“We need to concentrate on the Necromancer! He’ll just keep summoning skeletons!” I panted.

“Yes, Master!” Lydia confirmed.

I wish I had spoken up two waves of skeletons ago, but as he summoned the third, I realized that he could do that all day. A part of me wanted to treat this as a game and assume three waves was his limit, but as much as this was like a game, it was also very real. I couldn’t use game logic to assume anything about this world, Living Armor turkey legs notwithstanding.

Without hesitation, Lydia shifted her attention to the Necromancer. He casually stepped back. The skeletons split up, but this time an extra one went towards Lydia, leaving me with two. I could only grimace as I looked at him adjusting his strategy. Definitely not like a game. Lydia was the more dangerous of the two of us. As soon as she fell, I’d be quickly surrounded and overtaken. The Necromancer was more than aware of this and thus had changed his strategy.

I felt very inadequate as I continued to keep my distance from the two chasing me. If I was a stronger opponent, this wouldn’t be an issue. Lydia was putting her life on the line for me, and all I could do was keep my distance. After seeing her take a cut, I tossed a Group Heal Lydia’s way. The spell healed her and injured the four around her, but it wouldn’t be enough to change the direction of this fight. I popped another bottle of mana potion immediately after. It was the second to last one that I had.

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“Harm Undead!”

I sent a spell at the Necromancer. He let out a cry and shot me a glare. If I pissed him off, then wouldn’t he start sending the undead after me instead. Four skeletons seemed to stress Lydia’s ability, as she struggled to keep the monsters back. As long as I kept the Sanctify Land active, the monsters couldn’t keep up with me, but I was growing tired and my mana was starting to dwindle.

“Harm Undead, Harm Undead!” I shouted sending spells at the necromancer.

“Useless!” He shouted. “You won’t be able to stop me with those pathetic spells!”

“Yeah?” I asked. “But I can distract you!”

The Necromancer turned just as Lydia managed to finish off one of her skeletons. Without him coordinating them, they fell in battle prowess just enough.

“This time, leave 1 skeleton alive!” I called out. “He probably can’t cast another six until all the others are dead.”

“Yes!” Lydia jumped back, her expression looking fiercer than ever.

“Tsk!” The Necromancer cursed. “You’re annoying. It’s time to end this farce.”

“You…”

The Necromancer raised his hand, and for the first time since the fight, the dark aura that seemed to be resonating in the room coalesced right on his fingertips.

“Watch out!” I shouted.

A dark power exploded out towards Lydia. With three skeletons on her, she could not focus on escaping them. The black fog exploded around her. I let out a shout as shadows exploded everywhere and obscured her vision. When it finally cleared, Lydia was lying on the ground. Her skin was grey and dull. Her eyes were lifeless. Lydia looked just like the dead!