Something was swarming the house from all directions, making it tremble like during an earthquake.
“They are disrupting the dimensional spell that keeps the house together!” Quylla yelled, running along with Friya to the bathroom to change their clothes.
“If it keeps like this, the place will either implode or explode. We need to get out of here and fast!”
“Ready when you are!” Phloria, like Lith, only had to take out her shoes from the dimensional amulet to be ready for action.
“I really hate being the fifth wheel!” Yurial rushed to the other bathroom, cursing his own bad luck. He knew that Friya and Quylla weren’t romantically involved, but after seeing Lith and Phloria sleeping together, he would have paid his weight in gold to switch places with Quylla.
His blood was boiling to the point that he craved to kill some undead, just to blow off some steam.
– “Every time Phloria makes a move on me, something happens. If it wasn’t for Balkor being on a schedule, I’d say the universe is c*ckblocking me!”– Lith thought, checking the outside hallway.
It was full of students. Some were panicking so much, they were running around while still wearing nightgowns.
The communication amulets came back to life once again.
“To all students, we are under attack. Return to your rooms immediately. If the necessity arises, a Warp Step will lead you to safety. Please, be ready to defend yourselves. To all students…”
Linjos’s hologram was the wake-up call they needed. They all went back to their rooms, dressing up as fast as possible.
When the tremors intensified, a Warp Steps appeared in the middle of the room as promised, leading them to the Town plaza. The moon was still high and the sky was clear, allowing them to witness the horror unfolding around them.
The black creatures were back, but this time their numbers were beyond calculation. Thanks to his heightened sense, Lith could see that they were not the same as the last time. They had a lipless mouth, filled with multiple rows of fang-like teeth and a single red eye shining in the middle of the forehead.
The mystical bindings were still restricting them, but they were simply too many compared to the defenders. Each beast and Professor would kill dozens of undead and hold back twice as much, yet many still managed to bypass them.
They were getting closer to the students by the second.
“F*ck waiting!” Phillard the Kroxy yelled in outrage.
“You hatchlings wait here and prepare to fight. I’ll try to slow them down as long as I can.”
Those present were panicking to the point that even a humanoid alligator 2.5 meters (8’2″) high had managed to go unnoticed. Phillard took his axes and charged forward. His fighting style was crude but effective.
Each swing of his weapons would cleave several creatures in half at the same time. Those that managed to regenerate would have their head bitten off and gulped down. After that, the corpses would quickly fade away.
“Man, you taste like sh*t, but I had worse and lived to tell the tale!” The Kroxy laughed merrily while slaughtering everything that dared to come close to him.
Even when he missed a target, his weapons would make spikes of earth or ice erupt from the ground, impaling those that had managed to dodge, making them easy marks for the following attacks.
Lith didn’t like that situation at all. Linjos had clearly placed all the students at the center of the arrays to better protect them, but at the same time, if the enemy managed to get past all the defensive lines, they would be trapped without a way out.
– “Something isn’t right. Solus, can you spot where Scarlett, Ryman, and Kalla are? Why are they not taking part in the battle? They are supposed to be our heavy artillery.” Lith thought.
“Sorry, I can’t. Either they are hiding or they are too far away.” Solus replied. –
Countless creatures kept swarming out of the forest surrounding the mining town. Lith noticed Colonel Varegrave standing on a roof with Captain Kilian right next to him. When they finished chanting, several dozen fireballs with a radius of ten meters (33 feet) rained from the sky like falling stars.
Each of them produced a loud explosion, turning the army of creatures into chunks of meat and black gas. When the smoke from the explosions dissipated, a new wave of undead entered the array.
“How are we supposed to fight against so many of them? Where is the Scorpicore? Where is Linjos?” Varegrave yelled in desperation.
***
Scarlett, Linjos, and the most powerful individuals of both the forest and the academy were watching the fight from a distance. Linjos and Scarlett were deep in a coded conversation that made sense only to the two of them.
“Why are we still here?” Protector growled. “The cubs need us!”
“Patience, Protector.” Scarlett’s tone was calm and confident.
“If we rush in, we would just follow the enemy’s script. Remember that this is still the first day. What do you think of the enemy’s plan?”
“What plan? He is trying to beat us with sheer numbers. Those creatures are mindless!” Protector snarled.
“My point exactly.” Scarlett nodded. “They would make a great vanguard to exhaust us before the final attack, yet he is sending them out now. Our enemy is supposed to be a genius, yet his plan is apparently idiotic.”
“Scarlett is right.” Linjos chimed in, seeing that most of the Professors didn’t seem to trust the Scorpicore’s wisdom.
“If Balkor keeps his cards hidden, we must do the same. At least until we understand his endgame.” None liked the idea of using the students as bait, but it was the only option they had to force the god of death to reveal his hand.
***
Watching the battle unfolding in front of his eyes, Lith felt helpless. He had a very limited number of options. Joining the fight would be his last resort. Because of the witnesses, he couldn’t go all out.
Even if he did, the enemies were just too many. The second option was to provide cover fire for his allies. The last one was running away.
“F*ck Linjos!” He yelled making the group huddle up.
“We need a contingency plan. Friya, you are the best dimensional mage among us. How far can you Warp us away?”
Friya pondered for a while before answering.
“I could get us back to the academy, but it’s too risky. There is a zone of the forest I’m the most familiar with since I spent most of my mock exam there. It’s about ten kilometers from here. Is it okay?”
“It’s perfect. Remember to close the portal right behind us.”
“What about the others?” Quylla shuddered at the idea of leaving their juniors behind.
