The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (14 page)

 Knowing that there were eight
enemies within one hundred yards, it seemed clear that there would be close
quarter fighting. “
Futen
, can you make your light
brighter? Bright enough to see by in a dark cave?”

 “Yes, Master, but away from the
village, I will not be able to maintain a bright light for more than several
minutes without rest.”

 “Does the mist go into the
cave? Can we rely on its concealment,” Sion asked.

 “No, the mist stops at the cave
mouth.”

 “Okay then,” Richter replied. “Become
invisible, and go to the top of the first cavern. Wait five seconds then flare
brightly.” Looking at Sion he asked, “Have your mana and stamina recovered,” at
his Companion’s nod, Richter explained the plan, “We strike immediately after
Futen
flares the light. Hopefully it will distract them.
Take the one in the middle, I will hit the one on the right. Keep firing as
quickly as you can to keep distance between us and them. Now go
Futen
!”

 Placing an arrow to the string,
he focused on his aura. It surrounded the arrow almost instantly, and he began
to pour his mana into it. He held allowed the mana to flow for three seconds,
reasoning that the deeper hey got into the dungeon, the stronger the opponents
would be. He began to see streaks of black flow over the gold aura and moved
into the cave mouth, Sion to his right. Just before entering a white grey light
flared. They stepped inside, and both immediately took aim. As hoped, the blast
of light had taken the attention of the skeletons for key seconds.

 Triggering his Focus skill, the
skeleton he was targeting seemed to jump towards him. Easily focusing on its
chest he released. The golden streak with a black tinge hit the skeleton’s
chest knocking it back to the cave wall. The charged arrow made a deafening
boom in the confined space causing a ringing in his ears. Sion’s arrow blasted
into the skeleton in the middle, which was holding a
greatsword
,
making an even greater explosive clap.

 The undamaged skeleton
immediately started running at them with a sword in one hand and a buckler in
the other. It moved with the same uncanny speed of the skeletons outside. It
just seemed wrong that something dead could move so quickly. Despite that,
Sion’s Dexterity gave him excellent combat speed. He was able to strike the
skeleton two more times before it could cross the sixty yards to the cave
entrance. The first hit its buckler and was deflected up above the bony head,
but it served a purpose by knocking the buckler out of the way. Sion’s second
shot exploded into the skeleton’s pelvis separating its top and bottom half.

 Richter had imbued another
arrow with magical force and attacked his initial opponent again, but missed as
the skeleton dodged to the side. The failed shot was not a small thing. He had
already lost more than half of his mana! He quickly drew his short sword and
braced to meet the bony bastard!

 Its cutlass swung in a
viscious
arc intending to decapitate him. He blocked the
blow with his short sword, but it then swung a bony fist at his face which connected.
He reeled back from the hit, pain exploding in his jaw and his health
decreasing by a further 8%. Stars occupied his vision, and not knowing where
the next strike would come from, Richter let his legs fold and he rolled onto
his back then pushing up with his arms to land on all fours.

 The skeleton was closing again,
but was struck by Sion’s blue arrow, knocking it back. The sprite immediately
struck the skeleton with another imbued arrow. The speed of his attacks were
impressive, but despite high dexterity, Sion still needed time to put any real
power into his Imbue Arrow skill.

 Richter threw himself back into
the battle, a backhand swing striking the neck of the skeleton which had struck
him. The combination of blows was enough to make it collapse into component
parts. He heard, “Duck,” and dropped to the floor. The middle skeleton had
rejoined the fight and swung horizontally with its iron
greatsword
.
The attack missed, but it used the momentum of its swing to bring the blade
above its head intending to strike down and cleave him in two. Again his
Agility saved him as he rolled to the side. The force of the missed strike made
vibrations in the cave floor that he could feel.

 The skeleton was overbalanced
by its failed attack. Richter swung his sword at the back of its left knee. On
his back, he couldn’t put too much strength into the blow, but it was enough to
make his enemy fall forward. Sion’s arrow, a brilliant blue of imbued magic,
hit its clavicle, tearing away both shoulder and head. As with the previous
skeletons, removal of the skull broke whatever magic was animating it. The
bones fell apart. A motion attracted Richter’s attention. The first of the
skeletons from the second chamber came running into the battle. Sounds from the
tunnel clearly indicated others were close behind.

 “Run,” Richter shouted! He
jumped back onto his feet, and followed his own advice. The half skeleton Sion
had hit early in the fight raised itself up on one arm, its sword cocked to
swipe at him. Sion shot it in the back before turning to run. It collapsed like
its three friends, and Richter ran past. Once out of the cave, Richter pulled
Sion with him to the right moving twenty feet into the mist before turning and
drawing arrows. Neither began to
Imbue
their arrows
however. While Richter was sure they both remembered that the light from their
arrows could draw the skeleton’s attention, he was equally sure that Sion must
have used the greater part of his mana.

 “Move back,” Richter breathed
silently. He began to take his first step as the skeletons spilled out of the
cave. Two had bows, one a bastard sword and a fourth a heavy dagger and round
shield. The fifth was slightly larger and held an axe. Knowing Sion need more
time to recover his mana, they continued moving back slowly and quietly. A
large fallen tree was behind them. Huddling behind it, Richter looked over and
focused upon the largest skeleton invoking Analyze.

Skeleton Warrior: Lvl 9. Health
310/310. Mana 0/0. Stamina 220/220.

 “FML,” he muttered under his
breath.

 “What does that mean,” Sion
quietly asked as they moved back and took shelter behind a fallen tree.

 “I’ll tell you later.
Futen
, where are you?”

 The grey sphere appeared in
front of them with its inner light muted.

 “Can those things hurt you? Can
you be hurt?”

