The web was now a terrifying prison. Hundreds of misshapen agents of horror dwelled in all corners of the web, howling and snarling. They rushed the witcher standing in the center of the web.

Vilgefortz stood tall among them. He held his left hand up, and a colorful magical ball hurtled past the army of monsters.

Roy made a Sign, and a beam of crimson light seared the darkness. Furyfire shot off from Roy's hand and slammed into Vilgefortz's magical ball. Sparks flew as Furyfire blasted Vilgefortz's attack apart. It still had enough power to fly ahead and hit a bandit in tattered armor in the chest. Before the bandit could even howl, he was turned into a beam of black light.

Roy knew something was off. Vilgefortz's magic was not this feeble. I see. The Lionhead Spider cannot revive extinguished souls. It's already almost forgotten by the world. It does not have this kind of power. This is probably some kind of pain projection. They're far weaker than their original selves.

That calmed Roy down. Even when he was surrounded by shades of his past enemies, he swung his hands around, leaping into the snarling creatures like a phantom. The light of magic strobed within the web. Roy recast both barriers on himself, and underneath his feet was the kaleidoscopic light of Yrden.

The elements roared. The element of water swam, and the air rippled like a perturbed lake. The frost atronach, Roy's illusion clone, and the mutated longhorn came forth, standing behind him, facing the army of swarming monsters.

The frost atronach fought a few ghouls on its own, slowing them down with its freezing aura and tanking their attacks with its armor. It spun its arm around like the fantail of a windmill. Under its barrage of icy attacks, the creatures burst into bloody corpses and melted into the void.

The illusion clone fired off bolts at the gurgling, scowling drowners. Every bolt crushed the heads of the drowners, destroying them before they could get near the clone.

The longhorn beetle was a tough contender. Its exoskeleton was as hard as plate armor. Even the fleders could only leave insignificant marks on the big beetle. The beetle charged around like a flying fortress, skewering a group of incoming andregas. Once it was done clearing one area, the beetle opened up the shell on its back, revealing a pair of soft, see-through wings. It flew into the air and came crashing down like a meteor, turning a few nekkers into mincemeat.

The monsters behind the witchers couldn't get near him. The witcher focused on the enemies standing before him. A purple lightning bolt ran through the air before him, crashing into the basilisk that was flying and screeching toward him. The basilisk froze, the feathers on its neck standing on end. Its scales were blackened from the lightning bolt, and the air was filled with the stench of charred flesh.

The basilisk fell onto the web. Roy leapt over to the creature, holding Aerondight in his hand. He held its hilt with both hands, and, putting his weight in his left leg, the witcher spun. A silver light arced through the air, and the basilisk's head flew high. The zeugls that inadvertently barged into the range of his attack were cleaved in half only to pop like bubbles.

Roy held his weapon by his side and cocked his eyebrow. There was not a single drop of blood coming out of the monsters, nor did he gain any EXP.

***

The witcher held Aerondight up straight, blocking a beam of dangerous light rushing at him. The runes on Aerondight gleamed and reflected the beam of light back where it came.

The beam shot through the bodies of incoming wraiths, and Roy swung his blade once more, splitting a few fireballs in two. The witcher raised his head, seeing Vilgefortz standing in the center of the attacking monsters like their commander. Once again, the light of magic gathered in the palm of his hand.

The hatred in his eyes was almost palpable, and standing around him were a few elven sorcerers. The mana swirling around them felt dangerous. Further beside the sorcerers, Idarran was swaying violently. Round, crimson fruit warriors were shaken off its branches. They held up leaves shaped like swords and charged at the witcher, roaring.

The most dangerous of them was Gruffyd the higher vampire. It leapt through the sea of monsters, blinking in and out of existence. Roy felt shivers running down the back of his neck.

I'm not wasting my time with these small fries. He produced Gabriel in his left hand and pulled the trigger, tossing Gwyhyr to his clone.

A bolt flew through the air, and Roy teleported to the group of sorcerers. He swung his blade, and a beam of crimson energy roared through the air, destroying the sorcerers. The energy beam flew further and decapitated a group of mouse-men, clearing a ten-yard radius area.

Vilgefortz had escaped into a group of drowners and tossed a pillar of scorching flames.

Roy held up a black barrier with his left hand, absorbing the flames. Once again, he fired a shot, but when he landed, he could feel a gust of wind rushing at him from his back. A few serpentine vines slithered out of Idarran's branches, their ends splitting into incisor-filled maws.

