Nuhem Serapis

The enemy team had Nishem, Netos, and me surrounded in a half-circle, with two trying to complete the encirclement. Even their man in the sky had moved overhead to block escape that way, and he didn’t seem wounded enough to break through quickly enough – not that we planned to escape that way.

The hit part of the plan was over, and now it was time for the run part.

“Nishem, do it.” I whispered.

“[Bail Out]!” she yelled, enveloping the three of us in her magic sphere, ready to teleport to safety.

“Not so fast! [Spell Breaker]!”

Immediately, all of the ambient mana around us rushed towards Nishem’s sphere and slammed into it like a battering ram, shattering it like glass!

“Shit, an anti-mage specialist!” Netos cursed, drawing his bow in the man’s direction.

“[Arrow Storm]!” he said, firing an arrow packed full of wind mana.

Halfway through the arrow’s trajectory, electricity cracked through the arrow’s shaft before instantly stretching dozens of lightning tendrils, each with an arrow enchanted with cutting wind, roaring lightning, or obscuring clouds.

“Hmph!” One of the knights with a large shield scoffed as they moved in the arrows’ way, blocking their way to the arcane anti-mage.

“[Eye of the Storm]!”

A devouring vortex emerged from the man’s shield, engulfing all of the arrows and swallowing them whole, leaving only the sounds of repeated clangs against metal.

Moments later, the vortex disappeared, and Netos’s arrow was snapped in half ahead of the storm knight. In the meantime, the knights have finished encircling us, and I felt the noose beginning to tighten.

“Any ideas on this one, boss? They’re completely unfazed by anything we do.” Netos said with a bow pointed at the scout overhead.

“We’re still going with the same plan; we’re just going to do things a little differently. Nishem, how long do you think you can fend off a frontal assault?”

Nishem grimaced.

“I could hold them off for nearly a minute if not for the anti-mage and the lancer. Five seconds is all I can guarantee.”

Thank goodness the side tunnel we had chosen as the escape route was merely fifty meters away. The problem, however, was that it was an entire fifty meters away.

We just had to pull of our part of the plan.

“Very well. Nishem, you’re on shielding duty from the three ahead of us. Netos, you’ll be fending off the flyer and dragging Nishem after me. I’ll break through the two behind us. Wait for my signal.”

The two said nothing as the knights methodically enclosed their circle, keeping one eye out at their surroundings to watch for the rest of our team.

The moment the lancer’s foot reached my pierced shield, I yelled out.

“GO!”

The world faded to me as all nine of us exploded into action. Skills and spells were triggered all around me, as Netos fired target-seeking arrows at the man overhead while Nishem activated her blessing, creating a translucent dome shield of flowing gold around the two of them. As I rushed towards the back, the other two knights moved to intercept me.

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They each activated weapon skills as a bastard sword’s thrust and a longsword’s swing moved towards me at blinding speeds, the former headed for my heart, while the other headed for my neck. The hastily-made earthen shield I had was no match for either attack – not normally, at least.

I had wanted to keep this card of mine hidden up my sleeve, but our opponents are simply too strong. There’s no guarantee of winning both of the other two matches we had scheduled either.

Gritting my teeth, I activated my blessing in tandem with my class skill.

“[Stout of Huros]! [Shield Ram]!”

My whole body was engulfed with in a hue of solid gold as my body was propelled forward to meet the opponents. Caught off guard, the two didn’t have time to move out of the way, so they doubled down on their attacks.

I crashed into both men and sent them flying, crumpling their armor in the process. In exchange, I had a sword sticking through my chest mere inches over my heart and a deep cut into my neck.

‘Netos, now!’ I tried to yell, only for a voice gurgling with blood to come out.

Still, the archer, bless his soul, was already on top of it. He nocked a special arrow and fired it, as we planned.

“Gurkh!” blood rushed up my throat as the arrow buried itself in my back, almost making me stumble.

My legs were beginning to shake, and my vision was blurring; the freezing world was beginning to feel even colder.

‘Not yet… We’re almost there!’ I thought, as my class skill finally ceased a few meters away from the exit.

Judging by the tug on my shoulder, Netos must’ve been surfing through the bridge of wind he created between us with that arrow. I couldn’t look back, but I had to trust in Nishem to keep both of them safe as they made their way over to me.

I finally stumbled through the side tunnel just in time for two pairs of boots to crash behind me.

“Quick, stand behind me and retreat into the tunnel!” I whispered with a raspy voice, turning around to face the entrance.

“Gods, Captain, you look like a corpse!” Netos said, though he wasted no time in moving behind me.

“Let me heal yo-” Nishem tried to say before I interjected.

“There’s no time, move!”

With one hand on my neck to slow the bleeding and another holding up my shield, I slowly took steps back into the tunnel. As expected, it didn’t take long for the knights to decide to pursue us inside, with that deadly lancer was leading the charge. We were just too tempting a target to finish off, even if this was a trap.

“[Roar of the Tempest]!” the lancer yelled, rushing towards my shield once more.

That skill had already beaten me once, and Nishem gave everything she had to get us here. I just had to hold out a little longer, no matter what. Fortunately, the other half of my job was already done.

“[The Sentinel’s Last Stand]!”

The lance crashed into my shield just as I finished activating my skill, and the thundering boom of the crash nearly deafened me. The lance and shield weren’t actually touching, as both of our skills warred against the other’s aura.

My feet dug into the froststone beneath me, but my body still held strong.

“Hrrgggaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!” With one last determined push, I broke the man’s attack, sending the wide-eyed knight sliding back into his teammate.

My HP had dropped down to 0, and a red mist engulfed my body in a bloody aura.

“Wha-?!” he said, barely steadying himself as he gaped at me in surprise.

I gave him a bloody smile.

[The Sentinel’s Last Stand] was a skill that sacrificed all of the user’s HP for a massive boost in all attributes, defensive and offensive power, and agility; the time I could use it for was dependent on how much HP I’d sacrificed. It’s the ultimate skill for a sacrificial rearguard – and one I’d hoped to keep under wraps as well.

Fortunately, since this is a mere shell body of a pseudo-arena, and since it didn’t explicitly say my life would be the cost like a god manifestation skill does, I won’t actually die, but I’ll be feeling the consequences for a while.

“Hehe…” I laughed as I fell forward, what few moments I had already used up.

But my job was done, and the fight was ours.

Nishem Serapis

As Nuhem’s body exploded into white mist, the knights steadied themselves to finish Netos and me off. I stood ahead of the archer protectively, having earned a sliver of mana in the little time Nuhem bought us, while he nocked an arrow of his own.

Right as the Lancer was about to raise his lance once more, I yelled out.

“Now, Nekhtu!”

A flood of acid emerged from the entrance to the tunnel, blocking in the five knights between it and me. Netos fired storm arrows from over my shoulder, and the knight with the shield was too busy trying to halt the acid flood to intervene this time.

Recognizing the trap, the lancer yelled.

“Leave the acid to him! ATTACK!”

With the last of my mana, I directed my spell overhead.

“[Ice Shatter]!”

Normally a generic counter spell for water mages to defend against ice spells, I used it to send the roof over our heads crashing down, over my head, burying me and the lancer both beneath the froststone.

With the other three distracted by my attack, a snowy silhouette appeared right behind the shield knight who was fighting a desperate, losing battle against the acid with an already bloodied dagger in his hand.

He sunk it in the back of the man’s head, killing him in an instant, and allowing the acid to engulf him, the remaining four knights, and myself.