Blood Legacy: New World Of Doom

This time it was not the same Black Veil he had used until now. He had memorized the lesson taught by Iannaril and intended to raise the complexity of his first spell.

He didn't just want this Undead to go blind, which was probably already the case given his empty eye sockets. No. He wanted to deprive it of all its senses, disorient it, stifle its instincts and consciousness, and isolate it from its own Sparks, its own energy, and that of its environment.

Despite his determination, Ikaris' first attempt was a resounding failure. The Skeleton did not even flinch, but instead charged wildly at the boy, brandishing its claymore covered in a gray-black halo. Feeling the malevolent and strangely chilling energy, he did not dare to block directly and dodged with a sidestep.

In mid-movement, the Skeleton's wrist flicked and the claymore changed direction as if it were a homing device. Caught off guard, Ikaris had no choice this time but to parry with his own sword.

CLANG!

The upward blow sent him spinning off the ground despite the fact that he had blocked in time and if he hadn't caught the tail of the Long-Necked Augias he would have been thrown off the huge mammal. The teenager hoped that the Skeleton would ignore him again, but this one dashed down the back, then the tail of the beast to finish him.

'Crap...' Ikaris cursed as he dangled below the Augias' tail to avoid a deadly claymore strike.

ROOARR!

Instead it was the huge behemoth that yelped in pain as the blade sliced through a third of its appendage leaving a deep bloody gash. The Augias immediately began wagging its tail frantically in all directions to get rid of its attacker. Ikaris and the Skeleton had to momentarily forget about their enmity, too busy struggling to hold onto the beast's tail.

The youth by digging his claws into the already mutilated tail of the Augias and the Undead by exhibiting a sense of balance that would have made experienced sailors blush with shame. The Skeleton's knees bent and unfolded with perfect timing, its center of gravity expertly shifting to the tune of the wounded behemoth's chaotic tail swing.

From his position, Ikaris felt, rather than saw, the Augias' wounded flesh wither where the claymore had sliced, its bright red muscles turning a putrefied gray-green. A cold shiver of sweat ran down his spine.

'I can't let that sword touch me,' he reminded himself grimly.

Closing his eyes, he focused again, even more fiercely than the first time and shouted in his head, "Black Veil!"

This time, Ikaris didn't wait to see if his ambitious spell had worked. Tightening his arms, he performed a lightning pull to clamber back onto the tail of the Augias he was hanging from, leaping up behind the Skeleton. In the process, he also activated his Steath Spell and focused three quarters of his Blood Energy and Dark Mana into his arm and sword.

Dark Blood Slash.

The swing of his arm speeded up dramatically and his blade slashed into the Skeleton's back like a white-hot blade through butter. Ikaris expected a counterattack so much that he preemptively jumped back two steps, but he was thrown off balance when he saw the lack of movement from his enemy.

Unsure whether it was a feint, he decided to let his instincts speak for him and capitalizing on this chance he lunged forward and went straight for the Undead's neck. It was only when the blade had cleanly severed its spine that the Skeleton began to move again, retaliating with a powerful back heel kick.

"Pfffft." Ikaris' body arched and he was violently ejected from the Augias' tail, spitting out a spray of blood.

This time he didn't land as cleanly and crashed to the ground into a pile of bones and a searing pain under his left rib took his breath away. Looking down, he saw that a bone shard had punctured his stomach.

"Fuck, what a bummer..." He struggled to his feet, but he was livid.

"Let me treat you." Kailu suddenly ran up with three slow-moving Skeletons at his heels.

Ikaris' eyes lit up for the first time since they met when he caught sight of the aristocrat, but his expression abruptly changed and he shouted, "Move aside!"

With a quick dash, he shoved his teammate, sending him rolling into the mud. Clenching his teeth to ignore the pain, he raised his blade to deflect the claymore, which came down on him with the full weight of the Skeleton. The latter had used the Augias' tail as a trampoline to launch itself at him and finish him off.

The clash of their two blades sent a colossal force through Ikaris' body, then into the ground, and his bent legs sank into the mud to mid-thigh. At that moment he tried to figure out how this Undead was still able to fight and even detect him after being decapitated, but as he looked down he noticed the skull his opponent was holding under his arm.

The two flames burning in his empty eye sockets were still as bright as ever.

'It's a Dullahan now.' Magnus warned him tensely. "You must destroy or remove its head from its body."

Perhaps the Headless Skeleton had guessed his intentions because he tossed its own severed head into the air when Ikaris tried to counterattack by targeting the skull. As its head rose high, the Undead clutched its claymore with both hands and tried to impale him down by the top of his forehead with an inverted guard.

Entangled in the mud, Ikaris raised his sword again and in a desperate effort deflected it slightly. The enemy blade was about to sink into his shoulder when his survival instinct kicked in,

"STOP!"

The Skeleton's sword suddenly slowed down and in the end only the tip of its blade sank a few millimeters into his shoulder before being stopped by his bone. His opponent was as confused as he was by this result, but its limited intellect prevented it from wondering about it any longer.

Catching its skull with one hand, the infernos in its empty eye sockets burned brighter and brighter, and an incredible force pressed the tip of the claymore against Ikaris' shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

"Ikaris!" Malia, who was finishing off her own enemies, panicked when she saw the boy's predicament.

Forgetting her own opponents, she waved her sword in his direction and a blood blade cleaved through the air in a flash. The Skeleton had no choice but to stop its attack to defend itself. Before it could resume its assault, a cunning arrow from Ruvaen forced it back to protect its skull.

Ikaris took advantage of the opportunity to extricate himself from the mud. A hand appeared in front of him and he grabbed it decisively. He recognized Kailu's frightened but determined face.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault." The Healer apologized. "Let me make it up to you by doing my job."

Kailu touched his injured rib and shoulder straight away with his fingertips and with no fanciful flash of light or incantations, Ikaris immediately felt his pain subside. He wiggled his shoulder and found that he was fine.

"Thanks. Let me finish this fight now."

The Skeleton leader was now facing the guerrilla attacks of the four Werewolves who were also done with their opponents. Malia and Ruvaen had finished taking out the other Undeads, which was why Kailu was able to come to his aid so valiantly.

In one-on-one combat, this Skeleton was certainly a formidable opponent for any of them, its speed, strength, swordsmanship, and tireless nature making it virtually invincible without the use of magic. However, none of them were ordinary either.

Ikaris didn't know when, but Ruvaen had started incanting in Elvish. The creepy trees in this deadly forest had begun to rustle and sway ominously as if they were dancing, and several times the Skeleton had to dodge a sharp branch or a large, hard-shelled fruit falling briskly on it.

The Undead also had to deal with the intrusive psychic attacks of the elf and Malia, which affected its movements, providing opportunities for the four Werewolves. Seeing this, Ikaris finally understood why the fearsome Skeleton had so generously let Kailu heal him. It simply had no choice.