The ‘demon’, as Liam called it, let out a distorted roar. My heart beat faster as the sound brought back terrible memories.
I had encountered a similarly twisted abomination before.
My hands started to shake as the darkness of the night pressed down upon me. For a moment, I was certain that I was still trapped in the dark, surrounded by ancient corpses.
I desperately tried to convince myself that I was free of the terrible trap I had found myself in. I knew that I had killed the titan and captured its wraith, but the facts faltered in the face of the living nightmare before me.
The shelled beast, looking harried and worn, continued its vain struggles against the abhorrent being. Time and again it charged the horror only to be deflected effortlessly. The beast glanced off of our barrier many times, putting strain on our defenses. After the tenth hit, my mana had dipped worryingly low.
Mana Pool: 52/200
As the battle continued, I grew increasingly worried. With how much mana each hit took out of our barrier, I could only refill it one more time. After that, only my sigils of concealment and a handful of trees would stand between us and the clashing monsters.
The twisted horror continued to advance. It grew more and more difficult to keep my rising panic in check as the abhorrent creature drew closer.
Despite its best efforts, the shelled creature was doing nothing to its nightmarish foe. Not even its impressive flashes of magical power were able to get past the demon’s unearthly defenses. Another failed charge sent it crashing into our barrier yet again.
After I reinforced the wall of invisible force, I took a glance at my interface with mounting dread.
Mana Pool: 14/200
I was almost out of mana. Beside me, Liam was frantically digging through his pack for another of his cylindrical devices. The slender man already seemed to have exhausted his own reserves, leaving him reliant on the mana storage devices.
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Unfortunately, it looked like he had already used his last one.
The two of us watched as the shelled beast righted itself yet again. The thing evidently had a great deal more tenacity than sense as it readied itself for another doomed charge.
With a panicked exclamation, Liam tossed aside his pack. Turning towards me he said something too quickly for me to make sense of. The only word I caught was “Together”.
Predictably, the beast was soon sent crashing back towards us.
Hoping that I understood Liam’s meaning correctly, I placed my hands alongside his in his harvesting rune. Forcing out the last of my mana, I could only hope that we would have enough between us.
As the beast crashed into the barrier, I felt the last of the mana from my pool empty out. I thanked the shades of my ancestors as the barrier held firm.
I just had to hope that I wouldn’t be joining them soon. There wasn’t much else I could do without mana.
Mana Pool: 0/200
The shelled beast flashed its runes again, showing the horror standing but a few strides away from us. Crushing despair threatened to overwhelm me.
Just like when the titan chased me into that grim building, I was helpless. Another caustic spray blacked the beast’s sigils and only thing I could imagine was the stone doors casting me into darkness by slamming shut. I felt utterly powerless and alone.
The thing I had forgotten was that I wasn’t alone any longer.
A firm hand grasped my trembling shoulder. I turned to see Martin with his pack upon his back. “Good work. Retreat.”
Looking back at the camp, I found that the tents had all been packed away. Everyone was packed and ready to go. Even my own equipment was packed away and slung over Norbert’s massive back.
With difficulty, I unsteadily rose to my feet.
Liam had already retrieved his pack as was quickly making his way to the others. I was about to do the same when the shelled creature charged towards the nightmarish entity again. I knew that there was no way the barrier would withstand another blow, but didn’t have time to react. I could only watch in horror as the beast was launched through our failing defenses and straight at us.
Rather than flinch away as most men would in the face of certain death, Martin stood in front of me and raised his shield defiantly. I could feel a great deal of mana gather in the wooden implement and around the man just before the beast crashed into him.
Just as when the beast tried to attack the demon, its momentum was turned to the side. Martin stood unharmed as the shelled monster crashed to the side.
The man didn’t waste any time watching the deflected beast as he turned towards me once again. “Retreat.” He forcefully reminded me, shaking me out of my stunned disbelief.
The two of us ran toward the others as fast as our legs could carry us. Behind us, hostile magic continued to flash in the night.