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1032 Words
They were three streets in before they heard the clattering of metal on stone. They retreated around a corner to see a nine-man squad of armored humanoids round the bend. Most of them had short spears and shields, but what caught Matt’s eye was their armor. It was covered in layered metal plates that overlapped, structured like shingles.
It was also the first time they got to see the face of one of the monsters. They were, going by the tusks sticking out of their mouths, orcs of some variety.
Matt glanced at Liz and Aster and received nods from both of them, so he charged out, casting a preemptive [Hail] on the formation.
The monsters didn’t rush at Matt as he expected; they simply ignored the chunks of ice falling on them and raised their shields and spears, bracing for his charge.
Matt wasn’t dumb enough to do as an enemy wanted and halted twenty feet away from them. He started casting [Fireball]s at the formation as they stood their ground.
The shields all flared to life when the first spell impacted the front line. Matt didn’t have enough time to truly get a read on the runes, but the formation obviously had a linked defensive array. The only question was whether or not it would still work if they broke ranks.
As the ice started to build up, and Aster started to control it, one of the orcs raised their spear and pointed it at the spell’s epicenter. A burst of orange light lanced out and shattered [Hail].
Matt recoiled from the unexpected destruction of his skill, which usually was never damaged, and recovered from the shock enough to reset his stance. He quickly retaliated with the [Mana s***h] that he had been charging.
The crescent moon of mana knocked all the charging orcs back as it slammed against their still upraised shields. Liz whipped out a tendril of blood, which caused the shield to flare up a second time. Aster used the ice that she had taken control over to attack the orcs from the rear, and the same orc as before used their spear to shatter her newest spell as well.
Matt kicked the closest member of the formation’s shield and was happy to see the large monster stumble back without the rest of the shields taking the blow. When he shot out another [Fireball], it was blocked, and caused all the shields to flare up. It told him that this was an anti-magic formation, not a universal one.
“Use melee!”
That shout was all Matt was able to get out as he ducked a spear thrust and a shield bash from two of the monsters.
His sword ineffectually clanged off the thick armor plates, which he had expected, as this was a Tier 9 rift. But with their first enemies being so weak, Matt had hoped that the trend would remain the same.
These monsters were actually well trained with their weapons. It took him five exchanges to create an opening and thrust his sword into the armpit of the first orc. Then, he retracted his weapon fast enough to parry the next attack and sidestep a second.
Everything went white for an instant, and Matt immediately knew that Aster had used Winter’s Embrace. He hurried to finish off the slowed, armored orcs while they battled the frost that froze their armor’s joints.
Seeing Aster with a gash along her flank, Matt watched as ghostly darkness rose from the monster’s corpse and rushed into the nearby buildings.
Matt froze and asked, “I got essence from them. So, what was that?”
Liz pointed to a pillar in the nearest building. “I saw one go into the pillar. Careful. Don’t move too much.”
Aster growled as an arm-sized spear of ice impacted the pillar.
As before, an assassin jumped out and tried to attack them, but it was quickly dispatched.
Another rush of essence tried to enter them but washed off their spirits.
Liz tapped the butt of her spear on the ground. “Well, that explains that. The fallen we kill will inhabit the objects around us. I didn’t track the rest of them, but they each went farther than the first one.”
Matt looked over his team and saw that they both had slight cuts, but neither were slowed as they continued through the city.
They were almost finished with their third encounter with the orcs when a second squad approached their rear.
Making a split-second decision as the stomping sound rounded the corner, Matt called out, “I’ll take the rear group.”
With that, he finished off his opponent and turned and ran.
As he got a good look at the next group, he noticed a difference in the makeup of the squad. This time, there was an additional orc to make ten.
The tenth orc was half a head taller and had some manner of banner or flag on their back. They also had deep red armor, and a more ornate helmet that finished with a crescent moon on top.
Matt cast [Hail], but the lead orc quickly destroyed the spell. That was fine, as it bought him the time to cast [Flamethrower], letting the flame wash over the upraised shield. A plethora of orange lights lanced out at him as he chopped down at the nearest orc and battered past its shield.
Alone versus an entire shield wall, he took several hits. But with Luna’s training, [Cracked Phantom Armor] could take a much greater beating than before. As if he was using the second layer of the skill like a shield, Matt focused his mana onto the areas that he expected the spears to hit.
While his layer of under armor helped to absorb the blows, Matt felt three of the spears pierce his flesh as he got inside the formation.
Once inside, Matt braced himself and swung his longsword with [Mage’s Retreat] at full strength.
He sliced through the weaker inner leg armor of one orc and took a second in the throat as a spear pierced his back and got stuck on a bone.
- Writer
