3.3.20.3. The
Mindbender’s Grudge
Ah, the great, no,
terrible outdoors.
That’s
the first thought that pops in Robert’s mind as his feet touches the narrow
pathway. He’s not so fond of heights, yet he has no trouble whatsoever
balancing himself while walking.
And now rob must also practice caution as well as speed
and timing, because it’s dark out here and the only thing that lights up the
path is the lava flowing in the ducts on the walls, so he, Adler, Carol and
Eidos must jump in the right time so they won’t get burnt by the splashing
liquid fire.
The white-haired Paladin looks up and notices a row of
gargoyle statues carved on top of the citadel roof, just like the ones in
Basilica Vadisium in Ascension. The difference is the gargoyles seem as though
watching his every move. Robert becomes alert and tightens his grip on Grimlock as he leaps over a magma duct
and lands safely on the other side.
‘SKHRIEEE!!’ FLAP, FLAP!
Eerie shrieks fill the air, along with heavy wing beats.
Eidos’ shout comes afterwards, ‘The gargoyles! They’re attacking us!’
ZWIISH!! As soon as it is said, a pair of pale-white
talons sweeps downwards, targeting Robert’s neck!
Using his reflexes, Robert ducks a bit to avoid the
attacks and sweeps upwards with his sword. CRAACKZZZ!! Cutting a gash on that
hideous species of a winged demon’s gut.
‘SKREEEAAKK!!’ The gargoyle falls all the way down into
its doom.
Soon, a battle rages on the terrace way. The gargoyles’
shrieks attract more and more flying monsters to attack the spot where the
Paladins stand.
FWOOSH!! Robert dodges a harpy’s claw attack, and an imp
comes swiftly behind him! As the imps’ claws are a few inches away from Rob’s
head, suddenly, Dejan the eagle comes and BAGG! Rams into the imp, planting
long, sharp talons on the monster’s chest.
Robert doesn’t thank his savior. Instead, he darts and
splits a harpy that attacks Adler who is busy with a few other dark flyers.
‘Huh, come you all, foul beasts! Even a legion of your
kind will not bring Adler von Bachmann down! GHAAA!!’ Kraal’shazar dances like a soaring devil, splitting all opponents
into pieces with the skill Fingers of the
Blade. CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!
Blood splatters. Not fancying a shower, Adler moves
swiftly away.
A few inches away from Adler flies the Chrono Chakram,
swirling through three flying monsters attacking Carolyn who is preparing a
spell. The pink-haired sorceress shouts, ‘Thanks, Eidos! Now it’s my turn! Clustrvoltari!’
CRRACKLL!
CRAACKLE!!
Carol lifts her magic trident Esthagar and a current of Chain
Lightning surges, hitting the enemies one-by-one. ZAP! Frying an imp into
its crispy death. ZAP! A harpy. ZAP! Another imp, and ZAP! A gargoyle gets
blackened like charcoal, turns back to stone and crumbles into small pieces.
Step-by-step, the Paladins keep on fighting. Enemy flyers
keep coming in waves, splitting their concentration between fighting and
leaping over ducts.
Robert, however, keeps pressing on forward. A swarm of
winged monsters charge upon him, and his answer is a super-speed combo of Black Dragon Soulstealer, like a shadow
coming here and there, passing through anything in his path.
CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!!
Robert gets past the swarm, leaving the monster fall to
their deaths.
And suddenly, BHAGG! A harpy hits Robert headlong,
throwing him off the ledge!
‘AAGH!!’ Robert’s face turns pale as he falls to his
death! A second later, suddenly a claw grabs his back!
Ah, what’s that, a
dracolich? No, this grip is gentle, and I feel a fiery hot aura around me. Rob
turns back, and there she is, his mighty ally, the Ancient Red Dragon Algaban.
Nice timing, as
always, says Rob in his mind.
That’s what
partners are for, little one, The crimson bahamut replies. I’ve been tracking you while fighting out
there, and since Petra
is not a cooperative and share-our-victims type, I thought I best let him take
all the fun.
Robert
replies, Well, thanks. H-hey, look! My
friends are in trouble! Let’s go and help them!
Robert
climbs Algaban’s claw and mounts the dragon on his neck. Behind them, a large,
rotten-winged dracolich (undead dragon) comes crashing into the citadel wall
right between the groups of Paladins.
BHRAAL!! ‘HWROOO!!’
With a roar, the all-bones dragon sweeps fiercely with its
claws and tail, snapping its fangs here and there. Plus, some monsters join in,
overwhelming the Paladins, cornering them on the spot.
At one point, the giant skeletal dragon opens his fangs
real wide, darting to swallow the foe closest to it: Adler the Borgian!
The Viscount is aware of his position, but he is unable
to move away in time. So, at that desperate moment he uses his sword as
support, preventing the jaws from closing.
CRRAAACKK!!
‘UGGNNHH!!’ Adler struggles to keep himself from being
bitten in two, mustering all his strength and aura. Still, the jaws keep
closing in. A second later, something hits the dracolich real hard, BHLAAAMM!!
