"You launched him too far Etan!" Balin shouted in admonishment towards one of the squad captains. Anyone working for royalty was the cream of the crop but some individuals would always fall through the cracks. Etan's battle sense was clearly lacking.
'Damn it!' Balin complained inwardly. If one good thing did come of it however was that the launch had alerted him of a new threat.
The skeletons in the report. Devil skulls as some had now nicknamed them. Why? Well, for those at or below the B-rank, their appearance would remain ingrained in their heads.
The dark figures with teeth as sharp as nails. Their hollow sockets containing unconcealed deep seethed hatred. Their battered body that depicted their broken nature and suggested great history. They were devils. For at no point did they show anything but killing intent and animosity.
"These are its death throes! We almost have it!" Balin yelled suddenly before starting to run towards the enemies.
"""YEAH!!!"" ""As you say, commander!!!"" """Let's a go!""" There were different reactions but seeing their commander taking the lead and the clear victory that lay ahead how could they not feel invigorated?
This was the job of a commander. While real-time strategy and decision making was important and definitely a part of the job… What was then the purpose of the strategist? A commander was a figure that leads their troops and provides them with both a sense of security and a perpetual sense of hope. A good commander was vital for morale.
Did that mean that Balin was lying to keep up the morale? Was he trying to act as their last hope in a hopeless situation?
No. Balin was entirely right in his assumption. He could sense the reluctance of the special skeleton to summon these troops.
The skeleton's body was battered and trashed. It had lost two arms. Its enchanted robe had exploded and become tattered. Its core had formed cracks and could no longer hold large quantities of mana as it would leak like wine in a broken glass. The skeleton was finished.
So with those thoughts in mind, Balin charged forward with energy. He gripped tightly the hilt of his long sword, Dinizia as he had named it, and took the fight to the skeleton.
Balin wasn't the strongest knight. His strength in fact fell rather short to some of the members of his own party. Yet, not only was he a knight commander but he was also named as their representative Wasn't that inane1?
That was because Balin meant hope for the Bosque Kingdom. He was nothing special in combat compared to his peers but his specialty was indeed that. The plant-pseudo element was something new and unique to the Bosque Kingdom at least as far as combat went. Truth be told, pseudo-elements seldom be used in combat.
They are elements that require at least two others to be formed. That meant that not only did the knight or mage need to have an affinity for both elements, they also needed to be adept at handling both of them.
One wouldn't be able to vastly increase the strength of their army. They would only increase the strength of the select few who were capable of harnessing this magic. That was to say, pseudo-element spell research was low in popularity and therefore mostly new territory.
Balin drew back his blade. Two energies instantly appeared to run along its edges. They were blue and brown.
"Hup" Balin skipped. Then he skipped again. His momentum was seemingly doubled.
The two energies then began to resonate and merge. They turned a deep yet lively green. This was the plant-pseudo element.
Balin's blade then charged forward. The long sword was like a whip in action. The comparison was fitting too as the sword began to stretch out towards its targets.
"It's the commander's technique!" One of the knights yelled. Before being forced to jump aside by protruding earthen spikes. Trench's gaze was set on all of the invaders however not just this one.
"Argh-!" Mages which were often unaccustomed to close-quarter combat were less likely to successfully dodge attacks. Their only saving grace was their ability to cast shields on their bodies.
"Harry number two!" A knight yelled before glaring at the skeletons. This glare was replaced by surprise after a slew of spells started darting towards his and others' location.
As for Balin, his blade which had stretched out didn't lose any momentum after enlarging in size. Some could say it was magical. As for its target…
The plant blade struck metal. It was Iron's sword.
But the sword of the ever sturdy and strong-willed death knight was not enough to resist the great force on its own. The blade was sent flying right out of Iron's deathly grip. It left even the emotionless skeleton in surprise. It was also at that moment that the sword continued its trajectory and struck at Iron's helm.
Iron was instantly knocked aside and left to roll on the ground picking up dirt and losing both speed and bits of his armor. The patches to the scratches and cracks it used to have had paid off for Ed but unfortunately, it was impossible to have it regain its former state.
Iron was shortly put out of commission by what was only the first strike. This had unnerved Ed but as he was now nothing but a spectator he could only stand there and watch as the artificial length of Balin's blade started to wilt.
Still, that was good on its own. It allowed Ed to observe something.
