[70]

“What is it?” Joy asked, giving me a sharp look.

The dread aura descending from the Doom Champion had not reached her yet, on the opposite side of Raxx’s air bubble, where she still tended the wounded soldier. However, the terror written across my face had. Black smoke from the acidfog hid the creature from their sight; it was only my ability to pierce darkness and high Perception that let me detect the creature.

I was not sure what we could do. The two soldiers were both out of the fight, and Raxx had to stay still and concentrate on keeping his spell. Joy’s bow would be useless in the fog.

“He’s here,” I said, teeth chattering. “The Doom Champion is here, and the fog has us trapped.”

“Where?” Joy asked, standing up in looking into the fog. A second later, she had her bow drawn. “Point it out, maybe I can weaken it.”

It’s better than nothing, I thought. It took me a few seconds to judge the distance.

“That way,” I pointed. “Maybe, 100 feet from here. It’s hard to tell for sure in the smoke.”

Joy released an arrow, but it went too far to the left. I think.

“Move right, adjust for fifteen feet closer. Not that far right, go back a little.”

Her arrow was closer this time, but still off.

“He’s 50 feet now, you were really close.” I said, encouraging. By now, her arms were shaking so violently, I was not sure how she continued to hold the weapon.

*THUNK* It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard.

Her arrow landed center mass below the glowing eyes. It was the second prodigious shot she made in the last five minutes. If her skill in the short bow was anything less than A tier, then the gods themselves had to be aiming for her. Maybe they were.

“Y-you h-hit!” I said, feeling blood fill my mouth from where I had bitten my tongue.

Joy nodded, trying to draw another arrow. But it was a futile exercise. The arrows spilled between her numb fingers, falling to the cold earth below. She scrambled to pick one of them up, but I told her to stop.

I did not believe her arrows made a difference, anyway. The red eyes continued their steady, confident path toward us, now a mere 30 feet away.

“I-I s-see i-t n-now,” Joy said, picking up a rock and hurling it in defiance.

“I-It’s m-me it w-wants,” I said, sealing my armor again against the acidfog. They needed time for the fog to clear. If I could lure the creature away from them, it might be enough to escape.

“G-get R-Rey-y-nold for m-me. K-kill h-him,” I said, then strode into the black fog.

“N-no!” Joy cried, trying to grab my arm to stop me, but was too slow.

Black wind twisted in circles around me, obscuring my sight like dancing shadows the moment I crossed the threshold of the wind spell. The smoke like substance was harder to see through up close, but red eyes were still easy to spot. Instead of confronting the creature near the bubble, which I knew would be a pointless endeavor, I fled directly south.

After a few feet, I turned back to look at the undead’s response. The Doom Champion had stopped, as though it stood there to consider what its next move would be. A short moment later, it turned in my direction, then picked up its pursuit.

I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but a rasping sound, not too different from a sword being drawn, revitalized my fear. With the cold aura addled my thoughts, it took a few steps before I realized what the creature had done. It’s laughing at me.

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Fury momentarily replaced my terror, giving me the fortitude to continue.

The shadowy smog drifted downwind, an unwelcome companion in my descent back down the mountain. Before long, my breathing became heavy and uncomfortable because of the lack of fresh air in my airtight mage armor. I could already feel myself faltering. The trip felt like I had been retreating for hours but had to have been less than ten minutes.

I can’t continue like this, I decided. The acidfog was too thick, and I was not moving fast enough to outpace it. My fear of tripping on a stone was too great to risk a more hurried pace. Being sure footed was the only way I could succeed; the horror was already gaining on me.

Turning westward, the same direction as the monstrosity would just put me into its path. So, I did the only sensible thing and went east, the same place we believed Reynold ran. The irony did not escape me, but I did not find the notion at all humorous.

Step after step, my breathing became difficult. My chest felt full of fire as my lungs struggled to take in the musty air. Ugz had already passed out, and I envied him. A stray thought to let a tiny bit of wind erupted into my thoughts, and stupidly, I almost gave in to the impulse.

