97 Chapter XXXVIII: Battle of Wolfskull (Part 2)
(Reyvin's pov)
As we see Scorch land atop the gatehouse everyone is stuck in a state of tense silence.
The tenseness seemed to annoy Rikke who looked at me with a twitching eyebrow "Are you sure this will wo-"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A massive ball of fire detonates from the center of the gatehouse, immediately burning everything in a wide circle around it to fine ash.
We all stare at the massive cloud of dust and ash thrown up by the detonation, most of us unable to even move from witnessing the sheer amount of destruction before us.
The first to snap out of it is naturally Rikke who immediately starts giving out orders to her subordinates and charges forward to lead her men.
The King and his entourage follow soon after with a battle cry of their own, leaving the mages the last remaining ones atop the hill.
"I'll say." Sybille says slowly while trying to blink away the flashing light from her eyes "Even if incredibly crude, that was beautifully done."
She looks at Savos and me, and immediately rolls her eyes in exasperation at what she sees.
A proud tear leaves Savos' eye as he silently watches the destruction unfold.
"Truly." I begin, wiping away a tear of my own "Art is an explosion."
(General pov)
The legionaries advance in orderly ranks at the now disorganized defenses of their enemy.
The skeleton archers atop the still intact walls try and slow them down with their crude arrows, but the disciplined ranks of seasoned warriors swiftly make a mobile shield wall and weather the storm while the auxiliaries and elite spell-swords fire back, dealing considerably more damage.
While the necromantic forces of the defenders were surprised by the sudden explosion they were still mostly comprised of reanimated corpses so it took them almost no time to organize a proper defense and call for reinforcements from deeper in the cave system.
So as the legionary force crested the small mound of debris left by the demolished gatehouse they were met by a wall of undead staring at them with empty eyes, the zombie giant still standing in all its disgusting glory, even if singed by the explosion.
Wasting absolutely no time, all of the officers pulled out scrolls and activated them, sending a wave of solar magic into the enemy ranks, and as if a well-oiled machine their subordinates charged immediately, capitalizing on the newly created holes in the enemy formation.
The forces of the living and the dead crashed into each other and the merciless grind of war began.
(Reyvin's pov)
After we gathered ourselves we rushed behind the formation, some skeletons tried to shoot us down but with a lazy wave of my hand, all the arrows were redirected harmlessly.
Whoever was manipulating them seemed to notice this and refocused on other targets.
I felt a large welling of necromantic energy somewhere behind the wall and turned to see what was going on, but before I could even utter a word to the others I noticed Savos snap his finger and a massive bolt of lightning strike the exact spot I felt the power was coming from.
I hear him scoff "Really, if you are going to try and reanimate things mid-combat at least prepare proper defenses!" he shakes his head in disappointment "Bunch of damn amateurs."
Sybille chuckles as she fires a spear of ice at a rather strong looking zombie about to skewer one of the legionary centurions "Fancy yourself an expert in necromantic warfare do you Archmage?"
He raises a dramatic finger "I will have you know-" Before he can go on his finger twitches and another bolt of lightning strikes one of the defensive towers, he clears his throat and pretending nothing happened raises his finger again in a lecturing tone "I will have you know I am an expert in all manner of things young lady!"
Firing off a bolt of destructive lightning at one of the necromancers who thought it a great idea to pop his head out from behind the walls I say loudly "While educating us on all your indubitably immense skills sounds oh so riveting" It really doesn't "I am afraid that giant is about to start bonking the fine men and women of the legion into the ground if we don't do something about it."
Savos tsks in annoyance "Rowdy youngsters these days, no respect for proper education." and disappears from his spot with a pop.
I slowly turn to Sybille "I think he has this well in hand, want to clear the walls with me?"
She coos into her hand "Already inviting me out, what a gentleman!"
I bow dramatically, just in time to dodge a lightning bolt heading to my head, and with a twitch of my hand send one back "I live to please my lady."
She smiles "The one that kills the least buys the drinks."
I give her a blank stare "I am not letting you drink me Sybille."
"Fiiineeeee" she pouts and with an unnatural twitch charges up the wall.
Well, I hope the legionaries won't mind me doing a bit of levitation, I have a bet to win.
(General pov)
The zombified giant lets out a loud grinding roar and charges at the formation of legionaries, it swings its massive hammer at them, but out of the formation charges Rikke, her shield glowing in protective enchantments.
The hammer smashes into her, but all it does is push her back a bit.
Unfortunately, that stunt seemed to have drained whatever potent enchantment was placed on the shield, and whoever was commanding the giant seems to have realized this, commanding the reanimated creature to attack again.
The legionary spellblades quickly commenced a barrage of firebolts, but this was not enough to stop it as it swung down at the formation, ready to reap dozens of lives.
Naturally, as it was the most dramatic moment possible, Savos decided this was the perfect time to pop into existence and with a wave of hand summon a pillar of flames, engulfing the giant in its entirety.
