“Little Geir! Don’t die yet! I have plans for you!” came a shout from Bjarte. He evidently saw the jarl moving to leave the parapet. The jarl glanced back at Tyler for a moment.
“I hated that nickname!”
Tyler turned his attention back to the ongoing battle. Bjarte’s sword was obviously magical too. The mage could see the angry sparks as it met Kobu’s weapon. The movements of the two warriors were supernaturally fast, leaving the duo surrounded by a cloud of green and gold flickers of magical energy. Tyndur and Habrok were concentrating on the giant skeletal worm.
They can’t win this on their own, thought the mage as several small beams from his guides lashed out at the creature. To his shocked bewilderment, the energy streaks hit an unexpected invisible wall surrounding the gruesome beast, the only visible indication of the barrier’s existence being the ripples where the rays struck. The bony giant glanced at him and swiftly darted in the mage’s direction, its mouth terrifyingly agape, thin rivulets of a dark green mist streaming from the fangs.
Tyler froze. The reality of a deadly collection of large, jagged fangs lunging at him had stunned his senses into immobility.
What’s that freaking thing? was the all-consuming thought occupying his mind.
A blazing wide shaft of light met the frontal of the bony monster. It broke through whatever energy shield protected the creature and cracked the skull like a fragile porcelain vase. The rest of its body rapidly disintegrated into numerous pieces, clinking on the stone floor of the parapet. Bjarte adroitly somersaulted off the disintegrating creature, and Kobu again vanished. As the exile reemerged on the bastion’s floor near his foe, the pair resumed their battle, again furiously exchanging blows. Though the dead lord now appeared to have two distinct disadvantages – Tyndur and Habrok. But a few fiery shafts from Habrok revealed the undead warrior was also protected by a similar energy shield.
“Guys! He’s as close as he’ll ever be! The spell?” Tyler called out to his guides.
“X is already on it. We had to use a portion against that mutated Minhocao. But on the bright side, the unconventional energy you produced appeared to be effective against the kind of power fueling the animating spell.”
“Hal. Do it quickly. That Bjarte is a dangerous warrior! With a supersized magical sword! He’s holding off Tyndur and Kobu. The bastard is bound to eventually get a lucky hit against those two!”
“X is calculating the minimum needed energy against the dimensional shield and the encapsulating spell. We need to reserve the most we could retain against the ancient conjuration. And that’s not the dead lord’s natural ability and skills. They have been greatly enhanced by the animating energy. Added to, even. His personal shield is but an example. But I believe the ancient sword he uses has increased his martial abilities at least tenfold.”
“Done!” Tyler heard X exclaim. There was a tone so human in its utterance, the mage was fleetingly distracted.
“What do you mean done?” he asked, half hopeful that his guides had finished the undertaking. It was a given that X and Hal would have to do the tricky and challenging task of making sense of the magical labyrinth awaiting them. A sharp, detailed image of the main conjuration rose in his mind.
Like the delicate structure of a snowflake… Though it’s a sickly hue of green, concluded the mage. So marvelously intricate, aesthetically beautiful, and deadly. To navigate his own way through such a maze was crazy.
Tyler looked at his companions. The ranger was running out of arrows. Only his magical shafts were making an impression, though Bjarte evaded them or sliced them in the air.
He must be making sure anything magical is not of the same sort that killed his pet, thought the mage. Only Kobu’s weapon was getting through Bjarte’s shield, merely to be blocked by the warlord’s sword; it was an observation which puzzled Tyler and made him wonder where the exile’s weapon came from.
Tyndur’s fiery strikes, though magical, were not getting through the shield, but they were savagely struck with such force that unless evaded or blocked, the inevitable feedback staggered the dead lord. Yet the mage was exceedingly worried. Only a minute or so had passed and the lone Bjarte had managed to maneuver the trio into a corner, with Habrok at the back. With Kobu’s weapon the only effective counter to the sword, the mage knew the exile wouldn’t dare teleport and instead attack from the rear. If he did that, the mage knew it would be over for Tyndur and Habrok in a few seconds.
The back… the thought momentarily lingered.
Without hesitation, Tyler converted the staff to its spear form, and with a final warning to Birki, threw the weapon at the back of the revenant. The blade penetrated the shield, and at first, it flew with incredible speed but was abruptly beset with noticeable slowness when it encountered Bjarte’s barrier. Then it was through the obstruction and pierced the dead lord’s body, half of the staff now protruding from the torso. The revenant immediately jumped back and stood on a crenellation. He looked at Tyler, green eyes now blazing with fury.
“I forgot about you. But your minion did keep me busy. It appears I have to get rid of you first,” the dark being said in the low, chilling, sepulchral tone they all had heard before.
Kobu immediately appeared in front of Tyler, the kanabo now in daisho form, a two-sword combination.
“He’s good,” the mage commented tersely.
“It’s just that accursed sword. Remove that, and he won’t last two seconds with me,” replied the man with obvious disdain. “I hate fighting against objects.”
The exile adopted a strange stance with the two swords, the dual blades held out in front at shoulder level, while Bjarte lightly jumped off the stone cover. He didn’t even deign to remove the spear staff absurdly sticking out of
