After about three hours, the detachment of adventurers encountered the fifth group of opponents. There was a serious battle going on against a lesser vampire, three thralls, and a banshee.
Tired people had difficulty defending themselves from the attacks of problematic monsters. Glen and Klein, as usual, fought in the vanguard with damn strong physically thralls. The warriors had already accumulated fatigue, and they had difficulty defending themselves from the attacks of intoxicated people.
Anya and Robert stood next to the still unconscious Lia, protecting her from a possible banshee attack. This evil ghost hid, passing through walls from time to time and attacking from unexpected places. The Assassin could not fight on the front line due to accumulated injuries from past battles. In particular, recently she unsuccessfully exposed herself to a powerful attack from a thrall, and the bones of the girl’s chest were broken. Robert had spent almost all his spells, leaving only two charges of [Stone Hand].
Vasily supported the vanguard fighters from the rear, firing arrow after arrow, but it was clear that the man was tired. His fingers were bleeding, and the bow, due to prolonged continuous use, began to gradually lose its elasticity, which greatly worried the archer.
Isabella, with a furious scream, soared in the air in the form of an eagle, trying to catch up with the vampire, who had transformed into a huge bat. If left, he began to cast spells, which instantly worsened the situation.
- Klein. – Glen turned to the guy, spitting blood on the ground. - If so, can you patch me up?
The paladin took cover behind a shield from another attack from the incredibly powerful hand of the thrall, and, breaking the distance, answered:
- Mana has run out. But with the help of gloves I can help you once. Need to?
- I'll need it in a second.
The dwarf activated the [Cry of Hate] rune, causing all the monsters to instantly turn their heads towards him. Glen threw the ax and shield aside, taking out a hammer from behind his back. He eagerly rushed towards the nearest thrall.
The monster and the dwarf were close to each other, each raising his hands, preparing to kill the enemy, and flesh collided with flesh. Thrall plunged his hand into Glen's stomach, it tore the berserker's shirt, and, turning his insides into mush, came out of his back. A lump of blood splashed out of the dwarf's mouth, but he did not stop his movement, and with a blow of the hammer he turned the figure in front of him into a bloody mess on the carpet and walls of the hall.
Klein screamed in shock and ran towards Glen. However, one of the thralls ran across the young man, while the second rushed towards the kneeling dwarf in order to finish off the wounded man.
- Protect her. – Robert threw to Ana, and used the spell sealed in his boots. – [Misty Step].
The fog enveloped the mage's body and instantly transported him straight to the first thrall. Robert forced the monster to retreat with a blow of his sword, giving Klein time to reach the bleeding Glen. The paladin used a shield to protect the berserker from the attack of the second monster, and immediately activated his gloves, placing them on the dwarf's shoulder.
- [Healing III]!
The through wound in Glen's body healed before his eyes, and he blinked and staggered to his feet, looking around the situation. He saw the monsters, and, picking up the hammer, was ready to rush into battle again, despite the wound that had not completely healed.
At this time, Isabella is trying to catch up with the damned vampire due to the fact that he was earlier distracted for a second by Glen’s provoking ability. The eagle and the bat grappled in the air, feathers and blood flying in all directions. And the werewolf was able to dodge and with a powerful blow of her beak break through the creature’s skull, ending their confrontation.
The bat turned back into a sickly-looking pale man with red eyes and collapsed onto the stone floor. Isabella did not slow down, and, flying over the two thralls below, canceled the transformation. The fragile girl began to fall down uncontrollably, but while still in flight she began to turn into a different creature. And a moment later, an eight-hundred-kilogram bear fell on the heads of the two thralls, turning the creatures beneath it into piles of meat and blood.
The fall raised clouds of dust into the air, through which the adventurers heard two women's screams from behind. When something became visible, Klein saw Anya lying on the floor, clutching her bleeding ears with her hands. A transparent ghostly figure hovered in the air above her.
The banshee, with an angry expression on her face, opened her mouth again and screamed. The shock wave of the scream threw Anya and Lia back several steps. The banshee opened her mouth again, preparing to release her destructive scream again, but at that moment an arrow, shrouded in blue light, hit her chest. The arrow passed through the ghost's body, partially dispelling it, and with a painful squeal, the banshee retreated, disappearing again inside the wall.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
- How are they? – Robert shouted to Vasily, and he, having examined the girls, answered:
- They will live. But it's better not to let this scarecrow scream again!
- Does anyone else have spells or anything that works against ghosts? – The magician asked the team.
Klein shook his head, answering:
- All the mana has long been spent on expulsion and treatment. I'm completely empty.
- Dwarves do not fight those who are so unmanly that they do not even have flesh.
A loud growl was heard from the bear.
- Clear. Me too. Damn it. I can throw a stone at her, but it’s a physical attack... Vasily, can you do that again?
- Yes, I... - The archer began to answer, but at that moment the ghostly body of a woman flew out from behind the wall behind him, and she screamed.
