The First Lich Lord - Chapter 162

As I rushed towards the paladin, Abimelech noticed and moved to support me. I waved her aside, the mental connection I had with her conveying my intent. I wanted to test myself against this man. I was fine being the commander of our army, but one thing I still knew and had learned about myself was I enjoyed a good fight. And not just magical. I was a powerful melee fighter and enjoyed what I could bring to a battle, both magical and physical skill sets together.

Unfortunately for the commander, he had taken too long to join the fray, probably to put on all of that plate armor. The horde of mindless zombies being created by my spell was now outpacing the rate at which they were being killed. The bone guard that had fallen were now restored. Flights of arrows arced over the wall behind coordinated by E’lon.

The fort would be ours. The tide had turned, and I could see in the commander’s eyes that he knew it. A circle formed around us as the bone guard were directed by their commanders to give us space. The mindless undead dared not approach anyways. I stopped in front of the commander of the fort. He looked at me through his visor, his eyes narrowed and full of hate.

There was a flare and a circle of purple eldritch fire formed around us as Othniel cast a spell.

“Monster,” the paladin snarled. “Why bring your filth into this kingdom?”

“Self-righteous prick,” I retorted. “To be clear, you guys started this when you attacked my dungeon.”

He scoffed. “Think we don’t know you’re in league with that traitor, Friar Brown? He should’ve let Theonis kill you, no doubt he only saved your life so this very thing would happen. I say we make a bet. I win this fight, you pull your forces back.”

“Let me think about that for a moment.” I tapped my chin, making as if in thought before looking around. “No, this isn’t some fabled tale of the honorable knight paladin who holds off the evil Lich through an honorable duel. I will give you an honorable fight, but that is it.” The Dread Thirteen would only interfere if I was in imminent peril, which wasn’t honorable, but I saw no point in sharing that fact.

Interestingly my words did affect the paladin’s demeanor. His next words were full of a little bit less scorn. “Will you swear to me that you will not profane my body and soul by turning them into one of your minions?”

“There is no benefit in me promising that, I shall nonetheless,” I said. “If I prevail, your soul will pass on peacefully into whatever afterlife is waiting for you.”

I saluted him with Mercy, and before he could respond I charged. Mercy was shaped into its original blade staff form. The defensive powers that came with the longer shaft would be needed. The commander unlimbered his great sword, pure white light glowing from runes etched down the length of the blade.

Activating the abilities of my armor to speed me up, we clashed. My precognition had me deflect his great sword as it came down in an overhanded blow. Even with the speed and power given to me by my armor he was stronger, I was barely faster.

Not only was he higher level than me, he was a melee-focused type character, while I was not. Paladins blended magic and melee in a perfect combination much like battle mage, but more defensive focused. I on the other hand was more of a caster focus with melee abilities. Still, I trusted my skill with Mercy. The blood elf priest had been a problem because of the magic he wielded, and he had caught me by surprise, his sudden boost in speed not expected. However, I was pretty certain I knew what to expect from this man.

Though Ezra was a different kind of paladin they would share skill sets and fighting styles, and I had fought Ezra a lot. Deflecting another blow from his heavy great sword created an opening, and I lunged, driving Mercy towards the weak point in his armor under the armpit. To my dismay Mercy was deflected, and not because I missed the weak spot or because it didn’t find purchase in the armor. I hit right where I was supposed to and Mercy had been stopped.

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I jumped back, opening space between us thinking over what just happened. The armpit was the weakest part of any suit of armor, and even without Mercy in its most armor penetrating form I had killed plenty of players due to that weak point.

I reshaped Mercy into a needlelike tip and reengaged. The opening came sooner than expected I struck again. But Mercy failed to penetrate. Even worse, my precognition warned me of an incoming attack. The paladin had baited me in.

I barely interposed Mercy between my back and the great sword as it struck. Mercy took the brunt of the blow and I was flung aside. The great sword scoring my Thanatrith armor. It wasn’t as impervious as the heavy plate was.

