Chapter 146: Thunderous Stomp
Confused, Henry had barely any time to think on it as a saber came swinging at his face the next second. He dodged the swing and parried the Mummy's attacking arm aside just before Andor stabbed his Spear through the Mummy's head.
Andor wrenched his spear free with a powerful tug that broke the Mummy's head off its bandaged neck so that it fell off and hit the ground.
"I've got your back," Andor told Henry who gave him a sharp nod before he turned 'Violent Retort' at a Mummy and blasted a shot that tore through its chest while also blasting it a good feet away.
[Kill-Reward: 200 Exp]
Again, Henry found he didn't suffer an Undead Woe which ascertained what he had guessed already; These Mummies were not Undead.
If one were to get technical, they were creations built from various parts and powered by Magic but with no attachment to an actual departed or long-suffering soul like the Skeletal Undead, the Decaying Undead, or Echo.
On one hand, this was welcome. Henry hated the pain that always came with Undead Woes and even if he was starting to get used to it, the last one he experienced with Echo was horrible and would have had him useless for seconds that were far too precious when this many enemies were attacking.
On the other hand, however, Henry also liked the Extra Exp that Undead Woes always came with and was sorely going to miss the absence.
Anyway, he had to thrust all that aside. He accepted that there would be no extra Exp and also acknowledged the silver lining that he could go about slaughtering the Mummies without having to worry about getting pulled into woes.
Louis ended his long chanting then with a yell as he raised his Staff into the sky. A spell circle appeared glowing a violent blue light and the very next second lightning streaks began to appear across the ceiling and then…
*Kraka- BANG!*
… With Violent sound, Lightning streaked down. It struck down mostly without focus and while a few streaks just hit the ground and cracked it, the majority struck the Mummies. Turning seven of them to dust.
"Nice," Henry said right before he Reloaded 'Violent Retort' and blasted holes in two Mummies in subsequent order.
[Kill-Reward: 200 Exp]
[Kill-Reward: 200 Exp]
As he wracked up points, reloaded 'Violent Retort' again, and readied himself to fire, a phenomenon occurred that drew attention. And it came from the Party of Knights a few feet away.
-
A few minutes earlier, the Party of Knights was farther ahead and faced the oncoming line of Mummy attackers first;
Eloise had her sword in her right hand and with it, she cut through a Mummy so that its two useless halves fell and hit the ground.
While her right hand wielded her sword, Eloise had a spell circle in her left hand and unleashed a magical beam that slammed another Mummy in the chest. It burned a hole through it in a strike that took about half of its torso. The other half, as well as the rest of its bandaged body, crumbled to the ground soon after.
The spell circle vanished from Eloise's hand now that it had done what it was cast to do so she grabbed her Sword's handle with both her hands and in a two-handed swing, she cut through two Mummies in a single move. It would have been three had the third not leaped away just in time.
Aurelius had his Shield raised to parry a sword attack before retaliating with a diagonal slash that ended the attacker. The very next second, he positioned his body so an attack could graze harmlessly off his shiny armor and then he delivered a shoulder bash that was followed up with a stab to the head before the Mummy could stagger too far away.
Aurelius did all this while casting an annoyed look over at Henry and the others who were, at the time, still standing beside the horse that arrived and caused all this. Even worse, Aurelius saw Henry smile at the creature before it vanished into shadow to go to gods knows where.
"Bastards," he said not just at Henry and the others but at the Mummies whose Martial aptitude and strength were far beneath his own. The only thing the Mummies had in their favor were numbers.
Ordinarily, the numbers would mean very little to Aurelius. He should have been confident. However, being stuck in place was making it difficult to fight as well as he could have.
Swinging his sword was also a tad difficult because when they were walking toward the end of the hall —before the Mummies were summoned—, their party had not put as much distance between themselves as would have been needed in this situation.
There was also another looming issue;
Inexperienced as the Squires were, it was only a matter of time before they made the error of stepping on more green symbols. Or even worse, a red one.
Even now, as the Mummies began to gather and strike at the Squires from various sides, their training in fighting and the stances those training required were already moving their foot where it ought not to go.
Sure enough and soon enough…
"Ugh!"
… In a bid to avoid getting run through by a Spear, a Squire made a wide swing with his sword and although it parried the Spear's blade, it spun the shaft of the weapon which in turn slammed into the armored arm of a comrade standing close by.
The Comrade's stance was already shaky and the hit of the shaft against her arm was the final straw that sent her falling back into another Squire who toppled into another and all three of them hit the ground almost at once to the clanking of the Armor they had on.
Contacts were made with squares bearing green symbols that glowed brightly before summoning lines of more Mummies to join an already packed battlefield.
Alas, it didn't stop there.
An awkwardly raised foot finally hit the ground and it fell on a square bearing none other than the 'dreaded' red symbol.
"Shit!" The Squire said in a loud voice of alarm that no one in the Hall could ignore.
Eyes widened when they saw the Red symbol begin to glow and even as they continued to fend off and destroy Mummies, they all gulped at what they feared was to come.
And then every symbol on every square vanished.
At first, some wondered if Eloise's Magic detection had simply run out and she would have to recast it to show where the symbols were on the squares again.
This was quickly put to the test by a few wrong-footed Squires and even Andor who could not quite avoid stepping on multiple squares as they sought to avoid attacks. The lack of any activation of any symbol or further summoning of Mummies proved the symbols were now inactive.
"Oh," said the Squire whose foot had lit the red square. He smiled uncertainly with some relief,
"That's good—"
*RARRRRRR*
Behind the final line of recently summoned Mummies appeared a massive strange magic circle that covered more than five Squares and it was out of the circle that the roar had sounded.
Following the roar, multiple bones, all large and yet all disproportionate to one another, rose out of the circle and came together in an unholy fusion that was followed by dirty bandages that wrapped around the unnatural creation.
"RARRRRRRR!!!"
The roar sounded again. This time coming from the chest of the monstrosity who raised its massive bandaged leg and brought it down in a thunderous stomp that unleashed a forceful wave that spared none in the Hall.
Human or Mummy…
*BAM!!!*
*WHUMMM!!!*
… All fell.