The instant the Lich gave the order, the skeletons were on the move. They came in from all directions, marching as a single host with blue eyes burning with the need to kill. The sound was deafening, the combined clatter of bones, armor, and weapons ringing in their ears. Then there was the smell, a stale, suffocating cloud of odor that felt like broth against Teyva’s face. Teyva pressed her lips together tightly and focused on her role. She positioned herself at the center of the group and set to work, she needed to eliminate the numbers advantage first. The grinding strategy from when they’d first entered Nulakam was obviously the best choice. None of the skeletons seemed intelligent enough to climb her walls, so she focused on that first.

“I’m about to burn through a whole lot of mana!” Teyva warned, “It’ll take me a while to recharge, can you handle it?”

“I’ll be fine! Do what you need to do!” Azrael shouted back over the rising sound, “Guardian Bond up on Behemoth!” She added, a flickering shield erupting into life around the great grey beast’s body. Azrael’s own barrier took shape as she positioned herself between the enemy and Teyva.

“Okay! Azrael on the left! Behemoth! To the right!” She bellowed and the two moved to their positions, giving Teyva plenty of space behind them. She held up her hands and turned in a circle, repeating a casting of [Create Wall] over and over as she formed a near-complete circle of raised stone around them. She left two openings, one on each side of their impromptu fortress. One was for Azrael and the other was for Behemoth. She glanced at her Mana, watching it plummet down to dangerously close to zero. She felt her head swim, the rush setting off her equilibrium and she was forced to sit down. Nausea came next, and she held her head while reaching out to the Mockeries to give them their orders.

The drone of ninety sets of wings rose up in the chamber, the sound adding to the already impressive din. The tiny creatures darted out in all directions, each of them searching for their own skeleton to claim. The damage would be minimal with only one mockery per skeleton, but the cumulative damage over time would make up for it. She needed to weaken the host as a whole if they were going to have any hopes of surviving. Without her death magic as a weapon, she had to get creative.

Using the mockeries as a simulation for her [Chilling Weakness] affliction was just the start. She sent out another order to the little darlings, asking them to focus on whatever limb they could find purchase on. She wasn’t sure if the mockeries alone could destroy a skeleton by eating through their skull and she wasn’t about to risk it. She’d rather force the enemy to limp around than leave a pointless hole in their head. She turned her attention to her immediate surroundings as her Mana ticked up with agonizing slowness. Nephral’s absence being felt more than ever.

Behemoth stood as a mighty landform amidst a terrible wave that broke against him. He roared, raising his right arm and shifting it into the razor-sharp claw of the Rilk Queen. He brought it down in a sweeping motion, taking two of the skeletons with it as he grabbed a third and hurled it at one of the casters in the back. Splashes of flame burst against the barrier that Azrael had given him, the translucent shield shuddering with each impact. Above her, the cloud of gold was beginning to thin as mockeries saw their opportunity to latch onto a target. Teyva marveled at how it looked like it was raining streaks of golden light from above them.

She turned back to Azrael who danced among the hooked blades of the enemy. Fresh and full of energy she kicked and spun, striking one skeleton in the chest while ripples of wind burst from her fingertips as she cried out an incantation: “Let fly, whisperwind, cold like needles, cut them!” At Azrael’s side, Kaleb the wolf dipped low beneath his summoner’s attacks, filling her gaps and blind spots with his own vicious bites and claws. He managed to get one skeleton by the leg and pull it to the ground in time for Azrael to turn and finish it with a coup de gras. A pair of blades came down over Azrael’s head as she did so, rebounding off her barrier. Azrael returned the strike, throwing her weight into a swing that caught one of her attackers in the head and sent the entire skull skipping over the horde behind it.

Teyva checked her mana again. Only fifteen percent. Her in-combat regeneration slower than ever. She couldn’t even extend her razorchain without mana to play with, not that she would be much help. The addition of Kaleb would make it even more difficult to sneak her attacks past Azrael and not to mention Behemoth who formed a near literal wall between her and the enemy. She needed to contribute somehow though. She anxiously glanced at her Mana, begging it to refill, her eyes then went up to Paraklytus who sat in his seat, arms crossed, watching the show without a hint of passion. She scowled at him, getting back to her feet and steadying herself.