Once again, I fell back but paladin pressed me. His edge and speed prevented me from being able to create any distance. I funneled death energy through my body speeding me up even more. Now faster, the paladin realized he could not catch me so he fell back.

“What’s wrong, little monster?” he taunted. “Your dark powers too weak to challenge the purity that I stand for?”

“No,” I snarled. “I am just not using them yet.” That was kind of true, I wasn’t using my magic, but that was because it was just now recovered to a point I could do something with it. In fact, I started building power inside of Mercy for a spell, I wasn’t sure what I was going to use it for yet.

My brain was working overtime. On Earth, plate mail and historical settings were not like how they’re portrayed in most books, video games, or movies. A trained knight in full plate mail was almost unkillable on the battlefield, most knights who fell on the battlefield fell to heat exhaustion.

That being said, there were ways to penetrate the armor. The halberd was developed for that very purpose. Unfortunately, Mercy even at its longest was not the length of a true halberd so I could not develop the kinetic energy required. Critics often complained how media’s portrayal of plate armor was incorrect. They often forgot that the settings in which plate armor is portrayed as not impenetrable often have magic. Magic breaks the rules and gives things a different equilibrium.

A light flashed before me, and I dodged to the side. A moment later where I was standing exploded in silvery white light as the paladin sent out a wave of silver energy from his sword. I kept dodging as waves tore up the ground trying to catch me.

The eldritch power I was building inside of Mercy would do me no good if I couldn’t penetrate the paladin’s plate armor. Unlike other plate armor I had dueled against, even the weak points of this one had been sealed. It was truly like the knights of Earth. But unlike Earth, I had magic aiding me.

I reshaped Mercy, grabbing the eldritch power within to cast a spell. I extended the handle of Mercy as far as I could and the blade on one side became a warhammer and on the other a needle-sharp spike.

“Your feeble weapon cannot penetrate my armor, no matter what shape you try,” the paladin sneered at me. “Olattee’s power infuses this, and its nature refuses to allow it to be tainted with defeat.”

I couldn’t quite believe he’d just said that. It was super corny and cocky. But I was already charging forward. His great sword swung at me. The speed advantage I had with death energy allowed me to easily deflect it with Mercy, using it like a springboard to launch myself higher.

The force of my jump drove the great sword down and I brought Mercy slamming towards the joint between his shoulder and neck. His eyes tracked me, filled with contempt for the attack. The shoulder joint of his armor was far stronger than any I had seen before. Hence why I wasn’t attacking it directly.

As Mercy fell, eldritch power blossomed out of it. The tip of the spike was covered in a purple flame right before impact. The flare of eldritch magic had the knight’s eyes opening wide an alarm.

Thunk. The eldritch fire tore at the enchantments of the armor. The divine magic focused on purity were corrupted and broken down by the eldritch might of my magic.

Mercy bit through and pain radiated in my enemy’s eyes. I activated the second part of my spell. The spike of Mercy had a channel inside it. Through that channel a jet of eldritch flame shot. It was hotter than the flame that coated the outside of the spike, focused on raw destructive force.

When I yanked Mercy free, no blood came with it. Purple eldritch magic continued to bleed from the wound. The paladin did not scream in pain, I doubted he could. The jet of eldritch fire had poured straight into his lungs.

I reformed Mercy as the knight gasped and coughed up a mouthful of blood. I had no doubt he was working his own magic inside of his body to try and stave off the damage I had done. However, this was not a fight where we’d let each other recover. The knight was focused on trying to save his life, his own arrogance having put him in the position. If he had taken the attack seriously, he could have likely done something to mitigate some of the damage.

As I rushed towards him, the knight attacked. He was professional after all, and would not lose sight of the battle as a whole.

It was his most powerful attack yet. Instead of a silver wave from his blade, a ball of silver light erupted out of his hand and flew straight towards my chest. I saw it impact me a moment before it did.