“First, Friya can’t hold it that long. Second, what’s the point of that? The creatures would follow us and the battle would just change location. I’m talking about saving our lives, not playing heroes.”
Lith’s tone was harsh like he was scolding a pampered child.
No one made further objections, but the mood became even more gloomy.
– “Solus, there’s something wrong with Balkor’s plan. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m sure there’s a catch.”–
Lith took out his staff from his dimensional pocket, unleashing a barrage of ice shards that once they hit a target, they would expand locking it into place. Once paralyzed, the undead were easily dispatched by the beasts or the Professors fighting in the front line.
It was just a way of stalling for time, but it allowed him to notice that something was wrong.
Every time he cast the spell, more and more ice shards would miss their target.
“What the heck?” Lith blurted, a crazy idea was taking form in his mind.
Suddenly, he dashed outside the Town square, going shoulder to shoulder with Phillard.
“What are you doing here? This is no place for hatchlings!” The Kroxy was panting heavily, his body covered in injuries. The creatures were capable of spitting a toxic substance that was seeping through his wounds, slowly sapping his strength.
To make things worse, they were also capable of storing and compressing their life force in the forehead, shooting it out like a laser. Doing it made them weaker and shortened their lifespan, but with each strike, their enemy was more and more debilitated. Soon a new wave of undead would come and Phillard would be too weak to stop them.
The creatures had no survival instinct, they were just obeying a single order: kill.
“For conquest!” Lith heard one of the creatures say right before jumping on Phillard and self-detonating, using the last of its darkness magic to cripple the enemy.
“For revenge!” Another said, shooting a beam of darkness magic before turning to smoke.
“For Balkor!” The undead chanted together before rushing in for the finishing strike.
Lith touched Phillard, removing the toxin while healing his wounds and filling him with life force at the same time. He could give him only two Invigoration breaths worth of energy, but it was all that it needed.
“I take back everything I said, but now take cover!” Between the arrays weakening them and the Kroxy’s renewed strength, the undead were no match for him again. Lith kept close to him, using air magic to deflect the toxic spits and earth magic to shield Phillard from the darkness rays from time to time.
His real aim was studying the fight up close.
Meanwhile, the rest of his group was worried to death. Friya could use force to prevent Quylla from helping Lith, but Yurial could only talk Phloria out of it. She was way taller and stronger than him. If he ticked her off, Phloria was likely to send him flying.
“If he needs our help, he’ll ask for it.” Yurial tried to block her line of sight to the battlefield with his body.
“If you go out there, you’ll only become a burden to him.”
“Are you saying I should just stay here like a damsel in distress?” She roared.
“We all are. In distress, I mean. Not damsels.” Yurial shrugged. “Worst case scenario, Lith will Blink here and Friya will take us away.”
Phloria snorted. Suddenly death wasn’t so scary anymore.
– “What meaning can life possibly have if I have to spend it alone? I can’t back off every time I’m not sure of winning. Not when that crazy head is fighting for us all.”–
Lith was actually fighting for himself. With the contingency plan already in motion, he was certain to be able to leave anytime he wanted. The god of death was the strongest fake mage he had ever met.
Even by fighting his proxies, Lith had already learned a lot about Necromancy’s true potential and was now eager to see if his idea about Balkor’s plan was correct.
Phloria’s feelings were clouding her judgment, but at the same time, they were helping her to realize that the only thing she had to fear was fear itself. Yurial noticed her inner conflict, so he played his last card.
“Look, sometimes the most difficult thing to do is doing nothing. We are just children caught up in a war we didn’t even know about, while Lith is… Lith. If you remain here and something bad happens, you can Blink in and out and take him to safety.
If you go there, well, we’ll have to save both of you before getting out of here.” Phloria nodded, moving her hand away from the hilt of her sword while flexing her fingers. She had to be ready to step in.
***
“By the Great Mother.” Scarlett blurted out after finally uncovering the last piece of the puzzle. She quickly explained everything to those present, leaving them in awe.
“This god of death is too dangerous.” Protector said. “We need to end this battle fast!”
“My thought exactly.” Scarlett nodded. “We must resolve everything before he can suspect that we are aware of his endgame.”
“How do you plan to do it exactly?” Linjos asked. “I mean without revealing our hand.”
“It’s actually quite simple.” Scarlett grinned. “Balkor is not the only one that can think outside of the box.”
***
Meanwhile, Lith needed only a final test to prove his theory. He asked Phillard to let through one undead at a time and the Kroxy delivered. Lith used one of the basic forms Phloria had taught him, easily killing the enemy with a few strikes.
He used the same form, again and again, noticing how the next one would manage to dodge his strikes and ignore his feints, gaining the upper hand until he added a new set of movements.
“Son of a b*tch!” He yelled after destroying the tenth undead in a row. He pretended to use one of his rings, cutting it to pieces with air magic before bombarding it with darkness magic from his free hand.
“Phillard, stop! There’s something you need to know!”
***
“Oh gods no!” Scarlett’s enhanced hearing had allowed her to listen to Lith swearing, moving her surveillance mirror just in time to see the results of his latest experiment.
“Kalla, go! Before the cub ruins everything!”
Kalla nodded, disappearing in the shadows.
“I told you that Scourge was not to be underestimated.” Her voice faded away along with her body.
“What scourge is she talking about? The undead?” Linjos had been talking with the Professors, so he was unaware of the latest events.
“Wish I knew the answer.” Scarlett replied, pondering about what Lith’s real nature could possibly be.
Thanks to everyone. Still can’t believe we made to the top 3.
