Chapter 258: Breaking Through (1/2)
Mike curled into a ball and allowed himself to roll across the uneven ground for several meters before planting his feet and skidding to a stop. As soon as he was stable, he ran back towards the fight, wanting to limit the time Cariel was fighting Kultanis by herself.
[Damn, Light Magic is also no good.] He thought to himself while considering what other methods he could try to use against the lich.
So far, he'd proven virtually impervious to most physical and magical attacks. The barrier which stopped the assassin was equally effective on protecting the undead from pretty much everything Mike tried to throw at him. In truth, his Elemental Magic was even less effective than before, with Kultanis barely bothering to pay attention to it any more.
Fortunately, Cariel was able to bypass the barrier to some extent. While it didn't have quite the same impact as before, her glowing blade was still able to inflict some damage.
[Based on her class, I assume her abilities are derived from Divine Magic, which might be why they are effective against the undead despite the tier difference. There has to be something I can do to bridge the gap with Elemental Magic.] He thought while getting back into the fight.
For the time being, he contented himself with providing distractions for Cariel, giving her a chance to strike critical blows against Kultanis. Thankfully, the lich was strangely imbalanced, frequently giving in to the urge to use brute force despite its relative ineffectiveness. Had the Tier 4 mage fought seriously using his magic, it likely wouldn't have been much of a contest at all.
Kultanis's mounting frustration became apparent when another of his mana laden blows was harmlessly deflected by the paladin's glowing shield.
”MAGGOTS! I WILL DESTROY YOU!” The lich roared while sending another wave of necromantic energy sweeping over the area, forcing Mike to throw up a mana shield to defend himself. It didn't seem like a spell in the traditional sense, more a flexing of Kultanis's newly acquired Tier 4 power. However, that didn't make it any less lethal.
After barely a second of contact, Mike's barrier shattered, subjecting him to the cold, stabbing pain of the life-stealing attack. It felt like his hold body was submerged in ice water, his panicked nerves sending the confusing mix of numbing and burning sensations simultaneously. Thankfully, the maddening experience got easier after he acquired some kind of skill, the familiar click in the back of his mind serving to reduce the suffering.
After what felt like eons, the pain finally passed, and he found himself face down on the ground. Coughing, he straightened and looked around, worried that Cariel might have been caught up as well. The paladin had better defenses against this kind of thing, but even then, there was probably a limit to how much she could take.
As if answering his fears, the first thing he saw was Kultanis about to deliver a finishing blow. He had Cariel pinned to the ground with one skeletal hand crushing her shield down against her, trapping her arms in the process. His other hand was raised in the air, vibrating with a terrific amount of the grey energy.
Mike tried to force himself to act, but his body was still recovering, and wasn't listening to him yet. Even his mana was sluggish to respond, and he had trouble directing it to take form.
Time seemed to slow down as the lich's fist descended towards Cariel's unprotected head, the now familiar sensation giving him a chance to watch the paladin's expression as her death approached. Rather than the fear or even resignation he'd expected, she surprised him by wearing an energetic grin. He was still trying to figure out what this might mean when she exploded in a wash of golden light.
He was forced to squeeze his eyes shut at the sudden brilliance, and by the time the spots had cleared from his vision, the state of the battle had changed dramatically.
Kultanis had been thrown several meters back, his bony form charred and smoking. Cariel was now standing, or rather floating about a meter off of the ground, bathed in golden radiance. Two wings of light rose from her back, and a crown of flames rested on her head. Her battered sword and shield were left behind, and she now carried glistening armaments seemingly formed from luminescent crystals.
She hung there for a moment, looking like a miniature sun over the dark and desiccated battlefield, before raising her crystalline sword, roaring a hearty battle cry, and charging. Kultanis, still recovering from his latest injury, was barely able to defend himself, a hastily made barrier of interlocking bone rising to impede the paladin's progress.
With a flashing blow, Cariel cleaved through the wall, incinerating most of it in a sudden burst of heat and light. Having barely slowed down at all, she pushed straight through the burning wreckage, and delivered a devastating slash at the Skull Lord's torso. The blade cut through the lich's rib cage and bit deeply into his spine. Only his great size saved him from being cut in half, as Cariel's sword didn't quite have the reach to pass all the way through his body.
