by A F Kay
Warmth spread through Ruwen’s body, and he turned to find Hamma completing a heal.
“She did it,” Ruwen said.
“Thank the One,” Sift choked out.
The grinding noise continued, and a moment later the ball flew past them, moving out into the open area. It had stopped throwing the skeletons it picked up, and now it grew larger, as it absorbed the additional bones. A moment later, the ball rose three feet in the air as the entire surface erupted in bone spears. It turned and headed straight for them.
Chapter 57
Ruwen fired three Blessed Bricks into the rolling skeleton ball, but it had little effect because the rolling monstrosity just reabsorbed the shattered bones. It was fifty feet away and gaining speed.
“Smash,” Hamma yelled as she tossed her golem.
The tiny figure landed on its feet halfway between them and the skeleton ball. Smash slammed his fists together and then swelled in size. In a blink, he stood thirty feet tall, and Ruwen breathed a sigh of relief. The golem should be a match for the bone ball.
Smash turned and locked eyes with Sift. “Smash toe!” Smash yelled and then ran directly at Sift.
Sift screamed and dashed to the side trying to stay away from the Carnage Golem.
“No, Smash! The ball!” Hamma yelled.
But Smash only cared about Sift, and Ruwen realized why. Sift had made fun of the golem and commented that it couldn’t even smash his toe. Evidently, the golem could hear in its tiny state. But that gave Ruwen an idea.
“Sift, run at the ball,” Ruwen screamed.
Sift veered toward the ball, Smash right behind him. While Sift was fast, Smash had much longer legs, and Ruwen winced as Sift barely dodged Smash's oversized fist.
But now Sift was trapped between the rolling ball of bones and the Carnage Golem. Sift continued to run at full speed toward the bone ball, and Ruwen realized Sift didn’t mean to get close and veer away, he intended to hide inside the ball.
“Uru help me, is he going–” Hamma started.
Sift dived into the rolling ball, using the skeletons to pull himself toward the center. Smash collided with the ball, impaling himself on the spikes. The golem ripped the bones from the ball, throwing them behind him as if he were trying to swim toward Sift.
“What do we do?” Hamma asked.
The reality was they had zero control over Smash, and it looked like the golem could handle the bone ball. The remaining skeletons all moved toward the ball, probably to reinforce it. Sift looked a little panicked, but he continued to climb through the interior of the ball, keeping his distance from the golem. The bone ball’s spears would withdraw and then shoot outward, stabbing the golem, but it seemed to have no effect.
Ruwen yelled at Sift. “When you’re done here, lead him over to the second building. We’re going after the Mage.” Ruwen thought a moment and then added. “After he’s destroyed that thing, you should apologize about the toe comment!”
Ruwen ran around the pile, and toward the second building.
“You’re leaving me here with this thing?” Sift screamed.
“Are you sure about this?” Hamma asked as she ran beside Ruwen.
“What can we do?” Ruwen asked. “And if that Mage is stunned from the fall, we can end this now.”
The skeletons that had filled this area before were now mostly in the skeleton ball with Sift. As they neared the second building, they found a group of twenty skeletons but no Mage in sight. Ruwen had seen the Bone Sculptor fall, and he should have been here.
Ruwen felt a small vibration under his feet and slammed his hands onto the ground, channeling a hundred Energy into Harden. Two loud thuds shook the diamond platform, as bone spears struck the diamond layer.
“He’s here,” Ruwen said.
But if the Mage was here, then where was Lylan?
The skeletons were the only thing visible, which meant the Mage must be hiding. Ruwen toggled on Detect Temperature and immediately found one of the skeletons glowed with warmth forty feet away.
Ruwen fired a Blessed Brick with fifty Energy, bringing his Energy pool down to near eight hundred. The brick smashed into the skeleton, but instead of shattering, the skeleton fell backward, a black shield briefly visible.
The illusion disappeared, and the Bone Sculptor stood, brushing off his clothes. The Mage had black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. His features were sharp, and they made him look more hard than handsome.
The skeletons around the Mage collapsed, and the bones flew toward the Mage covering him in bone armor. Ruwen’s Perception skill gave him some details.
