[LD-1] 40. Unholy Dominion (Patreon)

XL

Unholy Dominion

Mana seeped out of me like someone had drilled a two-foot hole into my core—and my core wasn’t anywhere near as big.

Water burst from the four gates in one giant rush.

It was not actual water. There was no physical weight to it, and it didn’t make my enemies float or their breathing impossible. Yet my cheeks felt the sensation of being wet. And though the water didn’t block movement altogether, my enemies required more effort to move as if they were wading through mud. A few of them even tried to swipe at the air.

Useless opposition. In order to get rid of this, they’d need a skill with a similar effect. Even then, it’d need to be stronger than my ability.

The gates kept pouring. Soon, the water level rose past my nose.

I inhaled deeply and stepped forward. The motion was smooth in a way it had never been before—my entire body felt lighter. Cull, too, curved through the water, weightless.

Nearby, my ghoul rose from the corpse it’d been feasting on—there was a sharpness to its gaze that hadn’t been there before—and Char climbed higher into the sky until it looked like he was flying.

The commander stared down the small army. Then turned over my shoulder, where the surface of one portal shimmered. A blocky head made entirely from bone phased into this side of the world. Extensions looking like shark teeth jutted from the long spine of the fish, which was over five times my length in size. The beast did not have a single slab of flesh attached to its bones, so when it moved, the clack of the interlocking pieces of its vertebrae rumbled through the water.

It turned sideways to line up its pearl-white eyes with the commander.

Kil slipped out of Char’s cloth and laughed in that B-Movie villain way he liked. “Kneel before our master, and you may still be spared, supplicant!”

The mother warboar that was the commander’s mount kicked the ground.

I and all of my summons burst into motion.

‘Don’t let him gain distance on us!’

Puffs of smoke rose from the hide of the warboar. The water was damaging it, however slightly. However, we didn’t stand a chance of stopping it once they gained momentum.

Which the commander was aware of. As well as his subordinates.

Wild hunt riders curved out of the darkness. They numbered about half of the first charge. Most hurled towards our centre to finish the job their brethren had failed to. But the others moved to intercept me.

The Still-Ripple fish released a soundless scream. Giant mouth opened wide, it barrelled past me into the first of the riders and plucked both rider and mount from the floor like a hawk, then carried them off into the water.

My ghoul tackled another. The rider had learned from its dead ally, however. Its mount slammed to a stop, and the rider whirled on the ghoul. I grimaced at the sound the flail made as it broke my summon’s skull.

Keep going, Master! I’ll command him.

‘Thank you.’

I leapt over the last rider, a feat made easier for I partially floated when I jumped. Then I arrived in front of the commander.

Unlike the other riders, the commander didn’t use a flail. His two-handed spiked club slammed into the floor and broke the ground.

A single step threw me the remaining distance at an angle, so I came from their flank. The boar turned in slow motion. They only had an advantage when the mount was charging. Seated on the boar like this, the commander was literally a sitting duck.

Cull came down in a big arc that’d cleave both the mother boar’s thigh and the rider’s leg on the way out. My gaze already flicked away from the strike towards where I’d end up so I could prepare my next movement—

Winds kicked up the hem of my shirt, and the boar blitzed into my blind spot.

My brows touched. Huh? How was it that quick in close combat? Was the water not affecting it?

I reoriented to face the beast…and fell in the shadow of the commander’s raised club.

‘Shit.’

I didn’t have enough mana to form a bone shield. Even an enhanced jump wouldn’t get me out of the way in time.

‘Char!’ I screamed in my head.

If the summon’s taunt didn’t work—

The club came crashing down like a felled tree and didn’t change course in the slightest.

Lead entered my shoes. And for some reason, an image of my father flashed into my mind. The vision shattered when a white blur shot out of nowhere into the commander. The rider launched off his mount and hit the ground with enough force to send a tremor up my shins.

Kiba landed on the boar’s back.

I exhaled. ‘What monstrous power.’ Could any of us come close to generating half that much force?

Lightning curved at the right angle, illuminating the blood beneath Kiba’s long nails. Both of his arms had transformed. Muscles coiled under his fur and tensed. Before the boar made an attempt at throwing him off, he lunged after the rider in one giant leap.

