It was just a few seconds before the undead would reach Percival. Roberion thought this challenge would be the proper send off to his rifle. The weapon seemed to be useless already in the fight on the river. This time was the best one he would find for it to shine a last time, although maybe even these undead would be too powerful for the weapon.
No way he would use his [Minor True Strike] enchantment from his necklace with the rifle. The improvement to his dexterity would be better used with his fireball. Taking his good old rifle, Roberion assumed a battle position.
The four beasts were already running to attack Percival. Roberion concentrated and tried to hit the head of the beasts. Not caring much about the last ammo he had, he concentrated fire on the undead. Most shots didn’t hit the head of his target, he wanted to give Percival less chance of surprise attacks, so he focused on the farther undead.
The shots that did reach the head only cause minor bruises on the beast's head, being the only exception, the shot that go into its eye that did good damage. The undead seemed to lose some balance after he spent all his magazine. Roberion dropped the item to the side. It was time to try his new spell.
Sadly Roberion couldn’t fulfill his plan, Percival had to fight three of the beasts, only the one that was shot started going after him. He still had faith that Percival would win the brawl against the three of them. Roberion would have an easier time, so he didn’t have any excuses to fail.
The undead were coming hot after him. It was time for Roberion to increase the heat. Roberion flexed his hands, felting the rigidity of the gloves. The gloves weren’t much different from the leatherleaf ones; the material was similar, but improved, he felt that he could even use the gloves to punch, not that it would be a good idea, he wasn’t that good fighting with his fists, his first enemy showed that well, R.I.P. metallic spider.
These gloves, though, should be saved to its main function, to feed the material for his neutral fireball spell. He could only dream of having the creation version of the fireball, the truest one, it seems. He couldn’t do anything about that. Let’s make the best use of what he could do.
The spell finished as the creature was ten meters of distance from Roberion, more than enough time for him to shoot his fireball. Activating the [Minor? Fire] enchantment, a big flame, was created in front of him. It palled in comparison to the wave of flame Kannon could cast, like a flame of a candle to a flame from a bonfire.
As the fireball formed, the creature was already six meters from Roberion. Not waiting for the creature to attack, Roberion shot the fireball, targeting the head of the creature. Hitting the chest would also be good enough, but he wanted to train his aim with the spell.
It was not like he need to aim at this distance. The shot hit the bullseye, first singeing the hair of the creature when nearing it, then burning its entire head as the fireball enveloped all of it with explosive force. The head exploded, burned brain matter, flesh and burned fragment shot out, like a macabre birthday balloon.
With his work finished, Roberion looked at Percival. Sadly, the knight had some damage to his armor and shield. The good news was that the capybara had only some minor bruises. The result of his work is plain to see.
One undead was on the floor already eliminated, a big hole where his heart would be. One undead seemed to be immobile, but alive on the floor, only having some minor contraction. The other was crawling with his two hands on the floor.
The closing wounds of the two undead seemed to be have been done for some time, as it seemed to be closing. Little by little, the creatures were regaining some semblance of complete mobility. Roberion was afraid that the creatures would be in better condition to attack again. It was better to finish the experiment.
“Percival finish them! Enough with the experiments. Let’s focus on eliminating the undead with the minimum of effort and mana expenses. I will try to distract them, and you will strike. If need be, I will use the fireball.”
Before he finished speaking, Percival was already finishing the last of the undead, with a perfect plunge in the middle of the beast's head. “Right Sir!”.
The cycle repeats. This time, eight undead tried to overwhelm Percival. Roberion took the improvised bat, trying to distracting the beasts, while Percival would pierce them with the Rapier. The bat was easier to handle than before when he fought the guard on the weapon house. Now he was stronger. It was time to see if this bat was enough to at least annoy these beasts.
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The first one he used his faster speed and batted the head of the creature. Unfortunately, the beast’s head didn’t explode, as he already expected, but surprisingly, the head caved in a little. Maybe with a better weapon, he would kill the undead.
Stumbling a little, the undead tried to attack Roberion, another two following after him.
"Dammit, three of them is too much.”, the best situation would be for him to distract all the beasts from Percival or only distract them enough to make openings for Percival’s attacks. Sadly, it didn’t work. Roberion had no choice but to run like hell.
