T he floor opened up across the chamber, and an eleven-foot humanoid skeleton climbed out of the dark hole.
It opened its mouth and roared. I could even spot the upper ceiling of its skull.
It was armored, but the metal was dingy and old.
Breakable, then.
I unleashed Fire Flare at its skull. Flames engulfed most of its body, making it pause.
But when the blast faded, the skeleton was whole and completely unfazed.
“Tough one, aren’t you?” I commented.
Clove was solidly behind me now. “Do you have a plan?” she whispered hopefully.
The skeleton had a helmet and a breastplate with pauldrons holding in in place. It held one beefy club in its other hand, which was currently swinging right at me.
“Shield Strike! ” I called.
Three feet from my face, a misty-looking shield materialized in the air. The club struck it directly in the center.
The shield’s shape wavered but didn’t break.
Alright. I imagine the defense will hold for one more hit at the most. I can work with that.
“It has armor for a reason,” I said over my shoulder. “Aim an attack spell with your staff. Target the weak points connecting his breast plate to his pauldrons.”
“Got it!” Clove replied.
The skeleton wasn’t very fast. It lifted its arm in a ponderous movement for another hit.
Clove’s voice rang out. “Sun Slice! ” A beam of golden light connected with the breastplate.
In the wrong spot.
She gasped behind me, but there was no more time. The shield shattered, and I darted forward.
Dagger in hand, I struck, wedging the tip into the knee joint. Mana flowed into the blade, enhancing the hit without overwhelming it to the point of breaking.
Interesting. It appeared my mana didn’t flare dangerously in every situation, then. Perhaps the blade only draws the mana it has the strength to feed on.
Just before the skeleton shifted, I managed to wrench my dagger to the side, splitting the connecting bones from one another.
But it wasn’t enough.
The monster struck, hitting my ribs with its club.
I slammed against the far wall. My head bounced on the stone. Dark spots swam in my vision.
But I could see well enough to watch the skeleton grip Clove in its hand.
And this is just the Tower’s test?
Clove screamed and hit it with a Fire Flare , this time in the perfect spot.
The skeleton’s breastplate came loose.
Just enough to be helpful.
Good girl, I thought. Now, I just have to get my cursed ass up and finish it off.
The skeleton roared in anger and knocked the staff from my companion’s hands. The staff clattered to the floor.
Clove was my responsibility. She was under my protection. If I didn’t have her out of that rotten grip in the next minute, I could hardly call myself worthy of immortality, and the void might as well just take me back to hell.
If my suspicion was correct, the skeleton was being powered by a talisman or other magical item. Since I’d already seen clean inside its skull, such a talisman had to be behind that breastplate.
She’d loosened the armor, and now, it was up to me to finish it.
Clove sent another Fire Flare spell into its head. She’d only have one, maybe two shots left.
I’d need momentum for this. It was vital for my plan to work.
I had two spells in my grasp. What made them any different than the hundreds of complicated, maxed-out spells I could use with dark mana?
Not much.
Every spell had at least two dozen uses, if the mage could imagine them. I just had to be creative.
The skeleton tightened its grip. Cleverly, Clove let off a Sun Slice spell that targeted the tendon on the monster’s wrist.
It landed perfectly, and the skeleton screeched as the hand and weapon clattered to the ground.
I’m almost there, Clove. Just hang on.
I pushed myself off the wall and charged the beast. When I was eight feet away, I held out my hand. “Shield Strike! ” In my mind’s eye, I tilted the shield and turned it parallel to the floor at hip-height.
The shield materialized, and I jumped onto it, using it as a platform to launch myself onto the monster’s shoulders.
Avoiding its teeth, I held on to the spinal cord and plunged my hand down.
There! Something’s glowing.
In the space between the sternum and the spine, an item floated.
My fingers closed around it.
The monster stopped thrashing.
Clove met my gaze for one tension-filled second as we swayed with the giant’s form.
And then it began to crumple.
The monster is defeated. Now, we must escape the peril of its fall.
If Clove didn’t get out of its grip, she’d hit the ground hard.
“I’ve got you!” I called, jumping from the shoulder. Moments before I landed, I cast another horizontal Shield Strike beneath Clove’s body.
She grunted as she hit, clinging to the edge of the magical shield as the skeleton’s locked hand threatened to pull her down.
I kicked the dead boss’s shoulder joint, shattering it. Finally, the finger bones loosened. The feat was easier, now that I had taken the talisman.
“You did it!” she exclaimed, still hanging onto the edge of the shield.
Her dangling legs were just above my eye-level. “Let’s get you down,” I said.
“Yes, please! Oh gods… Luc — oh! ” She made an odd whimpering noise as I reached up around her open legs.