Once Rarity and Edric were done talking with Chloanne, and had checked out the items that she had for sale, the two of them headed down the path that rested near where the lady was sitting, though at the same time they had their weapons at the ready. Prior experience told them that enemies might attack them from anywhere and might do anything to kill them, though since this was a new area they had no idea what sort of powers their enemies had or what dangers awaited around every corner. When they reached the end of the path they had been following, however, they noticed that the area in front of them, or at least the lowest part of the area, was covered in some sort of green colored mist, something that Rarity knew had to be the same poison she had built the slight bridge over earlier. At the same time she noticed a large creature of some kind, unlike everything they had seen so far, standing in the middle of the poison like a scarecrow, but she was sure that it would start moving if they got close to it.
Instead of heading into the lower area, and challenging the creature immediately, they headed to the left of the tunnel's exit and approached an item on the ground, where a skeleton pulled itself back onto its feet, picked up the weapon that was rested next to it, and attacked them. Edric raised his shield and blocked the attack before it could reach its target, before he swung his arm and let his sword break the unfortunate skeleton into a couple of pieces, though to be on the safe side he broke several of the bones to be sure that it didn't get back up while they were walking around this area. While that was happening, since Edric had the situation covered, Rarity picked up the Lifegem that they had seen before she started looking for anything that might let them pass through the area without going through the poison mist... but it appeared that they would have to do that regardless.
Edric approached the main path that would take them down into the area below them and the creature they had noticed turned and looked at them, to which it raised its hand into the air and threw a large ball of dark energy at Edric... though before it could hit him he found a dark purple colored barrier surrounding him, where he noticed Rarity channeling the magic to power the barrier. A few seconds later Rarity sucked the ball of dark energy into the barrier and shook for a moment, as she had no idea how strong the attack had been, before she stared at the tall creature and threw the attack back at the creature. The creature's eyes widened for a moment, but since there was no time for it to move the ball slammed into its chest and exploded, knocking it back into the wall behind it and caused it to collapse on the ground, where it stopped moving entirely.
"I'm glad... I stopped that," Rarity said, as that was the first time she had tried to contain a power of that magnitude since the start of this adventure, though at the same time she had to smile, as she now had a good idea as to how to use the attack the creature had used against them, "and now I have a new spell to add to my growing spellbook, though this one will take some power out of me if I'm not careful."
"I had no idea you could do that," Edric commented, though while he was impressed by Rarity's growing powers he had no idea she was able to summon a barrier that could deflect a spell like that, nor had he any idea she could copy the specifics of whatever spell touched that dark barrier of hers.
"Honestly, neither did I." Rarity admitted, though at the same time she actually wondered if Twilight had experimented with Dark Magic and, if she did, did she have any idea what sort of powers the magic of King Sombra granted a pony that resisted the darkness inside their hearts, "Though its a welcome surprise... one that we should be able to use more times in the future, so our enemies don't take us out with surprise spells like that. And I might have another use for that barrier spell I just used on a whim..."
Edric watched as Rarity came to a stop beside him and her horn started to glow, though that was followed by a thinner barrier forming around them, one that apparently stopped the poison mist from touching them when they walked down into the area in front of them. The instant they entered the poison mist Edric directed them around the area, collecting all of the faded souls that were lingering around the area, along with another knife that had some poison on it, a chunk of Titanite, and a few smooth stones, while also taking out all of the skeletons that chose to come back to attack them. Rarity, still new to channeling a shield type of magic, decided that now wasn't the time for her concentration to be on fighting and on powering the barrier, so she focused on keeping the poison at bay as Edric dismantled the skeletons.
Once Edric had collected all of the items that he could see, and found that there weren't any other ones he had to deal with, the two of them made their way out of the mist and walked up the second ramp, though once they were out of the poison mist Rarity dropped the barrier and huffed for a moment. That motion told Edric that it required a decent amount of power to fuel that type of spell... and that Rarity might only be able to do it a few times before she couldn't use it until they found a bonfire.
The moment following them walking out of the poison mist filled area was when they encountered two of the tall creatures that they had encountered earlier, to which Rarity sighed as she gathered her power for a few seconds and sent a dark ball of energy, a large one like the creatures could use, and sent it flying towards the closest enemy. The force of the blast knocked the creature backwards, allowing Edric to charge in and cut into it, though she was happy to see that the plan had worked like a charm and the creature fell to the ground. At the same time the second creature started its attack, but this time around Rarity stuck to using smaller spells, like the Soul Arrow, to distract it and caused it to look at her, which opened the way for Edric to cut into it... where they brought it down with a small light cuts on their bodies. As the creature hit the ground the slave like hollows shuffled towards them and attacked them with their clawed hands, which resulted in several cuts before they put them all down.
