“If you face a Ceda, don’t even try to run away. Unless you are a Lăoshī yourself, you might as well simply meet death with your head held high.”

- an excerpt from the Blade; teachings of Lăoshī Tauric, removed by the 5th Lăoshī from official copies

“It’s Karsus's Folly!” Melker cursed, angrily kicking one of the unmoving undead inside the laboratory. “Why bother with making all those wards if there is nothing? Is he mocking me?”

Once more his gaze swept around the room. It was completely devoid of anything useful. He tried dispelling illusions, inspected every stool and table, yet there was nothing.

Melker felt vargr's bone breaking from the force of his kick. As soon as he had entered the laboratory, undead immediately charged against him, but this was within his expectations. He has been preparing spells designed to bind undead every day from the moment he had learned that Evans is a necromancer.

Now Evans’ undead creations, their movements sealed completely by his will, served only a single purpose; allowed Melker to vent some of his ire.

Suddenly he heard a loud rumble coming from the outside.

“What was that?”

Melker ordered his familiar to come back to him. As soon as the sparrow returned, he performed a cursory search through its mind. He saw one of the guards killing another, then thirteen people entering inside the manor after taking care of the killer.

“Myrkul blasts you!” he angrily shook his useless familiar with Mage Hand. “Why you hadn’t flown to me immediately when those scums have entered?”

The sparrow chirped faintly with grudge and confusion. It was ordered to return when Evans or his apprentice returns, it hadn’t seen them so it stayed.

“Shitty feebleminded pigeon!” Melker released the bird. “I should finally look for a more worthy familiar.”

He ordered the bird to scout around the laboratory and return to him. Soon he has learned that the thieves were trying to break wards of the laboratory. Indeed, when he focused, Melker was able to discern slight pushes against the wards; so minuscule that if he hadn't known better he would have taken them as natural disturbances.

“Well, getting rid of those pests would be more cathartic than venting on the undead… It looks like some of them know some petty tricks with mana, ha! I will show them what really means to be a wizard!”

Melker smiled, producing a small diamond from his pocket. He chanted an incantation and the gem started to glow, before turning into a powder which spread evenly throughout his skin, strengthening it. For most wizards, the spell would have ended here, but Melker, as a master abjurer, was able to weave strands of dissipating mana together and reform them once more, adding another layer to the magical ward he constantly maintained around his body.

With another chant, he coated himself with one more protective layer, one that would dissipate most of the energy held by flames, both mundane and magical.

‘Half-fledged mages always use fireballs.’

After adding those spells to the ones he constantly maintained, Melker was ready to unleash his wrath. He focused on the disturbances in the array and with some effort managed to pinpoint the position of an assaulter trying to break them.

He gathered energy between his fingers and suddenly opened the door. He immediately pointed at the spot and an arc of lightning burst from his hand. He was rewarded with a scream of his target.

The belt has been released from one of the bushes but bounced off his barriers harmlessly.

“Is this all you’ve got?” Melker mocked his opponents, as he started to weave another spell.

As he expected, it was enough to make one of the fools charge against him blindly. He mentally laughed feeling a pathetic attempt of an enemy caster to disrupt his spell.

The air before him cooled and the water contained within started to condense and freeze. A hail of rock-hard ice began to pound to the ground, forcing his enemies out of the cover.

Melker sneered seeing the charging man, who continued his assault even after having one of his legs pierced by an ice spear. There were numerous smaller wounds on his body, yet they were being healed by one of the other enemies.

The abjurer has chosen to ignore the warrior, deciding to take care of the enemy spellcasters first. He started to weave another spell, once more directing its excess energy to reinforce his wards. He was sure they would be more than enough to easily deflect any strike the thug could make.

“The light will smite you!” the fighter’s blade suddenly started to glow with light as he slashed with his blade.

“A paladin?” he roared unbelieving, watching the weapon clashing against his barriers.

Deciding to finish his spell despite the attack, he continued to focus energy. The weapon swung once more, this time piercing through his weakened ward.

There was a hint of elation on the paladin’s face as his blade, radiating with holy energy, was about to connect with the wizard. He was channelling his faith through his sword. The priest behind him was praying, granting them their Deity’s blessings. He would smite this foul necromancer!

The sword struck mage’s arm. Suddenly, the fighter’s expression changed, when he felt a resistance that he wasn’t expecting. His weapon, instead of cutting through wizard’s extremity, seemed to be only struck within his skin, leaving only a superficial cut.

The force of the blow was unable to cut through the wizard's flesh, which he had enchanted with the Stone Skin spell. However, the sheer weight of the blow was enough to push him back.

Melker, deciding that allowing the paladin to do as he pleased might be too dangerous, directed the spell he has just finished against him. Faint, silvery threads of light covered his opponent’s body.