Name: Bone Sculptor
Deity: Izac
Class Type: Mage
Level: 30
Health: 410
Mana: 764
Energy: 339
Spirit: 0
Armor Class: 503
The stats were a little lower than when he’d seen them at the lake but still scary. Hamma’s Light Guardian flared into existence beside her as she finished her cast, and Ruwen heard chimes as she spun her staff. The tone of the chimes had changed, becoming both clearer and eerier. It seemed to bother the Mage, and he frowned at Hamma.
“Aren’t you a clever bunch,” the Bone Sculptor said. “I will need to do something special with your bones.”
Ruwen channeled four Energy into Leap and jumped to the right, landing on the edge of his platform. He touched the ground and used Harden to give them another fifteen feet of safety. The Mage shook his head as if Ruwen’s efforts were pointless. Ruwen didn’t care, and jumped to the rear of the platform and repeated the process. His Energy dropped to six hundred twenty-eight, but they now had a fifty-foot platform of safety.
Ruwen toggled on Weakness, giving the Observer ability time to find a chink in the Mage’s armor. Sift was still yelling at Smash behind them, and Ruwen hoped they’d both head this way soon.
Hamma stood up straight. “This city belongs to Uru, and the forces of Order and Light. Leave immediately or suffer the wrath of Uru.”
The Mage ignored Hamma’s demand. “How did you force me from my rooftop? Sixteen years here, and you are the first to succeed.”
Patches of the Mage’s armor pulsed red, and Ruwen realized his Weakness ability had found vulnerable areas.
The Mage tilted his head. “If you don’t speak now, it will only increase your suffering later. I will have my answers.”
A lightning bolt struck the Bone Sculptor as Hamma cast Heaven’s Wrath, but it appeared to do no damage.
The Mage shook his head. “As you wish. Uru’s brood are always so stubborn.”
The Bone Sculptor chanted, and Ruwen knew that meant a powerful spell since he’d seen the Mage raise hundreds of skeletons without a word. Ruwen focused on the Mage’s head and channeled two Energy per second into Silence. A second later, the Mage’s voice disappeared.
The Bone Sculptor touched his throat and then pointed at Hamma, probably assuming she had cast the Silence debuff. Ruwen jumped in front of Hamma as a foot-long sliver of bone shot from the Bone Sculptor’s finger. Ruwen caught the projectile and flipped it back at the Mage. Ruwen’s Rapid Fire ability triggered, duplicating the bone as it spun back at the Bone Sculptor’s eyes.
The projectiles bounced harmlessly off the invisible shield that still surrounded the Mage, not even striking the bone armor. A debuff appeared, and Ruwen tensed to run as his mind drowned in terror.
Full Eclipse: Fear
The Bone Sculptor would shred Ruwen’s body and then rip Hamma to pieces…Sift sounded overwhelmed and would die, forever…Lylan must be dead, or she would have been here already…Ruwen needed to run and –
Ruwen’s Last Breath skill triggered, creating an island of safety for his thoughts, and giving him back control of his body. A pulse of light from behind him meant Hamma had used her Purify ability to cleanse the fear.
The brief interruption caused Ruwen’s Silence to falter, and the Mage finished his spell. A thick oily cloud quickly
spread outward from the Bone Sculptor.
Ruwen, still in front of Hamma, opened his Void Band with ten Energy per second, and then pulled the surrounding air through it with another ten. He’d learned to do this under the lake in Blapy and had used it again in the prime number maze to capture seven hundred twenty cubic feet of Minor Acid of Dissolving.
The black cloud didn’t respond as fast as the acid had, and Ruwen reluctantly added another ten Energy per second to his pull. He’d hoped to only use his Regen and avoid dipping into his Resource pool. The extra ten Energy made the difference, though, and his Void Band consumed the spell as it neared them. After ten seconds, the Mage stopped. Ruwen closed his Void Band, but he’d lost another one hundred Energy, putting him just over five hundred.
Ruwen glanced at the notification for the vapor he’d captured.
Name: Putrid Wounds
Quality: Uncommon
Quantity: 10 Charges
Volume: 36 cubic feet (per charge)
Weight: 0.10 lbs.
Effect(Contact): 5-10 damage per second for the duration of contact.
Effect(Contact): Contact with wounds causes Festering doing 3-5 additional damage per second per wound until healed.
Effect(Inhaled): 15-20 damage per breath.
Effect(Inhaled): Stops Health, Mana, and Energy Regeneration until cleansed or ten minutes have passed.
