I stare down at the 4 Knights in shining armor before me. They each carry heavy shields and long silver swords.
The hum of mana fills the air as I track their power sources back to the ominous Iron door at the backside of the entrance hall.
It’s less than 30 meters away, and that familiar evil red aura seeps out from beneath the crack and from its hinges. The Behemoth is back there…
All around me, there’s fallen rubble. Fire creeps up the walls, and smoke begins to fill the room.
There are piles of wooden crates and fragments of used armor lining the wide hallways of the entrance hall on all sides.
Ember’s fire magic begins to spread further and further down the edges of the room, shedding more light upon the performance that is about to commence.
Using my All-Seeing Eye, the strands of mana above the Knights’ heads are as clear as day.
Their shields and armor give off a similar buzz and I can pick up the presence of mana shielding around their metal bodies.
It’s thick, thicker than the guards shielding in the courtyard. Possibly twice as dense. Although its shielding doesn’t matter much, all I really have to aim for are the strands above their heads.
I smirk, gripping my sword while focused on the back of the room.
“This should be easy enough…”
One of the Knights steps forward as I begin to run its way. I hear heavy metal footsteps as it draws near holding its shield in a perfect defensive position while readying its blade.
Well, perfect it’s a perfect defensive position if an attacker were aiming at its body…
I leap upwards, air-stepping to gain speed and altitude with my eyes and glowing sword locked on the strand above its silver helmet.
The mindless metal suit of armor continues lunging forward as I make contact with the thin white thread of energy. A light buzz, followed by a snapping sound, leads to the loud clang of armor on the cold stone floor.
I hit the floor with a thud, landing on both feet and still holding my fully charged blade ready for more.
I hardly had to let out any MP to sever its ties with the aura behind that door. There was a bit more resistance than the guards outside, but it still broke with ease.
Like clockwork, the second silver Knight comes running at me with its sword at the ready.
This time around, it’s holding the heavy metal shield at a higher angle. If I were aiming for its normal vital points, holding the shield up like this would be pointless…
I run at the guard with a puzzled, yet curious look on my face.
While jumping into the air, I lock my eyes on its mana thread. The thin white strand is wide out in the open, calling for my blade to slice it in half. As I swing my sword, a wide grin creeps across my face while watching the silver Knight’s next move.
The suit of armor raises its shield, putting it in between my incoming sword and its only weak point. The thread.
I smirk, whispering under my breath as I continue to launch my attack.
“They’re… learning….”
I follow through, propelling myself at the Knight with air-steps, increasing my speed and bursting into a fiery ball of flames.
Like a hot knife through butter, my blade glides through the shield of the Knight attempting to block my attack.
There’s a loud buzz, followed by my sword stopping for a moment in mid-air. I’m forced to release the full attack I’ve been holding back inside the blade.
Following through with my swing, the thing blade crescent of fire leaves my sword, snapping the mana thread the moment my black fire makes contact.
I fall to the ground, landing on my feet with a thud. My boots crack the stone-tiled floor while I watch the armor set fall to the ground lifeless and empty.
I stare down at my weapon, questioning myself for a moment.
“Did I not use a full charge…?”
Confused, I reach into my item storage to grab another MP potion while looking up at the two remaining Knights.
As the bottle of pink liquid hits my lips, I feel a pulsing sensation of that same crimson aura fill my mind and body.
The red looming energy at the back of the room glows brighter and it seeps out of the door even further. I watch the two strands of mana connected to Armored Knights glow brighter as the aura expands.
I gulp, watching everything unfold with my All-Seeing Eye taking in the fine details of the entire scene.
The main shielding around the duo of remaining Knights gets stronger… much stronger.
Almost like all of the excess energy from the two suits of armor that fell is now being used for the Knights in front of me.
I grit my teeth, then throw the empty glass bottle of MP potion to the floor, and run forward gripping my glowing sword.
One of the armed guards turns toward me and readies its shield just like the previous Knight did. Instead of guarding its body, it’s guarding the thin strand of mana that keeps it in the fight.
I jump in the air, emulating my last attack. The Knight does the same. It raises its shield up high in the air, tracking my momentum as I lock onto its power source even through the dense shielding that covers all of its gear.
I bring my red glowing sword covered in a dense black aura down upon its shield. The strand of mana is no more than a few centimeters behind its thick layer of mana shielding.
To my surprise, on impact, there’s a dim flash of white light. My sword faces a bit of resentence while pushing down on the shield.
