Chương 495: The Battle of Death March (3, 4)
Guys, I am terribly sorry for taking some days off without further notice. The house was busy these past couples of days and my head wasn't functioning. I know we are at the end of the Volume and it is so rude to go on a break out of the blue but please, accept my apology. Sometimes the cat spirit possessing me demands a sudden break and takes a long nap. It is a wonder I still get votes and Patrons with my lazy attitude!
So, a double chapter!
~~~~~~~~~~
(Part 1)
"Blessed be the Alliance!"
"The Cult shall prevail!"
And the fight broke out.
The Cult amassed their undead minions to horde over the rubble of the fallen rocks but the Alliance was already prepared and secured the high ground and there where the clash happened.
"Secure every spot. Hold the formation tight. The large undead creatures are slower than the smaller ones, deal with them first." War Chief Laila stood in front of the lines followed by Nagla and Isha on her right and left.
"Master, we should take the fight to the heart of the enemy as fast as we can. Staying here for too long will cause our casualties to increase." Isha shouted as she broke five zombies with a swing of her spear.
"Going down there early is suicide!" Nagla disagreed.
"We have no choice! We can go forward then retreat under the cover of magic, else we are going to lose our position." War Chief Laila had the most experienced background in open battles so she came up with a solution right away.
"March forward! Take ground and make every strike count!" She shouted and advanced ahead spearheading the attack with her spear.
"""HUA!""" The Adepts of the Citadel had absolute trust in their War Chief and followed her lead.
Despite her previous injury, War Chief Laila combined her experience with tactics and acted as the figure who can boost the morales at the forefront of the army even though she wasn't able to exert her full power.
She decided to act flashy and be the center of attention just to give confidence to the Adepts even if it meant worsening her recovery. She aimed her spear forward and focused on its blade that started to give off a blue aura. From there, a strong force fortified her charge and added a strong wave of power to her attack.
[Annihilating Blade - Lightning Bird Spear]
A Martial Art of the spear recorded by the old Spear Masters of the First Era only a few could learn and less could master.
The attack opened a path through the enemy lines as the War Chief destroyed over thirty undead creatures in one strike.
"War Chief is amazing!"
"Follow the War Chief!"
The Adepts were maddened by seeing the amazing Martial Art and offered their lives to just keep up with their idol who is breaking the ranks so effortlessly.
"Elder sister, go easy on yourself!" Nagla ran after her and tried to talk some sense into her sister.
"If you want this to end early, hurry up and don't lag behind." The War Chief didn't seem to be willing to stop but rather, she seemed in a hurry.
"Dammit! Here I go." Nagla couldn't stop her sister so she decided to take some of the load.
She swung her spear in circles and jumped inside a gathering of the dead. Her swings were unnatural and caused every undead in the way to be torn apart just like that.
[Fanning Spear - Bloody Wolf Storm]
If the opponents were living people, one could have seen a storm of blood around Spear Battlelord Nagla. Unlike her sister who showed the Power of the Spear, she showed the Accuracy of the Spear.
"You two… amazing!" From behind, Isha watched the War Chief and her Master compete on who was destroying more undead, a strong urge grew within her to join the party as well.
"Here I come." She shouted and ran towards the enemies with fabulous footwork evading and attacking using the [Spear of Bitter Mercy].
[Ebonarm Spear - Dancing Demon Spear]
A Martial Art that is taught to all the Adepts of the Citadel of Ebonarm who use the spear but to maintain it and reach its peak was a deed impossible to achieve for most of the current and old generations. Isha execution can be described as flawless.
"This girl!"
The two masters of the spear who are War Chief Laila and Spear Battlelord Nagla couldn't help but admire the fine Battlelord they brought up. Isha was on her way to surpass all who came before her in the Citadel.
The attack was a huge success. Let alone Laila, Nagla and Isha who were the obvious spearhead; the other Adepts and Battlelords showed no less courage and overwhelmed the Undead in a glorious show of strength and courage but like all things, it had to come to an end.