No! The fog would be a much worse death than this!

A glint of light flashed ahead, causing me to redouble my steps. I decided that the danger of suffocation was too great a threat to continue carefully as I was, and practically sprinted toward the light with the last of my strength. My feet slammed into rocks, and lost balance on uneven ground, but I kept my balance. There was no more air.

I burst through the massive swell of acidic smoke and nearly stumbled to my knees under the beautiful, welcoming glory of the morning sun. Fresh mountain air filled my lungs as quickly as I could take it in. Frantically looking behind me, I saw the creature a mere twenty feet away. It continued unhurried and frowning, with blackened teeth visible through a hole in its cheek.

Hoping that Haunt would save my life a second time, I sent the hex at the Doom Champion. Unlike before, it merely stumbled backward a step, letting out a mournful groan.

I turned to run, but the creature’s unexpected voice stopped me cold.

“Kill me, please,” it said. Its voice had an echoing quality, like it had come from a great distance, or under water. The dread aura vanished, giving me reason to turn back to listen. Undead, after all, were not known for trickery.

In the sun's light, I could see Joy’s arrow lodged deeply into black marked yellowish skin. Around the arrow’s wound, Joy’s Necrosis ability had blackened the skin, but if it caused any discomfort to the powerful undead, it was not apparent.

Its red eyes jumped around in its sockets, focusing on illusions only it could see.

“I’m losing control. You need to KILL ME!” it screamed with an unearthly wail.

Against all reason, I charged the soldier of death.

Our distance was not so far apart as to make it a long run, and I reached it in a handful of seconds. As the rotting face grew closer, I could not help but wonder what in the abyss I was doing.

The warlock that created it had welded a strange metal to the top of its skull, probably to protect it from chopping attacks like I preferred. I could not risk making an ineffectual attack. So, at the last second, I thrust forward, intending to ram the spear tip of the poleaxe through its eye.

The glowing red vessel burst from my thrusting stab, spraying awful smelling black blood down the creature’s chest. But before I could connect with its rotten brain, a shrunken hand reached up in a blur to stop my weapon. Single-handedly, the Doom Champion held the poleaxe in place against all my weight and strength. I had been so close, maybe an inch or two from ending this monster forever.

“Thank you for trying,” it whispered in a quiet voice I could barely hear. “You made me remember.”

Then without preamble it forced me backward with a powerful push against my poleaxe. I narrowly summoned the weapon back to a charm, before tumbling down the rocks on my back. My head cracked against a stone, and I blacked out a second. But that was all that the Doom Champion needed to reach me. My blurry vision had difficulty focusing on the creature as it stalked toward me again. Futilely, I tried to scramble back with my feet, but only ended up kicking up dirt.

What a stupid way to die, I thought.

Standing over me, it drew its rusty sword with a solemn finality.

“I’m sorry,” it said, black fluid still streaming out of its open eye socket like tears. Unsurprisingly, the words did not help.

It aimed the blade at my chest, but before the creature could finish the killing thrust, a flash of bright light blinded me.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Shakily rolling to my feet, I re-summoned my weapon, knowing it would do me little good. I would die on my feet no matter what, I decided.

That thought vanished as fast as it came.

Before me, covered in black gore so thick I could barely make out a person underneath, was Gene Pew. And never had I, or anyone for that matter, ever been happier to see the ill-tempered bastard. He had probably had to clear his way through the horde of ghouls by himself and looked the part. I sincerely hoped he had a resist disease ring like I did.

Faster than I could see, his massive two-handed sword smashed into the old blade of the Doom Champion’s, then angled into a parry. A follow up kick from the ascended of Koth sent the Champion backward, not too different from how it had just thrown me.

“Quit watching you dumb shit! Go save my fucking brother!” Gene roared, turning back to face the undead.

The Doom Champion had already regained its feet. Clearly no longer in control any longer, it let out a frustrated hiss.

If anyone could kill it, he could, I thought. I would probably get in his way and get killed.

Without wasting another second, I turned and fled back up the hill.