The cramp locking up my leg muscles went up in smoke.

I grimaced. ‘That’d been too close.’

But there was no time to worry about my mistakes. I burst after the boar again. It swerved out of the way of my strike without glancing my way.

This time, however, I was prepared for its nimbleness. I turned the feint into a wide sweep that struck low to the ground. The boar jerked in surprise, but managed to lift its hoof by the barest fraction, so Cull passed underneath.

But I was merely keeping it busy.

“Good job!” Alexa shouted. She leapt from its blind side. Her blade flashed and sliced through its hind leg.

The beast collapsed with a cry.

Elation entered my throat. ‘Thank fuck.’ Now it was just a matter of time until it died.

A time frame that the Still-Ripple fish wanted to shorten as much as possible. It curved out of the sky and speared into the boar’s flank.

I had to stop and cover my ears so the boar’s screech didn’t turn me deaf. Water collected in the corners of my eyes. I turned behind Alexa. Lily and Roland were rushing towards us. The broken silhouettes of the wild hunt riders and mounts lay scattered at their rear. Almost all of them had been killed. Shota was taking care of the remainder.

We’re coming to help you, Master! Kil yelled, clinging onto Char’s back.

His voice brought me cheer. But not a lot. The green glow around Emily’s hands pierced through the natural darkness. Douglas and the others protected her while she administered aid to two people at once. There were five more incapacitated students near her.

And I knew it was five, for I could feel their souls stir within their bodily prisons. If nothing was done, they’d convey in the Black Well.

I turned back to the fight—

Master, dodge!

A glimpse of the battlefield registered in my brain as I finished rotating. Alexa continued to cleave into the downed boar and separated one of its front legs. The Still-Ripple fish was dug so deep into the boar’s side that it must be feasting on its entrails already. The mount wasn’t going anywhere any longer. But it didn’t need to to do damage.

Its throat ballooned with a final breath.

My eyes went wide. It was going to fire the same move as before!

I was not out of position, so leaping out of the way was a simple thing. The problem was that Emily and the centre of our formation. Neither Douglas nor any of the other tanks were facing our direction. If I dodged, there was no telling what would happen to them.

But I had no mana. Char could block the move perhaps, but it’d definitely kill him, since his armour had already crumbled to pieces. There was nothing—

Cull’s heft doubled.

The marking on Cull’s handle had not lit up again despite trying my hardest to get it to activate during training. And that was strange. The blade fed on souls, and I’d slaughtered many more enemies since the fight with the warlock than I had prior to that moment. So there was something else that I was missing for the activation besides killing. Something deeper and more core to the weapon’s function.

Echoes of the poor souls fleeing this battle rippled through the waters, their screams amplified in the unholy dominion. The sounds rocked in the space between my temples.

‘The souls,’ I thought. ‘They’re leaving.’ Separating from the material realm. With a bird’s-eye view, I saw the spirits of our fellows depart and Emily slam a fist on the floor in defeat.

The wavelike rune pulsed to life on the scythe. Thick, black energy bubbled out of the weapon to coat the blade.

A column of twisting wind ripped forth. The boar’s attack carried so much force that its throat burst, and the blood splashed Alexa like a bucket of ice water. Lily leapt out of the skill’s path. Roland knelt and formed an earthen wall.

“I’ve got it!” he yelled.

But he wouldn’t. The attack would rip straight through the wall and him.

I was dead smack in the middle of the vortex about to swallow me, like I was standing in the eye of a storm. Cull whipped out. The black mass separating from the blade was many times wider and thicker than the previous attack of its kind had been.

Compared to the circular current of wind, the slash of miasma moved slow. Watching the two energies clash was then also quite comical…and sad. Like seeing a turtle walk into a speeding car to stop it.

The comedic effect vanished when the car’s nose imploded and the vehicle split apart around the turtle’s shell.

Two halves of wind sheared past me in a V-shape and cleaved the world in their wake. Roland’s wall and the centre of our formation remained untouched.

In front of me, the wave of death sailed on into the boar’s skull. The beast’s head fell in two.

A wave of emptiness struck my core, and I sagged to my knees. Blood streamed out of my nostrils and wet the ground.

‘Dammit.’ My knees were shaking. I couldn’t get back up.