Effect(Inhaled): Healing effectiveness decreased by 50%.
Description: Oily vapor that clings on contact, causing blisters. Contact with eyes may cause temporary blindness.
Ruwen had never seen such a horrible spell. It made him a little uncomfortable that he carried it around in his Inventory. But better there than in his lungs. Once again, his Void Band had demonstrated its power.
“Who are you?” the Bone Sculptor asked. “I’m no expert on your filthy culture, but you seem a little too versatile. Has Uru actually sent her Champion?”
Ruwen ignored the question. He wanted to get close to the Mage to damage him, but leaving the safety of the diamond platform would be fatal.
“Ah, more resources,” the Bone Sculptor said.
Between the temple and the first building, a group of skeletons appeared. The lead one wore a cloak, and Ruwen realized the group from the lake had arrived. In seconds, another fifty skeletons had gathered behind the Mage.
“I tire of this,” the Mage said and then clenched his fist.
The Mage’s Mana dropped one hundred fifty points. The cloak, still around a skeleton, snapped its arms wide. A black aura pulsed from the cloth, and with every strobe, nearby skeletons turned to dust until twenty piles littered the ground. The cloak, as if it possessed a mind of its own, raised its arms. A whirlwind scooped up the bone dust, and it swirled around the cloak until Ruwen lost sight of it. Three seconds later, the wind suddenly stopped.
Ruwen looked up at the nine-foot-tall skeleton that now wore the cloak like a cape. Its bony hands gripped a massive serrated sword also made of bone. Ruwen’s Perception skill gave him the bad news.
Name: Elite Skeletal Butcher (Summoned)
Level: 24
Health: 630
Mana: 0
Energy: 150
Spirit: 0
Armor Class: 516
Hamma stepped up beside him. “He’ll try to kill you while you're fighting that. I’ll try to keep the Mage busy, but don’t mess around.”
Ruwen nodded, jumped ten feet to the right, and shot a Blessed Brick at the Butcher. The brick slammed into the creature, bouncing off a rib, and doing no damage. The armor of the skeleton was equivalent to scale, which would reduce any damage by thirty percent. With a silent roar, it ran at Ruwen.
Hamma raised the Badge of Authority over her head and cast Fist of Order on the Mage. The stun failed, but it got the attention of all the skeletons.
“Attack,” Hamma screamed and pointed at the Bone Sculptor.
Thirty skeletons turned as one and jumped at the Mage.
Ruwen relaxed, and as the Butcher reached him, he channeled twenty Energy per second to Scrub and two Energy to Street Fight, an Observer spell that added twenty percent damage to unarmed combat. Scrub wouldn’t affect bones as it would flesh, but the vibration alone should do some damage.
The Weakness ability colored the hip bone of the Butcher red. The large skeleton swung its sword diagonally, trying to split Ruwen in half, and the sword whistled as it descended. His one hundred sixty-three percent Dodge easily overcame the Butcher’s Haste, and Ruwen stepped to the side.
The Butcher clearly had high Strength, but its movements were slower, and its stance shakier, than a real human opponent. The Butcher exposed its right side as it finished the powerful strike, and Ruwen triggered his Pinpoint ability as he slammed his fist, glowing white from Scrub, into the hip of the skeleton.
Pinpoint, used on an area discovered by Weakness, increased the damage by four. A normal punch did between four and sixteen damage, but his punches were anything but normal, and would likely trigger Critical Strike. Brawl, a Worker ability, added twenty percent damage, and his ninety-five levels of Unarmed Combat added forty-seven and one-half percent. Hamma’s Judgement buff added five damage, and the Observer spell Street Fight another twenty percent.
Ruwen’s punch hit the Butcher like a battering ram, and even with the thirty percent mitigation of the skeleton’s armor, still did one hundred eighty-seven points of damage. A translucent leech hung from the skeleton’s hip, left there by Ruwen’s Amulet of Leeches, doing twelve to thirty-six more damage over the next minute.
The Butcher staggered backward. The Bone Sculptor cursed, and with a casual wave, the skeletons attacking him due to Hamma’s Badge of Authority fell to the ground. A second later, the Mage’s Mana dropped fifty points, and the Butcher’s bones turned black. As Ruwen watched, the giant skeleton’s Health quickly recovered. The Mage cast another spell for fifty Mana, and a swirling wind surrounded the Butcher.
