The inside of the cave was a hazardous mix of fire and steel. The rock walls reflected deep orange lights with each flame projectile passing by Tolbar. But the intensity of Lena's pyromancy wasn't what it used to be at the start of the fight. Her mana reserve was depleting rapidly. Soon, she would run on fumes, so she decided to take a break.
Tolbar noticed the anomaly and redoubled his efforts at keeping the kindlings at bay, trying to buy some time for Lena to catch her breath. Bones were forming huge piles next to him, obstructing the undeads, giving the warrior an advantage.
"WAAAAH!"
He roared to give himself the courage to go on and started hammering the enemies like a mad man. Thrusts, shield bashes, and mace swings formed a cocktail of deadly strikes around him. But with each fallen kindling, another one took its place.
The tower shield was riddled with dents menacing to morph into holes at the next attack. The skeletons stroke the shield frenetically, as if aware of the flaw.
Amidst the chaotic sound of battle, Tolbar yelled, forgetting his manners on the spur of the moment.
"Lena! Do something!"
"Buy me 30 seconds, then get out of the way!" she answered.
"Fine!"
'30 seconds.' Tolbar counted mentally.
"Channel." Lena chanted.
She took advantage of the moment of respite he was buying to stretch an arm forward and concentrate her remaining mana at the tip of the palm where a deep red fireball began to condense.
Powerful pyromancy spells needed time to charge compared to weak ones that were almost instantaneous. Pyromancers usually used some chants they had learned by heart to channel their spells. But Lena used short words instead. It helped her increase the casting speed.
Without the support of Lena's pyromancy, the skeletons swarmed Tolbar even more than before, making it unmanageable to block them entirely with normal means. He had no choice but to use his last resort.
Before the fall of Talmera, Tolbar's ancestors had lived in the east as a fearsome tribe of barbarians. Those warriors were famous for their melee prowess but dreaded because of a unique bloodline ability: Rage.
'25 seconds.'
"Compress."
A magma-like feeling spread to every inch of Tolbar's body. His heartbeat sped up beyond human limits, allowing tired muscles to regain energy. Strength, reflexes, and speed doubled as his skin glowed red, emitting steam.
"WAAAAAH!"
The berserker threw his shield–now filled with holes–at the incoming enemy, blasting its skull to smithereens. He lashed down his weapon towards the nearest skeleton, and in the same motion grabbed another one to smash its head against the cave wall.
CRACK.
The need to check the state of his enemy appeared useless to him as he intently gazed at the next prey. Too close for the mace, he threw a destructive hook at it.
'20 seconds.'
"Fire."
BAM.
The skeleton flew backward, violently dropping two kindlings on the ground. Tolbar seized the opportunity and atomized the skull of the nearest one under his foot.
Taking advantage of this brief respite, with a twist of the wrist he unlocked a mechanism that lengthened the mace shaft, seized it with two hands, and resumed the massacre.
'15 seconds.'
"Obey."
Skeletons died with every swing of Tolbar's mace. The warrior seemed invincible, and that annoyed the black-robed skeleton watching from the outside. It pointed its scepter aiming for the berserker and mumbled something.
'10 seconds.'
"Ashes."
A black arrow left the black-robed skeleton's scepter and flew above the undeads in direction of Tolbar.
The warrior saw the dark projectile, but his attention was on Lena. She hasn't completed her chant yet and if he dodged it, the skeleton's spell would interrupt her or worse–kill her.
Tolbar assembled his courage, assumed a defensive position with the help of his mace, and braced for the attack.
BOOM!
The mace absorbed the brunt of the impact–breaking it–but the remaining momentum was enough to lacerate both of Tolbar's arms. And despite Rage, the spell drained his remaining stamina.
Lena was aware of her personal guard predicament. But she couldn't waste his efforts in keeping her safe while she has been casting the spell and continued despite feeling worried.
Tolbar collapsed on the cave floor. He couldn't move any longer and his arms had been turned to shreds. The berserker was done for. Thus, he muttered what he thought were his last words.
"I'm sorry, Lena."
At that moment, a familiar laugh echoed throughout the cave. Tolbar thoughts turn toward it, believing the damn prisoner he had caught in Calm came back to haunt him on his deathbed.
"Kakakakakaka!"
The Fallen had taken advantage of the black-robed skeleton's attention being elsewhere to sneak up behind it. Once there, his enemy finally realized that something wasn't right. But it was too late.
BAM!
The power behind the blow separated the black-robed skeleton in half. However, the Fallen wasn't done yet and secured his kill.
'5 seconds.'
"Overload."
Their leader dead, something seemed to change in the skeletons' behavior. They ran around like headless chickens, completely clueless about what to do next.
The Fallen saw an opportunity in it and went wild. Bashing the skeletons in front of the cave to oblivion, but he kept thinking that something was off.
'Ah right, Lena said 30 seconds. Wait..." he thought.
He barely had the time to take cover that...
'0 seconds.'
"Launch."
The small fireball, that levitated at the tip of Lena's hand, propelled forward while rapidly growing in size.
On the ground, Tolbar had just enough time to flatten his belly that he felt the growing fireball fly above him. The heat was so intense his armor melted for a moment.
The spell turned the remaining skeletons to ashes and left the cave to reach the forest. There, it burnt down several trees before disappearing.
The Fallen had watched the spell's devastation with awe. But when he saw the carbonized trees, he took a mental note to never mess with Lena again.
After casting the spell, strength left Lena's body. She stumbled and fell unconscious on the cave floor.
The Fallen remained outside for a bit, checking for any signs of additional enemies, but nothing appeared. He then walked inside the cave to see the aftermath of the battle.
The temperature inside was so hot, it made breathing excruciating. The walls were covered with burn marks all over the place. Still burning bones were lying on the ground. Amidst them, the Fallen found a familiar bald man.
He lifted him, while making sure not to aggravate the man's already severe injuries, and took Tolbar outside. He laid him on the grass and went back inside to pick up Lena.
Once done, he examined their wounds. Even with no medical experience, anybody could tell that Tolbar's state wasn't good: burnt marks, lacerated arms, deep cuts covering his body parts unprotected by armor.
The Fallen switched his gaze to Lena. Despite the temperature in which he had found her, nothing seemed to have melted.
'Everything looks ok. I think she's just tired.' he thought.
He continued to examine her, just in case, and realized the ring she had been wearing was gone. Probably liquid silver by now, since she launched the spell with the hand wearing it. Actually, it wasn't the only oddity. Lena had lost her beard and also looked more... feminine.
The Fallen thought that it was the heat that got to his head at first, but after slapping himself multiple times, he couldn't deny the truth.
Incapable to hold back his curiosity, he took off her gambeson. Beneath it, he saw two lumps the size of watermelons highlighted by the chain mail atop her shirt.
"Unbelievable."
He slapped himself again multiple times. The sound of it awoke Lena, who was still in a dizzy state. Flashbacks of the previous event rapidly made their way to her brain as she stood up in a hurry.
"Tolbar!"
Panic struck her but quickly subsided when she saw her guard laying next to her and a familiar skeleton continuously slapping himself.
She cared little about such idiocy, though it still picked her curiosity, as she crouched by her companion to examine his state. Her eyes widened when she saw his wounds.
Years of service in the military taught her the basics of medicine, but Tolbar's injuries were beyond her knowledge and current means.
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