The water level was lowering as well. The Still-Ripple fish raised its head at the surface, then the end of its spine dissolved into white dust.

I turned towards the commander. Its mount was dead, so it should be severely limited in what it could do.

…

In the aftermath of the boar’s dying breath, a blood-red cape of energy had formed around his shoulders, which tumbled in a non-existent wind. His aura flowed into his club and surrounded the weapon like the miasma had done my own.

‘A last stand ability,’ I breathed. One that strengthened him when his mount died.

Lily hurled past me into the fight. Char landed beside me.

Are you alright, Master?!

“I’m fine,” I coughed.

My nosebleed had stopped, but my lungs were still spasming. Cull’s ability may not cost mana, but it had taken something else from me.

‘I need to be more careful.’

Maybe my body wasn’t strong enough to handle it.

“First Line!” Alexa yelled over my worries.

Other students stormed into the fray.

A streak of thunder thrust through the air and struck the commander in the face. The beast’s helmet pushed through the smoke cloud, intact except for a few scorch marks.

Flames whirled up, and a majestic, smouldering ball roared. The sheer heat wafting from its passage was enough to singe the tips of my hair.

The commander reared, struck the attack as if it were a baseball so it flew off to the side.

I blinked. This is…

Kiba lunged and latched onto one of the commander’s arms.

“Now!” he yelled.

Alexa and Lily buzzed around the massive creature like flies. They aimed for the joints. Alexa carved out a piece of its calve, while Lily nicked its elbow.

The commander followed his mount down to the ground.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Kil ordered my ghoul into a mad dash. The undead, which was barely half intact, charged on its hands and feet like it was a damned dog. It jumped and jabbed its talons into a gap around the commander’s flank, making the monster cry out again.

A brawl ensued. One that got ugly quickly. Kiba wailed on the kneeling commander, but a well-aimed strike clubbed him toward the other end of the field.

That attack left the commander out of position, though.

Our rogue jumped into the opening. Shadows congealed around his daggers again. “Shadow Strike!” His leap was high enough to reach the commander’s throat—

The beast grabbed him out of the air. His hand clasped around the boy’s skinny frame. A momentary ‘huh’ expression adorned the rogue’s face. I called it momentary because there was a snap, followed by the student’s body going limp.

My grip on Cull tightened. ‘How many did that make?’ Even if we won this battle, we’d already lost so many…

“Joy!” Blood sprayed behind Alexa’s blade as she spun around for another strike.

My breath whistled through my teeth. The edges of my vision, which had turned blurry, sharpened.

“Kil,” I snarled. “Get me there.”

He ordered Char to pick me up. We flew through the lowering water level, our heads skimming the surface.

The commander disregarded Alexa completely. Its arm raised, and the shadow of its club cast out to cover our approach.

“Don’t stop!” Kiba’s voice came.

He shot out of the darkness that’d swallowed him, struck the commander like a spear, and again locked his swordarm up.

Alexa used the commander’s thigh as a footstool and aimed for his neck.

A deep roar exited the beast’s throat as it whirled and lifting Kiba off the floor, then slapped Alexa with the back of its club.

She parried the blow, but was sent flying. “He’s yours!” her fading yell reached my ears.

Spinning like that while already being down was only possible because the commander had thrown any sense of balance to the wayside. The beast was already falling. Right into my lap.

Arm muscles flooded with whatever mana I had left. Char raced through the water like a speedboat. Cull sang, and its voice reached a peak just as it cleaved the commander’s head from its neck.

Char spun and hovered to a stop. The commander’s head arced through the sky and landed somewhere nearby. Blood spurted from its neck, and the body collapsed.

[Wild Hunt Rider - lvl. 18] x 3 slain! Extra experience awarded for slaying higher level enemy.

[Wild Hunt Rider - lvl. 19] x 5 slain…

[Wild Hunt Commander - lvl. 23] x 1 slain! Extra experience awarded for slaying higher level enemy.

My heart was beating in my skull. Kiba letting out a roar of triumph didn’t help. Neither did the cheers shooting through the rest of our group.

I glanced at the entrance to the temple. Then to our forces. The numbers we’d lost…

Instead of joy, a deep fear settled in the pit of my stomach.