Hamma cast her smite Heaven’s Wrath again, but if it hurt the Mage, it didn’t show. The Bone Sculptor began to chant again, and Ruwen tried to cast his Silence, afraid of what the Mage planned. The Butcher dived at Ruwen, interrupting him, and this time Ruwen barely made it out of the way. The second spell cast on the skeleton must have included Haste.
The Butcher’s movements were much more fluid, but Ruwen didn’t have the time to analyze. He needed to stop that spell. But the giant skeleton stepped into Ruwen’s line of sight, and then attacked, handling the two-handed sword like a rapier.
Ruwen squatted, avoiding the blow that would’ve decapitated him. He swept his right leg out, catching the Butcher’s bony ankle, and sending the creature to the ground. Ruwen stood and focused on the Mage, but it was too late. The final word left the Mage’s mouth, dropping his Mana by three hundred. A flask appeared in the Bone Sculptor’s hand, and he gulped it down, the one potion almost restoring all his Mana.
The Butcher scrambled to his feet and then fell again as the ground shook. The Mage laughed, the sound ugly and cruel, and then the diamond platform under Ruwen exploded upward.
Chapter 58
Ruwen twisted his body and landed on his feet. Pieces of diamond lay scattered across the ground. The Bone Sculptor stood sixty feet away. Hamma lay twenty feet away but thankfully had landed on a piece of diamond. The Butcher had landed closer to its master and still lay on the ground, forty feet away.
Where the diamond platform had been, now sat a shallow pit with five huge bone pillars like the skeletal hand of a giant. The Mage waved his arm and the thirty skeletons around him rose again and turned as one to face Hamma. The Butcher had regained his feet and strode toward Ruwen. With Hamma preoccupied against the skeletons and Ruwen with the Butcher, it would leave the Mage free to kill them.
Ruwen turned and searched for Sift, finding him immediately. The skeleton ball lay in pieces. Sift had run behind the last bunch of skeletons, which Smash destroyed as he chased Sift. Bringing Smash here would be a risk, but Ruwe
n couldn’t think of any other options.
When Ruwen had worn the Observer amulet during the camping trip, two of the abilities he’d gained were Impersonate and Mimic. He’d never used them before, but this far away, he didn’t need to be perfect.
Ruwen pictured Sift in his mind and then triggered Impersonate, then thought of Sift’s voice and activated Mimic. Ruwen’s Mana dropped by ten as he cast Distract and set off a loud explosion two-thirds of the way toward Smash.
Smash turned at the sound, and Ruwen waved his arms and shouted. “You can’t even smash my toe!” Ruwen held up his leg and wiggled it in the air. “My toe!”
Smash roared and ran toward Ruwen. As Ruwen turned back, two skeletal hands emerged from the ground, grabbing his ankles. Ruwen felt the vibration through his feet and knew a bone spear would impale him in the next second. He cast Blink, which only moved him a foot, but it was enough to release his ankles and avoid the spear that shot out of the ground.
Ruwen ran for the nearest piece of diamond, channeling four Energy into Leap to make it there before another bone spear or bone hands found him. The Butcher reached him and swung his sword downward, trying to split Ruwen in two.
The sound of chimes filled the air as Hamma defended herself against the pack of skeletons. Ruwen noticed the skeletons were all at least level ten. The Mage must have used a higher summoning spell to circumvent Hamma’s Badge of Authority.
Ruwen saw Smash round the corner, and he realized too late that Impersonate remained active, and he still looked like Sift. Knowing the only person safe from Smash was Hamma, Ruwen ran toward her, the Butcher and Smash right behind him.
Smash, now only twenty feet tall, pushed the Butcher away as he tried to reach Ruwen, and the Butcher struck Smash with the sword. That angered Smash, and the two began fighting. The sky overhead darkened, and Ruwen angled toward the Mage.
Ruwen stopped on a piece of diamond three feet wide. He quit channeling Scrub and channeled fifty Energy into Dig, a Worker spell given to him by the divine amulet. Using a mental hand, he scooped up the ground under and behind the skeletons attacking Hamma and threw it toward the Mage. The giant skeletal hand had already disturbed the ground here, and so needed little Energy to move. The result of Ruwen’s fifty Energy shocked him.