by Kevin Culp
“I am not the same type of fighter as the rogue. I do not fear you.”
“We will need to fix that then won’t we?”
As he said the words, he was just reaching a point where I could make him out in the dark. He was just as enormous as Kreego had described. From about fifty feet away, I could see that he had two small horns protruding from his forehead on either side of his head. His skin just looked light purple from here and his head was bald. He wore a black cloak, but his form was obviously powerful. A weapon was resting on his hip that I believed was a sword, but it was hard to tell from here. It seemed he would be a strong fighter which was even more impressive considering he could also cast Eighth Tier magic.
He radiated an evil aura that I could instantly pick up on. The only goblin so far that even registered as evil to me was the king, and his aura was so slight that I barely thought anything of it. It definitely confirmed the fact that this man couldn’t be trusted, but also meant that all of my Paladin abilities should work against him, which was a bonus.
“It’s obvious you aren’t going to let this end without a fight. At the very least, can we agree that your allies here will not be useful against me? I don’t enjoy killing without cause, and wouldn’t it be better for you if fewer of your men died? It makes it a win for both of us.”
“I don’t think I will fall for your ploy.” He said it in a manner that made it seem like I was playing a trick. I assumed this was meant to keep his men from realizing he was sending them to their death.
“Bring me his head!” He pointed his sword forward and yelled.
The goblins began to charge. There were probably at least six or seven hundred of them. I readied my sword and prepared to greet them. I didn’t focus on defense. Truthfully, I wanted them to realize they couldn’t hurt me hoping they would just give up. I held my ground in the mouth of the cave. I knew that if they realized they couldn’t hurt me, some of them may just charge past to learn what has become of their homes.
Most of the attacks bounced off my skin or armor, but an axe came down hard on my shoulder and inflicted some damage. It wasn’t anything exceptionally significant, and I could tell that it was a critical hit, but it seemed to inspire the others to renew their efforts. I was using my full attack and cleaving, allowing me to take down a dozen enemies every few rounds.
I had stood there for what seemed like three or four minutes before I expended my first use of Healing Hands. I had probably killed a hundred enemies by this time, and the bodies that I couldn’t force to fall behind me in the cave with my sword, I would pick up and throw them there. By the time they noticed, there was an effective wall of bodies behind me.
As soon as I healed myself, the goblins saw the few wounds that I had on me close, and their morale started to break. Just as I thought I was going to get a reprieve from this battle, I heard some chanting coming from a short distance away. The demon was speaking in a language I didn’t understand and tendrils of black mist were shooting forward, but it didn’t seem to be an attack.
The mist gathered about ten feet off the ground just a few feet in front of me. It slowly coalesced into a physical form and fell to the ground, crushing several goblins beneath its massive bulk. It was a hairless tauric creature with a lower body that reminded me of a bull and a bestial upper body covered in muscles. Its head looked like a lion, and its arms extended into enormous scythe-like appendages. The surrounding goblins scattered as soon as it appeared. Some of them started trying to scramble over the wall of bodies into the cave now, but the bodies blocking the way slowed their progress.
A scythe swung in towards my neck. I lifted my sword to block, but the force pushed me to the side. Before I could regain my balance, another scythe came down on my shoulder. The blade of bone cut deep into my arm. It wasn’t as bad as the attacks from Kreego, but it definitely hurt. I quickly used my Healing Hands on myself and recovered.
I could sense the evil coming from this creature. Not as prominent as the demon, but certainly enough to take advantage of my Smite Evil ability. I activated the ability and took my sword in two hands to begin my counterattack. I lunged forward piercing the monster in the side causing it to let out a violent screech of pain, but my attack wasn’t done. Pulling the sword from its side, I slashed my sword across the creature’s right leg, then arm, then shoulder, and it fell back a few steps.
It shook its head and loosed a terrifying howl that pierced the night then swung in on me with its enormous scythes again. This time the ability of my Smite Evil aided me, and just before the blows struck my skin, a glowing golden barrier shimmered in front of it and stopped the attack. I couldn’t read its expressions well, but it looked angry. I took advantage of the monster’s surprise and swung my sword straight into the creature’s side separating its upper and lower body in one smooth stroke of my sword. As the torso fell, the creature disintegrated into black mist.
Unfortunately, while the monster distracted me, a few goblins had made it past the wall, but the rate they were getting through, I was certain the others could handle with ease. The demon looked enraged when I killed his beast. He seemed to be in the process of casting another spell. This time when he finished, the black mist came straight towards me and flew into my chest. I felt a dull thud as if my heart skipped a beat, but the feeling subsided as quickly as it came. He had tried to cast the spell Murder on me.
“You are a nuisance. Just die already!” The demon yelled.
“We can end this now you and me. Stop this senseless bloodshed. Either call for peace or at least fight me 1v1 to spare your men.”
“Kill the prisoners!” His voice boomed with enough force I thought the mountain might split.
No response came.
He turned back and looked towards where the prisoners should have been and screamed in rage. I couldn’t see well, but it looked like there were forty or fifty cages sitting hundreds of feet away unattended. I’m sure the people inside were freezing, but we had no way to get them inside past this army.