The jaw grip on Adler is loosened, and he uses this momentum to pull his sword
back and falls on the path.
Still groggy from the fall, Adler turns and looks up
towards his enemy, which is now being carried aloft in Algaban’s gigantic
claws. The giant read one then dives and slams the dracolich on the ground,
CRRACKK!! Breaking the flying bones in pieces and flattening all undead and
monsters beneath. It also breathes fire to incinerate the undead and dragon
bones alike so they won’t reassemble again.
Gritting his teeth, Adler gets up, lifts his sword and
charges forward, fury in his eyes and thoughts in his mind.
==oOo==
The Paladins keep on fighting all the way without rest.
Carolyn, for one, tries not to lose focus on her spells as Robert is clearing
the enemies in the sky with Algaban. The good thing is, Eidos has enchanted her
with Haste spell so she can fight and
cast quickly. In return, the pink-haired sorceress provides protection for the
old chronomage who tends to avoid close-combat at all times.
Spinning and swinging her trident Esthagar like an expert martial artist, Carol runs her weapon into
a demon’s belly and ZAP! ZAPP!! Electrocutes it into smithereens. The demon, as
hefty and tall as a full-grown man wielding a fiery whip stands dead with a
blank expression and falls to the front, BAMM!
As the demon falls, Carol sees something in front of her
and shouts, ‘Look! The main tower is up ahead! Come on! We must push forward!’
Soon enough, Dejan in wolf form, Eidos and Adler dash to
the way Carol pointed. Only Robert still seems busy fighting winged demons and
dracolichs with Algaban.
The path soon comes to a stairway going upwards, and
Carolyn starts to climb it, running behind the armored Adler who opens the path
in the front.
She stares upwards. The stairway goes a long, long way
up, up like climbing the tallest, largest black tower – the tower that looks
like an upright, gigantic black hand with its palm facing up, holding a
gigantic skull.
It’s a long way
upstairs, and my wounds and fatigue are killing me. But I must keep going.
There’s no stopping, no turning back now.
Uh, what’s that? I sense strong,
very powerful aura up ahead! And it feels like somebody is... somebody is
reading my mind?
Suddenly
the pink-haired Paladin touches her forehead, muttering, ‘Nervatr!’ Placing a protection field in her mind to ward the
intruder off.
A moment later, Dejan the halfling comes near her,
saying, ‘What’s wrong, Carol? Why are you stopping?’
Carolyn answers by touching Dejan’s forehead and
muttering, ‘Nervatr. Just get
everybody here. There is an enemy who can read minds around here, and I must protect
you all with Mind Ward now.’
Soon, Adler and Eidos come. Before the old mage can say
anything, the sorceress casts, ‘Omninervatr’
at both of them and darts upstairs, no questions asked, no word said.
Her eyes stares at a distance, her midn races, No, this is too easy. The ward is not quite
enough to repel all sorts of mindbending spells. Besides, Robert is up there
and he must maintain mind contact with Algaban at all times.
Well, this is as ready as we can be.
With
that thought, Carol reaches the last step of the stairs.
And then, a wide platform-like structure comes into view.
It’s actually the rooftop of a tower – one of the four towers standing around
the main tower like sentinels. A bridge connects this tower to the great gate
of the main tower.
Strange, that place
seems vacant. No dark creatures here, nobody is guarding the gate. This is not
right. Maybe I’ll go back and warn the others...
‘Mousey...
little mousey... tripping into trapsy... And comesy the big, bad catsy, having
the pesky petsy for eatsy...’
Startled, Carolyn points her trident Esthagar to the front, shouting, ‘Who the hell are you? Show
yourself!’
‘Tee hee, so the little mousey can’t fight the catsy she
can’t see? Flimsy, flimsy mousey...’
Wait. I think I
recognize this crazy woman’s voice. But I’m not sure... She sounds quite...
different. Well, better play along, then. Resisting will get me nowhere.
Thinking
so, Carolyn shouts back, ‘Oh, so the big bad catsy wants to play? All right,
then. Let’s see if she can stop the little mousey from crossing to the other
side...’
DASSSH!! Sparks
fly from Esthagar as Carolyn darts
like lightning!
As she reaches the center, suddenly BLUURRSSHH!! A
blazing dark energy erupts from the floor! The sorceress moves quickly aside to
avoid being hit, and the other Paladins arrive.
Adler, Eidos and Dejan stop at once, seeing he dark force
getting bigger and bigger, taller and taller like an inflating balloon.
The ‘balloon’ then takes shape of a person wearing
all-black pointy hat, cloak and robe.
A bone-white mask conceals this hooded acolyte’s visage.
Her bony, pale white hand with abnormally long ivory nails is holding an ebony
staff with a cobra head on its tip.
Carolyn recognizes it at once, her eyes widen, shouting, ‘The
Viper Cane! My goodness... this appearance... are you... Zal’fira?!’
‘Zal’fira? Zal... fi... ra... That’s funny. Somehow, I
remember that name,’ says the hooded person touching the forehead of the mask
as though thinking hard.