'That was just for show' Balin wore a helmet as did all and every knight. Nevertheless, he couldn't hide how he had stopped charging forward after performing that move or the small motions that suggested a tired body.
Though that was good. What was also true was that Balin was not the strongest. There was a sniper.
The earth trembled and rose. But just as it did it crumbled. An arrow of light pierced right through it and continued its path towards Ed.
Bang! An anti-skeleton with a shield ran in front of the beam. His body was coated by earthen mana giving him defensive prowess yet…
The arrow cut right through the scavenged shield and the anti-skeleton was welcomed with a new hole in his skull. Whenever Ray aimed, he aimed to kill.
'That could have been my head' Ed felt helpless as he saw the situation around him start to look unfavorable.
After Iron was so ruthlessly thrown aside, Gold took the charge. His golden age armor was much better than Iron's but his experience was inferior. Realistically, had Ed not recently learned of the chances of rejections and how that affected drop items he would have swapped the bodies of both.
After the fall of the shield-bearing skeleton, all of the anti-skeletons were wary against the archer. More importantly, they were worried about their liege. They all immediately took action.
A dome of the earth was formed around Ed. This dome was made by a nameless earth anti-skeleton. The anti-skeletons all surrounded this dome. The particularly strong ones like Blaze and even Scavenger were at the forefront.
"Hahaha, laughable" One of the knights said with contempt in a solemn manner. It was also at this time that a new volley of attacks was ready. The knights on the battlefield stepped aside.
Ed, who was inside of the dome, was alarmed by the move of his anti-skeletons. For one, he didn't need to be protected. Two, he couldn't see what was going on now!
'Let me out' Ed quickly told the earth anti-skeleton. Yet not only did the anti-skeleton not give in… but Ed could sense a bunch of others being formed outside of the dome. His non-existent heart skipped a beat. Another volley had to be coming!
PROTECT
That was all the anti-skeletons knew. Since they were born, no created, they only knew of Ed. They only knew that Ed had brought them life and for that they were grateful.
The words written by Trench did not to be read. That was because all of the present anti-skeletons, even the nameless ones, thought the same thing.
Trench's core was quickly emptied out. So where the cores of many others. A large manner of walls was set up in front of him. Immediately thereafter, the spells rained down on them and the walls crumbled as if they were made of sand.
One by one the walls fell. Each faster than the last as some of the more powerful spells carried over from the previous wall and assisted in the tearing down of the following barriers.
It was time to switch tactics.
Blaze's mana core started to revolt. The fiery magma like mana in it coursed wildly. Blaze then lifted its boney hand in determination. It pointed at the wall in front of him.
Blaze waited for only a couple of seconds before releasing red hot flames from his hand. The flames spewed out like a flamethrower. These strong flames were launched directly at the earthen walls, it seemed like they would collide!
But Blaze knew better. Blaze knew the walls of earth cast by Trench better than any of those humans or even his own skeleton kin. That was because a single day didn't go by where Blaze didn't train to defeat those walls.
Those spars battling for the position of the head lich. All of them ended in failure. He could never crumble those walls with his flames.
The final wall broke.
The wall he thought insurmountable and invincible.
The flames cast by Blaze then met the volley of spells. With a bang, all manner of things started to ignite. The fire spells fought against the fire, the ice melted, and the water turned to vapor. The earth passed through almost seamlessly, and weaker materials turned to ash.
As more things happened, more things released smoke and vapor the skeletons' visions were masked. The only figure in front of them was that of Blaze's who adorned a red robe. It had been picked out by Scavenger.
Blaze's hand then spurted like a broken-down engine. But Blaze stood still. The spells that were left had been weakened by his fire and the first cast had been mostly blocked by Trench's walls. They now needed just one more obstacle.
There were many potential candidates for this role. But it took experience to take a beating. Blaze knew to take a beating.
All of the spells battered against Blaze's body. The battle was one of attrition. At no point did the skeletons ever think that they could emerge victoriously.
Blazes body was shot back like a cannonball as the last of the spells landed squarely on it. His robe had been scorched and his bones had cracked and split. His skull was wide open and his jaw was not to be found.
The sorry sight didn't leave any of the skeletons feeling down, however. They knew no emotion. It was funny, as they did know devotion.
KILL
The order had changed. The battle was a losing one but as undead, they would never lose in spirit. They would almost certainly take down some of the living with them.
KILL
The knights charged forward to meet the skeletons that numbered no more than 17.
Senseless; Meaningless; according to Merriam Webster.