An instant after the strike, the air around the injury burst into flame, engulfing Kultanis in a wash of superheated air. For the first time since the start of the battle, the ancient undead screamed in pain, reeling back as the paladin stepped forward to deliver a finishing blow.
Mike clenched his fist, enjoying the vicarious victory against the seemingly untouchable enemy. He wasn't exactly sure where Cariel's abilities were coming from or how she'd gotten so strong, but that didn't matter at the moment. Right then, he felt truly hopeful that this fight could end easily.
However, it was not to be.
The paladin's backswing, carrying all the devastating force of her initial attack stopped short of decapitating the Skull Lord. For a few seconds, Mike didn't really understand what was happening, but then he saw the spiky bits of bone that were punching through Cariel's torso.
Somehow, Kultanis had caused the broken fragments of his rib cage to warp and grow, forming into a row of spear like projections which had skewered the woman. Ordinarily, that shouldn't have been enough to harm the paladin that seriously, but the dark grey energy coating the tips of the makeshift spears had allowed them to bypass any passive defense she might have had.
As if to add insult to injury, the lich reached down with one hand and simply ripped her free, doing more damage in the process. Hurling her away, he gave a dry chuckle. ”You have my thanks, holy one. I had quite forgotten myself there. My new power must have gone to my head, as I've rarely acted with such a shameful lack of restraint. Fortunately, your blow woke me from irrational state.”
While he was speaking, his shattered ribs began to repair themselves, quickly returning to their original state. As soon as he was whole again, the lich muttered a quick chant and summoned a set of elaborate black robes to cover himself with. ”Much better. I cannot believe it took me this long to realize how uncivilized I was acting...”
While the narcissistic lich was still monologuing, Mike had managed to make it over to Cariel and was desperately applying Healing Magic. The paladin had been seriously injured by the surprise attack, and only her innate toughness had kept it from being instantly lethal. As it was, he still had to race to repair several punctured organs, including her heart, before the damage became too severe.
[Good thing Healing Magic is my best skill.] He thought to himself once she was no longer in a critical condition. [It's a shame I can't use it offensively, though. Tier 4 magic would be really handy right about now...wait...]
The Skull Lord broke interrupted his thoughts with an exclamation of disbelief. ”How? That attack bore a heavy curse. You should not have been able to save her...no, I've heard about your skills as a healer. I should not be surprised that that you are as equally talented in that art as you are in others.”
Mike thought he detected a hint of fear in the lich's voice, which just gave credence to the idea forming in his mind. Perhaps his skill with Healing Magic could be put to use here. After all, he'd done something similar to another type of undead not too long ago
Standing, he focused his attention on the Skull Lord, noting a sudden wariness in the way the lich carried himself. Without turning his head, Mike whispered to Cariel, who was still in the process of forcing herself into a sitting position. ”Can you move?”
”Give me a second. I think he managed to damage my Grace somehow.” She replied in a surprisingly calm voice, giving no indication of her recent brush with death. As if to add emphasis to her words, the glowing wings on her back momentarily flickered.
”Hurry up, then. I don't know how much-” Mike had to stop suddenly as he noticed Kultanis finish a surreptitious spell. Dodging to his right, he felt a line of fire scrape along his left cheek.
A spike of bony material had silently emerged from the ground behind him, punching through the space his head had occupied less than a second before.
The lich growled a curse, and began casting again. To make matters worse, he also chose that moment to reveal his ability to fly, lifting off the ground and floating backwards with an ease that would have made Mike jealous a few weeks ago.
[While I know I don't have any room to complain, it still feels a bit unfair.] He thought as he flew after the undead.
Thanks to his title, he was able to quickly catch up, but not before Kultanis had a chance to finish his next spell. This time, he was able to catch the last few words as the dark incantation reached its climax. ”...the embrace of death. [Heart Breaker]”
A sudden lethargy swept over Mike, coupled with an intense pain in the center of his chest. He realized with rising panic that his heart had stopped, and his regeneration didn't seem to be doing anything to get it working again.
Unable to maintain his concentration, he fell from the sky, slamming into the ground and rolling several times. He tried to reach for his mana, to do something, but found that he could barely think, his vision narrowing dangerously.