Chapter 70 - A Desperate Fight (Patreon)

Ulcoth’s face twisted into a contemptuous sneer. The red glow of fire magic twisted around his fingers, and the burning skull-like fireball grew between his hands.

Malachi spear was close—so damn close. He let loose a bolt of lightning from its tip, hoping it would interrupt the spell as it hit Ulcoth in the shoulder, but he didn’t dare drop his aegis.

The next moment, Malachi found himself tumbling through the air. His new embersteel cuirass shrieked as the back plate skidded along the stony ground. He slammed into a pile of rocks. Miraculously, his aegis had held, but he still felt pain all over.

He had only a moment to stumble to his feet before the next attack came. Malachi saw the stone by his feet moving a moment before the lava spike erupted. This was the same spell he’d seen pierce an engine block that first day the portals had opened. It stabbed up into his shield, knocking him in the air a few inches with the impact, sending sharp pain through his arm. Somehow, he was still holding onto his spear, but when the next lava spike stabbed out of the ground, catching his leg armor, he lost control of it as the spell spent him spinning and he felt something snap in his ankle.

He was sure that if he hadn’t gotten the fire and earth resistance enchantments, even with his manasteel and spell absorption abilities, he’d be dead. Scouring heat radiated off the spikes, and even through his enhanced fire resistance, he felt like he was being charbroiled.

Malachi scrambled to his feet and leapt right as another lava spike erupted. Two smaller fire spells came from a baradaeth mage somewhere, but he didn’t bother to dodge them. Ulcoth was the threat. He charged forward, only to have to skid to a halt to avoid getting skewered by a fourth spike.

His eyes widened as he saw another burning skull forming in Ulcoth’s hands. He kept his aegis over his face and ducked behind the spike—only to have the fireball sink into the lava, which began to rapidly intensify its bright glow.

Shit, he thought, and leapt back just as the lava spike exploded.

Malachi’s aegis shattered this time, his mana plummeting as it did, and he felt hot searing pain on his face as something bright and hot tore through his left orbital. He hissed out a breath, but didn’t dare stop running until he was behind the shallow cover of a boulder. Another fireball exploded behind him, and he felt the pressure wave throw him forward into several shambling zombies.

His bec de corbin, thankfully, had continued floating behind him, so he grabbed it and cleared out the zombies, trying to come up with tactics. That lava spike fireball combo probably another one of those spell synergies SERA had been talking about, which meant he was extra fucked, because he couldn’t even use the lava spikes as cover. While his abilities were great against mages at the same tier of essences he had, Ulcoth had to be at least two tiers above him. Not on the same level as those ice and fire archmages that had attacked Matrasa, but still—strong. But every second that he kept Ulcoth’s attention on him was time he couldn’t bombard the Acueli’s defenses. Time Accolea could use to rally the attack. Mana that Ulcoth wasted on him, rather than anything else.

Though as another lava spike erupted just next to him, Malachi thought maybe the ‘wasting mana’ plan wasn’t going to work. Ulcoth had been casting consistently since the beginning of the assault, and didn’t seem worried about running out of mana. Some sort of bullshit ability, probably. Malachi couldn’t stay in his cover—not without being cooked, so he ran sideways again, leaping forward as another fireball exploded. Again, the shockwave hit him, sending him sprawling even though the blast had been a several feet back.

Getting smacked around like a goddamn ping-pong ball had snapped his focus, so when he tried to unleash a lightning bolt through his hammer with his technique, sparks crackled, but nothing happened. He needed to get closer.

“You’re an annoying one, aren’t you,” Ulcoth sneered, before forming another skull fireball in his hands.

There was no dodging this one, and Malachi found himself too close to two of the lava spikes. He summoned his aegis to his right arm—another thing he’d been practicing—and sprinted sideways. This fireball caught him and knocked him back—but the lightning bolts that erupted caught Ulcoth in the face, distracting him just enough that he wasn’t immediately casting another spell.

This was his chance.

Malachi bent down and grabbed his fallen spear as he ran towards the lavamancer. Behind him, the two nearby lava spikes exploded and he felt one of the stone shards crack against the back of his cuirass. It hurt, but not enough to stop him. Two more firebolts zipped by, one missing, the other catching him on the pauldron. He swapped which arm the aegis was on, just in time to deflect a crossbow bolt coming from his left.

Ulcoth was already summoning another fireball, but now, Malachi was in range.

He cast echo of the storm. Ulcoth raised a hand, and a barrier of stone erupted from the ground to hover over his head, deflecting most of the bolts—but he’d fallen for Malachi’s feint. This whole fight, he’d been taking hit after hit. Zombies had smacked him around, warriors slashed at him, mages peppered him with spells, then Ulcoth had battered him about. His aegis had taken blow after blow, not just from himself, but from his marked allies, too. All of it had been charging up his weapon’s daily enchantment.

Malachi unleashed thunderstrike retaliation.

A cone of lightning burst from his spear, and he heard Ulcoth scream as lightning engulfed him. The fireball vanished from his fingers, and the baradaeth mage stumbled back under the assault, his rock barrier over his head crumbling. Malachi spear came in, his enhanced strength burying it in the slaver’s shoulder.

He’d hoped the the blade would skewer him, but beneath the dark robe, Ulcoth’s skin had the texture of stone. The tip only went in a few inches before stopping. Still, hot blood steamed and hissed as it hit the rocks. Malachi yanked it out and stabbed him again, this time, aiming for the face. The mage threw up a defensive hand, desperately trying to summon stone to block the attack. The blade slipped through the gaps in the stone as it formed, but sliced Ulcoth’s arm, rather than his face. Lightning crackled from the wound.