I charged nearly 1000MP into the blade, yet, this guard is holding off my deadly blow.
I grit my teeth and push down harder, being forced to let out the crescent of fire from deep within my blade again.
Once released, the white light flashes brighter and an explosion of fire and metal fragments fills the room. The shielding gives way on impact and I follow through to let my energy attack slice through its thread
Again, there’s a much greater resistance than the previous Knight. After a fraction of a second of pause, there’s a metallic twang. It’s followed by the snapping sound of a tight thread, then the clang of metal armor on the floor.
I let out a laugh as I hit the stone flooring again and watch the boring fragments of metal Knight hit the floor beside me.
Staring across the entrance hall at my final enemy, I drink another MP potion and point my Blade at the silver suit of armor standing in front of the red-glowing Iron door.
“You’re all that’s left, show me what you’ve got!”
The murderous red aura from behind the door pulses again, sending shivers down my spine out of instinct. I watch it seep further out of the doorway and flow into the Silver Knight’s metal body.
The mana shielding on its armor glows with the same red aura that comes from behind the door. The strand above its head becomes thicker and much more mana dense.
It lifts its shield and sword, taking one step forward at me.
I plant my feet and do the same.
Reactivating all of my skills, charging my sword up with 1000MP in just a few seconds, and grinning ear to ear, I run at the metal monster before me.
It charges back.
The bloodlust coming off its armor is sickening, but I know it’s not the Knight. Whatever is controlling these suits of armor from afar is the real monster…
I’ll face it soon.
My boots crack the stone floor with each step as I use wind magic to increase my speed. The Knight’s heavy boots send metallic echos throughout the entrance hall.
I focus on it, and it focuses on me.
My sword glows by my side as I run while its armor slowly becomes covered in the murderous red aura behind that iron door.
We get closer and closer until we finally collide.
I aim for the strand above its head, jumping in the air and swinging my blade. The Knight does not change its strategy in the slightest. It raises its heavy silver shield and covers its weak point while aiming to strike me with its sword.
Not wanting to take any chances, I release all the MP in my blade at once. My jet black crescent of fire collides with its heavy metal shield. A dense aura of crimson mana shielding covers it from head to toe.
On impact, the orange and yellow windows above us shatter into a million pieces showering the room in broken glimmering fragments of glass.
The ear-piercing metallic twang of our mana-on-mana collision echoes through the long corridor.
The knight stands in place as my black aura clashes with its red shield. I think quickly, darting my eyes back and forth, then begin to plunder its MP at once.
We’re stuck at a standstill.
My attack won’t budge an inch, and it can’t move its shield because its lifeline is right behind it.
Its red aura seeps into my body, letting me charge my blade with more and more of its own MP.
The Knight doesn’t move at all, keeping a steady shield against my blade.
As it begins to raise its own sword, attempting to get in a cheap strike, something odd happens.
It retreats before even throwing an attack.
The moment my plundering ability activates, this Knight has lost its strength. I watch the red aura around the Knight begin to fall back. I’m absorbing some of its energy, but the majority of it is creeping back behind the ominous Iron door.
I don’t really care why it’s retreating, I’ll take full advantage of any weakness it shows.
I push my sword down with more and more force, now, with the black blade of fire pushing close to 1300MP in a single strike.
The dim glow of mana shielding cracking at the seems fills my vision and I let out a yell.
Channeling even more mana into my blade as the Knight’s defenses get weaker and weaker, the white light that signifies the end of our battle begins to glow.
Moments later, an eruption of dark flames fills the room as my attack bursts through its final layer of shielding and snaps the thread above its head in two.
The black blade of fire follows through and heads straight at the iron door behind the Knight. With my attack already behind disrupted by the slicing of armor and dense thread, it collides with the metal door and explodes into a fiery display on impact.
The walls in front of me crumble to pieces. Fragments of glass still fall from the ceiling as the stone and iron fly in all directions creating a chaotic whirlwind of debris.
I hear Ember swoop in from behind me as I watch the final Silver Knight collapse to the floor. Its dense thread of mana dissipates into thin air.
I air-step up to jump on the Dragon’s back as he approaches from behind me and we both burst into an eruption of our own flames. Ember’s dense mana shielding acts as a force field to block out glass and stone as it falls down on us from above.
“Forward. I need to see what’s behind that wall.”
Without missing a beat, Ember and I fly straight through the fiery entrance that leads to the final room. We dive deep into the murderous red aura I’ve been searching for this whole time.