When the warriors reached the lowest point of the rocky rubble, they had already suffered some losses even with the high ground advantage but as the advantage was lost, they were about to be overwhelmed with numbers.
"Retreat now! Mages! Attack!" Kareem issued his order for the frontal main force to retreat and the mages to cover them.
A barrage of Magic spells showered the gap between the Warriors and the Undead Creatures. The Healers were not only assigned for healing but also attacking with the Sun Spells despite how weakened they were.
A safe retreat was guaranteed except when it came to one place.
The right side of the army was completely covered by healers, the magic in that side only harmed the Undead and not the living. It is a good thing in most cases but the Worm Cult saw through such a weakness.
"There! Attack! Preach their lines!"
Worm Knight Bobrak, known as Bonecrafter Bobrak, was leading a force of Worm Knights and Worm Necromancers from the right side. He walked across the danger zone barely scratched by the Sun Spells and surprised the Citadel Warriors at the right flank.
"The Cultists have passed! To formation!"
The Battlelord responsible for the right flank ordered a textbook defensive formation and withstood the Worm Knight successfully.
"Haha! Fools!"
Bonecrafter Bobrak was smiling viciously seeing his plan actually working. He gave a signal to the necromancers following him and they all started summoning skeletons as fast as they could.
"Stop them!" The battlelord wanted to take action against the summons and overwhelm the Necromancers but soon, he realized where he was mistaken.
Not all the skeletons were made for battle, some were made to be destroyed and take the enemy with them.
"Shields!"
"Too late!"
Once the Skeletons and the Warriors clashed, those skeletons exploded violently in the faces of those warriors.
"AAAAH!"
"MY EYES!"
"HELP!"
It was a vicious move. The spell known as [Blastbones] would send a suicidal skeleton that would run at the enemies nimbly, even evading attacks and giving a chase to its target until it blasts in fragments into that enemy. Those fragments were small and sharp, their harm is beyond repair for most of these skeletons are either carrying Flame, Poison or Disease.
"You dirty Necromancers!" The battlelord was angered beyond sense and jumped off his place aiming to behead the necromancers hiding behind the worm knights.
"That's the spirit!"
Bonecrafter Bobrak faced the Battlelord and received his attack with a sudden [Bone Shield] that appeared out of nowhere resembling a ribcage carrying to skulls. The Battlelord's sword didn't even scratch the [Bone Shield].
With a swing of his hand, a Scythe appeared on Bobrak's hand and went effortlessly through the Battlelord's body.
"NO!" A shout was heard from nearby as the Battlelord's head rolled on the ground.
With his other hand, Bobrak cast a spell turning the headless body of the Battlelord into an Undead right away.
"Haha! Go get them!"
The dreadful situation inspired a lot of fear into the hearts of the warriors who were trying to avenge the Battlelord but soon after, a spear came flying blasting away the headless undead body of the Battlelord.
"Dirty Faithless Cultists!"
War Chief Laila seemed to have secured her front and left the leadership to Battlelord Nagla.
"Die!" Bobrak swung the [Death Scythe] once again at Laila who skillfully evaded and grasped some sand throwing it in Bobrak eyes.
"AH! Dirty!"
"Shut up and fight!"
Laila realized that she can't prolong the fight because of her injury so she had to end it as fast as she can. Her spear returned to her hand and she launched a second [Annihilating Blade - Lightning Bird Spear]. Bonecrafter Bobrak tried to block the attack with his [Bone Shield] but he couldn't even understand what happened next.
The spear of the War Chief shattered his shield to smithereens intending to take his arm.
"Dream on!" He abandoned his place and jumped away taking distance from the dangerous opponent he couldn't recognize.
This was surprising. As the Worm Anchorite of the Cell that was responsible for assassinations, he should know all the dangerous targets and the ones that are marked for death.