 “I can be destroyed by strong
magic, but I am nearly immune to physical attacks my Lord.”

 “Good! This is the plan. Those
three skeletons almost kicked our ass. We need the concealment of the mist to
destroy these things. So we are going to wait a moment for our mana to
regenerate then I want you to turn invisible and make a loud noise to draw
their attention. We will power our arrows and attack. While that skeleton
warrior is almost definitely the biggest damage dealer, those archers are the
biggest threat to us out here in the open. So we fire, and fire at them again,
until they are down. Then we fade back and split up. Once enough time passes,
they won’t be able to find us in the mist unless we power up. So we hit and
move, hit and move. Meanwhile,
Futen
you move around
and make noise and flare lights to confuse them. Can you speak in a different
voice than the one you always use?”

 “Than the one you always use,”
Richter’s own voice spoke back to him from the remnant.

 Pausing for a moment, “Okay,
new rule. Never do that again unless I ask… it’s super creepy.”

 “Yes, my Lord,”
Futen
replied in its normal monotone.

 At his current mana regen rate,
he got one point back every ten seconds. He was at about 50% of his mana, so
that would take a little over ten minutes.

 After the prerequisite time he
looked at Sion, “Are you ready?” His friend nodded and said, “Let’s move.”

 They left the shelter of the
tree still seeing the five skeleton’s outside of the cave entrance in a rough
half circle. They stood nearly motionless, heads turning slowly, searching for
some indication of the duo’s location.
Futen
phased
out of view, and Richter and Sion knocked arrows waiting. A white flash and
voice from the other side of the skeleton’s position was their cue. All of the
skeletons turned towards the improvised flash bang. A blue and golden glow
immediately flared into existence behind them. Both Richter and Sion waited
three seconds, the glow growing brighter and more intense, and then they
released. The skeletal warrior seemed cognizant of the danger behind it before
the other monsters. It squatted, bringing its double headed axe in front of its
skull like a shield. It was not, of course, their intended target. A gold and
blue blur converged on the chest of one archer shattering it instantly. The
concussive force of two close proximity strikes staggered the other skeletons.

 Sion launched one strike and
then a second at the remaining archer, taking only the minimal time to power the
arrows. His goal was to keep it off balance. Though neither shot landed with
crushing force, the skeleton was staggered. It allowed Sion to once again imbue
an arrow with extra force, and land a blow to its left chest. It was not
destroyed outright, but one arm was knocked free. While it wasn’t dead, it
would certainly no longer be a threat as an archer.

 The three melee skeletons had
already started running towards them. As discussed, Sion took off to the right
while Richter moved to the left. Each ran following the slight curve of their
respective hills until the skeletons lost sight of them. It took about a
minute, but by making short changes in direction periodically it became clear
when the skeletons lost the trail. They were once again safe in the protection
of the mist. Without speaking the skeletons all seemed to arrive at the
conclusion that they should return to guard the cave mouth. They stopped
searching and returned to guard the entrance. All was silent.

 Sion and Richter looked at the
unaware monsters, breathing as quietly as possible. They had regrouped and
positioned themselves at the top of a hill looking down on the bony creatures.
Another white flare was their cue to resume attack. It flared right in the
midst of the skeletons causing a small amount of pandemonium. A blue arrow
struck the skeleton with the shield in the back dealing extra damage. A golden
arrow struck the warrior in the shoulder, but it seemed to simply shrug the
blow off. Both lesser skeletons moved after Sion who fired with his usual
alacrity, one arrow per second. The barrage staggered each skeleton in turn. He
was moving back as he shot. Each skeleton was struck twice struggling up the
hill before Sion ran off a short distance, and then started the onslaught
again.

 The skeletal warrior rushed
Richter, axe pulled back ready to swing. He moved to the left drawing and
beginning to imbue his arrow, but as soon as the glow began the skeleton
warrior moved towards him with intimidating speed. Judging by the information
he had seen with Analyze, Richter knew he was no match for his opponent in a
standup fight. Three more times he moved off and attempted to attack the
warrior, but each time he could not do more than summon his aura before the
warrior was almost upon him. He feared moving further away lest he lose the
warriors interest. It might pursue Sion whose own battle was not concluded
based upon the blue flares that could be seen over the hill. Looking around an
idea occurred to Richter though.

 “
Futen
,
draw it up the hill. Make a gold flare and use my voice.”

 A moment later, Richter’s own
voice could be heard up the hill, and the skeletal warrior followed it axe
swinging. Meanwhile Richter moved down the hill and began
Imbuing
his arrow. After one second his arrow glowed golden. After two seconds, the
warrior noticed him, and turned to run down the hill. After three seconds,
black streaks once again shot over the golden aura surrounding the arrow. The
warrior ran closer, now only 20 yards away. It was building tremendous speed as
it sprinted downhill. After four seconds, the black streaks flowed up and down
the arrow and a high pitched whine grew in Richter’s ears. The warrior began
its swing obviously aiming for decapitation, only to trip over the fallen tree
that it didn’t see until too late. It fell over it, prone, only 12 feet away
from Richter. Five seconds had passed and black streaks moved over the arrow to
fast to see. Richter released and struck the warrior at point blank range
directly in the head.

 The Imbued arrow didn’t just
impact the warrior, it rendered the skull into pieces.  The blow collapsed
the skull of warrior and the force continued on, destroying its neck, chest and
upper vertebrae. The backlash of the strike drove Richter off of his feet, his
head striking a branch and knocking him unconscious.

 His next sensation was of a
very small hand slapping him across the face. This did not bother him very
much, but the follow-up backhand across the other cheek just seemed rude and excessive.
Blinking back to consciousness, he clearly said, “
Skop
furgin
hidin
mi
uuu
fookene
men e me!”