Chapter 31: Into the Swamps, Part III

Magical sparks flashing, the reaper spirit and Bjorn the battlemage once again blocked each other’s attacks. Facing each other while walking in circles, Bjorn looked apprehensive while the reaper spirit’s eyes were just emotionlessly glowing.

As Bjorn was facing the reaper spirit, he was also trying to keep track of the many bone soldiers that attempted to attack him from behind.

*Clang!*

Another bone soldier managed to get close enough to try and pierce the battlemage’s plate armor. Spearpoint bouncing uselessly off, Bjorn was distracted for a second as he turned his body halfway towards his right in order to attack the distracting bone soldier.

Leaping back, the bone soldier cackled as it quickly got out of weapons range. Actually piercing Bjorn’s armor was never Kaz’s real goal for the bone soldiers. All he wanted to accomplish with them was to distract Bjorn enough for his reaper spirit to slice open the man’s plate armor. Without his runed plate armor, any human flesh without magical protection would be burned from the inside by the reaper spirit’s mana blade.

Suddenly lunging forward as Bjorn tried to attack the bone soldiers behind him, the reaper spirit pressed its attack once more. Beset on two sides, Bjorn could only grit his teeth as he tried to minimize the damage to his armor.

Standing behind a tree outside the camp, safe from danger, Kaz’s brow furrowed as he continued to try and suppress the overbearing battlemage.

Attacking his armor with normal weapons isn’t exactly doing nothing, it’s just that his armor is heavily reinforced with runes. The only thing that seems to apply pressure onto the armor’s runes is the reaper spirit’s mana sword. I guess I’ll just have to keep him off balance and let the mana sword wear his armor down. In the meantime, I should keep applying pressure to the two other mages over on the north side of camp.

Turning his attention to the mages standing a ways away from the center of the camp, Kaz smiled as he motioned for some of his bone soldiers to move. Dousing torches in some of the smaller campfires, the bone soldiers threw them in a high arcs aiming at the area around Erza and Diana.

With a shout, Diana pointed her staff at a bone soldier that was trying to approach stealthily behind a few tents. Noticing her spell, Kaz forced the minion to lunge to the side in an attempt to dodge.

A golden spear, its design rather simple, shot out of the staff’s tip and clipped the bone soldier’s lower torso. Nearly instantly, the bone soldier’s legs disintegrated. Staring with empty eyes at Diana, the undead soldier started to use its hands to quickly crawl towards her.

Faster than she expected, the bone soldier covered half of the distance between them before Erza finished casting his spell.

“Begone, hateful creature! Earthen Grip!” Focused to the extreme unlike his usual nervous manner, Erza’s spell caused the mud on the ground to sink around the bone soldier and solidify. With one hand reaching out from the ground, the bone soldier could do nothing as its physical body was crushed.

Hmm, I should watch out for their magic spells a bit more. I don’t fully understand the magical capabilities of those two mages, and I can’t afford to throw away the bone soldiers that I have at my disposal so easily.

Ordering his bone soldiers to away a short distance away from the mages, Kaz had them attempt to harass the two mages by throwing rocks and other equipment from around the camp instead. Whizzing through the air, a soldier’s water flask smashed into Erza’s face.

Hissing in pain, the mage was stunned for a short while as he winced in pain. Chanting furiously, Diana tried her best to pick of the bone soldiers one by one. However, her golden spears weren’t as accurate as before with Kaz’s bone soldiers running in circles while throwing things at her. Missing nearly every single shot, Diana could only restrict the rate of her spells as her mana was rapidly being depleted.

Seeing how Erza was unable to react properly, Kaz made his move.

A second flask was thrown with unerring accuracy at Erza’s face. Full of water, the flask was much heavier than the previous half-empty one that was thrown. This time, a full flask smashed into Erza’s face.

*Crack!*

The moment the full flask slammed into his face, Erza’s nose broke with a sharp crack. Groaning in pain, Erza crouched with his arms raised over his head in an attempt to shield his face.

“Don’t sit down! We’re outnumbered here!” Seeing her companion stop casting spells, Diana panicked for the first time. “At least hide behind something! You’re a sitting duck out here. Gods…”

Seeing his opportunity, Kaz sent one of his bone soldiers forward. Taking a short running start, the bone soldier raised its javelin before tossing it straight at Erza. Before the mage was able to react, the javelin drove itself into his chest and blasted the mage backwards. Slamming into a crate full of supplies behind where he was crouching, Erza was pinned to the wooden crate by the javelin through his chest. Choking on his own blood, Ezra desperately tried to remove the javelin from his body with shaking arms. His grip slick with blood, the mage’s eyes dimmed as his arms fell to the side.

“Ezra! Devils below, how many more of these damn things are there?” Snarling, Diana managed to blast another bone soldier to smithereens with a trio of golden spears. “I guess I have no choice but to use this!”

Gasping for breath, Diana reached into her robes and withdrew a light blue bottle. Without hesitation, she popped the cap open and downed the entire contents of the bottle in a flash. Tossing the empty bottle aside, she began to chant with renewed vigor. Powerful mana fluctuations once again to emanate from her body, as if her mana was not used up at all from the spells that she had casted shortly before.