"War Chief! We're here to aid you."
Some of the Citadel Adepts joined the fray to ward off the Necromancers and the other Worm Knights from interfering with the War Chief's fight.
"The War Chief? How? You are supposed to be dead by now!"
"Heh! You think too highly of your Cult, Necromancer." Laila wasn't planning to waste more time and aimed for the Orc's neck.
Bobrak realized his situation wasn't favorable, surely the Masked Spearmaster was none other than the famous War Chief Laila, such a woman was one of the best Fighters around Tamriel, even he wasn't confident to face.
He tried to block the attack by using two [Bone Shields] at the same time but his movements were far slower than her even with her injury limiting her options.
'Impressive! Even the Blessed One couldn't kill her.'
Bobrak's options were running short but he is not an Anchorite for show, he had a trump card for those kinds of situations.
"GET OFF ME!"
The Orc shouted making his Magicka explode and transforming it hurriedly into a spell. Laila had to retreat and watch the Orc cast his big spell.
[Bone Goliath Transformation]
"This is bad!"
The spell only a Master Mage can cast and needs years upon years of Necromancy practices to master.
Bonecrafter Bobrak was known as the Bonecrafter for his peerless skill in such art so of course, he could cast [Bone Goliath Transformation]. The last time that spell appeared in public was during the Aftermath of the Battle of Forsworn Jon Dare when Arch Wizard Nurina used it to fight on equal terms with the Noble Vampire Lord, Harkon Volkihar. ("Bone Goliath Pic added to Discord and IG)
"Dammit! Retreat!"
From this point on, the fight was fated to turn ugly.
**********
(Part 2)
"Hya!"
"HAA!"
The two big shots of the Citadel and the Cult clashed in mortal combat. At the start of the fight, War Chief Laila was both faster and Stronger than Bonecrafter Bobrak but after the [Bone Goliath Transformation], he became superior in raw power and endurance. Harming him will prove to be a challenge right now.
A Bone Goliath lives up to its name, the mechanic of the spell works by incasing the Necromancer in an Undead specially fitted to cover them fully. This meant more than just protection for the [Bone Goliath] was an undead that has its own power and set of controls needing to take commands from its pilot, the Necromancer.
It can be described as a power armor of sorts. Very strong and durable, powered by Magicka, has its own set of attacks and supports all the Magicka and Combat skills of the Pilot.
For that, War Chief Laila resorted to her best Martial Skills aiming to crack that tough nut while Bonecrafter Bobrak resorted to conjuring two [Death Scythes] by both hands locking all the angles of retreating for the War Chief.
"Stupid!"
Comparing his brute force to her skill was a mistake. Her spear found its way to leave a large crack on the chest of the Bone Goliath then she escaped the range of the two [Death Scythes] by evading at no direction except forward.
"Grah!" Bonecrafter Bobrak felt the impact of the spear and took distance from the battlelord.
She is too dangerous for him to take on. Despite the fact that he managed to ambush the Citadel and kill a Battlelord, she managed to steal the momentum and take her Adepts to safety minimizing the loss to the minimum.
The goal of the Cult was to kill as many Citadel Warriors as fast as they could then Reanimate them into Undead to make them fight their fellow warriors. Aside from the psychological pressure that would accumulate on a person to beat down the corpse of his brothers and fellow warriors, the Cult had a final plan to use those fallen for an assault of a [Corpse Explosion] spell to fully break the first line of Defense for the HoonDing Alliance which is the whole Citadel of Ebonarm.
This carefully crafted plan went into absolute chaos now that the War Chief took action herself.
"We retreated!" A call came from the back of the Alliance lines calling the War Chief to retreat.
"Hehehe. Good!"
Laila knew her job was over and decided to cut the fight here.
"Stop where you are!" Bobrak couldn't afford to let his strong magic go to waste and wanted to stop Laila's retreat but she was still faster than he is.
"You won't go."
