Polymath redux

Chapter 25//Assault on Drakenholdt (2)

If death itself could take physical form, there was little doubt this would be it. Its haunting visage could unnerve even the most hardened of veterans, and those lifeless, hollow eye sockets glaring back at Shuri sent a cold shiver down her spine. Despite lacking facial muscles to properly express its emotions, she could feel how it was trying to taunt her: ‘look at what I did to you friend’, it seemed to suggest as it stepped on the body of the deceased draconian guardsman as though he were a footstool.

“You, go call for backup,” Shuri ordered the remaining guardsman. Backup was her main goal, but she also understood that this monstrosity was far beyond what he could handle; she wasn’t so sure she could take it on either. He glanced back at her in protest but quelled his concern for her safety as he knew what took priority. After a solemn and mournful look at the body of his friend he turned his back and quickly bowed out of the scene.

Shuri sighed as she drew her bastard sword from her waist and tightly gripped around the handle with both hands. This sword was her family’s heirloom, a special sword crafted from an extremely rare and durable metal; its edge was second to none and was capable of cutting almost anything. She breathed out a long sigh as she stared directly into the hollow sockets of the monster. An ominous emerald ember flickered within its skull, and once more she felt the tension of the situation consume her wits; it had managed to make her feel like a rookie all over again. Doubt swirled within her: could she win? If not, how long could she stall for until reinforcements came?

Most dragons had a form of ranged attack- and no doubt it would’ve been very useful now- but Shuri wasn’t that kind of fighter. She was more used to swords techniques and fighting in melee distance. That’s how she was trained from the start and that’s how she would fight in the future as well. Perhaps it was foolish, but she leapt down from the wall to properly accept the challenge of the black skeleton. Undeads usually only had minimal intelligence, but it was obvious to any casual observer that this skeleton was different. It looked back at her as though a child looking at a new toy.

Her opponent had no weapons; only the thick shell of metal armour, but still she dared not to underestimate it. She began to circle around it as it stood still for her to make the first move. It was a little annoying that that deceased draconian guardsman couldn’t even last long enough to identify the skill level of the enemy. He died so quickly that she was at a loss on exactly how proficient this thing was at combat. She knew it was fast and strong, but that wasn’t much to go off of.

She stepped forward cautiously and once she was confident, she rushed towards it, only to throw a curveball at the last second and strafed to the left in order to strike from a different angle. Her sword cut throw the air magnificently and slashed at the monster, but her eyes widened when it made actual contact. With an audible clink, the sword bounced off the hardened metal armour as though she were hitting a steel wall with a wooden stick.

“What?!” she cried out in astonishment as the sword was shunted. What frustrated her more than the failure of her sword to cut the enemy was the fact that the skeleton almost seemed like it let her get that attack in just to spite her and show the difference in equipment. She then twisted her body and threw a kick with her metallic greaves; if a slash wouldn’t work, then perhaps blunt-force trauma might, but it reacted just as quickly and dodged her kick. She flipped the sword and grasped the blade side with both hands and instead started to use it as a blunt weapon instead. It was often a tactic used by humans who went up against heavily armoured foes, though she never thought she’d be emulating them. Her sword was magically enchanted and should’ve cut anything, but it didn’t.

Repositioning herself, she threw the first swing of her sword-cum-mace. The skeleton seemed to suddenly be on alert and actively attempted to dodge. It wasn’t surprising- blunt force damage was more effective than slash attacks in most cases, though she never thought she would be using the tactics of humans herself. The black skeleton moved quickly, but she was no slouch either. The first swing hit, and like a great gong a mighty ringing sensation writhed up her arms. ‘Heavy,’ she thought to herself. She could feel the vibrations in her arms, and it seemed like it would shatter her bones. ‘Was this what humans felt against greater foes?’ she couldn’t help but wonder. When she thought about it like that it was rather amazing that the humans could muster up the courage to face down their foes.

The black skeleton was pushed back for the first time. It tumbled but didn’t fall. Though it was unable to emote, she could somehow understand that it was frustrated by its body language. The way it grinded its teeth and tensed its non-existent muscles. Disregarding its will, she lunged forward for another strike. It defended well by stopping her arms, but then she simply contorted her body to deliver a swift kick to its abdomen. It was once more forced to retreat ground. ‘I can do this,’ she let out a sigh of relief as finally a sliver of hope was dangled before her.

Unfortunately, hope can also be used as bait. Just as she was becoming accustomed to battling against this ungodly creature, it managed to push past her defences with lightning speed. It was honestly quite the sight to see an undead moving about so frighteningly fast. Like two equally matched masters of combat, they were exchanged hits, but Shuri soon came to the realization that she would go down first before she could manage to put substantial damage on this thing. Deciding she needed to devise a different avenue for attack she disengaged by dashing backwards.

However, the black skeleton anticipated her movements and rushed forward as she moved back and maintained the same intimate distance as before. Being caught off guard by its nimble retaliation there was little she could do. It leaned closer and jabbed her straight to her gut and sent her flying even further back. Yet, that was not the end of its counter as it continued it up with a strange magical attack. Ominous black mana gathered in its hand and a few seconds later a piercing beam of darkness shot out at breakneck speed. Being unprepared for a magic attack from an undead she tried to physically block it, but the attack continued through her paltry attempt and pierced through her left hand and left shoulder like a hot knife through butter.

“Argh…!” she fell to her knees and gripped her shoulder and clenched her hand to slow the bleeding. Having felt that attack she realized what it was; it was something she had experienced long ago in her past. It was a unique magic exclusive to the most adept mages who had simultaneously mastered sword fighting techniques along with necromantic magic: ‘Sword of Darkness’, however this one was on a completely different level than the ones she had remembered. “Kuh… how could this be?”