Watching through the eyes of his minions, seeing Diana restore her mana with a potion greatly startled Kaz.

Gods, why did I think that the Klavans were the only ones who had potions ready to use in the middle of battle? Of course the Janaroians would have potions for emergency battle situations. Although...this is my first time seeing a potion that’s specifically for mage use. All of the Klavan potions either enhanced the physical capabilities of the user or provided defense against magic. I’ll….have to get my hands on those potions and see if they can restore soul power as well. Otherwise it’ll be nearly useless with my naturally small mana pool.

Leaving his reaper spirit and a couple of minions to duke it out with Bjorn in the center of the camp, Kaz turned the majority of his attention to where Diana was wreaking havoc on his undead minions. With a sizeable portion of his minion’s bodies destroyed or occupied dealing with Bjorn, Kaz was left with just over a third of his bone soldiers available.

Moving three of them closer to Diana, he had them try and kite her spells at close range while the last eight spread out and threw projectiles at the lone mage.

“Heh, don’t think that I can’t deal with these feeble attempts to wear me down!” Slamming the butt of her staff into the ground, the head of Diana’s staff lit up nearly instantly. A transparent golden bubble formed with the staff at its center. “The Shield of the Almighty shall repel the heretics, and the Sword of Light shall rend thy enemies in twain!”

With her chant finished, three golden swords of light emerged from the bubble. Although simple in design, the three golden swords were entirely made of mana. As if sensing the incoming projectiles, the swords flew into the air close to the bubble and sliced apart any objects that were tossed at Diana. Seeing at how she was protected, at least for now, Diana breathed a sigh of relief. Holding her staff with both hands, she began to slowly chant a series of incantations.

Shit. How am I supposed to get through that two-fold protection? The swords prevent my bone soldiers from getting close enough to stab through the bubble as well as any projectiles from reaching the shield. If that wasn’t bad enough, the projectiles that do make it through bounce off the bubble. I can’t risk exposing myself long enough to launch Mental Spikes in order to try and breach her defenses, and I don’t think she’s going to run out of mana anytime soon since she has those little potions. Unless…

Inspired by a sudden idea, Kaz ordered most of the bone soldiers surrounding Diana to withdraw. Leaving only four behind to run in circles and throw the occasional projectile, Kaz’s mana sense went over to the center of camp where the reaper spirit was still engaged in melee combat with the battlemage.

Seven bone minions joined the remaining bone minions in the center of the camp. Having crushed another two bone soldiers, Bjorn was only facing three bone soldiers and the reaper spirit at this point. His breath in coming and going in ragged gasps, Bjorn’s armor wasn’t nearly as damaged as Kaz thought it would be by now. However, it seems that the battlemage paid for this little advantage with his stamina.

As the reaper spirit was about to attack Bjorn once more, Kaz manually took control of the spirit minion’s actions. Charging forward, Kaz raised the mana blade high above the reaper spirit’s head.

Seeing this rather amateurish move, Bjorn smirked as he raised his shield to block the blow. Preparing for the impact, the battlemage braced for a frontal impact. Seeing this, Kaz instantly pulled back before Bjorn could respond. Not being prepared for a feint since the reaper spirit had never performed one once this fight, Bjorn was caught off guard for a split-second. And a split-second was all Kaz needed.

Exploding outwards from a tent behind Bjorn, the blood spirit that was largely absent from the brawl viciously slashed at Bjorn’s back with its claws. Having absorbed the majority of the dead soldier’s blood unnoticed, the blood spirit was brimming with a vitality unlike anything Kaz had seen before. The blood spirit’s claws were a deep shade of crimson, nearly black with blood. As they slammed into the battlemage’s plate armor, the runes on the plate armor’s back failed. Flashing multiple times, the light from the runes dimmed quickly.

Knocked forward several feet by the blood spirit, Bjorn’s organs turned as he felt the runes on his back failing. Falling to one knee, the battlemage started to cough up mouthfuls of blood as the magical backlash of having half of his magical protection broken damaged his body internally.

Now! This is it!

Excited, Kaz ordered all ten of his remaining bone soldiers to immobilize the stunned battlemage. Very quickly, the bone soldiers managed to remove the axe and shield from the battlemage’s hands. Still in a coughing fit, Bjorn could do little as the bone soldiers pinned him to the ground with his back down. Reaching out with its hands, the blood spirit took the helmet off of the battlemage’s head.

A mane of blond hair spread out from underneath the helmet. Bjorn’s once crisp green eyes were cloudy with pain and fatigue. His beard was stained with blood as his breath came out in a series of gasps and coughs.

Truly, the man looks like a mortally wounded lion. I would dearly like somebody like him to be fighting on my side one day. If he wasn’t so tired, I don’t think that I could have subdued him this easily.

