134 Battle of the Wild Mountains : Part 2 (1/2)

TCHAK

The string of a bow was suddenly released, throwing an arrow with great speed toward the first soldier to put a foot in the room. Thinking that he was safe behind the Hero, he noticed too late that the latter was not really focused, shocked by what he was seeing. And by the time, Avirus reacted to the sound, he could only see the meticulously crafted wood deeply inserted in the flesh of the soldier. It was an extremely clean shot, aiming directly at the thin opening between the bottom of the helmet and the chest plate.

TCHOK TCHLAK TCHEK

The three others that were too close to the dead man and were also walking too fast to stop nearly escaped death. Fortunately for them, Avirus was capable of stopping the arrows before they reached their targets, but that was not something he was truly happy with. ”RETREAT! DON'T STEP INSIDE THIS ROOM!” The artificial cave was maybe only a hundred meters deep, but it was too vast for him to protect everyone.

From where they were, the foreigners of this world could hear the belligerent man grumbling and cursing them. But since he did not seem to have gain powers capable of turning his words into actual threats, none of them were affected.The only thing that was impacted was, in fact, the morale of the humans, that was seeing once more their Hero come back barely a few minutes after entering the tomb. The improvised council was reunited, again, leading to the Hero being accompanied by another group.

However, contrarily to the precedents that were composed of soldiers, Leilade could only notice their luxurious and rich robes. Not even the third room and they were already using magicians to deal with the undead of Malakov. Compared to what was beyond that, it was a bit overkill, but at the same time, it was possible to breach everything if those humans had a cautious usage of their mana. The only thing they may have forgotten is the fact that the undead should have been the last of their worries.

”Malakov, tell Kardel that he can go to the first point. But he must not use his rifle.” Looking at Leilade that nodded her head, the lich began to transmit what he heard from Davion to the duvodiad. Soon, they could see in a remote corner of the room something moving behind a very tight opening. Like the ramparts built inside the very wall that protected the skeleton archers, numerous secret hole were pierced everywhere. Most of the times, Davion had placed liches behind them, but some were reserved to Kardel, like this one.

As for how he was capable of moving so quickly from one point to another, they were not idle those last weeks. Not a single place in the entire base was exempted of a trap, a mechanism or an undead aiming at it. Whether it was the ceiling or the very ground, it could deal with both levitating mages and strong fighters. ”They are only at the 5th Circle, at best.” Looking at the ten or so hooded men and women that followed Avirus, Leilade could feel their power quite easily.

”What does it means?” They all had received the information that the little girl gained from her little holidays inside the Academy of Magic. But because that classification was prone to only focus on the best spell that could be cast and not necessarily on the number possible, it was not truly reliable. ”The lowest recruit of my Death Corps wouldn't even take him as an apprentice.” While saying this, Leilade still remembered the fact that her greatest pride had been destroyed in a blink of an eye.

Seeing the slightly angered face of their superior, neither Davion nor Meridiana asked anything else. But, if that was true, that means that if they were still inside the Demonic Empire, those magicians were not strong enough to be exempt from being eaten or sacrificed. Looking at the volley of arrows that was aiming at those humans, reality will prove what they were truly worth.

Not surprisingly, none of the iron arrows managed to pierce the magical shields. At the same time, besides seeing them worried, the observers did not manage to sense any traces of real fear. Most likely, the mages were just apprehensive at being inside the tomb and not outside. After firing two times, the skeleton archers suddenly stopped, creating a stalemate.

Both sides did not move for a few seconds, everyone waiting to react to what their opponent will choose to do. Feeling a small spark in the surrounding mana,lifted her hand, making the lich freeze for a brief instant. And before the old man that was casting his spell could use it, something pierced his throat. Without a sound, his aged body fell backward, his hands desperately trying to grab something while he was falling.

Shouts of panic spread, and many tried to help their peer. A light that seemed warmth and peaceful surrounded the fallen mage, but to their horror, his skin was turning black near the hole in his neck. In less than five seconds, his eyes finally stopped moving, black blood leaking from his entire corpse. Still shocked by this sudden turn of event, they forgot that they were still visible.

THUMP

A woman screamed while holding her chest. The wound was right next to the lungs, slightly above the heart. But instead of being a missed shot, the helpless humans realized it had destroyed the small organ that was linked to the two lungs. As she was gasping for air, the exact same fate awaited her, as the hole in her chest was darkening. ”RUN AWAY!” Without waiting any longer, the panicked mages left the two corpses on the ground and dashed toward the tunnel.

Shaking his head, Avirus wasn't able to react to those projectiles. Turning his head toward the wall behind him, he saw two arrows entirely made of metal inserted inside it. Not daring to pick them up,he could only touch with his eyes. They were slightly bigger than the one he could commonly found in his army, but not that large. But as he looked, he did not drop his vigilance, especially after what he had seen since he first entered the tomb.