BXBX NOVEL Chapter 532 531: Battlefield (3)
Rolling to the side, I barely had time to roll again as an axe slammed into the earth beside me, before the sword and spear lunged at me from my left and right, trying to trap me between them and kill me.
The Spartoi was a walking armory compared to most enemies, its four arms making it far harder to handle then the Beastkin Skeleton that I had dealt with, and with the various weaker skeletons and Goblins occasionally making their way over, I had to keep myself on my toes and on the lookout for any attack, anywhere, at any time.
It was draining, but...
I would be lying if I said that there wasn\'t a certain thrill in walking such a thin line between life and death, where your skills were drawn out and put to the test as you tried to survive another second, before doubling that effort to go further and for longer.
Of course, this thrill was nowhere near the same thrill that I got from watching those Goblin\'s get eviscerated or how their blood arced through the snow and wind when I carved them to pieces with a flick of my wrist, my rapier singing as I slashed multiple times in a second.
Putting some space between us, I frowned as another skeleton wandered into range, its bones coated in frost and its movements lurching and unbalanced, but still a threat as it raised its club into the air.
My rapier lunged towards its skull and shattered the frozen bone, shards of blue tinged creamy bone flying around the area as my Wind Magic made the skeleton\'s head explode, though I couldn\'t admire the beauty of the explosion as the Spartoi stabbed at me again, trying to skewer me when I wasn\'t focused on it.
Weaving around the swords, I stepped forwards and stabbed the rapier out again, the wind sheathed bone alloy blade impacting against its thick ribcage and cracking the bones, making the Spartoi stumbled back a step.
Pressing forwards, I thrust the rapier out swiftly a few times, impacting its torso again and again as I tried to create a larger opening for me to deliver the killing blow.
The barrage of thrusts pushed the Spartoi back further, its arms trying to move to block the rapier only to get stuck as frost built up around its joints, preventing in depth movements and giving me that opening.
Its horned skull was left unguarded after I stabbed at one of its four shoulders, rendering that arm lame, before I swung Shatter down onto its head, activating the enchantment and spreading more frost over its body.
Fractures appeared on its skull, and a portion of its jaw fell to the ground with a thud, followed closely by a horn and a piece of its temporal bone, making it stagger around for a moment.
It tried to reach up and grab its head to catch the pieces, but the frost spread along the fractures and deepened them, making its skull crack apart and killing it in the process.
I wasn\'t allowed to rejoice in my kill just yet though, as another Spartoi lumbered towards me upon seeing its comrade die, a small contingent of skeletons stumbling behind it as it entered battle with me, while a Serpent slithered over slowly, it\'s green eyes glowing with sluggish hate as it tried to get rid of the one making it so damn cold.
As the two separate groups made there way towards me, I used my rapier to cast a Wind Cloak and darted off towards the Serpent, surprising it as I appeared right above it, the green scaled monster trying to lift its large head and bite me, only to hiss in agony as I extended Shatter\'s blade and stabbed downwards, piercing its scales and exploding the blade before jumping away, leaving it to rot from the inside out with the frost as I focused on whittling down the horde of skeletons making their way towards me.
Firebolts flew overhead and slammed against another Serpent that was slithering towards me, before a thick lance of flames impacted against an avian, burning it to a crisp and causing it to drop to the ground into a small group of Goblins, spreading the fire.
With Leone watching over me from afar, I barreled into the cluster of skeletons and began to cut them down as quickly as I could before the Spartoi closed in, my rapier stabbing into skulls and releasing a burst of wind that shattered them afterwards, causing the rest of the bones to fall down and clatter uselessly to the ground as the skeletons died again.
I began to weave around the Spartoi\'s attacks again as well, sheathing Shatter and freeing up my hand for spells as I created bursts of ice that burst from my palm, pushing the Spartoi around and lacerating its bones with splinters of ice, spreading my frost.
Dealing with this Sparoti, I earned a swift breather as I looked around the battlefield for the first time in a while, making me smile wryly as I shook my head at the sheer amount of jubilation that Anput and Jahi were displaying, their wide grins paired with their silver and gold eyes respectively showing just how much they were enjoying this.
Leone on the other hand was neutral as she slung spell after spell around the battlefield, bringing down enemy after enemy as she assisted all three of us, with none of the enemies being smart enough to target her and instead focusing their agro on us.
However, even with a brief cursory look over each of us, I could tell that none of us were working at maximum efficiency, each of us taking some time to hone some of our underdeveloped skills and spells against these relatively challenging, yet manageable enemies.
And even with our stamina still in the clear, I frowned as I saw a fresh wave of enemies marching into the clearing, the vast hordes of monsters and undead refilling the clearing that we had so diligently and effortlessly cleared, meaning...
"Anput! Jahi! Start pulling back! Leone, focus on the newcomers! Keep them from advancing too far!"
My voice echoed through the clearing, and the Jackalkin and Demoness both frowned before nodding, switching from their experimental fighting style to a more serious one as they retreated, their blades rising and falling as they cut down whatever approached, joining me shortly.
When they were by my side, I sheathed my weapons and traced out the runes for a spell rapidly, erecting a semicircle of ice that blocked the enemies paths and allowed us to sprint for Leone, who turned and rushed into the forest and back towards the beach, where we would regroup and replan this for another try later on.
Some of the monsters and undead made there way around the barricade and tried to pursue us, but all four of us sent a barrage of spells back and forced them to stop, before I smirked as I clenched my fist and made the barricade explode, sending a storm of icicles around the battlefield and killing a few more.
We might not have reached the mountain just yet, but I\'d say this was a successful excursion so far...