He turned to annoy the Legate who was glaring at him for his dramatics, but the giant let out a pained roar and even while still burning took a swing at the now presumably defenseless Archmage.
Annoyed that the undead was interrupting his fun Savos waved his hand once again, a green spell circle appearing in front of him and a massive earthen spike erupting from the ground, impaling the giant and thus forcing it to remain in the still burning pillar, sealing its fate.
Savos turned back to Rikke, but the Legate had already charged ahead to help her men. The old mer tsked in annoyance and disappeared once again.
The battle raged on, the elite legionaries destroying multiple undead with ease, but their numbers were still overwhelming leading to the deaths of multiple soldiers, some through lucky strikes and others getting literally drowned in corpses.
From time to time a hidden necromancer would reanimate some of the fallen warriors, but their comrades cut them down without a hint of hesitation.
Torygg and his housecarls found themselves in the center of the battle, Steward Firebeard constantly shouting at his King to retreat to a safer position, but the young man was too overwhelmed with rage at the sight of so many of his people getting killed and desecrated in this manner.
At first, he managed to keep his wroth in check, but the more he slew the more that wroth bubbled below the surface and now it was a raging inferno that could only be sated by the deaths of the necromancers.
The battle was now concentrated at the entrance of the cave, where the most powerful undead were situated, being led by a heavily armored vampire who was managing to hold back most of the attackers on his own.
There was a commotion in the legionary ranks as they split to make way for a rapidly moving figure clad in ebony, being chased by the panicked royal guards.
As he reached the front of the ranks Torygg let out a bellowing war cry of "SOVENGARDE!" making even the undead flinch and crashed sword first into the vampire who was also stunned by his appearance.
The troops were stunned for a moment, but then the same war cry spread among the Nords among them and they charged in to join their king.
The fighting turned into a desperate grind after the undead converged again, but then the reanimated corpses seemed to suddenly just stop in place, and as if the strings binding them were cut all of them fell to the ground lifeless once more.
Two vampires stood behind the formation completely stunned by the development, one of them seemed to realize just how dead he was about to be and muttered "Well fu-"
*Pop* before he could finish Savos appeared behind the two of them and with a mere touch disintegrated them on the spot.
He looked at a tired Rikke with a childish smile and the poor woman merely sighed and got to work reorganizing her men.
The now heavily panting King collected himself and looked at the Archmage "What just happened?"
Savos smiled "Your court mages seem to have decided to explore a bit."
Torygg frowned "Explain"
(Reyvin's pov, after levitating up the wall)
I slowly walk down the path of destruction left by Sybille.
Sheesh, she must have taken the little bet really seriously if the shredded remains are anything to go by, better follow her before she gets herself killed.
I follow the mutilated corpses and soon reach one of the towers, hearing the sounds of combat inside I rush inside, only to see Sybille rip a necromancer in half with her bare hands while laughing maniacally.
Damn, that's hot...
She turns to me abruptly and gives me an odd look.
Realization strikes me "I said that out loud didn't I?"
She nods, making me sigh tiredly.
Before I can say anything else she smiles teasingly "Don't worry, I don't judge."
"Of course you wouldn't" I roll my eyes and then try and distract her in hopes she would forget about this "Now let's continue clearing this place out, people are dying down there."
"You are no fun." She winks "But I guess we should find the ones controlling the undead quickly."
We both turn serious and rush further down the wall.
Most of what we find are skeleton archers which we dispatch with ease, but the further toward the mountain at the edge of the wall we go, the greater opposition awaits. Skeletons make way for soul cairn shades, and we are forced to slow our rampage and actually focus on our enemies.
They too inevitably meet their end when attacked by my solar magic and Sybille's ridiculous vampiric strength, which seems to have reached a new height after that ritual she performed.
At least risking her life wasn't for nothing.
Soon we reach the end of the wall and find a small entrance into a secondary cave carved into the mountain, we rush inside while making sure not to trigger any traps and after breaking down a sturdy wooden door with a telekinetic push we come face to face with a gaggle of necromancers sitting around a ritual circle filled to the brim with black soul gems.
An old Nord man wearing black robes scoffs in annoyance and without looking at us growlss at Sybille "What do you want vampire? We are trying to focus here and have no time to entertain you." As an afterthought he adds "And send your thrall outside, we don't want bloodhounds in our midst."
My eye twitches and I turn to Sybille "That one is mine."
She cups her chin in 'thought' and drawls "Fiiiineee, but you have to buy me something nice."
Before she is even done I am staring at the old man who slowly seems to be realizing that no, we aren't their friends. With a wicked smile, I summon my staff and point at him.
He tries to disentangle himself from whatever ritual he was performing, causing all the other necromancers to groan in pain, but it is far too late for that as the last thing he hears is "WULD!"
Before his head hits the ground.
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Give me your stones or Savos will troll you.
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