Curselock

Chapter 68: Undead

They moved as a single unit, pushing past the tall overgrown path, toward the safety of the edge of the ruins. There they stopped, with their backs to the wall, and prepared. Jude unleashed his battle axe from his hand tattoo, Glenny turned invisible and extended his Sightless King powers into long thin spikes, Leland readied his grimoire and got into position behind the others.

“We run toward the forest if more undead show up and or the undead knight is too powerful,” Leland said, pointing toward the way they came.

With that, the trio merged into the shadows and waited. General jobs of who did what had long been worked out between the three friends. Jude fought in the front lines, absorbing damage while dealing plenty himself. Glenny often flanked and looked for opportunistic times to strike. And Leland stayed far in the backlines, blasting away with his curses.

This fight was no different.

As soon as the knight stepped out around the edge of the ruins. It was the skeletal variant, chalk white bones connected together into a humanoid form by nothing other than undead magic. Bits of rotting flesh wrapped around its ribs and neck, just enough to prove the knight was once human. Or, at least, was made from human parts. There was no telling what the knight looked like before its soul was transformed into an undead core.

Leland started off the battle. He slammed his palm into his tome, brandishing the Halo of the Harbinger. Purple swirled around his palm, running up along his arm and round his head. There it found purchase, forming into a floating ring of dark energies.

The magical potency of Leland’s contract with the Lord of Magic blazed to life, igniting his soul into action. Mana and lifeforce came together at his word, siphoning to his fingers for a brutal snap.

“Fracture!” he yelled, pushing the whole of his strength into the curse.

At the same time, Glenny made his presence known. Two spikes of pure red carnage appeared briefly as he attacked, each stabbing into the ribcage of the knight. His blades, however, were thrown off course by the undead’s heavy armor.

Jude then, Leland’s spell connected, sending a sharp crack into the air. Still invisible, Glenny’s eyes widened and he quickly backstepped – just in time as well, as the undead raised and dropped its chipped sword.

A brutal rush of air whipped through the area in which Glenny once stood before the sword smashed into the ground. The knight lurched, yanking its weapon from the dirt and spinning with its instincts. Jude and the monster clashed weapons, sparks blasting from the collision. Each reared back to attack again, only for an invisible young man to interfere.

Dismissing his conjured weapons, Glenny dove into the undead, latching onto its weapon-holding arm. With the force of a rank two monster, the knight shoved him off a moment later and moved to intercept Jude’s attack.

Only, it was too late.

Battle axe met skull and helmet with another hail of sparks. The undead was sent toppling, its head more so than its body. The body landed with a dull thud, its heavy armor stopping its momentum short. The head, however, rolled like a rubber ball, bouncing into the air with every imperfection it rolled over.

“Did I get it?” Jude asked no one in particular.

The Legacy of the Berserker spun around, only finding Leland as Glenny was still invisible. Leland gave him a pensive smile, one that quickly turned into a frown as the jingle of heavy armor sounded. Jude spun back, finding the undead’s body slowly standing.

“Ah right,” Jude cursed. “Got to destroy the core.” He shrugged to himself, stalking forward and raising his weapon.

A voice appeared beside Leland as Jude started laying into the monster. “Your spell didn’t break its bone,” Glenny said.

Leland flinched, cursing out loud. “Come on man, don’t do that.”

“Sorry…”

“And what do you mean?”

Glenny’s invisible voice continued, “I saw the spell take. A crack formed along a bone in its foot.”

“Along,” Leland echoed. “Not through.”

“Afraid not.”

“I see…” Taking a moment, Leland thought through his options. “Undead might be a monster type we stay away from. My spell might seem quite good against the skeletons, but if I can’t break a knight’s bones… well… I’m useless then.”

Still invisible, Glenny frowned at that. “What about your other spells? Birds, the slow, sucking its soul?”

“The crows won’t be anything more than a distraction. The slow…” Leland paused pooling mana and lifeforce around his heart. He expelled the sight of the undead being beaten down again and again by Jude.

Nothing happened. No emotional connection. No magical response. The curse simply failed.

“Looks like undead, at least skeletons, are immune to exhaustion. Makes sense since they don’t have hearts and stuff…” Leland shook his head. “And they don’t have souls, so Circle of Souls is out as well.”

Glenny canceled his invisibility, and patted his friend on the back. “No problem then. No more undead quests until you are sure you can break their bones. Or until you get a contract that can do something else.”

“Or whatever that ‘calamity’ spell is going to be,” Leland finished.

“Exactly. Surely ‘calamity’ is going to be able to kill some undea—”

The sound of metal on bone stopped Glenny’s comment cold. Next came the dreadful huff of a rabid horse, one that chittered with dread and years of tormented abuse. Then, the ground split.

Jude leaped back, landing beside his two friends. “Something’s wrong.”

