Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Battle in the throne room (V)

Gjaki, after absorbing some mana, performed Shadow Melt. She had been invoking the spell while biting her enemy. At the same time, she was protected by her enemy's body from the attacks.

When the royalist officer fell to the ground, those who were preparing to face an unknown enemy discovered to their dismay that there was no one there.

She had moved through the shadows, appeared behind another officer, covered his mouth, bit his neck, Unsettled him and finished him off with her daggers. Since their eyes were fixed on where she had disappeared, they didn't realize that another companion had fallen. Furthermore, thanks to Necromancy, he didn't fall to the ground. He remained standing, and approached another of the officers.

At the same time, she hid in Darkness and approached another victim. Shadow Melt was certainly effective, but also expensive. If it wasn't necessary, Darkness was more efficient.

"What do you want...? Aaargh!!" an officer shouted in pain, when she was attacked by a supposed colleague.

He didn't kill her, but her wound wasn't light either. She counterattacked despite her surprise, and took him down in no time despite being injured. After all, the dead controlled by Gjaki were weaker than the original ones.

The officer looked around, alert, as she pulled out a potion to heal herself. It was then that she saw another companion fall to the ground, just like that.

He had been attacked from behind by Gjaki, who had hidden in Darkness again.

"Be careful! There's a stealth killer! Activate presence spells!" she warned.

The illusions, hounds and Bats had been practically eliminated. Despite this, a couple of officers had been killed by an invisible enemy, and their right flank had been annihilated by the twins and the feline.

Also, there were three who were cursed, although they hadn't realized it yet. Gjaki had preferred to attack the one at the end, next to the wall. She had taken advantage of passing near them to imbue the curses.

A mage had Numbness, which would slow down spellcasting. Two others carried Weakness.

"Tsk," the vampiress clicked her tongue.

The warning would make it difficult for her to catch them by surprise again. Nonetheless, it didn't mean she had to fight head-on in a chaotic battlefield where attacks could come from anywhere.

"He's here, I caught him by surprise while he was hiding behind the statue. Help me to kill him," she asked the officers, while jumping back from behind said statue.

She was disguised as a royalist officer, and held her arm with her opposite hand. Some blood on her supposed wound completed her Costume.

Three rushed towards the place. They were blinded by fury and frustration, and wanted to kill that fearsome invisible enemy. A Mirror Trap imprisoned them, although it would take them a while to realize it.

The vampiress unexpectedly attacked another enemy she had approached. At the same time, she pushed a second one away with Mental Push. Gjaki quickly got rid of the first one, as he had been too confident. He had believed she was an ally.

She then activated Bloodlust and four Mirror Clones. They surrounded the pushed enemy, while intimidating her and two more. These two were attacked by a small group of three nobles from Eldi's faction. They had just arrived to support them, and took advantage of the opportunity. The enemy nobles had died, fled or hidden, so they had joined other battles.

Gjaki attacked the officer, who despite the disadvantages managed to block the daggers. Nonetheless, that officer couldn't stop the hand which pierced her stomach with Spearhead. The vampiress had dropped one of her weapons after the clash, and had used her skill to pierce her. Unbalanced and affected by Bloodlust, it had already been a great feat to block the first attack.

She nodded to the surprised nobles, and looked around. There were no more enemies nearby, other than those in the trap. The lynx and the twins had taken care of those left on the other side, so those three were the only survivors.

"Attack from the outside. They're in a trap of illusions," she explained to the nobles, who seemed eager to finish the job.

They nodded, still in awe of what they had just witnessed. The nobles were thankful that she was an ally and not an enemy. Gjaki had impaled a level 81 officer with her hand, which had come out bloody on the other side. It wasn't something that could be seen every day. Luckily, she had restrained the urge to lick the blood.

Although there were still officers, the great danger lay with the soldiers, due to their numbers.

Eldi's escort, Merlin, and some rebels had done a good job of containing them. They had kept them inside the long hallway, and had even finished off some.

Given the choice, the cat mage would have cast Meteor Rain, but this was a closed place with too many allies nearby. Therefore, he settled for Inferno, which was somewhat similar to a Burning Wall, but thicker and more destructive. He had forced them back ten meters into the hallway.

However, the soldiers didn't sit still either. They let in those who were skilled with water magic to counter the offensive fire spell. They may have been lower level, but with enough of them working together, it could be neutralized.

The soldiers attacked the fire spell with water spells. Merlin decided not to resist, thus avoiding spending too much mana. Instead, he summoned a Boulder.

It was an especially fun spell on inclined surfaces, or so Gjaki had thought one day when they had accompanied the mage in the game. The enormous summoned rock, three meters in diameter, had then rolled down the slope. It had crushed everything in its path, to the laughter of the vampiress. She had even tried to pretend to be an evil villain. The sick young boy who had been Merlin had laughed quite a bit at her performance, as had Goldmi and Eldi.

Now, he had invested a little more mana to create a five-meter long rock, which was embedded in the hallway to block it. It would cost them a little more to get rid of it, thus gaining time. Time was on their side. If their leaders, whether officers, nobles or queen, fell, the soldiers would perhaps surrender. At the very least, it would be a serious blow to their morale.