Round 8

The ancient stone beneath their feet groaned like a beast waking from slumber, the sound echoing through the crumbling chamber with ominous finality. Jeane's spell struck the small inverse rune like a physical blow, its surface igniting with a malevolent light that bled into the surrounding carvings. The main gate's runes recoiled as one entity, their eerie glow flickering wildly before stabilizing at an even more intense level of malevolence.

The skeletons, mere yards from closing distance now, hesitated in their advance—undead eyes fixed warily on Jeane as she maintained her concentration, dark energy crackling around her outstretched hands. A faint hum filled the air, growing steadily louder as the inverse rune's power fed back into the central sigil.

Halie dropped to her knees with a choked cry of despair, yanking her holy symbol free from beneath her shirt. The silver artifact twisted visibly in her grasp, its surface bubbling like molten wax before her horrified eyes. The goddess's light flickered within it like a dying candle flame, struggling against the encroaching darkness that seeped from the very stone itself.

"NO! Not HERE—this place is EATING everything!" she screamed, her voice echoing off the cracking walls as she fought to maintain her grip on the corrupting metal. The dark magic assaulted her senses like physical blows, each pulse making her gasp for breath as her hands shook violently.

Varrika let out a roar of pure frustration as the tower shuddered around them, ancient stone groaning and shifting under immense strain. "We don't have time for this!" she snarled, her eyes darting between Jeane's focused concentration and the skeletons' wary advance. With a growl of effort that spoke of pure muscle and iron will, she wrenched herself free from Merrin's restraining grip and lunged forward into combat range.

The heavy mace in her hands swung in a wide arc with devastating force, connecting with the lead skeleton's ribcage just as its jaw was opening to emit another bone-chilling shriek. The sound died in mid-shriek as the creature's entire upper body disintegrated under the blow, bones shattering like glass and scattering across the stone floor in a cloud of dust and splintered bone.

Jeane felt a surge of triumph as her spell struck true, the inverse rune igniting with a malevolent light that bled into the surrounding carvings. The ambient dark magic pulsed erratically around them—this was working, but barely contained. She could feel the tower groaning overhead, its structural integrity hanging by threads as thin as her patience with these idiots.

"Everyone back from the walls! NOW!" she snapped, her voice cutting through the chaos like a whipcrack. The spell's feedback loop was already straining her control, each moment of concentration requiring more effort than the last as she fought to maintain the delicate balance between disruption and total collapse.