“Your magic shall not save you!”

The paladin was baffled for a moment, yet seeing that he was able to move normally despite the strange webbing covering him, he gave Uther silent thanks before rushing once more.

Melker sent two quick bursts of mana against two enemies that tried to cast their spells, interrupting them and restoring the barrier covering him.

Catching sight of another warrior trying to charge against him from the side, he closed his hands together, and a blast of freezing, cold air erupted from them, affecting everyone in a cone in front of him.

The paladin tried to protect himself with some spell of his own, yet screamed in pain, as silvery threads that still covered him suddenly come to life, using the mana he had gathered to cover him in a fire. The stubborn man didn't realise his mistake and his burns only deepened as he attempted casting a healing spell moments later.

From the side, two bolts hit the wizard's barrier in quick succession, harmlessly bouncing off of it.

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Melker cursed, seeing that two melee combatants were still standing defiantly after taking the damage from his spells. The wizard was constantly disrupting the healing spells that their priest tried to cast, so his opponents were forced to use the mixtures.

He used a moment of respite backing a little to gain a distance from them and used this as an opportunity to send another arc of lightning, wanting to get rid of the opponents before their wounds completely heal.

Just as the arc of electricity faded, Melker released the spell he had used earlier to bind the undead inside the laboratory. Being further from the entrance, he expected the creatures to simply charge against the closest enemies.

However, there was no smile on his face as the two men, who still struggled to control their muscles after the shock, were assaulted by eight undead monsters.

‘They are too resilient to simply be common thugs. And I have to focus on countering this damned cleric supporting them. How to finish them quickly?’

He stumbled slightly, as a bolt struck him again, but this time breaking through his barriers.

“Intruders!” he enchanted his voice as he shouted, angrily breaking the bolt that was struck around his shoulder. With the Stone Skin still active, it was more an annoyance than a real wound.

He was getting tired of fighting against those cockroaches.

The priest was able to force an undead boar and two vargrs to flee through divine magic he channelled, but it hadn’t changed the fact that melee fighters were currently busy with the remaining creatures. An opposing wizard supported them with spells and from time to time was sending a magic missiles just to force Melker to actively block them.

The abjurer used the moment to get rid of an annoying vermin that was still shooting at him from the crossbow. He manifested a huge sphere of whirling lightning in the bush he deemed to be his foe’s hiding place. Just a moment later a cry of pain as a stray lightning struck true rewarded him.

A fireball hurled by one of the spellcasters exploded just in front of Melker. He felt a slight wave of heat, yet was completely unharmed as flames charred nearby plants.

“Seriously?” the abjurer questioned the pathetic effort and sent another arc of lightning against the melee combatants, electrocuting living and undead alike. He channelled far more mana than normally to immediately follow this spell with two more. As the big fighter have already dropped after his first cast, he focused energy inside both his hands and simultaneously released five glowing darts of energy from each one, directing the swarm of magic missiles against the paladin.

Melker saw one of the battered vargrs biting deep into the holy warrior’s neck as he fell to the ground.

All around the estate guards were mobilising, he was already able to spot few of them running in their direction.

‘It looks like I have overestimated those thieves after all,’ Melker momentary thought.

The cleric managed to finish off the remaining undead and was trying to help fallen warriors. As Melker wasn’t hearing any more screams from the bushes, he directed the Storm Sphere he has manifested earlier, engulfing the enemy wizard within it.

“That’s the difference between us. In the end, you couldn’t achieve anything with your pitiful spells,” he answered to the cries of pain the wizard made as his body turned into a charred husk.

Now having only a single enemy left, instead of manipulating the Sphere which was close to unravelling anyway, he began to cast a Nullifying Cloak once more, wishing to seal cleric’s ability to use spells. It was significantly harder to affect him comparing to the paladin, but within few seconds he managed to.

The priest, reduced to a barbarian who could only swing his mace was an easy opponent to finish.

“Master Evans! Is everything all right? What happened here?” three guards were running to him, their swords at ready.

“You sure took your time to arrive here. I was doing your job taking care of this trash.”

He answered, looking at the three human bodies lying not far from him.

“I will gladly interrogate this one.”

Melker approached the paladin who, after everything, still stubbornly clinged to life.

“We’re going to have a nice chat very soon…” the wizard stared at the man coldly, preparing another spell.

The mana responding to him felt slightly sluggish. Had he already drain most of the ambient energy around?

Suddenly, Melker felt something interfering with his barrier. Before he had a chance to react, a shortsword pierced through the back of his neck. His body grew limp as he fell to the ground. In the panic, he lost his spell. The wizard immediately tried to focus on another, forcing the energy to reinforce the wounded part of his body.

Yet, with his mind as unsteady as it was right now, a piercing surge of a foreign mana was enough to thwart his casting effort. His eyes widened in a single moment of clarity as he watched the guards swinging their blades against him once more.

