Chapter 72: Army Of Darkness
Darius
Darius was a more philosophical soul than he might seem at first glance. He didn’t consider it arrogant to think so, as the boy knew how he usually came across but also knew his own mind. It was just his brain only went to deep places when he was stalking prey or desperately fighting for his life.
The hunter had talked to Alley about it, prompting his friend to do what he always did when presented with a quandary he couldn’t solve on the spot. Go away, read like seventy books, and come back at it a few days later. He had after doing some research assured Darius that it wasn’t all that unusual. Apparently, when some people were in high-intensity situations their minds just went to odd places.
A hunt was mostly the opposite of high intensity but that made sense too since he had so much time doing little more than waiting, it would be almost impossible not to think about the nature of life. While his stand in the courtyard had initially sent his mind wandering like usual, but he didn’t have time for that now.
There turned out to be a lot more Undead in this Mansion that it had seemed like the day before. If Darius had to guess the owner of this place;The bizarre tree lady was also the ruler of the creatures out in the swamp and had used her influence to summon reinforcements, lots and lots of reinforcements.
Zombies of all shapes and sizes, skeletal warriors armed with various rusty weapons or farming implements, that gods forsaken Golem that had been sent flying through the glass after him, even a pair of monstrous dead Vine-Man monsters Darius didn't have names for.
All of it had come pouring into the courtyard and arrayed themselves against a single teen boy with a hand-me-down spear and a dragon-scale cloak that was in dire need of washing.
If Darius had the time he would have considered himself in trouble, but just as his mind no longer had time for ponderings on existence he no longer had time to even consider his wider situation.
The hunter’s mind and world had been reduced to nothing more than ‘duck, spin, dodge, stab, reverse grip, counter, dodge, duck, spin, dash, lunge, play Card’
Before he had stopped counting the redheaded boy had put the number of enemy combatants at somewhere above forty. That alone would be problem enough but several of these monsters were inhumanly strong or durable. Not to mention that sooner or later everyone that he killed would pull itself back together and rejoin the fight.
In truth Darius only had two advantages he could call on to keep himself alive; The ability to play Cards, something that was somewhat hamstrung by his lack of Life Essence to call on right now. He could still use about two-thirds of his Deck, but the most powerful enhancements he could draw were beyond his reach.
The second advantage was something he could almost always call upon to help him out of a tight jam. Superior speed and agility, the only times in his life Darius had ever felt at a speed disadvantage was when sparring with his father or other hunters who had attained even greater ranks.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Moving the fastest he had ever gone the hunter didn’t so much inspect his Hand and make informed decisions as occasionally look at it from his peripheral vision and kind of include it in his instinctually made snap decisions. Despite his magical and physical edges Darius was starting to accumulate injuries, he hadn’t allowed anything near his vitals but without Vials to rejuvenate him the army of dead things would overwhelm him sooner or later…probably sooner.
He might be able to attempt to break out of the hidden courtyard but Darius was almost certain that ship had sailed, all he could do was keep moving, keep killing and hold out long enough for Alley to beat the tree woman and hope that when he put her down it had some significant effect on the little army currently trying to rip him to pieces.
Spinning his spear to decapitate a wall of muscle masquerading as a zombie the hunter activated a Card in response to a group of the skeletons and the golem hemming him in.
“Primal Forge: Sword and Shield”
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[Primal Forge
Resonance: Pursuit
When Primal Forge is activated if you are holding on of the following weapon combinations you may transform it into another of the listed combinations for 2 minutes.
Ancient Sword And Shield
Ancient Spear
Ancient Cleavers
Ancient Maul
Ancient Sling]
He declared in between panting breaths. It wasn’t Darius’ favorite weapon combination, in fact, he would say it was close to his least favorite. Outdone only by the sling in holding his ire he had nevertheless been forced to drill with versions of everything his Primal Forge could create and it was simply the right choice to keep himself alive right now.
Flowing like liquid the spear split into two parts and then spread out into the combination of arms. Like all weapons Primal Forge created, they were primitive things: the shield made of light wood adorned with animal skin and feathers for display and a tiny bit of extra protection. The sword’s length was also wooden, even the cutting edge wasn’t a true blade but a section of the wood that was a little wider and studded with sharp angular teeth made of CoreStone.
Keeping the shield close Darius rushed to meet the golem, while he considered it more dangerous by far than the group of skeletons it was only one monster and a far easier route of escape. Assuming of course that he could get around the creature.
Even once he had ‘escaped’ Darius would find himself with only a little bit more room to move. The first set of Undead he had slain hadn’t resurrected themselves yet but the hunter could see the twirling helixes of Resonance doing their work.
Dropping into a knee slide Darius ducked under a wild swing from the rusty blade that made up one of the golem’s forearms and was back on his feet running before he had even registered the thought to keep moving. Almost instantaneously he was glad he had transformed his spear.
Using some sort of ambush ability one of the Vine Elementals? Yeah, it was probably some sort of swamp-based Undead-Vine Elemental. Had hidden itself in a vine form scattered across the ground. Once Darius escaped the attempt to box him in the vine monster burst from the garden bed the hunter was charging into assuming its manlike shape in less than a second, just in time to deliver a punch with rock-breaking power.
Darius brought his shield to bear blocking the attack but it still split his shield down the middle and sent a bone rattling wave of force down his arm. The hunter was sent flying, his back colliding with the back of the still adjusting bone golem.