Tyrius the necromancer (3)

[Island of Bones, Dwarven Mountains Underground Level 5]

'Rest in peace, Paul', Tyrius sighed as he finished casting a third curse.

[Shadow Curse]

Seeing the battle getting very tough, Kerridian took the initiative to send the golem to the battle. Although it was slow, a clay golem still possessed more strength than a regular beginner rank gigantic beast. It could send a steel-tail scorpion flying and crush a regular body refinement acolyte to death.

One of the blue wolf mercenary tried to escape, not willing to block the slow but threatening charge of the golem, however a skeleton on the ground, seemingly lifeless, suddenly moved and pierced his heel with a sword. Losing balance, it could only scream in horror as a 4-meters-high golem stomped him.

*STOMP*

Despite having an enchanted set of armour, the sound of bone getting crushed reverberated in the cave, causing some fear in the body refinement acolytes who were slowly getting confidence.

"They will get occupied for a while, but a clay golem is weak to thun-"

*CRUMBLE*

However, to Kerridian's fear, there was a skilled body refinement acolyte with a thunder enchanted sword, the worse enemy of clay golems. By a stroke of luck, he had managed to thrust his sword right in the clay golem's core, causing it to crumble into pieces.

Without any skeleton left to take the onslaught of the elemental acolytes and the four remaining beginner rank body refinement acolytes, Tyrius revealed a terrifying smile.

[Bone explosion]

As the body refinement acolytes charged, they naturally walk on the corpses of skeletons that had been destroyed a moment ago. However, Tyrius had engrave special runes on those bones. Although it had taken him years to do, the skeletons could achieve one more thing after losing in battle: exploding.

*BOOM*

A massive explosion engulfed the body refinement acolytes, causing them to die on the spot. It was as if fourteen explosion scrolls detonated below their feet. Not to mention regular beginner rank acolytes, even an intermediate rank acolytes would have died from the explosion.

It was Tyrius' trump card, one which he invested dozens of magic crystals and years of research to achieve. 

As the fog of war dissipated, Gale and his remaining subordinates discovered that there was no one in sight.

"Damn it...They disappeared", he muttered, "Cough...Cough..."

Unable to give the orders to chase due to being out of breath, Tyrius, Kerridian and Snake ran away. The few seconds earned from the shadow curse allowed to increase their survival chances. Although their mana was almost depleted, they made the choice to seperate themselves in two groups: Tyrius would continue to protect Kerridian as per the contract and retreat to the city of steel, hoping to get rescued by another Crimson Clan party, while Snake would retreat to the Crimson Clan Castle.

Seeing Gale pointing in a direction, Vanessa, the elite beginner rank acolyte under him, gave chase. 

Drinking a couple of potions, the symptoms from the shadow curses seemed to be slightly alleviated. A minute later, he managed to walk and give chase as well, with the remaining three elemental acolytes under his command. 

Because they knew only one offensive spell, they could not track efficiently with a spell, and could only rely on marks. Thankfully, neither Tyrius nor Snake were experienced hunters and did not know how to hide their traces, making the chase possible.

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