Rarity was fortunate that non of these enemies seemed to have any after effects to their scratches, like lingering poison or something like that, but at the same time she pulled out the lowest healing spell she had picked up at the beginning of their journey and healed their wounds... before they started looking for the path that would let them move closer to the gigantic windmill. That involved them finding two ladders along the way, where Rarity chose the first one and Edric took the second one, though at the top of her area Rarity found ten urns that she decided had to be of some use, before she noticed that Edric had found a lever that opened the way in front of them. A few seconds later they regrouped and pressed onward, where they discovered a way forward and a path to their right, though that was where a bonfire was resting and activated it... before they returned to the main walkway and exited the short tunnel they had entered.
The area they walked into appeared to have two paths for them to take, one that would take them to the windmill and another one that would likely take them in a loop of some kind, to which they both determined to explore the side path for a few minutes before they continued along the main path.
They walked up the path that they had discovered and followed it up a few steps, before they were forced to turn to the left and dropped down into a little area where a steel chest was resting, though it only had a poison colored stone and some resin that likely had some poison effect infused inside it. Instead of dropping down into the area below them, which looked like a poison filled pit that would kill them if Rarity didn't use the barrier at all, Rarity used her ability to connect with the crystals and summoned a flat platform that rose up beneath them. That allowed them to climb up to the walkway they had been on a few moments ago, where they returned to the area they had found near the bonfire and approached the other path they had discovered.
When they walked along the second path they had discovered they noticed that the new area looked like the first place they had gone through when they entered this place, though at the same time Rarity and Edric noticed two of the tall creatures moving in the area below them. Instead of worrying about them, as the two creatures didn't seem to care that they were even there, Rarity and Edric moved to the right and crossed the wooden bridge that was in their way, which was being guarded by a green skinned hollow that was carrying a large hammer. Rarity dodged the attack that was coming her way as Edric rolled under it and cut into the hollow's side, forcing it to spill some blood, before he turned around and drove his sword into his opponent's chest. Once the deed was done the two of them walked up the ramp that was in front of them and approached an opening that took them into the lowest level of the windmill... where they had to repeat what they had just done against a second hollow.
A few seconds later, when the hollow was dead, the two of them walked into the area in front of them and carefully advanced, as there was no way of telling where their enemies were and what sort of enemies would be waiting for them as they moved through the windmill.
The two of them carefully made their way around the couple of tall vases that were in their way, which had to contain some poison based on what they had been through so far, though as they walked up the ramp in front of them they encountered a creature that looked like a mushroom of some kind. Rarity soon discovered that they were designed to spew the poison that rested around the area they had just passed through, which meant that this entire area was like a poison production building of some kind, but that just made her want to get out of here all the quicker. It didn't take them long to deal with the mushroom creature, though that was before they had to battle two more of the green skinned hammer wielding hollows... who happened to be guarding a fog door, indicating that they had reached one of the two powerful creatures that called this area home.
The moment they were finished with the guardians that were protecting the powerful creature, however, the two of them took a break for a few moments to regain their strength... though when they walked through the door they found that their enemy was an ugly creature that had a face that looked like a grinning demon, while it was as large as the Pursuer was and was really fat.
"Okay, that's a demon of some kind," Rarity said, though at this point she knew that this sort of creature didn't frighten her, it merely made her consider her options before she rushed into battle, as she was sure that the beast's tail was important in some way.
"Let's kill it and find the way forward," Edric replied, as he was sure that Rarity was forming some plan in her mind, but at the same time he would distract the monster and deal as much damage as he could before they brought it down.
Before Rairty could say anything Edric charged forward and moved to the side as the demon came at him, where he swung his arm and cut into the fat that was a part of the demon's body, which definitely annoyed the creature as it rolled to the side in an attempt to flatten him. She sighed for a moment as she watched Edric jump out of the way and cut into the demon's tail in the process, before she channeled a Lightning Spear into her chime and held it to her side for a moment, as she was waiting for a good shot that wouldn't hurt her companion. Edric clearly understood what she was waiting for, as he purposely positioned the demon parallel with where she was standing, though when the demon reared itself up, to crush Edric under its body, he jumped out of the way... to which Rarity loosed the spear and pierced the area that its heart would be in, causing it to fall to the ground in pain for a few seconds before it staggered back onto its feet.
Another two minutes passed of the same type of fighting happened, making Rarity wonder why this sort of demon was even a powerful creature when it literally couldn't touch them despite the fact that Edric stopped trying to dodge and it still failed to hit him... but at the same time she suspected that it might have been in an attempt to make them lower their guard for the true enemy of this area. At the same time she suggested that they rest for a few minutes, despite the fact that they hadn't found a bonfire in the windmill, as she knew that it was best for them to be prepared for whatever was waiting further inside the area they were in, least they be done in by the next opponent they came across.