Desperate, Bobrak resorted to casting [Conjure Zombie Horse] a couple of times. The Zombie horses were strong and heavy which guaranteed they would withstand the attacks of the Alliance as he chases after War Chief Laila and so it happened.
The rubble high ground wasn't much of an obstacle to the Zombie Horses that pulled the Bone Goliath up.
"Commander! We can't afford to follow! We are losing numbers!" A Worm Knight called for Bobrak but the latter was too obsessed with killing the War Chief before anything else the plans would go to absolute chaos.
"Throw the rocks! Destroy the corpses!" At the top of the rubble mountain, Kareem was giving a series of orders to obstruct Bobrak and destroy any remaining corpse on the battlefield to avoid the Necromancers reanimating them.
"Dammit! Assist me here!" Bobrak found no escape but to call for help as he finally locked the escape route on Laila.
{Endure for a minute! I'm bringing help!} Necromancer Iceheart responded to his call.
Meanwhile, War Chief Laila was calculating her options.
"There is no escape, War Chief." Bobrak felt the victory will be assured as soon as he takes care of the strongest enemy that could even hold a whole flank on her own with an injury hindering her.
"Heh! You've got some guts following me here. Fine, show me what you got."
As an Orc, Bonecrafter Bobrak was not just some second grade-warrior, he was a great warrior so he could surely use that.
"HAA!"
With a loud shout, the Orc started to get empowered and break free from his shackles more and more.
[Berserk Rage], the racial power of Orcs.
Two [Death Scythes] formed on his hands as he waved them at Laila from the sides.
She nimbly jumped up and twisted her body with the spear attacking the Bone Goliath at its skull. A crack formed on the skull and some drops of blood appeared on the spear blade. A critical hit.
The War Chief felt her victory was assured but sadly, she celebrated too soon, a berserking Orc can't feel anything such as pain. Despite the crack on the skull, Bobrak used the chance of Laila not stabilizing herself mid-air and rammed her with his supposedly injured head.
"AH!"
The ram was too strong for Laila forcing her to retreat while the Orc tried to cease the chance using his superior Berserking state to attack her but she skillfully retreated.
"DIE!"
From behind, a bolt of unholy magic was shot at Laila's back hitting her without her noticing and causing her to fall short on evasion.
"WAR CHIEF!" Kareem was the closest to the scene and found himself jumping out of his post to defend the War Chief taking the second Magic bolt with the [Soul Sword].
"Annoying!" A Witch-like woman appeared in the sky, she was holding a staff and looked rather ugly. It was Iceheart.
A second solo fight started between Prince Kareem and Worm Necromancer Iceheart as Kareem jumped mid-air deflecting all the attacks skillfully and giving a serious chase to the witch.
"Isha! Assist the War Chief!" Kareem's voice vibrated over the battlefield alerting the other two fronts where Isha and Myr fought.
Isha looked at Nagla and the two nodded before Isha charging on a Storm Atronach across the battlefield.
Meanwhile, War Chief Laila was in quite a grim situation. After she was struck by the deadly bolt, she fell down and the Bone Goliath that is Bonecrafter Bobrak took the chance to engage with her in a devastating fight.
She managed to break his magic but she lost her spear, he tried to strangle her using her superior bruteness and she struggled with maintaining her situation from worsening.
"BREAK FOR ME!" The frenzied Orc shouted behind his skull protection and pinned Laila to the ground. As she clung into his arm, he bound her down hard then stepped on her causing her to cough out blood.
"War Chief!" Isha's voice was heard nearby but Laila was too weakened to respond.
Bobrak's hand was raised once again and two impactful punches landed on Laila's body. The last attack was when Bobrak raised his hand and conjured a [Bone Dagger].
"Die!"
The last attack wasn't missing Laila's heart by any chance and she felt death drawing nearer. In a moment of weakness, Laila gave up and closed her eyes but in the next, a slender ebony spear was piercing through the arm of the [Bone Goliath].