“I’ll do it myself!” As he said it, the demon turned around and started marching towards the cages.
His men parted around him and those who couldn’t get out of the way, he simply stomped over. I knew I couldn’t let him get near those people. Aside from saving the prisoners, if he got too close, he would see Kreego. I focused on my magic and cast one of the few spells I had prepared that wasn’t healing. Giant feathery white wings sprouted from my back and my vision sharpened. A small halo formed above my head.
As soon as the spell finished, I jumped up and flew past the demon. Unfortunately, once I left the ground, even more of the goblins and hobgoblins started trying to get inside. Luckily, there were quite a few of them that seemed distracted and were just staring up at me flying through the air.
“I can’t let you get to those people.”
“These worthless fools. I guess you get to die by my hand. Consider it an honor.”
After he said the words, he began to cast another spell. A black mist once again formed, but this time it moved to his back and took form as enormous black bat-like wings. His horns grew nearly a foot and began to curve back, and his hands became claws. He drew his sword and flew into the air after me.
I activated smite evil before he could reach me, and his first attack met the golden barrier that protected me. I swung back and managed a shallow cut on his upper arm. He spoke in an abyssal tongue and invoked his dark magic to wrap around his blade. He swung at me, and the sword met the golden barrier, but the black mist seeped off his sword and through the barrier. It pulled what I could only assume was life energy from me. My veins pulsed, and I felt intense pain. As I was drained, the cut on his arm healed.
He smiled at me. “Your death will be the first I have truly enjoyed in many centuries.”
“It won’t come today,” I said through gritted teeth.
I slammed my palm into his chest, and he tumbled backwards through the air, and so did I. It wasn’t like when
you saw two people fight in the air in anime. I struggled to flap my wings and use them to regain my composure. We had probably been thirty feet in the air, and both of us nearly slammed into the ground before we regained our balance. The spell let me treat flying as a skill I had training in, but just a minimal amount.
We were probably twenty feet apart. I let my feet touch the ground and used it to push off with my feet and wings. I could feel the rush of wind kick up the snow behind me. The demon regained some altitude and cast a spell. It looked as though he moved for just a moment and then the mist created four duplicates of him. I stabbed through the one that was where he had been thinking he couldn’t have moved in that small amount of time but ended up driving the blade straight through it. It was an illusion.
As I dove through the illusion, it vanished. Four figures remained, and I knew one of them had to be the original and the other three illusions. They all moved to attack me at the same time. I knew I couldn’t block all four of them, but I swung my sword in a wide arc. I slashed through two of the illusions, and they disappeared. As they did, pain erupted from my left side. As it did an illusionary sword passed through my body and the last image disappeared leaving only the original that was now wearing a wicked grin and holding a sword in my hip.
He cast another spell while still holding the sword. Flames erupted from the blade and poured into my body. The heat was intense and easily surpassed my elemental resistance. I fell back and used my Healing Hands. The wound from the blade healed, but there was still a blistering pain in my side. I realized the damage from the spell didn’t heal.
“The Fires of the Abyss do not heal so easy.” He chided.
Being a Pyrokinetic Sorceress, Lyra had access to this spell, so Archaeus knew of it. I believe it was called Abyssal Fires. It didn’t make healing impossible, but the damage could only be healed from it with a caster level check that exceeded 10 + the spell caster’s level. A natural 20 was an automatic success for this, so I knew I could heal it eventually, but without knowing this demon’s caster level, trying to heal mid-battle was a risk. Obviously, I had already failed once. My Healing Hands would use 20 as my Caster level, so the fact that I had failed at all was somewhat intimidating.
The demon reached for me with his hand this time. I stopped my wings for a moment and fell below his grasping arm. I could see a mixture of mist and fire forming on his hand. This fight needed to end before I could be damaged much more by that attack.
He dove at me, and I swung my sword. Between his outstretched arm and his still wings, he couldn’t dodge me this time. My sword sliced straight across his chest and pushed him to the side. My feet hit the ground hard, and my knees shook. He wasn’t as lucky being flung to the side by my blade, and he crashed into the ground and rolled. The spectating goblins scattered beneath us.
My knees hurt and my side burned, but I rose to my full height. I looked at the tip of my sword. It was covered with thick black blood. I shook it from the blade and walked towards the monster on the ground.
“Can we just be done with this? I am tired of the violence.”
He looked at me and hissed through gritted teeth. “Oh, but I am just getting started.”
As he stood, he began to cast a spell. I tried to stop him, but his form shifted and my blade didn’t seem to affect him mid-transformation. He grew another three feet, and a second pair of arms sprouted from his sides. His feet turned into hooves and his legs started to bow backwards. The claws on his hands grew even longer and sharper than before. Enormous tusks jutted up from his bottom jaw.
“How dare a mortal injure the great Bjorn-jakal! I will rip the soul from your body and send it to the greatest depths of the infernal hells!”
One of the lower arms thrust forward and grabbed my neck before I could even try to stop it. It squeezed tight, and the demon used its powerful legs and wings to leap forward. Before I knew it, I had slammed into the mountain with the monster on top of me. Its many arms flew in and stabbed me with razor-like claws repeatedly. Luckily, the wounds it was creating were able to be healed, and I could use my Healing Hands on myself even while restrained. I healed myself repeatedly, but couldn’t keep up with the massive damage that I was taking on and could neither fight nor break the grapple from my current position.
