Chapter 66: Reinforcements

Darius

“Darius Run!”

Alley didn’t need to tell the hunter twice. While not a part of their combat language, the shout and its intent were both succinct and clear. Considering more than half the creatures that had been trying to swarm him exploded into the blue light of Demanifestation, leaving only the ones that hadn’t been Manifested at all. Darius was pretty sure the plan had worked and Alley had of all things leveled a Challenge at a tree.

As glad as he was that they had locked down the weird tree-lady’s Deck, Darius now faced an issue he really should have been preparing for the entire time. He and the real Undead were now standing in the middle of what was about to be a Challenge arena.

That was not good, the combined magic of two Decks wouldn’t tolerate the presence of anyone not involved in the Challenge. If the hunter couldn’t get out of the area before the ethereal blue boundaries rose the magic would forcibly remove him and that would not be pleasant.

Pumping his legs as fast as they would go Darius headed for the gap in the wall the giant skeletal had created. Now would be a good time for his hand to be holding something that sped him up, and technically it did with ‘Scent The Blood’ but that Card was only helpful if he was in range of a bleeding and near-death Enemy.

That left Darius’ only real option as ‘Run as fast as he fucking could and hope for the best.’ It was a solid plan with a clearly defined objective and it almost worked, almost. Darius was maybe twenty feet from where he had first turned and run from the defensive line of Undead when the arena’s energy barrier rose.

“Ahh shit” He swore in Frostlander.

A split second later an invisible force slammed into Darius’ from the side, hurling him with the power of some impossible giant. He wasn’t the only one as the seven remaining Undead, including the ten-foot golem were tossed like the toys of an unruly child by the same force.

Sent hurtling across the room the hunter brought his arms up to protect his face as he flew past the exit he had intended to use and towards the one he was being forced to use.

The exit in question was also known as a wall made of thick glass which the redheaded boy promptly smashed through. The collision hurt, but Darius barely noticed that pain compared to the lines of fire the shattering glass sliced across his skin.

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Tumbling to the grass of the courtyard garden he lay there for a stunned moment, oddly reminded of how he had felt enduring one of the attacks from the demi-human pirate he had fought in Ashton’s Lookout. He could feel the last of his four internal Vials emptying to repair the damage and steam began to rise from his wounds; A sign to anyone around that he was running low on Life Essence.

As much as he would have liked to just lay there for a few minutes while his body recovered, it became abundantly clear that was not going to happen when three skeletons, two zombies, and the bone golem came hurtling through their own sections of glass wall. Rolling to his feet the hunter managed to avoid being hit by the flying Undead, he couldn’t fully dodge the explosions of glass shards that accompanied the thrown creatures.

He let out a hiss as one of the shards caught him just under the eye, and a cluster pin cushioned his forearm. Throughout all of it, Darius had never let go of his spear. The Ancient weapon was far too important for something so mundane as nearly dying to get it out of his hands. Not only was the spear an impressive weapon in its own right, but almost half of the Cards in Darius’ Deck required it or a similar weapon to function.

To the best of his knowledge, the Undead creatures didn’t feel things like pain or shock, but they still needed a moment to reorientate themselves as they clambered to their feet. Darius did not intend to give them that moment.

Ignoring the pain that threatened to debilitate him Darius exploded into movement while dipping the head of his spear to the ground. The hunter sprinted past the pair of zombies which were on all fours as they righted themselves. Still low and trailing slightly behind him the spearhead sliced through the necks of the rotting creatures like he was towing a harvester and they were the wheat.

‘Okay they will pull themselves together eventually but I have some time to deal with the other fi-” The thought trailed off as Darius spotted what had to be dozens of skeletal and zombie monsters swarming into the courtyard from both the wall entrance and by throwing themselves out the window the boys had climbed down earlier.

Still running he brought the spear forward so he could ram it into the ribcage of one of the still recovering skeletons. The monster wasn’t really harmed by being impaled but Darius had a plan for that. Hefting the impaled Creature on the end of his weapon the hunter drove it with literal bone shattering force into the stone wall of the courtyard.

With a jerk, he shucked the broken and limp bone monster off of his spear and span to face the quickly filling courtyard. Even if he had all his Vials Darius knew he could only hold out against so many enemies for a brief period especially since the ones that fell would eventually resurrect themselves.

Backing towards the glass building Darius shouted over his shoulder. “ Hey Alley, do you maybe think they will all die if you kill that tree?”

A second later he faintly heard his Soul Brother’s reply.

“I’ve been thinking about that too. I’m pretty sure she is the source of the Undeath Resonance but I’m thinking fifty-fifty on whether killing her will kill them.”

Letting out a long nasal exhale Darius resisted the urge to play with his piercing as a small army of monsters arrayed itself before him.

“Okay,” the hunter called. “ Can you just do me a favor and make this Challenge a quick one?”