"Get off her!"
Bobrak staggered backward by Isha yet the berserking Orc soon regained his balance and looked at Isha. Despite the skull face, Isha could see the nasty smile under that skull as a horde of Necromancers, Worm Knights and Undead Creatures.
"Maiden of the Spear! It is you!" Bobrak figured out Isha's identity without much thinking.
"Son of a fucking bitch! I'll kill you. BOETHIAH!"
Isha called for her last resort power, the [Blessing of Boethiah - Desert Wrath]. The air around her started to burn on its own and a storm of sand formed as she charged like a loosen arrow at Bonecrafter Bobrak.
"GRAAHH!" The Orc called his remaining arm to call a [Bone Wall] from the ground to hinder Isha's advance but it was broken like a piece of biscuit.
"Shit!"
The spear's tip was already pressing at the chest of the Bone Goliath as Bobrak started retreating and Isha gave chase. The sandstorm she called around her destroyed each and every undead and worm cultist she passed across save for the ridiculously durable Bone Goliath that the [Spear of Bitter Mercy] was its only medicine.
"Die, you fucker!"
Isha shouted delivering all the power from her Aura to her Shoulders and Thighs as the spear tip sunk deeply in the Goliath then she started lifting him up on her spear.
Isha's strength reached an unimaginable realm when she was lifting the large Goliath up vertically then tossed him to the air.
She wasn't done! Oh! She was far from done. She jumped up after him with her spear aimed forward using what she knows about Magic to levitate for a few seconds while delivering an attack that would send the Bone Goliath up in the air more. All of those attacks were a martial skill known as [Annihilating Blade - Wolf Bite Spear].
The Bone Goliath began to disintegrate with each strike showing bloody spots of its owner's body being broken apart. An arm flew away, then a foot, then the whole leg, and finger were seen.
Screams!
Wails!
The Orc's pain must have accumulated for too long and his body was feeling it all in one go alongside Isha's relentless attacks.
"STOP! PLEASE! NO! HELP"
As all parts of the Bone Goliath were broken apart, the Orc was revealed to all who could see as body losing its limbs on a rabid rate.
Isha couldn't maintain her flight for too long and soon fell towards the slope of rubble but she safely landed. As for the Orc, he fell right after Isha with its hideous body bleeding like a slain pig. Once it was close to the ground, Isha met him with her spear.
*Slash*
The Speartip penetrated the head of the Orc from the neck going up through the skull and carrying it like a trophy.
"The Cult's Commander is dead!"
"Isha killed him! She killed him!"
"Rally the news! Aloud!"
All the Citadel Warriors cheered loudly to convey the news on all fronts. Isha slew a Cult Commander!
The impact of the news was obvious. The Worm Cultists were unable to advance further from the shock while the Warriors of the Citadel and the HoonDing Alliance turned into hungry wolves and rallied another charge against the Cultists and the Undead.
"Help! The War Chief is injured!" Isha destroyed the body of the Bobrak and ran to Laila supporting her away from the battle under the protection of some Battlelords.
Meanwhile in the sky.
"Hold that Witch!"
"HYA!"
Kareem and Jax were chasing after the Necromancer Iceheart.
"Hahaha! You won't catch me, pretty boy."
"Hmph!"
Jax snorted as he flipped his wings and blocked the escape path of Iceheart. She tried to evade left but his [Lava Whip] stopped her escape. Kareem had some control over the [Levitation] spell using his magic tools so he was able to keep up with Jax and Iceheart.
"Isha killed a Cult Commander!"
The loud cheer finally reached the ones battling in the skies. Iceheart froze in her place and looked where Bobrak was supposed to be. She took note of Isha holding the [Spear of Bitter Mercy] with Bobrak hung from the tip.
"… Impossible!"
"Hya!"
Iceheart had no time to rest as Kareem was swinging the [Soul Sword] at her.
