INTENSE CLASH

Death knights were not something Isaac considered much of a threat, but that was taking his standards into consideration. He was a Grade 2 Warrior and a 7th Order sorcerer, while the majority of people never went past Grade 5 or activated their mana. To them a creature of this calibre was nothing short of a disaster. After all, death knights possessed at worse a Grade 2 physique as well; not only that, but they were capable of momentarily turning their slain victims into zombie minions.

If such a creature appeared in Ysh the only cities that would be able to fend it off safely would be Tiih and Yshta. The rest would have to pay a huge price to do so and even that would depend on whether the death knight had intelligence or not. A sentient death knight was much harder to combat and therefore would require more sacrifices to defeat.

Fortunately for Isaac this particular death knight did not seem to have intelligence so he would not require complex tactics to get rid of it. On the unfortunate note, it was not his only opponent; the phantom was raising its hand to cast another spell.

Before he could move to stop it, the death knight charged. When it arrived in front of him it did not hesitate to aim its blade at his throat. He moved to the side to avoid it and then took his own swing at the creature, only for it to be caught by the undead's large shield. Taking a quick glance at the undead in the back, he pushed away teeth gritted. However, the death knight was not willing to let him go and followed after. With a clenched jaw, he caught its sword with his own and stole another look at the phantom. Its casting was nearing completion.

Not good! he thought in alarm.

Without giving it another thought he [Blink]ed away, appearing ten metres away. Looking back where he was before, thick black chains with a sinister aura had emerged from the ground and fruitlessly tried to shackle the air. The spell that was used to conjure that them was not known to him but he was certain getting caught by the chains would not do him favours.

The death knight charged him once more. This time he was ready. After meeting its blade once again he freed one of his hands from the hilt, pointed it at the armoured undead and cast [Slow]. Then, without waiting to see if the spell had taken effect, he shoved it away and rushed past it; making sure to cast [Haste] on himself in the process.

Infuriatingly, when he got to where the phantom stood it had already {Blink}ed away. Still, he did not give up pursuing it as his eyes darted around to see where it had vanished to. The sight of it floating in the air caused him to release a frustrated breath through his nose. Unfortunately his Wind affinity was lacklustre, he did not know how to fly.

Still though, there were other ways to strike down opponents in the sky.

Whist raising his free hand into the sky, he cast [Sacred Shaft]. The 5th Order spell caused a beam of light to descend from the sky over where the phantom hovered. But the undead managed to {Blink} away just as he finished his spell. When he located it once again he attempted to repeat the action only to be cut off from the by the arrival of the death knight. The [Slow] spell had worn off, its effect never lasted more than a few seconds on beings with strong physiques.

With his free hand, he caught the oncoming shield headed for his face then side stepped to avoid a sword swing before leaping forward in to deliver his own slash. The shield met his blow. Although the death knight in front of him lacked sentience, its skills were sharp and its instincts were intact. He grunted in frustration as he disengaged, sensing the floating undead about to unleash another spell; another [Greater Chain Lightning]. This time he chose a different spell to reinforce his defence, one he should have used much earlier; 6th Order [Stone Flesh].

When the black lightning struck him this time he was able to remain on his feet. The impact from the spell was still painful- he gritted his teeth and tried his best to ignore it as he met the death knight's onslaught head on- but the damage done was minimal; a quick 1st Order [Minor Heal] could fix it. At the moment he did not do that though because an opportunity had presented itself.

After the black lightning struck him it recoiled and sought another target; and found one in the creature locked in a sword fight with him. Above his head he heard the phantom's exclamation of surprise as its [Greater Chain Lightning] sent its minion flying. Choosing to capitalise on the lapse in judgement, he pursued the armoured undead. Casting [Haste] on himself again, he picked up his pace and arrived at the death knight's side just as its back hit the ground. The attack had disarmed it, allowing Isaac to bring down his enchanted blade on its exposed throat. The death knight's head flew as the dark blood spattered onto the ground. Its putrid smell wafted to his nose, causing him to instinctively want to wrinkle it. However, he fought the urge as he watched it crumb to dust. Then he turned to the phantom.

It was the only the two of them now.

The undead summoner did not seem to have recovered from its blunder and he was not feeling generous enough to give it the time. With as much strength as he could manage, he flung his sword at it. The creature managed to recover just before the sword touched it, enabling it to avoid the sword. But he was not done yet. The moment the sword flew past the undead he cast [Blink], appearing in the air just in time to catch his sword and swing it again. However, as with previous attempts the undead had already relocated elsewhere. Looking around, he spotted the undead in the air not far away. He once again used [Blink] to appear in front of it and struck with his sword, only for the undead to vanish again. It appeared on the ground twenty metres away. He followed it, still attempting to cut it down.