The vines tried to chomp on the witcher's back. The witcher wheeled around and sliced the vines into pieces, but then, something beside him screeched. A gigantic, batlike silhouette appeared out of thin air and thrust its claws at the witcher.

Quen shattered, and Roy's waist was slashed badly. Pain washed over him like a wave, and the Eternal Web turned it into a tsunami. Unbelievable agony stunned Roy for a moment, and he froze, as if a swarm of worms and locusts were wriggling in his body.

The witcher felt goosebumps spreading across his body, and Vilgefortz seized that chance to bombard Roy with howling winds and azure flames. The attacks hit Roy and sent him flying away. The burning witcher fell into the sea of monsters, rolling around like a ball.

His head was spinning, and he couldn't get up, but there was something more worrying. The pain he was feeling turned into a sliver of black smoke. It flew into the air and was absorbed by the hiding spider.

The hive of cocoons, still gestating, shivered violently, the singers of pain residing within them singing a chant. "O Great Weaver, Grayba the Black, ruler of pain…curse thy enemy, curse thy enemy!"

The hymn was almost boisterous, and the web swayed. A bolt of black lightning cracked the skies open and hit the witcher. Roy leapt back up and tried to block the lighting bolt with Heliotrop, but it passed through the barrier and hit the witcher. Roy shivered, turning white as snow. For some inexplicable reason, the energy swirling around him felt like it was absorbed by the void. He felt sluggish, his hands shivering.

And the witcher saw something on his status bar. Weakened. All his stats were lowered by a fraction of their original value.

The omen god hiding in the dark sneered, as if it were enjoying the show.

The big bat let out a screech, pouncing at the witcher. It wanted to kick Roy while he was down, and Idarran unleashed a whirlwind of leaves. Vilgefortz hurled a beam of blue light at the witcher.

Roy snapped out of the pain thanks to his iron will, and he rolled down the web. The attacks missed, but Roy was still unlucky. A bloated demon by the name of Fugas was waiting for him at the end of the roll. It kicked Roy in the stomach, and pain erupted.

Roy curled up like a cooked shrimp and rolled away from Fugas. His eyes were bloodshot, and he gurgled in agony. That was not the worst of it. Roy's pain was turned into power for the evil god. Once again, a bolt of black lightning cracked the skies and hit the witcher with a slowing curse.

Roy's reaction, movement, and attack speed were reduced by a quarter, and his HP was reduced by nearly half of its maximum value.

Activate. The element of water swam through Roy's veins, alleviating his pain. It raised the witcher's Mana and HP. Roy quickly pulled the trigger and teleported hundreds of yards away from the monsters. He touched his eyes and found tears. The pain made him cry involuntarily. It's a miracle. Damn the pain.

Shuddering, Roy quickly took a swig of some greyish-green decoction. The decoction numbed his pain receptors, and Roy couldn't feel any pain anymore.

The big bat pounced at Roy once more, slicing the air with its claws. It wanted to grab the witcher by his legs and tear him in half. And it paid for its arrogance.

Fear. A patch of red light burst forth from Roy's back. A sea of tentacles wrapped the bat into a cocoon and formed something like a parasol to shield their master from the attacks of Vilgefortz and Idarran.

Roy swung his blade twice and sliced the entangled higher vampire into little pieces. One down.

A bolt hurtled through the air. Roy skipped past the sea of monsters and landed before Vilgefortz. Roy opened his mouth, swinging Aerondight at his enemy. Vilgefortz was unfazed. He stared at his nemesis and shoved him away with a burst of mana.

The sorcerer took out his metal bat, once again trying to battle Roy with his weapon, but the Shout was complete.

Fus!

Soundwaves rippled through the battlefield. The Shout froze Vilgefortz for a moment. He blinked once, and the blade cut him up. The sorcerer tasted defeat once more.

Roy could vaguely hear someone shouting in dismay, but the witcher was unperturbed. "I killed you once, Vilgefortz. I can kill you again."

The shout was silenced. "One left." Roy blasted the mountainous Fugas and stepped ahead. He spun his wrist around and stabbed his sword into the demon's eyes like he was tilling soil. The metal pierced the demon's brains, and it was no more.

Roy blinked over to Idarran and threw a sea of flames at the treant. Idarran screeched, but Roy didn't stop. The witcher swung his blade again and again, leaving gashes on his enemy's body.

And Idarran was no more.

***

***