Unlike the other residents, Snid hadn’t evacuated outside of Slitherland. The army had locked him inside the village’s Safety Department, where they assigned five experienced soldiers.

The snake humanoid was in a cell underground with a single, small light bulb above his head.

“Something’s up.”

He heard footsteps approaching. Someone was walking down the stairs. He couldn’t see. “Who are you?!”

“I’m the one who’s going to get you out of here.” The intruder approached him.

Snid had memorized the five soldiers’s faces. He wasn’t one of them. His complexion was strangely ordinary. White skin, brown eyes, dark hair, shaved beard, and a perfect balance between angular and round forms: it was one he could easily forget.

There was a bloodstain on his military uniform. ‘Did he kill the mages upstairs?’

“Before opening this cell, we need to make a deal.” The strange man waved a keycard.

“A deal?”

The intruder looked into his eyes.

Snid had a mischievous smile. “What deal? Release me.”

“Okay.”

“You’re a reptoid, aren’t you? Show me your true form, puppet.” Snid had successfully hypnotized his rescuer.

…

“What’s going on over there?” Isaac was trying to find Seth amidst the sea of bones. The master was the only one on the other side of the blue barrier a cursed wizard had created.

It prevented the Western Army from advancing, from helping. Yet, Seth didn’t back down, though he easily could have by teleporting.

“I see him!”

The mage was walking in the air. Seth swung his metal staff at the first wizard. Anticipating that the skeleton wizard would fly away, Seth used the full extent of his body to extend his reach. He had scratched his blue cloak.

Touching it, he could now use shadow magic on him. Within milliseconds, Seth saddled a shadow over the skeleton’s cloak. He was immobilized.

“HAHAHA.” Despite this, the wizard maintained control of his upper body.

The other wizard would get to them any moment now. Seth had to finish him as quickly as possible.

“I think you misunderstood something. I don’t need to move!” The wizard’s eyes burned black. Flames covered his body. It was black fire, a fire nourished by rage.

“Ouch!” Seth’s metallic staff was burning hot. He had to lift it away.

The wizard regained control of his body. He moved his hands, using them like two separate flame throwers.

Seth had to back up. He glanced at the other wizard. She was already a dozen metres away. He had to finish him to avoid getting outnumbered.

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The wizard couldn’t move as fast while throwing flames. Seth ran towards him and dropped down when he arrived at the two hot rays. The wizard couldn’t adjust his aim in time to stop him from coming from underneath.

-Bang!

Seth struck the wizard in the neck. The skeleton flipped backwards from the momentum. Seth pressed his boot against his chest and aimed downwards this time.

-Bang!

The wizard fell to the ground. His limbs shattered. However, Seth knew it wasn’t enough to kill something already dead. He had to crush his skull.

“Shit!” The other wizard had already begun rushing down. She would get to her comrade before he could. Seth had to teleport again.

The cursed woman saw him appear out of her comrade’s shadow. She instinctively made a barrier around herself. It was too late to change her flight direction, so she sped up.

-Crash!

She had carefully oriented herself to hit Seth without accidentally crushing the other wizard’s bones. What she hadn’t accounted for, though, was that Seth was extremely fast for his old age. She hadn’t hit anything but the asphalt road beneath her feet.

"I don’t think you can revive him now!” Seth plunged his staff into the human skull.

Seth stared at the female wizard. Suddenly, the skeleton pawns began moving again.

“Who’s controlling them?!” He hadn’t alleviated his troubles. His eyes locked on three dark blue figures farther away. Three more wizards had come. It was only a matter of time before the other seven wizards would make their way to Slitherland’s gate.

-Fwish!

A cannonball almost grazed him. He barely avoided it. It rebounded on the blue barrier behind him and rolled back towards him. It was a head, a lady’s head.

More flew by him. One of the three new wizards, the bulky one, seemed to be controlling them.

The woman wizard tried grabbing him. He kicked her away and ran up the air as if there was a transparent staircase.

Another wizard, his bones frail, flew towards him as fast as an arrow. Seth Rayn quickly teleported on the new wizard’s back.

“Huh?” The wizard made a barrier to protect himself, but it was too late. Seth had a good grasp on him. He began crushing his skull with shadow powers by clenching his hand.

The young boy, the undead, gave him a saddened look as his head slowly imploded. For a moment, Seth wanted to stop. To let him live. However, it wasn’t an option he could afford.

-Bang! The skull broke into pieces.

Seth had almost forgotten about the three others. He turned around to see something that sent him shivers.

The bulky wizard, who had thrown decapitated heads at him, was making thousands of skeletons spin around himself. The skeletons separated into bones as they whirled faster and faster.

Behind, the two other wizards supplied him with magic. Just like they could provide regular skeletons with magic, they could also boost stronger ones.

The tornado of bones slowly dissipated as they attached to the large wizard’s body. He grew bigger and bigger. So big that by the end of his transformation, once the bones had all integrated with his skeleton, he had become a colossal monster: a ten-metre-tall giant.

A first punch came as fast as a boulder rolling down a hill. Seth teleported away and let it collide against the blue barrier.

The wizard who was controlling the barrier hadn’t realized where Seth had gone yet. When she felt a presence behind her, it was too late. The shadow mage struck her shoulder as she turned around. He took a step back to swing his staff again.

He grunted as he put all his old muscles into this attack, aiming for her skull. However, he couldn’t reach her in time. The giant flicked his index finger. It sent Seth flying for ten seconds before finally hitting a building.

Seth looked at the skeletons approaching him from the street. He tried lifting himself with his staff but failed miserably. He couldn’t get up since his body was aching too much.

He looked towards Slitherland’s gate. It was a miracle. The barrier had disappeared when he hurt the cursed wizard controlling it.

He heard distant noises as the skeletons crept closer and closer.

“The barrier’s gone! Attack!” There were explosions, gunfire, and rattling. Many brave soldiers killed their way toward Seth, hoping to rescue him and win this battle despite the odds.