章 26: Everlasting Hate

Before he could cast a detrimental spell, Elder Grimsbane felt the energy of the ward decreased even more. He took a quick peek behind him and saw Aya already trying to stab his vitals. He Jumped to the side trying to gain some distance but Aya was on him like a fat kid on cake.

Very soon, Rhea joined her teammates ganging up on the defiler. The death of Spots had left her a little unbalance mentally and all she care about was hurting the enemy team.

Everywhere Grimsbane tried to move, two woman and a bear followed constantly depleting the energy of his wards. No matter the individual, their Mana capacity had a limit and Grimsbane's was reaching his. When a Ratonga is push into a corner is when he is the most dangerous. The Elder forego worrying about not getting hit and started to use his Mana offensively.

Poisonous Bolt!

Ahh!!

Elder Bear was not expecting his enemy to counter-attack in that way. The poison was melting his fur and was starting to work on his skin. The elder quickly change back to his human form and cast a cure on himself as well as his healing skill to stimulated cell growth.

Grimsbane did not get discourage and cast yet another Poisonous bolt and then another. Even though it was cure right away the damage was faster than the healing and very soon parts of the muscle system was starting to show on Elder Bear's body.

It was a last ditch effort by Grimsbane to take one more person with him. In order to do the most damage possible, He stopped casting his wards and that left him expose to the barrage of attacks by Rhea and Aya. For Grimsbane, getting attack with weapons forge from copper was like getting attack with butter knife. It didn't hurt much but it was annoying as hell.

Magic and combat arts were a little bit better in terms of damage. Rhea used shock of frost and since her opponent had stopped worrying about defending, the ice nebula hit Grimsbane's arm and started to freeze it.

Desperate to take Elder Bear with him, Grimsbane swung his staff in an arc to create some sort of distance from the annoying flies constantly stabbing him. Even though the idea seemed pretty good in theory, he was fighting a Rogue.

Aya smile at the half ass attempt at swinging a weapon and evade with mirage which in turn trigger Lucky Gambit.

Slash! Slash!

AHHHHHHH!!

While screaming, Grimsbane felt face first to the ground and he couldn't understand why his feet did not respond to his command to move forward. Using the empowerment of Lucky Gambit Aya manage to cut the Elder's Achilles Tendon preventing him from walking ever again.

Seeing his bone staff roll away from him, Elder Grimsbane chuckle and said, "Kekeke... Keep looking behind you, because one day he'll find you, and then...Kekek".

Before he could finish laughing Rheas Flurry of Claws came crashing down the elder's neck.

The Fight between Ulrik and Rhaen was heating up. After he got separated from Elder Grimsbane, Ulrik knew he had to rely on himself to defeat a warrior that was two levels higher than him.

The sound of steel reverberated through the forest. Most of the Champion skills were design for the protection of allies and for the warrior to be the front line in a war. They could mitigate a lot of damage and provided a safe environment for the damage dealers to do their Job. Rhaen had a lot of defensive skills and as such he need it to created a flaws on the enemy in order to defeat it. Otherwise, the fight could become a battle of attrition even though he was two levels above his opponent.

The scene in which Rhaen cut his comrade in two had really shaken Ulrik to the core. He thought that given the circumstances, he could sacrifice his Berserker in exchange for a tactical advantage but a follower of a good alignment god was legendary for putting emotional attachments first.

This psychological pressure reduced his confidence and that was extremely costly. As the fight went on Unholy Aura was doing his job. Little by little, it eroded Rhaen's defensive energy doing constant damage.

Ulrik calculated the time his Unholy Aura would take to start affecting his opponent in a more decisive way. The conclusion was not in his favor, Every time Rhaen hit him, the discrepancy in strength was taking a toll. Ulrik had a spell in his arsenal that might just help him pull through but in order to cast it required an opportunity.

Ulrik waited for Rhaen to commit to a Savage blow and then feinting that he was going to receive the blow with his sword he instead roll to the side and commanded his Skeletal Warrior to attack.

The Skeletal Warrior launch himself towards Rhaen with a bone in his hand trying to stab him with it. Rhaen turned around a hit the bag of bones with a Bash from his shield shattering the summon very easily. Rhaen thought it was a pointless move by his opponent as a level 15 was just too low to do any damage.

Rhaen turned around and saw his opponent finishing yet another Unholy Spell. Rhaen did not get fluster and got into a defensive stance waiting for it.

Siphon Strength!

Ulrik smiled cause he was able to trick his opponent and this spell will definitely turned the tables in his favor. A black gaseous cloud with the face of an old man left Ulrik's body straight towards Rhaen. More times than not, this particular spell was unstoppable. Once it hit his target, the spell will inflict a curse. The curse was meant to drain a portion of the host strength and give it to the caster. The Curse was suppose to last for an hour, however many factors determined his duration and one of those factors was the difference between levels.

The Face traveled extremely fast; however, Ulrik smiled turn upside down when he saw Rhaen's shield glow with a Holy Light. Ulrik didn't know what to expect but what happened almost drove him to despair. The face hit the shield and bounce back towards its caster.

The face enter Ulrik's chest and started to absorb his muscle mass. Once it absorbed enough, it left Ulrik and entered Rhaen's chest providing him with the strength.

Rhaen felt the boost and felt ecstatic. The Holy Light that cover the shield was a defensive skill that was able to reflect one spell. It was very powerful but in order to use it properly, the timing need it to be flawless. Too soon or too late and the spell will not be reflected.

With his new strength Rhaen activated shield Barrage and launch at Ulrik. This time Ulrik did not have the physical strength to hold his ground.

When shield met shield Ulrik flew backwards and did not stop until it hit a tree 10 feet away.

Rhaen started to run after Ulrik to keep the pressure up and not give his opponent any chances. Before he could reach Ulrik, a shadow approached at a fast speed.

NO!!! GET BACK!!

Rhaen activated intercept one more time but it was too late. As his speed double from the Combat Art he managed to get really close to the shadow but not close enough to save her.

Rhea was affected mentally by Spot's death and was attacking like a wild beast without thinking of the repercussions. Once she finished with Grimsbane, she quickly left looking to get a piece of the remaining enemy. By the time she got to where Rhaen was fighting, she saw the enemy flying back and hit a tree.

With red in her eyes she attacked the enemy.

Flurry of Claws!

Once the skill activated she heard a loud shout telling her to move back but it was too late. Ulrik disappeared from his spot and reappear behind her. With his hand encased in the last of his Unholy Power he hit Rhea on her back.

The last thing she heard was a very eerie voice by her ear. It was extremely raspy and said, " Harm Touch!"

Rhea started mummifying at a speed the eye could see. The unholy energy devour all her vitality in less than 2 seconds. This was Ulrik's ace in the hole. He was saving it for Rhaen but he never got a good opportunity to used it. One of the drawbacks of the skill was the need to touch the opponent with his palm in order to used it.

The mummified body dropped to the floor as a shinning sword pierce through his heart. At this moment what passed through Ulrik's mind was the image of a 5 year old Legolas eating the only piece of bread they had manage to steal that day with gusto.

"Live well" Ulrik said beneath his breath right before his head flew into the air.

Two miles away from the fight, a horse screaming voice could be heard at the top of a very tall tree, it was Legolas. After waking up and seeing the note left by his brother he tried to follow as fast as his injuries allowed him to. He always felt that something was wrong and wanted to stop his brother.

It was too late now. Seeing his brother's head fly into the air filled Legolas with everlasting hatred. Taking a knife, he made a cut to one side of his face and bow to the Prince of Death that one day he will have his revenge on the entire village of Helgahvall.