Vasily, feeling the cold of death on his back, jumped forward, moving away from the creature and minimizing the damage. In the air, the man turned around in the air, placed another arrow on the bowstring, and, channeling magical energy into it, attacked the enemy.
However, immediately after the attempted attack, the banshee retreated again, and the arrow only harmlessly hit the stone wall, not having time to pierce the ghost. Vasily stood up, preparing a new arrow, and gloomily finished his sentence:
- Now there is only one shot left... I have too little mana to activate these wonderful arrows...
- So, - Robert concluded, - we have one try. - Our goal is to protect Vasily and give him the opportunity to attack.
The heroes surrounded the archer from all sides, diligently looking for the ghost, waiting for it to appear from any wall.
Time passed incredibly slowly. Seconds passed like minutes, and the damned banshee did not appear, increasing the nervousness of the already exhausted people. Isabella could not stand it and growled, turning an exquisite wardrobe into splinters with a powerful blow.
And at that time a ghost appeared. However, no one saw him, because only his head came out of the floor right under the archer’s feet. The creature opened its mouth, and the sound of a cube suddenly sounded in Klein’s head. The guy understood what this meant and, without even waiting for the result, shouted:
- Check your attention!
The paladin's companions knew what this meant. Something important appeared in the young man’s field of vision. And in this situation it could only be one thing. Banshee. Glen instantly poured mana into the metal imprinted into his tongue and shouted:
- [Cry of Hate]!
The provocation caused the ghost to change its target, turning towards the dwarf and releasing a scream charged with killing intent and mana. The halfling went flying, crashing into the wall with a hoarse groan, and the creature hastened to hide, going underground again. However, Vasily, realizing where the enemy was, managed to fire an arrow charged with mana, which pierced the monster’s head, and it disappeared into the air with a dying howl.
There were no enemies left in the richly furnished hall. Only destroyed things, piles of meat and pools of blood. The adventurers finally exhaled and were able to relax. Robert and Vasily immediately ran to check the condition of the girls, Isabella canceled the transformation, and with a tired sigh fell on the soft carpet, deciding that she would sleep here despite the stench, dirt and the damned voice in her head, which did not stop for a second.
Klein approached Glen, helping him get up and put himself in order.
- What the hell was that!? – The paladin was indignant when the dwarf came to his senses.
- What? Oh, are you talking about my awesome plan? Well, I'm just cool, yeah.
- Awesome plan!? Are you kidding me!? Are you talking about that plan in which you kill the enemy, allowing him to inflict such a terrible wound on himself!?
- Yeah. It worked. Why are you worrying, I don’t understand.
- Don't you dare do that again! I almost died when I saw this! And you - even more so! Why the hell did you even think this would be a great idea!?
- Well, you said that you have a charge of treatment.
- So what!? What if I didn’t have time? What if you were finished off? What if the healing power wasn’t enough to save you!? Or if you died from that blow!? Haven't you thought about that?
- What's the point? I know that I have such a cool doctor on hand. Why be afraid?
- Yes you!.. You!..
- I?
Klein exhaled, calming down.
- Thank you. I am very honored by this trust.
- Yeah. – The dwarf patted the young man’s thigh. - You're welcome.
- Anya is fine. - Said Robert. – It’s more difficult with Lia. She’s in this state not because of her wounds, but because of her voice... However, I think a rest wouldn’t hurt both of them.
The magician looked around at the exhausted faces of his comrades and added:
- We could all use some rest. I have no idea what time it is, night, day or morning, but let's take a break. Right here. There is still half of the room that we did not demolish during the battle... Try to sleep. Tomorrow we also have a hard day ahead... I will be the first to guard. Klein will go second. After – Vasily. The rest need rest especially badly.
Having tidied up the room and themselves a little, and also changed the bandages on their wounds, the adventurers built themselves sleeping places from carpets, chairs, tables, whatever they had. It was difficult to rest normally on such a makeshift bed, but it was still better than nothing...
Klein lay there, looking at someone's old portrait on the wall, and thought. He lies right in the lair of monsters... The young man spent the night in a dungeon for the first time. Previously, at sunset, he and his squad always went to the surface, or teleported home. Somewhere where it was at least a little safe... The only exceptions were a few times when Klein cleared dungeons as a child, along with other acolytes of Aronis. Then Master Arthur himself accompanied them, making sure that no one died in these battles... And then it happened that they had to sleep in the dungeon. But then the Master Abbot was nearby, keeping watch all night long. Then Klein felt safe. Now he didn’t feel it at all...
"But I had to sleep... Tomorrow will be a hard day..." With these thoughts, Klein closed his eyes, falling into sleep. He didn't know yet that he was right. Tomorrow will truly be a hard day. And the day after tomorrow. And the day after it too. The paladin slept, not knowing how much he would value sleep in the future...