As if to punctuate his words, the undead knight slowly stood, its heavy armor dented and torn. Its head rolled over before skipping off the ground and floating back to its body’s shoulders. The undead took a moment to orient its head, shifting it until low cracks sounded. It then looked toward the split ground eagerly.

First came a pair of flesh-stripped hooves. They breached the surface with a powerful thrust, pulling the remainder of its body from the soft soil. Dark mist escaped the ground, along with it the pale white skull of a great beast. Long bones came next, along with bits of fur and flesh. A twisted horse fully revealed itself, its hollow eye sockets oozing rotten dark magics and the breath of an undead.

Leland’s eyes went wide. “A Nightmare Stead!”

Glenny and Jude both cursed, the former of which turning invisible while the latter huffed forward.

The skeletal knight bounced its lower jaw, grinding its teeth in boisterous giggles. It made no effort to hide its movements. It picked up its weapon and climbed onto the back of its mount. It hoisted its sword forward, pointing at Jude.

Jude’s face fell, a snarl forming like a feral cat. Rage poured from his Legacy, sending his feet into a swift dash. Distantly, he could hear Leland yell something. But none of that mattered right now. He was embarrassed. How many times did he strike the knight while it was down? Dozens? And he couldn’t kill it? Despicable.

He leaped, sailing through the air and landing just before the undead horse. The ground cratered upon impact, his evolved ability coming in full force. Stones jutted from the grass in a wide circle, encasing the stead. Jude let loose his upgraded primary strike, sending his axe into the flank of the undead beast.

It sheared into bone and rotted flesh, wedging itself deep. Jude’s leveraged all of his strength against, yet still failed to pull the axe out. He jumped back, dodging the knight’s next attack. They both growled at each other, waiting.

Meanwhile, Leland had activated the first portion of Circle of Souls. No flames poured from the ground, no green mist formed from the undead. Only a single entity appeared, one holding out its hand in offering. A soul of the Damned, one carrying a lost cultist soul from Shoutwell.

Leland accepted the gift with open arms, allowing the lost soul entry into his body. Power entered his own soul and radiated blazing warmth. In an instant, Leland’s lifeforce was replenished and he was overflowing with raw power. A pressure was already forming in the back of his mind, not one of pain and ache, but rather a simple reminder.

This magic had to be used with caution.

Knowing the battle wasn’t going to get to that point, Leland snapped his fingers and spoke, “Fracture.”

With the two boons of the Lord of Magic’s contract and devouring a soul, Leland’s magic took, cracking through the bones of the undead.

He repeated the spell again and again, each time finding knowing the curse acted like he wished it to. The horse had it the worse, the added weight on its back sitting upon multiple broken vertebrae and ribs.

At some point, Glenny had attacked, cutting deep into the stead with twin spikes. He carved into bone, twisting his conjured weapons with viciousness and grace. His cloak briefly became visible, a starry night sheen fueling the attack. He dodged back, easily outpacing the knight’s now wild swings.

In tandem with Leland’s spells, a hunk of horse fell, loosening Jude’s axe. The Legacy of the Berserker screeched, his war cry ability forcing his blood to pump with great vigor. He rushed forward, sliding to his weapon before sending a red crescent of rage at the undead beast.

The attack cleaved into its front leg, carving into its bone like a lumberjack chopping into a tree. Bone splinters sprayed into the air, quickly followed by the sound of cracking. The horse let out a horrid cry, one of pure instinct. It tried to charge Jude, but abruptly tripped over its legless body. It crashed into the ground, sending its rider into the dirt.

The knight tried to get to its feet, but a wet rope stopped its movements. From a good distance away, Glenny appeared out of invisibility, his tongue extended into the iconic ability of his Legacy. His tongue tethered him to the undead, making it an easy target for Jude’s axe.

For the second time today, the knight’s head bounced off its shoulders. This time Jude didn’t stop until his rage made sure the undead’s core was fully destroyed.

Glenny, meanwhile, took it upon himself to destroy the Nightmare Stead’s core. But not before sharing a glance with Leland. They both looked at their friend, finding the rage of battle nearly consuming the young man.

Taking a deep breath, Leland slammed his hand into a different contract, this time the one with the Lord of Spirits. Lifeforce and mana encircled his heart, connecting himself with Jude. The spell took, along with a platter of instinctual one-dimensional thoughts of rage.

Leland shook off the feeling, making sure to allow his curse to take upon a new aspect. Soothing music filtered through the air, an illusion of pure bliss. Calming woodwinds met sleepy strings, each adding onto each other until a full symphony wafted through the battlefield.

Slowly, the rage of bashing his axe into the knight became redundant for Jude. Slowly his senses returned, along with the guilt of momentarily losing himself. He counted to ten, slowly, much slower than ever. He breathed along with his count, allowing Leland’s contract to embed itself into his body.

How could this happen again? he asked himself. A simple taunt was all it took?

Jude cursed at himself. He needed a better way to calm himself. One that didn’t involve Leland or Glenny, and differently didn’t include counting to ten.