"Piss off!"
She tried to get rid of him but Jax was waiting for her. His "Lava Whip" held her from her leg and pulled her down.
"Let go! I said let me go!"
The Witch was infuriated by the cooperation between Jax and Kareem so she had to get rid of Jax first. She aimed her hand and cast a dreadful spell towards him.
Jax had no time to evade as he was focused on holding the whip to prevent Iceheart from escaping. Once he saw the Spell approaching nearer, he almost lost focus but someone appeared in front of him to take the magic instead.
"Prince! No!"
It was Kareem. Once Jax saw Kareem in the line of danger, he remembered his Master's serious warning about protecting Kareem that had an "or else" following it. Sadly, Jax was too slow to help Kareem and the spell landed on him causing a dark explosion.
"Dammit!"
"Ahahaha!"
The Minotaur was shuddering from the thought that he failed to protect Kareem, on the other hand, Iceheart gave a Witch laugh for her flawless spell.
"Hmph! Celebrating too soon."
Yet all of a sudden, Kareem's voice sounded and the dark cloud was torn apart by a wave of shimmering light.
Kareem appeared in the most heroic appearance he may appear with. His armor was radiating and he was holding two swords, one was the [Soul Sword], the other was the [Ansei Ward].
Two voices sounded in his head, one was Prince A'tor and the other was Sword Saint Radan. To top it all, the armor that Jon gave him was ridiculously playing along.
———————————
[Royal Plate] <Elvensteel Set>
- Weapon Enchantment Imitation
———————————
The armor was a full plate yet simple, light and nearly crafted by Wulfur who was training on imitating the Elven Craftsmanship. Despite being kept in the corner as decoration, Jon had a devilish idea while training his Enchanting. The Enchantment, which required the whole set, can borrow power from a Weapon's Enchantment and reflect similar qualities on the whole armor. Its flaw was that it didn't work well with normal weapons and for such a complicated Enchantment, it was scripted using the Binary Method.
Combined with the [Soul Sword], the armor would give a Holy Aura and reflect the power of Prince A'tor but combining it with an [Ansei Ward], things took a rather ridiculous turn.
Somehow, the armor grew wings made of light swords with some sort of a melody or humming was heard in the surroundings as well. The world may have not seen such an image for ages but surely the blood of Redguards, descendants of the old Yukodans, realized what Kareem just looked like.
As he moved his swords, the melody around him started to intensify. The Tonal Law of the universe moved with his sword and a mystical wave of sword slash happened.
"Master! Save me!" Iceheart knew she was done for, all she could do is to call her Master, Grand Anchorite Almion.
"Stay your blade!" A voice came like thunder in the sky targeting Kareem but the melody around him protected him from all Tonal based attacks and he continued with the sword strike at Iceheart.
"Mortal, you dare defy me?"
Grand Anchorite Almion flew from his camp and targeted Kareem. A deviating power comparable to an Ancestor started to pressure Kareem and endangered him but suddenly, all the pressure was blocked by something. Meanwhile, Kareem's sword strike landed on Iceheart and broke her apart in a withering scream.
"Who are you? How can you stop me?" Grand Anchorite Almion couldn't believe that he was being stopped by an equal strength.
"Please refrain from resisting, I take no pleasure causing harm to another being." The figure that appeared in front of Almion spoke.
It was wearing some simple elven armor not even enchanted. Once it removed the helm, the face of an elf appeared. It was hard to distinguish what Elf that is yet from the looks of it, the Elf was too beautiful and charming. Could be an Altmer as they are the best looking ones but those pain in the ass Altmer are nothing but trouble and they can't give this peaceful feeling.
"What… what are you?" Almion directed a question to Myr with a shocked face.
Despite being equal to an Ancestor, Almion couldn't see through the Elf in front of him.
"Worry not! It shall be painless!"
And Myr raised the [Ansei Ward].
~~~~~~~~~~
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