****

Ignatius fell to the ground breathing heavily. Constructing so extensive illusions was a feat that left him drained. Nonetheless, it was a necessity. Within just a few seconds of exchange against the enemy, he realised that fighting him head on was impossible.

They had planned to focus on interrupting every spell he might try to cast but weren’t prepared for him to be so proficient to simply shrug off their attempts in doing so.

Because of that, Ignatius has chosen to slowly engulf his opponent with illusions, subtly altering the way he perceived the world. He made him believe he had killed Spike, when in truth she was only heavily wounded, then tricked him into fighting against his illusory image.

When the opponent called the guards, he weaved images of guards immediately responding to his call. In reality, so far only some of them headed from the barracks for the main building and even most of those was forced to focus their attention on the assassins that earlier took care of the patrols. 

Ignatius' preparations were meant to achieve only a single thing. He needed to create an opening to influence the opponent’s mind for long enough to make his readiness slip.

That opportunity had occurred when Ignatius along with Spike and Shadow approached him hidden by his illusion to appear as Silverfords’ guards.

“Quickly, check whatever they are alive” he ordered the duo. “We must retreat immediately.”

Contrary to him, instead of mental fatigue, they suffered mainly from numerous wounds Potions were healing them, albeit slowly; while the first dose might have an almost immediate effect, as reserves of the energy within body diminished, even effectiveness of the strongest potions decreased too.

“This ghoul-fucked bastard really killed Bear!” Spike cried, checking the body of the big man. “Only the pally might still make this.”

“The necromancer is dead. We’ve carried out Uther’s will,” the paladin faintly said. ”Now I can join him in His Kingdom.”

“Oh, end this crap, no more dying today,” she forcefully shoved a healing potion into his mouths.

Ignatius inspected Evans’ body. He noticed that his robe slightly changed its pattern and maybe also colour. His body seemed to shift slightly, slowly changing its appearance.

Suddenly, having a bad premonition, he covered himself with a Shield and in the exact same moment, an undead boar charged against him. Along with two vargrs that have been earlier turned away by priest’s divine magic, they’ve begun attacking them.

He noticed guardians, this time leaving the barracks in a more organised group hurrying towards them too.

“Protect me for a moment. We are retreating soon, get ready,” he used most of his remaining mana to conjure a Dimension Door which should grant them a way out of the manor. "After taking so many people you would have to help me, I might pass out after using all the mana."

Spike and Shadow nodded as they fought against the undead, the paladin was still too weak to help them.

After a few moments Ignatius was about to finish the spell; not a second too soon as the fastest guards were already almost on them.

Suddenly, the undead boar, struck by Shadow’s strike, exploded with a fiery torrent. A sudden wave of flames and heat broke Ignatius’ focus and he was wounded not only be the explosion but also suffered from a magical backlash. He found himself lying on the ground, with everything around him burning.

He quickly downed a potion looking around.

Spike and Shadow’s bodies lied charred and unmoving; they were much closer to the centre of explosion than he. Similarly, for the paladin; the undead’s detonation was enough to finish him off. The nearby estate guards were dazed and struggled to get up back on their feet.

‘I am getting to old for this,’ he tried to not think about the operatives he probably had lost today. They were his friends; not very close but still. ‘Was rushing for the mage worth it? I should have left him and only look for evidence inside Silverfords’ vault. If not for my desire to challenge him…’

Not having mana nor time to attempt setting up another Dimensional Doors, he quickly produced a scroll and conjured a transduced disc of energy under the bodies of Shadow and Spike. Then he covered them and himself with an Invisibility. He also picked up something that looked like Shadow’s arm and threw it to the disc, also making it invisible.

Ignatius sent the last gaze towards his third operative.

‘Sorry Bear, but you are simply too heavy…’

He should have done this from the very beginning, but wanted to carry bodies of everyone who fell; Uther’s church promised to resurrect everyone killed during the mission. He hoped they would still keep their word, yet with him leaving their people behind he had some doubts about them keeping the deal.

“Is this Master Evans?” one of the guards who already recovered was looking around, “Shit, I can hardly recognise the body now. There were three attackers just a moment ago here, they are surely wounded, we must chase them.”

“Are you mad? If they were able to kill him what could we do against them?”

“I am not letting them go after seeing all those guys we’ve seen killed on the way there!”

Ignatius began to carefully sneak away with his invisible luggage.

Even if this was probably a futile effort, he owed them at least trying.

“But…” the rest of guard’s words was impossible to hear, drowned in the noise of a loud explosion. It originated from the manor proper; a part of the building was clearly damaged and burning. Few more explosions, albeit of lesser strength followed the first one.

'At least it will make sneaking out easier.'