This time the creature took a different approach. Instead of {Blink]ing away it used a [Void Barrier] to block him. Just like the previous time, Isaac's sword bounced of the barrier. After the impact he too went for a different approach. His weaker hand released its grip on the sword and went for the barrier while simultaneously casting [Dispel].

Although [Dispel] was guaranteed to work on lower Order spells, it was a gamble using it against those of the same Order and above. The 6th order spell had more than half a chance to work against spells of the same Order. However, the higher the Order of the spell above it the less likely it was that it would work. Against a 9th Order spell [Dispel] was so inadequate casting it was a waste of mana; in that case it was more convenient to use a stronger variant of the spell.

Still, even if [Dispel] was a gamble Isaac cast it without hesitation. Every fight was a gamble. Also, [Dispel] and [Void Barrier] were only separated by one tier, so the chance of it working were not abysmal.

The gamble worked!

Using the momentum of his success, he swung the sword at the surprised creature. It regained its bearings just before his blade met its flesh, causing it to {Blink} away with a yelp. It did not escape unscathed though, the creature's foul blood ran along the edge of his blade as its forearm plopped the ground.

"Urg, you fucking son of a bitch!" the undead cried with an expression contorted in pain.

Sadly that expression did not last long. From its stumped limb flesh and bone began to grow, extending and forming, trying to reconstruct the arm it had lost.

The sight astonished him.

Regeneration? How was it possible? As an undead this creature should not be able to cast the spell, much less heal from it. What was going on?

He did not have the chance to ponder it as the phantom cast yet another spell. It was the undead summoning spell again. Due to his momentarily lapse he did not even get the chance to try and stop it before space tore and another undead emerged.

This one was not clad in armour and did not carry a weapon; in fact it was bare, with dark grey flaking skin and one of the worst odours he had ever encountered. Along with this stench came an oppressing feeling so immense he could not help shiver.

Dread Zombie, he thought with gritted teeth and sweaty palms.

These undead were a variation of the very common zombies, but with physiques of Grade 3 and higher. This could not be considered much of a threat to Isaac; dispatching such a foe was be much easier than a death knight. The problem with these dread zombies was that they possessed the ever-active ability {Dread}. As its name implied, this was an ability that instilled fear, and it did so at a greater degree than [Fear] or [Terror]. In front of such a creature even the most seasoned warriors would be affected.

To combat the effect, Isaac cast [Lion Heart] on himself. Fortunately, as a 5th Order spell, it could stop the shaking and sweating and calm the panicked mind. However it could not keep the sinking feeling from settling in his gut; it could not stop his heart from throttling at the idea that something was about to go wrong.

He tried to shake the feeling as he raised his sword to block a swipe from the newly summoned undead minion, causing it to lose its hand in the process. Fortunately all zombies were innately stupid and did not possess combat instincts like death knights. If he were barehanded, this fight would be an uphill battle, but with a sword in his hand dispatching the undead would not be a hassle.

Regrettably, the knowledge that he was more than a match for the decaying corpse did not make it easier for him to withstand its intoxicating stench. It made him want hurl his lunch, but he forced himself to endure. The sinking feeling in his stomach did not disappear either.

A moment later it was proven right when black chains burst from underneath and entangled him. The dread zombie's stench and ability had left him too disoriented; before he realised what was going on the obsidian chains had already wrapped around his wrists, ankles, waist and neck and were dragging him to the ground.

His body hit the earth with a thud. A pained yelp escaped his lips as he tried to struggle out… to no avail. The chains were too strong, he could not break them. As they held him down he felt his strength leaving him; they were draining it! When he tried [Blink]ing out of their hold he found himself still on the ground with them attached to him. Not even [Dispel] could help him this time. Apart from the fact that these chains were likely harder to dispel than [Void Barrier], he had used more mana than he had in a long time; he did no longer had enough to cast a 6th Order spell.

It's over, he thought in resignation.

Honestly, he was tired. He had tried everything he could and still was not able to overcome the foe who a few weeks prior was doing its utmost best to flee his pursuit. In double vision he spied a victorious smile make its way to the overlapping scarred faces of his foe. He had failed spectacularly. Steeling his heart, he glared at down foe with a clenched jaw, ignoring the nauseating corpse standing over him. If he was going to die he was going to do it defiantly.

His train of thought was cut off when he sensed a dense gathering of mana in the air. The phantom's triumphant smirk drooped to an alarmed sneer, causing a smile to worm itself on to his lips. It seemed today would not be his final day. When all seemed lost help had arrived.

Shortly after, a dense pillar of light beamed down upon the land.