She stood up and held her sword in her right hand. The stinging in her left hand and shoulder was unbearable and seemed like it would drive her insane if left unchecked for even a few more minutes. She glanced at her wound and winced. She already knew it, but her wounds weren’t healing; draconians were said to have ungodly regenerative powers that could heal all minor injuries within just a few seconds, but that attack hindered this ability. It was a skill that could also classify as a ‘curse’ that prevented healing until it was lifted. The method to lifting the curse wasn’t difficult, but there was no such time on the battlefield to go looking for priests and medics. “Tch,” she clicked her tongue and started to move around again. ‘How long has it been?’ she wondered. There was no way she could take this thing out; it was to her what she would’ve been to humans.

The skeleton prepared more of that sinister black mass of mana in its hands. She carefully studied its movements and, at the exact moment it shot out another impossibly quick beam, she pre-emptively evaded it before it left its hands. She wasn’t going to react to it anymore, she needed to predict it. The black beam flew out and devastated trees in a long, linear fashion, but she made it out unscathed. If there was a weakness to the Sword of Darkness, it would be that it was a predictable move with it only being a straight shot. There was also the fact that it would at least need a few more seconds to use it again and using that fact she slashed the ground before her with a great hurricane-like swing to kick up a bunch of dirt into the air to form a smokescreen. She moved forward soundlessly through the dust and aimed precisely for its neck.

Unfortunately, at the last second it managed to move its hand over and catch the blade between its fingers. ‘Is this thing for real?’ she muttered under her breath as she tried to pull back. She knew it was agile but thought its speed could be hindered with the smokescreen. Perhaps there was still a bit of pride in her as a dragon that prevented her from taking on an undead too seriously. As she tried to move back, she was suddenly unable to as the black skeleton grasped onto the blade tightly and refused to let go. It conversely tugged at the sword and pulled her closer, at the same time it touched her stomach with its free hand fired another Sword of Darkness, this time straight into her body. Several of her internal organs were ruptured, and the worst of it all was still the fact that this attack prevented healing effects. From this moment onwards, she had to fight knowing she was on borrowed time. It was a race really. Would she die from blood-loss or from this losing to this skeleton?

“Urrk…” she spat out the contents of yesterday’s dinner. Dark rings appeared beneath her eyes and she was becoming quickly short of breath. She swiftly gathered magic in her free hand and delivered a punch that should’ve been able to destroy walls to its face. Yet, the smug expression on the skeleton’s face remained unchanged. It then did something strange. As if holding her in contempt for thinking she could ever defeat it, the black skeleton snatched the sword away from her and with just one hand snapped the blade in two right before her eyes. Her breathing stopped at the realization that… she was going to die. Her struggling quickly became more desperate, and she tried to assault it with a barrage of ‘strength enhanced’ punches.

The black skeleton either dodged or blocked her attacks and once it found an opporunity capitalized on it; it sent her flying away with a mighty pushing kick. As she collapsed onto the floor, she wondered what the hell was going on. Why was this black skeleton attacking? Or rather, it was obvious that it wasn’t alone, there was definitely someone else who summoned this thing. Who was it?

“Commander!” suddenly voices roared from behind the skeleton, and when she turned to look, she saw a dozen of her draconian companions fully geared up and ready to take on the sinister black undead.

“You guys! Did you already inform the king?!” that was her first priority.

“Yes! Princess Irina is on her way now! We’re to hold position until her arrival!”

Those words were like music to her ears, but before she could even begin to feel relieved, something unspeakable happened. The black skeleton quickly changed its attention towards the new arrivals and shot out a Sword of Darkness. Like a great black laser, in a single slice it liberated the upper torso of the dozen draconian soldiers from the lower. All dead within seconds of their arrival.

“No!” she shouted, but they were all dead. “What have you done?!” As she was asking that question a piercing sting crept up her chest. She cast down her gaze and saw a black line through her heart. She didn’t even notice it casting the Sword of Darkness, but it caught her off guard and now she was dying. “… Why…” she asked as her vision dimmed.

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“Huh…” Morialia said to herself as she gazed into the distance while making a binocular gesture with her hands. Of course, there was no binoculars but obviously it worked because she was the Demon Lord and could do such things as extended vision. “Crap, I may have spawned too many black skeletons…” she commented a she looked down from her floating black throne.

There, a legion of black skeletons readied themselves to march onto Drakenholdt on her command. Their numbers totalling around ten thousand and all stronger than the black skeleton scout she sent in to test the dragons’ defences. Heck, she didn’t even give that one a weapon thinking that it’d be a waste since it’d probably die soon enough.

“Err… well, damn. I don’t know what to do now.” She scratched her head. The black skeletons were strong, but they were only temporary units that would disappear in time since they were summoned through magic. It was possible to summon more permanent ones if she used corpses, but she didn’t have the leisure to raid a graveyard on her way here. “Eh, screw it, I’ll just use the dragons’ corpses to summon black skeletons.” The way she saw it, converting the dragons’ corpses into black skeletons was a more effective anyway.

“All righty then!” Morialia stood up on her seat and shouted to her skeletal legion. “Onwards, my minions! Victory to your adorable goddess!” she cheered.

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“Lord Aurendra!” a guardsman rushed into the great halls of the dragon king.

The king stared out with a serious face into the distance. He already knew what the messenger who ran in was going to tell him; he could just smell the death and destruction from all the way here, but gave him permission to speak anyway, “what is it?”

“The undead! They’re attacking!”