bits and pieces of what's behind the darkness. And what they saw shocked them. 

"You guys saw that right?" Ellen asked, she was a little unsure so she asked them too. Seeing her teammates nod, clarified that she wasn't just seeing things. 

Luna then stepped forward and waved her delicate hand. She shot several balls of light inside the cave that lasted longer than Ellen's fireball and provided better lighting, allowing them to see the gory scene that's hidden in the darkness. 

"Holy shit!" Paul exclaimed. "What the hell?"

"What happened here?" Ellen asked with her face laced in confusion. 

"Only one way to find out I guess." Mark said.

"I agree. Let's go inside. Let's remain vigilant, whoever or whatever did this, might still be here. We have to be careful."

Everyone nodded with Anne's judgement and thus, they began walking inside the room filled with bits and pieces of torn flesh and bones. Every step they took sounded weird, they could see how the ground was dyed with blood and the foul stench coming off of these corpses was getting stronger the deeper the went in. 

They remained vigilant and spoke through voice transmission, the horrid sight inside the cave slightly bothered them but they were more curious about the entity that caused this to happen. 

They were watching each other's back when Ellen suddenly thought that Luna was acting strange, when he asked what's wrong, she replied:

"No, it's nothing.." Luna said in a timid voice, "Must've been my imagination."