I couldn’t help but think it was going to be pathetic to die like this. I was supposed to be the one that could fight this beast, yet I had barely put up a proper fight. I wished that Kraxis and Lyra were here. Kraxis had the ability to ward against death attacks, which would have made it less of a risk for all of us to fight it. Even if he was immune to fire, Lyra could use magic to make me faster or him weaker. We really were a party that could complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
A wicked claw hung a few feet from my face preparing to strike a deadly blow. “Rejoice in knowing that you injured me human, and you will now die by my hands to pay for your impudence.”
As he prepared to drive his claws to their intended target, a font of blood erupted from his leg. He screamed in pain and rage. His hand left my throat, and I took a deep breath to regain my composure.
“Rogue!!!” He screamed. “Die!”
He cast the spell Murder again, and I heard the shrill screams of a goblin in pain. Suddenly, Kreego was standing beside the demon holding a dagger in his leg. He fell over and rolled down the mountainside as the spell resolved.
“Kreego!”
I felt rage fill my entire being. I became absorbed in the image of Kreego’s body becoming lifeless as it started to fall. I didn’t know what to do, and the entire world felt upside down. Just as I felt the rage begin to burn inside me, the world became red, and my notes filled my vision even though I hadn’t attempted to access them. There was an enormous alert that filled the page. It read:
“WARNING!!! DUE TO A LOSS OF EMOTIONAL CONTROL, ARCHAEUS HAS TAKEN OVER!”
Suddenly, my body surged forward on its own. Blood poured from my many wounds, and all I was aware of was the pain, but Archaeus ignored it all and fought on. I just watched as a passenger in my body. It was similar to when I purposely allowed Archaeus to take over, but I was aware of everything he was doing.
I swung my sword. The demon lifted an arm as if to catch the blade, but I pushed through and cut off his hand. He screamed in pain. I jumped and stabbed my sword straight through his right shoulder and into his wing. I planted my feet on his chest just above where the two lower arms connected.
We were only about fifteen feet off the ground even once we pushed off from the side of the mountain, but we crashed into the ground hard. I felt my feet crush ribs, and the bones in his wings broke on the ground. His one free arm grabbed my leg and threw me off of him. He stood to face me, and a fire ignited on his hand. We charged one another. Even with my sword, his reach was greater. A flaming claw raked across the side of my face as I swung my sword with all my might.
The sword entered his armpit and sliced through his body until it exited through his neck on the opposite side of his chest. He looked down at the gash in his body, and the black blood oozing from it. Slowly the demon started reverting back to his previous form.
“You will regret this human. Your life is forfeit. I was just the first of many. This world will burn and fall under a rule of chaos you can’t possibly imagine.”
He spoke in whispered tones clutching his chest. Suddenly, his head and arm began to shift away from the rest of the body and slipped off as he had been cut cleanly through. The body collapsed forward at my feet. The demon was dead.
I was still worried about Kreego, but my rage began to subside. I began to realize that I had regained control of my body. Kreego had helped, but it was surprising to me how easily Archaeus had dispatched the demon. It made me realize how little I knew of his true strength. I guess playing him on paper and in real life weren’t the same thing.
I heard the clang of metal as the goblins and hobgoblins around me dropped their weapons. They stared at me in fear and backe
d away from me. I turned and walked towards the base of the mountain where Kreego had fallen. His body was limp lying on a rock that jutted from the bottom edge of the mountain. I pulled the diamond from my bag and placed a hand on his chest. I tried to focus on using my raise dead ability, but it wasn’t working. I realized that I had expended too much of my Healing Hands for the day. I was worried about what would happen to him. Even if I raised him from the dead, would he be Kreego, or would he be John as Kreego? I guess only time could tell, and he couldn’t answer me either way. I went to pick up his body.
Suddenly, Kreego snapped upright. “What you doing? Kreego not dead, idiot. Ugh… Kreego hurt.”
I slapped him hard on the back but discharged a use of my Healing Hands as I did. “Good to see you’re still with us, buddy.”
“Oww… We win?”
“Yeah… We won.”
Chapter 20
From there, the battle ended with no more bloodshed. The men we had been fighting dropped their weapons. They worked with us to carry the captives down into the mountain. We had to clear the mouth of the cave of dead bodies first and many of the goblins carried them down with us as well. It sounded like there was some fighting still going on as we neared the city. As the others came into view, Christina was cutting down the last of the hobgoblins standing in front of them, but one more remained.
He stood behind Christina and held a short hand-axe high over his head. He looked familiar to me. It took a moment to place it, but suddenly, I realized that it was Torgar, the hobgoblin that Korana had fought outside.
“Christina, look out!” I yelled.
Christina and Korana spun around but were just staring as if they didn’t see the obvious threat. Then, Torgar spun around as if he was also looking for some unknown threat. I wasn’t sure what was going on here. Christina looked at Torgar.
“Do you mean Torgar?” She asked.
