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1217. Auras Galore
🕑 Added 2024-11-17 22:11:42 +0000 UTCHer confidence was blown away in an instant. The death energy emitted by that hand could have ended her here and now. All her ambitions would have ended just like this. The horseman of death had no weapon because he didn't need it.
Just the touch was enough to kill someone. The hand had been blocked by a legendary shield, but Natina didn't need <Appraisal> to see the item's durability dropping quickly. She couldn't face this creature. Although it was not as frightening as the old man, she knew that she would lose in a fight.
A scroll appeared in her hand and she crushed it. The scroll of Instant Transmission, allowed her to blink to any place in a radius of 200m. The location she appeared at was inside Kalzemir. The small pavilion built on the dragon's back was destroyed during the battle with the colossus, but that was not her destination anyway.
Natina took shelter in the dragon's rib cage. Here, right beside its withered core, they had installed a city-level shield generator, which had already protected the dragon a few times. Although it could shield the whole beast, it was much stronger and safer for her, to limit the shield to the rib cage, where she was. She wanted to give a sigh of relief when a notification popped up.
<Ding! Your summons have been affected by <Aura of War>. There is a chance of 15% of insubordination and infighting.>
<Ding! You have been affected by <Aura of War>. Irrational Impulses based on outside stimuli are strengthened by 15%.>
<Ding! Your summons have been affected by <Aura of Death>. Undead have become 20% harder to control.>
<Ding! You have been affected by <Aura of Death>. your health regeneration is lowered by 20%. Healing is 20% less effective.>
Shocked, she looked back at the camp, which was now located below and behind her. The effects on herself she barely noticed but she had not only felt the strain of the increasing requirements for her subordinates, but also the loss of connections to many of them. In dismay, she watched many of her arduously collected undead kneel to the horseman of Death!
One out of ten liches and doom knights bowed their heads, and only 1 out of ten followed her command to attack the black knight. Beyond that, the effects of war were even more visible among her indirect summons. The horde of summoned undead that used to resist Urth's zombies was now embroiled in fighting among themselves, as almost a third of the lower undead turned to attack their allies. The aura obviously affected them even stronger than her...
<Ding! Your summons have been affected by <Aura of Hunger>. There is a 15% chance for your subordinates to be overcome by an unquenchable hunger. They will fall into a state of hunger and try to devour anything to fill the void.>
<Ding! You have been affected by <Aura of Hunger>. All your physical stats are lowered by 10%. There is a 5% chance of falling into a state of hunger.>
She suddenly felt sluggish and tired, but the scenes unfolding below kept her awake, as she realized that the auras did not differentiate between friend and foe. On both sides, the lower-ranking minions were fighting, and on both sides were units that began trying to devour their comrades and enemies.
Like sparks shot from a camping fire, undead jumped out from the barrier and into the crowd, wildly biting around and being devoured themselves. It had not even been 2 seconds since the auras were deployed, but the battlefield had devolved into complete chaos.
Although the zombies were burning in Piotr's green fire and her undead glowed in her purple gloom, the only fights with clear sides now were the waves of fire, constantly rocking her shelter, as War tried to fight Kalzemir, Piotr resisting the horseman of Hunger and Diromold dealing with Conquest. Death was causing more chaos below, stealing control of her undead...
Piotr, empowered by her skill, was now barely holding on against the automaton swinging the hooked staff, by blinking around the ghostly cityscape, and mixing in various spells to buy time. Although the sea serpent's attacks were mostly water, which froze when getting close to the horsemen on his freezing steed, Conquest was on the retreat when facing the massive beast.
As the situation unfolded, she realized that she might have overreacted. With the koor worm and the skeleton dragon, the four horsemen might still not be enough to face her. Although it hurt seeing her forces being worn away, as long as she stayed safe in the dragon, she might have a chance of winning.
“Down from the sky, into the fight. Hearts full of rage, full of thunder and glory!” Natina was about to regain confidence when the grinding lyrics returned, she was suddenly thrown forward. The skeleton dragon that was fighting the Horseman of War was suddenly stopped.
Reaching up from the portal on the floor of the valley, was what looked like a golden tower at first. A giant arm, over 100m long, had stretched from below and its golden hand grabbed onto the hind leg of the dragon skeleton.
How was this possible? The artifact was only supposed to work for people associated with Spatia! What was the giant doing here? Had this been their ploy from the start? Had War kept Kalzemir in place, close to the gate, to allow the Colossus to grab it like this?
Her thoughts were in chaos, suddenly facing this situation. She couldn't help the myriad of suspicions surfacing in her mind. She had a hard time catching a calm thought since she saw the old man, but the gate being corrupted for enemy purposes was so far outside her expectations, that it felt like the floor was pulled from under her feet.
“Swords in the wind crossing the sky.” A massive ray of light shot up from the gate below, brushing past Kalzemir, while a beam of lightning hit the koor worm. The golden colossus, pulling himself out of the portal like a zombie from its grave, was not the only one joining the battle.
“Beasts of Calamity bring an end to your story!”
Carrying a giant wooden stick, the giant centipede and the Imugi appeared from the portal, attacking the skeleton dragon and Diromold. The moment she raised her hopes, she found her advantages being taken away by the power of friendship. The enemy brought reinforcements!
“Kalzemir! Rise!”
...
They couldn't let the Necromancer escape. With Idylon successfully sabotaging the gate, Seth had brought as much as he could. The space mage had even thrown Hellion into the skies of Delta, from his inventory.
The Colossus of Rhodes, covered in <Durable Olympian Bronze> and shining with holy aura, held onto the giant dragon burning with purple light as he pulled himself from the hole. Since the battle started, the bard concentrated on playing his music, so he could only watch what was happening now.
“Today is the day they die in the fight. None shall remain to pass one more night.”
Holding onto the dragon’s hind leg with his right hand, Hellion caught the giant branch Puffles and Tatzel brought along. It was the “weapon” Karina had provided the giant. Driven by biomechanical muscle, the stake was rammed between the lower ribs of the dragon.
Using the big stick for leverage, the recreation blessed by Helios pulled himself completely out of the portal, climbing the dragon. The colossal golem’s weight pulled the dragon down, allowing Hellion to get solid ground back under his feet, crushing a bunch of ant-sized undead in the process.
The skeleton dragon clad in purple flames angrily threw his head around to bite the pesky foe, even trying to blast him with a breath, but the attack of the horseman of War disrupted the giant beast's balance. Hellion finally let go of the dragon, pulling out the branch he struck the landing and took his stance.
It was just a giant, straight piece of wood, but as the massive golden knight took an overhead posture, a fine gleam of white aura mixed with holy power formed on the rough wood’s surface. It was finally Hellion’s chance to show his true potential after fully inheriting 80% of the skills, knowledge, and experience of a Knight Commander.
His movement seemed calm and without haste, despite the speed they were performed. A simple diagonal strike from the upper right to the lower left, across the dragons behind. For the first time, damage was visible. The simple strike left a deep gash across the dragon’s hip, upper leg bone and tail vertebrae.
As they said. A true master could even cut with a stick!
“Today is the day you die in the fight. None shall remain to pass one more night”
