138 Battle of the Wild Mountains : Part 6 (1/2)

”What kind of monster is this?” Kneeling on the ground, with his right arm bleeding profusely, Avirus was looking above at the massive armor standing in front of him. Spitting the blood he had in his mouth, the Hero from Avenio quickly jumped backward, to avoid the large sword that pierced the ground where he was previously. He only regretted now to have underestimated his enemy, too focused on slaughtering the skeleton warriors.

At first, they had managed to pierce the first line of the undead, with the disciples of the Archmage managing to block the arrows from that hidden sniper. But even he could see that they could not divert their attention to anything else while doing so, otherwise, those metallic projectiles will claim the lives of many. Therefore, facing only mere undead, he charged right into the middle of them, crushing their bones into dust. That was the moment when he heard that cold voice.

”Hello, general Avirus.”

Nearly double his size, the armor described by the reports was calmly walking toward him, the skeletons quickly avoiding him without slowing him down. Soon, a small empty circle was formed around them, and a few soldiers used this at their advantage. Avirus did not even have the time to shout at them to not do it before their heads were flying in the air. The charging humans behind them followed the example of the undead and let the two alone.

”What is it monster?” Still a bit perturbed by the fact that his enemy knew who he was, he unconsciously relaxed a bit. After all, if he could get some information from the armor, that would help greatly the coalition. However, the helmet blocked his sight, otherwise, he would have seen the small smile that Davion harbored when Avirus reacted as planned. Counting down the distance between the two, the orodil talked until he was just 5 meters away from his target.

”You shouldn't have attacked us. You could have all lived peaceful liv...”

CLANK

The Hero barely dodged the sword that cut in half one of the headless bodies on the ground right behind him. Feeling furious to have nearly be taken by surprise, Avirus was now fully angered. ”YOU SLY BASTARD! DIE NOW!” Unfortunately, he only realized now that he was facing someone even the Sword Saint would seek to learn from. To this moment, the former general of Avenio still had not a single weapon capable of surviving more than five hits, making him fight with his bare hands most of the time.

But now, he could only grit his teeth when his flesh hit the sturdy black shield. After a minute of fighting, he could see something red shining on the dark shield, only to realize it was his own blood. ”After you faced him, we made some changes.” The same cold voice spoke methodically, but for the human, it was only taunting him. He understood that the monster was talking about when he became a Hero and fought that giant.

Not backing down, he exploded, rushing madly like a bull at the armor. But even then, he could only see a shield in front of his fists or nothing. And the sharp glint on the sword was getting closer and closer to his own body, something he did not wish to. When they were still engaged closely like that, he did not have time to think, but apparently, the unknown dark god had. ”That was a shame, those magicians are already out.”

Hearing this, even the hardened general that was Avirus slightly panicked and couldn't help but sneak a peek at where the disciples of the Archmage were. Only to find out they were perfectly fine, albeit a bit pale. Seeing this, he realized too late what was really going on, when the sword finally cut open his right arm. But that was not the end of it, with the monster not giving him any time to rest. With his new injury, Avirus began to be sloppy, sometimes receiving the tip of the shield on his chest. Leaving the circle that was formed, he knelt while seeing his soldiers stalling for time.

”[EXPLOSION!]” For a brief second, every human that was not fighting looked at Three that was extending his hand toward Avirus. The Hero did not even think before getting away, leaving the armored monster alone amongst the corpses. A blue light blinked inside the underground room, and a projectile was thrown with great speed at Davion, who only had the time to lift his shield.

BOOOOOOM

The ceiling began to shook, but nearly nothing fell off. If it had been a natural cavern, everyone would have already been buried under tons of rocks. Even then, the ground that was supposed to be as resistant now had a small hole of many meters in it, with everyone surrounding the monsters being blasted off. The cries and shouts of the injured and dying human soldiers broke the daze of those watching this, especially when they realized the undead were completely unfazed by what happened.

Approaching the crater, Avirus looked down to see the armor on one of his knees. The shield that managed to inflict damage to his skin was barely covering the hand of the creature, and a blue skin could be visible in the cracks of his helmet. If his condition was not looking good, it was still better than the one that casted the spell. The old magus was laying on the ground, without even the strength to move his head to not eat dust.

Seven was quick to slightly turn his body to have his back on the ground, allowing easier breathing. From the looks of it, it seemed to not be the first time he did that. But that still provoked a great loss of power in the magic shield protecting the magus, and a new volley of metallic arrows arrived to prove it. If before, it was so durable that not even a fissure was made, now, the light had begun to dim and holes appeared after each hit. They only had the time to fix it before another arrow landed.

Jumping downward, the Hero looked closely at the blue creature, approaching carefully. If the big shield was broken beyond repairs, the sharp sword also showed signs of breaking down. Focusing on this, the human began to think about focusing on it, to break it with his two fists. Because the room was like the second one, with the end controlled by the skeletons higher than the side the humans were, Avirus could still see the liches casting spells even as he was in a hole. But he could not think more about that before he heard something that immediately put him on his guard.

”SURPRISE!” The tall dark god threw his shield on the ground, capturing the attention of the former general. But to his surprise, the monster did not get up immediately, even if they were only a few meters apart. Raising his hands to defend against anything his enemy could throw, the Hero completely forgot that the disciples of the Archmage were now busy.