Already concentrating on the spell as he run, he took a glance back. The undead weren’t too slow; they were still some distance from him, and increasing the distance would take too much time. Although the space was big enough, it wasn’t enough for him to run for all the time he wanted.
Before reaching the gate and the fiznaults, he activated the glove’s fire enchantment a moment before casting the fireball to the nearest undead. The fireball hit dead center on the creature, exploding its entrails. Roberion didn’t have too much time to aim that spell as the other undead circled him.
The fireball successfully eliminated one of his opponents. He had the other two to deal with, though. They didn’t wait, as they attacked him with ferocity. Not being accustomed to fighting with multiple humanoid opponents in closed quarters, even with his superior speed, evading all the creature’s attacks while attacking seemed impossible.
Clawed fingers cut the side of Roberion’s head as he banged the creature’s side with the improvised bat, already evading the other undead attack. All his attacks were only nuisances to the creatures. He didn’t have time to do enough damage to accumulate besides the beast’s regeneration. Not seeing a way to fight the two without a fireball, he tried to run. Being faster wasn’t enough in this melee confrontation. He needs experience and training.
Before Roberion got a chance to run away, Percival showed up, his armor all damaged, his shield nowhere to be seen. Attacking with ferocity, as sparks already seemed to leave his corporeal form. The knight couldn’t endure the next undead wave until the end. For Roberion, it was clear why the capybara was in this state, because of him not holding his own, his incapacity.
Roberion, with urgency, helped Percival finish the undead. Kannon, though, already did her job and sixteen new undead were already coming to get them.
“Sir sadly, I can’t explode in a blaze of glory because of the lack of the marvelous explosives. But please, as you see, I can’t help much more in this state. Please let me endure the beast's onslaught as you finish them off with your magical fireballs.”, Percival spoke with determination.
Even if Roberion knew that the knight can’t feel pain, it still seemed a little wrong to let Percival sacrifice himself this way, his fireballs would for sure at least graze him. He knew that was the best plan though, so he just nodded, not knowing what to say.
Percival run after the beasts, just taking the shield in the way. Kannon blessedly didn’t burn it off with all the undead. He had no time to see how she controlled the flames to such a control in this battle. Was time to rain fireball on these beasts.
Nearing Percival like starving cats would round a mouse. The undead started attacking the knight relentlessly. The capybara though, didn’t let the beasts have his way with him. As he received damage or blocked the attacks, he looked to any open window to attack the undead.
It wasn’t long before the fireballs started to rain. The first fireball hit two undead, eliminating them. Their proximity with each other as they attacked Percival made it easy to the fireball. Percival, even taking some glancing damage, used the breach to kill one of the undead with a blow to the head.
The mad dance of fire, steel and claws continued some more, until only flaming and perforated bodies remained, white sparks vanishing as Percival did his job admirably. For Kannon, that wasn’t enough though, thirty-two new undead coming in the distance.
Kannon's annoying device voice could be heard some distance away.
“Go on Shining Crown, do your best work in this wave and maybe I will conclude this challenge”
Roberion didn’t even try to look at Kannon, fury pumping him full awake. Maybe the old couple would protect him if thing got really wrong, maybe they would find a way for him to survive the quests backlash, maybe he could have a safe life with them here.
Maybe my ass. I’m fed up with maybes. Percival showing up, we will run from this shit. Kannon can get her kicks from the dying fiznault around here, but I’m bolting. If Jubilant Choir shows up, I’m damned. I would appreciate more of the entire fiznault species if Kannon kept her promise, though.
The die activated automatically as Percival vanished completely. Roberion already felt what his luck would choose. He just wished luck was a stat, something he could gain, but he knew life wasn’t that easy. Even stats for him seemed like a generalist way to look at reality. He did enjoy seeing his improved stats though. But not seeing then never again would be a cheap price to pay to never be a victim of the system.
He gripped the woody weapon as it seemed to manifest in the reality. The answer to his die activation. Answer to what he needed to do.
“What a grotesque weapon. Show me Shining Crown what you can do.”
“I will show you alright”, said Roberion, drinking a mana potion. The situation demanded the top up. It was no time to save supplies. He looked at the upcoming undead, gripping the weapon tightly. Fury was fuelling his next attack. Pity the undead that will be its target.