“Caurak take y—,” the mage snarled, but that was when the echo portion of his spell hit. Charged by the retaliatory lightning, the thunder explosions ripped apart the rock barrier Ulcoth had been trying to form and sent the mage flying back into a pile of rocks.

Malachi took a rasping breath. Despite his abilities replenishing his stamina and vital energy, he’d been fighting as hard as he could since the battle began, and that was after fighting a smaller battle and hiking up a mountain in plate armor.

The baradaeth elite in the area all turned and saw him there. Before, two mages and an ignian with a crossbow had been sniping at him while he fought, but now, a dozen warriors and mages had turned from the battle in front of them to look behind at him. Most of the zombies had been shambling towards the Acueli’s defenses, but some

But he’d killed Ulcoth—

No, he realized, as stone erupted from the ground to raise the baradaeth back up. The bastard wasn’t dead. He was frothing with rage, emberheart burning so bright that his robes burst into flames. “You worm! You dare strike me?” he spat. “Kill this upstart!” he shouted.

Malachi cast another echo of the storm, but for once in his life, he’d been too slow. Rocks shot up from the ground, then twisted to form a sphere of swirling, molten stone, and none of his lightning touched the mage. He raised his aegis as spells and bolts came raining down from the baradaeth around Ulcoth, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Rock spikes shot up from the ground, while other rock bolts came streaming out of staffs and wands at him. He was peppered by firebolts, and another crossbow bolt found its way through his arm, piercing his calf. His footwork moved him around the smaller rock spikes from the weaker mages, but there were enough that he found himself entangled by the stone. Then another of Ulcoth’s lava spikes came up, and he felt it as it sheared through the shin plates his cuisses and tore its way up his leg.

He grunted in pain.

His mana was nearly empty, and exhausted as he was, he didn’t think he was getting any more. He could barely keep his aegis up, and if that went down, the spells and bolts coming in would stop being inconvenient and start being lethal. He’d already burned his most powerful ability, and even with his strength enhancements, his muscles were flagging.

Fuck, he thought. He tried to summon his bec de corbin to help him shatter the rocks that had his legs pinned, but glanced back to see the warhammer had been ripped for the air and pinned under a block of rock. He kicked one of the rock spikes out of his way, but Ulcoth’s lava spike wasn’t coming out, and as soon as he’d cracked one of the spikes, two more took his place, pincering his other leg. He hissed in pain, trying to struggle forward, but it was taking all his effort just to keep his aegis raised in front of his face.

He knew Ulcoth’s type. Deep in his soul, he was a bully who liked power over others and respect.

“Coward,” he called at the mage.

The snarl on the lavamancer’s face twisted even further. “I want this one to suffer,” Ulcoth hissed, and drew a rondel dagger from the belt of his robe. It was embersteel, the blade bright enough to look molten. The baradaeth strode forward, and Malachi smiled at him. The last dregs of his mana wisped away, and his aegis faded into little streams and sparks. So be it. Every minute Ulcoth spent with that dagger on him was relief for the defenders.

He strained against the rocks, but more stone spat out of the ground, this time pinning his spear hand against the lava spike. It burned like nothing else.

“Beg for mercy, worm,” Ulcoth said, looking pleased at Malachi’s predicament. He raised the dagger.

“Nah,” he grunted, trying to sound nonchalant through the pain. He could barely speak, but he rasped, “I’ve had worse.”

He reached for Ulcoth with his other hand, looking to grab the lavamancer, but Ulcoth’s own hand darted out, seized the arm, then plunged the dagger into his bicep, slicing right through his armor. Two notifications passed by his vision.

Fire resistance bypassed

Conditions: Regeneration impaired, Bleeding

Malachi hardly noticed them through the pain. It felt like fire was crawling through his arm.

A thousand thoughts passed through him as he struggled to free his right arm. He still had the willpower to fight, was still clutching his spear, but will alone wasn’t enough. Alone, wasn’t enough.

That was his one regret, he realized. He’d tried to push people away. First, out of the lie that he didn’t need them, that he was strong enough alone. Then, because he didn’t want to get hurt again. All those losses he’d felt in his life had piled up. All those wounds he’d taken on the outside had healed, but the ones inside never had. They were still raw. But now, here he was, inflicting that same thing on Diana. He was just as much a hypocrite as she was.

Strength wasn’t following his path alone. Strength was continuing to walk despite the losses. They would have been stronger together. As the dagger was ripped from his arm and Ulcoth looked down at him with malicious glee, that was his regret. Maybe the result would have been the same if he’d jumped down on the other side of the wall and stayed with them. Maybe others would have died in his place. But he should have done it together. They were all basket cases—even Arisone’s hair probably needed therapy—but they were his basket cases. His friends.

See you soon for that barbecue, William, he thought, as the dagger started moving towards his neck.

Then Ulcoth’s eyes went wide, and he stumbled back as red and spectral blue light smashed into him. Malachi heard the twang of a crossbow bolt and blinked as one shattered on Ulcoth’s face, the stone-like skin deflecting it, but leaving the baradaeth dazed as it burst with dancing lights. A little burning butterfly fluttered by him and exploded on Ulcoth’s robe.

Malachi felt a hand on the back of his neck, and as flames danced around his body, he felt blessed relief as healing light swept through his body, knitting together the flesh on his arm and a dozen other wounds.

“You fucking dumbass,” Diana said, angrier than he’d ever heard her.

And another feeling of relief swept through him.

Somehow, they’d made it past the wall. His friends were here after all. Through the tears and pain, he started laughing.

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