With a glint in his eyes, Kaz had his reaper spirit move forward. Raising its bright mana blade into the air. With the tip facing Bjorn’s face, the reaper spirit drove the magical blade into Bjorn’s forehead. With silent screams, Bjorn’s eyes liquefied as the contents of his head were turned into hot mush. Enslaving his soul, Kaz reanimated the battlemage’s body. The newly reanimated bone soldier picked up the helmet and placed it slowly on its head. Taking up the rune-axe and rune-shield, the bone soldier turned and sprinted in the direction of Diana.

I hope this plan works, otherwise I’ll have to abort this battle and retreat until a later date. If I can’t kill that female mage now, I’ll have to try again later but then she’ll be much more prepared than before. It would give me much peace of mind if she died here tonight. I can’t imagine the consequences if she escapes, reports my existence, and I eventually have both Klavan AND Janaroian special forces chasing after me.

Various projectiles were still being thrown at Diana’s bubble, but she was very secure inside her magical protection. Constantly channeling a low amount of mana into her staff in order to maintain her light magic, Diana looked only slightly worried.

“Heh, keep trying to break open my magical shield with only mundane objects. It will take at least two mages of equal strength to myself in order to breach this shield. Bjorn should be done mopping up those brittle abominations soon and can come help me.” Turning her head, Diana’s face lit up as she saw Bjorn charging back towards her. Hearing her words via his mana sense and his bone soldier’s perspectives, Kaz smiled to himself.

You’re going to be in for a rude awakening if you think you can escape from this. I hope you won’t die too fast…

Charging towards one of the bone soldiers that was closer to the bubble, what appeared to be Bjorn raised his rune-axe high in the air. Swinging down with a force unlike any he had previously shown before, the rune-axe narrowly missed the bone soldier. However, the force of the swing pushed the air enough to knock the bone soldier off balance.

Cackling in a mocking manner, the bone soldier started to step backwards towards Diana’s magical bubble shield as it gestured rudely to the battlemage.

Without a sound the battlemage charged towards the bone soldier, which at this point was directly in the middle between the battlemage and Diana.

Looking relieved at having one of the bone soldiers seemingly under control, Diana looked away from that particular one and towards the other three bone soldiers. Suddenly, she noticed that Ezra’s body started to twitch.

With a sickening squelch, Ezra’s body moved on its own. The javelin still imbedded in the dead mage’s chest went through it completely as the mage slid off of the weapon impaling it to the crate. Freshly reanimated, Ezra’s body pointed a bloody finger at Diana as it charged.

“Gods, why defile the dead so? Can’t the dead escape from the horrors that you have inflicted upon the world?” Starting to tear up in rage, Diana willed the three golden swords to converge onto Ezra’s position and slice his reanimated corpse up. The bone soldier howled silently as its body was diced apart by the blades of light.

*CRACK*

With a crisp noise, Diana’s bubble shield shattered into a thousand pieces of pure mana that dissipated into the air. Turning her head around incredulously, Diana’s eyes grew wide as Bjorn’s rune-axe decapitated her. Her head flew into the air in a arc, landing at the base of the crate that Ezra’s body was impaled on previously. Without a head, Diana’s body fell to its knees, then slumped over as blood flowed out of her neck like a crimson river.

Nodding once, Kaz breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the last living Janaroian mage died. Enslaving Diana’s soul with a thought, Kaz released all but one of his physical minions from their bodies. With several dozen spirits revolving around his body, Kaz sat down on a nearby stump. Having the reanimated battlemage haul the crate out of the fully burning camp, Kaz sent the undead abomination in and out of the camp on several trips in order to bring out undamaged goods.

Looking at the huge crate in front of him, Kaz’s eyes brimmed with excitement.

Hmm...this lock seems to be locked magically. What do the runes say….

Imbuing his mana into the lock on the crate, Kaz was able to study the sigils that make up the locking rune.

Two Protect sigils combined with an Explode if either of the Protect sigils break. How devious, I really admire the pettiness of the person who made this magical rune. A less careful mage might have only cracked the first lock and been greeted with a flaming explosion.

Chuckling to himself, Kaz carefully formed twin Mental Spikes. Taking a deep breath, Kaz shattered both of the Protect sigils within the rune on the lock. With a click, the explosion didn’t happen. Rubbing his hands nervously on his pants, Kaz opened the chest.

Within the chest were several large canteens of pure drinking water, dried rations, and a small silver box.

Carefully placing the precious food and water into his knapsack, Kaz groaned slightly as he realized how heavy his pack would be in the morning. Putting the small silver box on his lap, Kaz swept the box with his mana sense.

No lock on the silver box, but a lock on the crate itself? How sloppy. I guess the Janaroians weren’t expecting to be wiped out here. One layer of defense is never enough.

Opening the silver box, a browned piece of parchment lay within. Picking it up, Kaz lifted it up as he read its contents in the light of the burning camp.

“Oh, brat. You’ve really stumbled onto something big this time!” Ahriman’s voice shattered the relative silence of the swamps.

Badly startled, Kaz almost fell off of the stump.

“What do you mean? It’s just a map of the swamp right? I mean, that’s useful and all..”

“It’s a map to the Morbid Academy, the birthplace of necromancy.”