She looked up at the wall she had made, judging its height and tapping her new boots against the ground. They were supposed to give her enhanced mobility. With her increased attributes, she had to wonder if it was possible. To hell with it, she thought, and charged headlong towards the wall, pumping her legs before pushing down, hard, and throwing herself into the air. She hurtled upward, spinning once before landing on her feet. She staggered, almost slipping from her new perch and had to right herself. She looked down, a horde of skeletons looking up at her, just out of reach. She licked her lips and grinned.

“Boo,” She raised her razorchain arm and whipped it down, extending it only enough to catch those closest to her. She willed the weapon to coil around a skeleton’s neck and pulled, ripping its skull off before thrashing to the right and catching another on the side of the head. Two more down. A flash of light ahead of her drew her attention and she threw her arms up, closing her eyes. Fire splashed across her body and she staggered again. It was hot but it didn’t burn like she’d expected. She glanced at her health and saw that only a small fraction had dropped. She grinned, these new robes were great! She lowered her arms and looked for the source, spotting a skeletal mage near the rear of the horde weaving his hands in her direction. “These guys have got to go,” Teyva growled.

“Teyva? What are you doing?” Azrael called out to her.

“I’ve got this!” Teyva shouted back, “Focus on your spot, I’ll handle the mages!” She shouted.

“Don’t die you idiot!” Azrael shouted back.

Teyva chuckled, turned back to the mage, and froze. There was someone new there now. A warrior standing at the rear with his arms crossed. His clothing was a little different, instead of simple plates of armor on his chest he wore a tattered tabard of violet cloth and something that looked like a chain hanging from his hip along with a sword strapped to his back. Teyva narrowed her eyes and drew out her journal.

Her eyes widened. Rani? The boss tilted his head forward, his glowing eyes leveling with Teyva’s. An itch rose on the back of her neck and panic set in as he reached for his hip. She turned, moving to get back down from her perch on the wall. She swore, “Boss! There’s a boss!” She shouted and jumped. Something hard wrapped around her waist and she looked down, a chain had coiled itself firmly around her midsection. She looked up to Azrael who had glanced back, the Azar’s eyes wide in horror.

“Teyva!”

Teyva felt a sudden force pull against her and she was wrenched out of the air, her body hurtling across the room and hitting the ground. A chunk of health dropped off and she rolled, untangling herself as she coughed, scrambling to her feet. Something ground hard in her chest and she wheezed, looking up and into the eyes of the skeletal commander. He stared down at her with something like contempt in those glowing blue eyes. She bore her teeth and pushed herself up, kicking off the ground and darting away in an effort to get some distance. He didn’t so much as move to chase her. Teyva glanced towards the horde still pressing in on the structure she’d built. None of them were paying any attention to what was behind them.

She turned her attention back to the boss, keeping a close eye on her mana. It had gone up a little, stopping at thirty percent. She whipped her arm out, wrapping the chain around his head. Again, he didn’t move an inch. She pulled and for the first time felt resistance. She blinked as he reached up and grabbed her chain, even as ghostly chains wrapped around his legs, restricting his movements. He pulled with what felt like an absolutely unfair amount of strength. She planted her feet, pulling back and trying to maintain control of her chain. She could shift it into a different weapon but that would require even the smallest mana expenditure. That moment of indecision proved costly.

In a flash of motion, the skeleton pulled down, staggering Teyva before yanking backward with all his might. Teyva felt her feet leave the ground. She swore as her body hurtled toward him, casting [Simple Shift] to turn her arm back to normal. The damage had already been done, though, and she hit the ground at his feet once again with terrible force. She scrambled to her knees and looked up catching a wide glint of metal just at the edge of her swimming vision. It moved so fast. Instinct was the only thing that kept her alive. She pushed against the ground and dove to the left as the massive sword came down in a diagonal arc, intending to bisect her. Instead, she hit the ground, her right arm going numb with the impact.

Not numb. She couldn’t feel a thing. She forced herself to rise to her knees, glancing over at the skeleton and then at the ground at his feet. There was something white there on the ground, still. She swallowed, her sense of reality crashing in as she looked down at her shoulder, where there was nothing attached.