Chapter 257: Might Makes Right (1/2)
The pressure on Mike's mana shield continued to increase in intensity as the dark winds howled from every corner of the battlefield before converging on Kultanis's form. With his mana reserves rapidly depleting, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. Squeezing his eyes shut, he devoted every ounce of willpower into maintaining the barrier.
Thankfully, the storm soon began to abate, and within a few moments, the air started to clear. Tentatively raising his head, Mike glanced around at the battlefield. The spot where Kultanis had been floating was now encased in an orb of grey energy, roughly 5 meters in diameter. At the moment, it seemed to be stable, although he was vaguely reminded of a cocoon for reasons he couldn't quite verbalize.
The plain they'd been fighting on had been virtually wiped clean of life for at least half a kilometer in every direction. The zombies, which had been holding a somewhat respectful distance, had all collapsed in place. Mike thought he saw a few members of the strike force amongst them, bodies desiccated and withered, as if they had aged decades before dying. Even the grass itself had been killed in the storm of necromantic energy and, with the exception of a small circle around his feet, was uniformly brown and brittle, crumbling to dust at the merest touch of the wind.
Among the dead, however, a few things still moved. A small army of Skeletal Warriors, Death Knights, fleshy abominations, and a variety of other undead monstrosities picked their way through the corpse field. As far as he could tell, they were gathering and moving towards the south for some purpose. Whatever the reason, however, he didn't have the time or the ability to deal with them right now.
Cariel was a few meters away, although the globe of golden energy that had been surrounding her was cracked and apparently on the verge of shattering. It seemed that she had been able to weather the blast. At the moment she was pressed up against the side of her shield, and looked to be feebly beating on it with one hand. It took him a few moments to realize that she'd somehow trapped herself.
Standing up, he jogged over and kicked at a spot that looked a bit more fragile than the rest. With a sound like shattering glass, the orb exploded into motes of light, leaving a gasping Cariel on the ground.
”HA...HA...thanks.” She managed to squeeze out. ”Forgot I needed to breathe.”
”...Is that something you'd normally...no, never mind.” He replied while rubbing his forehead. ”This is probably a long shot, but do you have any idea about what's going on over there?”
The orb had started to slowly descend towards the ground, and he could see what looked like distorted and agonized faces sliding across its surface.
”Hm...not really, but I don't think its a good idea to mess with it at the moment.” Cariel commented after staring at it for a few seconds.
”Really? Why?”
”Doesn't it look like a bubble about to burst?” She replied with a mildly confused look on her face. ”Wouldn't it explode if we touched it?”
[...That actually makes a fair bit of sense. Of course, the question is, would that be better than letting him finish whatever he's doing in there?]
Mike had a strange mental image of the lich emerging from the gray sphere with a pair of colorful butterfly wings, but quickly dismissed it. He scanned his surroundings once more.
[If this is the period of vulnerability the corpse mentioned, then the assassin should be attacking soon. Judging from the way it was acting, I doubt it would halt it's plans merely because I wasn't working with it.]
After a few moments, he caught sight of a two people standing on a hill nearly a kilometer away. It was difficult to tell at this distance, but he could only assume that it was the corpse and the Prime Minister observing from relative safety.
[That means that the assassin should be somewhere...]
A sudden pressure exploded over him while he was still in the middle of hunting for the elusive woman. The air seemed to grow thicker and it became difficult to breath. With a sound not unlike the screech of torn metal, the grey sphere ripped apart and revealed its contents.
Kultanis's armor had disappeared or been burned away in the eruption of his ascension.
As a result, he'd essentially emerged from the necrotic cocoon naked, giving Mike his first look at the undead's actual appearance.
The Skull Lord, for all intents and purposes, was a human skeleton. His bones were a shade of reflective dark grey, making them seem almost metallic or artificial. Each of his arms terminated in grasping bony hands equipped with wickedly sharp claws. Floating in his eye sockets were two orbs of pale, white light which coldly regarded the world from above a mouth of filed silver teeth.
More importantly, however, was the change in atmosphere surrounding the lich. Before, he'd been a terrifying figure, easily one of the strongest Mike had ever faced. Now though, Kultanis was giving off the same kind of vibes he once associated with Brutus and the Crimson Disaster when they got serious.
As the Skull Lord focused his inhuman gaze on Mike, the icy grip of fear beginning to claw its way up his spine. Staring into those floating globes of light, all strength fled his limbs, and it was all he could do to hold himself upright. He was still fighting to regain control of his body when a well timed distraction arrived.
The assassin appeared behind Kultanis, little more than a blur of barely perceived motion, and before he could even respond, she scythed her blade at his neck, aiming at a point between two vertebrae.
For a moment, Mike thought the fight was over. If he were attacked in that manner, he doubted any of his skills could save him from being decapitated. However, the Skull Lord was apparently different.
With a clang, the assassin's dagger stopped a few centimeters away from the Kultanis's neck as if it struck some kind of invisible barrier. There was a brief glimpse of a confused female face in air over his shoulder before he whirled and stabbed at her with one clawed hand.
Mike heard, rather than saw, the blow strike home, sinking into the assassin's torso with a gruesome squelch. Kultanis stood there for a moment, seemingly savoring the sensation, before flicking his arm to one side, sending the nearly invisible woman flying several meters.
”IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO, YOU RELIC?!” The skeleton roared. ”DID YOU THINK I WAS UNAWARE OF YOUR SCHEMES?! YOUR JEALOUSY?!”
He lifted both arms into the air, one darkened with crimson blood. ”I WILL FINISH CLEANSING THIS CONTINENT OF LIFE, AND THEN I SHALL COME FOR YOU!”
While he was distracted with this tirade, Mike managed to recover. Trying to be surreptitious, he attempted to signal Cariel to attack. Unfortunately, this proved to be as difficult as he feared.
The paladin merely watched his gestures with a vacant expression, head moving to follow his hand. Eventually, she frowned in confusion. ”What are you doing?”
Mike facepalmed and took a few precious seconds to calm down before pointing at Kultanis, who was still yelling at the sky, ”I'm trying to tell you to attack him while he's distracted.”
”Oh, then why didn't you say so.” She replied cheerfully while shouldering her shield once more.
Mike heard a cracking noise coming from somewhere nearby, and quickly realized it was the sound of his teeth grinding together as he clenched his jaw. Intentionally relaxing the clenched muscles, he followed after Cariel, already worried about his chances for success.
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Faril lowered the spyglass and glanced over at his companion. ”She failed, and I think she might be dead. Its a bit hard to tell from this distance, but it looks like Kultanis had some sort of protective shield.”
Any further observations were interrupted by the undead in question going on a tirade. Judging from the words used, Faril assumed that he was directing his anger at the Archlich.