‘No, that’s not. They call me ‘lich’ now. Lich this, lich
that, just lich! Zal’fira... three syllables, too long... Oh, yes. I just
remembered. That was my name back then, but, I never liked it. Call me Zally,
that’s the name I like... tee hee hee.’
Zal’fira. I was so
sure she was dead back then in Hvalgarr, but here she is now, completely
deranged. And, what did she say? Lich? Is that what she becomes now? An undead
mage?
With
that thought, Carolyn shouts to her comrades, ‘Be careful! She’s a lich, a very
powerful undead!’
To this, Adler smiles and snorts, saying, ‘Tchah! No
matter how powerful she is, she’s all alone against the four of us. That stupid
heir of a devil has put a wrong dog to guard his gate!’
‘BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You think the four of you can scare
me? Think before you talk, tin man, because I also brought friends to play
along! An Cerberus Aschi!’
Again,
a black hole materializes on the floor, and from it, a gigantic, three-headed
black hound comes out. It’s the mythical Cerberus, a monster of overwhelming
strength and ferocity. Not only that, flying monsters also come, swarming and
surrounding the whole area.
‘You’re saying...?’ Dejan regards Adler coolly, the
latter just snorts again and readies his greatsword.
Just then, Robert arrives at the scene with the great dragon
Algaban. He looks rather surprised to see this stand-off like situation and
stays where he is, suspecting a trap.
‘O-ho, Algaban is here too? Tee hee, the more the
merrier,’ says Zal’fira, chuckling behind her mask. ‘That’s just great, because
I have here an old friend who looves very much to have a rematch with his old
rival.
An Omegron Aschi!’
Zal’fira
points her cane up high, and a big, bright hexagram-in-a-circle magic light
erupts in the sky. From that portal a gargantuan black dragon comes down and
perches on top of the skull on the apex of the main tower.
His four large, reddened eyes scan around the perimeter,
and as he spots his arch rival Algaban and the man who lost him his fifth eye,
Robert Chandler, he spreads his enormous wings, outstretches his neck upwards
and throws a challenge with a deafening roar, ‘GRRWAARHRRR!!’
Algaban roars back to accept that challenge.
Well, it’s me and
you versus the great Omegron now, says Robert to Algaban in his mind. The
saber Grimlock on his hand blazes in
fiery flickers – a sign of its true power, connecting with the white-haired
Paladin’s blazing fire aura.
The red, eagle-like-headed dragon nods, answering, Yes, the Red and the Black in one final
showdown.
Down
at the platform, the masked Zal’fira lets out an insane shriek, ‘GWHIHIHI!! Now
that the pieces are in place, let the game begins!’
DASSH!! The battlers dash towards their targets! Robert
and Algaban deal with Omegron, Dejan turns into eagle form and attacks the
flying monsters, Adler and Eidos attack towards the three-headed Cerberus, and
Carolyn comes face-to-face with the lich necromancess.
‘Fighting me alone eh, little girl? Do you think you can
win? No, because you look tired and you really can use some sleep – Lullabio!’ Saying that, Zal’fira shoots
a pale-blue bolt at the opponent!
‘Delmetr!’ With
a single wave of her trident, Carolyn wards the Sleep spell off with ease.
The pretty young mage shouts, ‘I can cast mindbending
spells as well! Magoblivio!’
A
green bolt of lightning crackles from Esthagar
to shock the lich’s mind so she will temporarily forget her spells: the Mind Silence spell.
‘Oh no you don’t!’ Without chanting the incantation, the
masked lich swings her cane overhead, smashing the bolt directly! BLAANGG!!
The masked lich is pushed back several paces and stands
straight again, saying, ‘You’re asking for it: Petrifio!’
PPYAARSCHH!!
This time, three indigo bolts rotate and swirl like whirlwind. Carol must evade
or repel these bolts without even touching them or get Paralyzed like a stone – which is impossible except if she is as
fast as Kyflynn on foot.
Instead of doing both, Carol steps back, points her
trident and shouts, ‘Nervatrparadh!’
FYAASCHH!!
In timely manner, Carol conjures a Wall
of Magic Barrier and blocks the three bolts altogether! As the wall
vanishes, she limps a bit before standing straight again, gathering energy for
the next round.
‘Whuhoho!! This is getting more exciting!’ Zal’fira
shouts. ‘Tell you what, why don’t we get rough and straight from now on? The
spellslinger’s way, of course.’
‘Yeah, let’s,’ says Carolyn.
‘On the count of three... one, two, An Nekraal’me Fyasch!’
The
lich is cheating! Zal’fira shoots a dark blast of Dark Disintegration at her opponent!
‘Pyroagnios!’ Anticipating
Zal’fira’s cheap trick, Carol, however, is a split-second late. Her Fireblast collides with the dark blast a
bit too close to her, BLAAM!!
Image Source: The Vigil of the Lich Queen by David Blac
Navigation:
Next Page:http://fireheart-vadis.blogspot.com/2016/01/33203-mindbenders-grudge-part-two.html
No comments:
Post a Comment