The Necromancer (3/4)

Haalfrin spares a moment and orders his platoon of weapons to charge into the room and attack the old man.

The old black mage swats a few weapon Wills aside, but since they come in waves, he blinks out of the way instead and leaves a large, white-hot fireball in his place.

Some of the slower weapons are melted beyond recognition, and Haalfrin can feel the weak bandit Wills flicker out and disappear from his soul forever.

Those little scoundrels never had strong spirits in the first place, so they can't really take any real punishment on a battlefield, unlike Kaalhyme. If Kaalhyme got injured like this, he'd just go find another stick to possess and keep fighting – such a stubborn man, that one.

Haalfrin glances at his Wills and prioritizes his more powerful Wills, like Kaalhyme and the bandit lord.

The dark mage sees this, and he's shocked a little. He knows a lot about enchanting, and he can feel spirits inhabiting the weapons - or, at least portions of spirits. Querry has never seen a technique like this before, and he immediately changes his mind about Haalfrin. 'I must get Kal's apprentice alive! That way, I can get his secrets and learn a few more spells!'

'In fact,' Querry thinks excitedly, 'this boy's strange technique might be just what I'm looking for! If I can learn to bind spirits to physical mediums, then I can really live forever!' The black mage's mind is already spinning with possibilities of binding his spirit to extremely durable objects as to avoid death.

The dark mage stretches out his hand and invokes a quick spell – well, more of a password that signals for a prepared spell to unleash itself from his enchanted robes.

A rope unties itself from around the Querry's robe, and it elongates while glowing. It's about to whip itself towards Haalfrin and ensnare him, but Kaalhyme's spear thrusts itself at the dark mage's outstretched arm.

Querry manages to pull back his arm in time, though his interrupted motion messes up with the binding rope's aim. It flies way off target and slaps harmlessly against the wall.

Before Querry even has time to think, he feels an alarm bell go off on the chimes on the left side of his robe, meaning an attack is coming from that side that he wasn't aware of.

Out of instinct, Querry jumps to the right, just as the bandit lord's hammer slams on the ground where the dark mage used to be.

All of this delayed the mage as Haalfrin closes in with his sword. The dark sorcerer still has a charm on his neck that has a constant magic shield protecting his vital areas. He COULD have had the charm protect his entire body, but that would have spread its potency too thin. If you concentrate the shield in a smaller area, it's far stronger.

And so, in this aspect, Querry's charm is the perfect counter to Haalfrin. Haalfrin is nowhere near strong enough to break the charm, and he's also far too skilled to miss the vital spots.

With a clang, Haalfrin's sword bounces off Querry's heart, but without skipping a beat, Haalfrin lunges forward again just as Querry steps backward.

Time seems to slow down as the dark mage feels his life flashing before his eyes. A strange black aura is starting to seep out of the young man, and the mage momentarily freezes in shock. For a moment, he thinks he sees a red-eyed demon lunging at him instead of a boy weaker than him.

Because of this momentary delay, Haalfrin successfully body slams the dark mage's face with his shield.

Frankly, Haalfrin wouldn't have lasted this long or done this well if this black mage had been an expert in battle. Instead, the man is a reclusive researcher who relies on enchantments and traps to protect himself. He's nowhere near prepared enough for a seasoned warrior like Haalfrin.

Even still, the sheer magical talent and prowess the dark mage has is still far greater than Haalfrin's.

The mage backs away again, but just before he blinks, a Will-possessed knife shoots forward and pierces Lord Querry's shoulder. The shoulder isn't a vital spot, so it's unprotected.

Because of the pain, the grand sorcerer loses his concentration and blinks slightly off target. He winds up slamming against the ceiling with a disgraceful yelp.

Before falling to the ground and breaking his neck, Querry holds his hand in front of himself and keeps himself afloat with another quick cast.

With the other hand, Querry makes a circling motion, and a thick energy field instantly surrounds himself.

The old mage looks over at Haalfrin with an extremely pissed look in his eyes. "I WAS GOING EASY BEFORE BECAUSE I WANTED TO CAPTURE YOU... BUT I WON'T BE SO KIND ANYMORE!"

Having a bad feeling, Haalfrin barely manages to dodge the incoming column of fire because he leaps back toward the exit. Normally, he'd have been too slow, but Kaalhyme's spear shoots at the boy from behind and pierces his armor precisely in the armpit – barely avoiding drawing blood.

Still, the spear now has a firm grip on Haalfrin and helps yank him ahead even faster.

…Unfortunately, Lornal's hammer is heavy and thus, too slow. It's caught in the magical blast that the dark mage unleashed and is destroyed.

Seeing the devastation as the entire room is melted away, Haalfrin whistles, "Phew! He really was going easy earlier!"

Haalfrin then briefly sees the bony man slap Lornal's Will wisp as it tries returning to him, directly snuffing it out, as one would snuff out a candle.

Haalfrin feels his connection with Lornal completely crumble, and he curses out, "SH##!" It really doesn't feel good to realize he can easily lose these Wills, as some, like Kaalhyme, are a little sentimental to him.

With Kaalhyme's spear being his only functional Will left, (with a few others resting inside his soul), Haalfrin runs the other direction (back up through the dungeon) while he hears the sounds of wailing and screeching rising up from behind him.

Large gashes are slashed into the walls chaotically as a mini army of resentful spirits is unleashed from the earth where many corpses are buried.

All of the dark mage's sacrifices left embittered victims after all… and some of his forbidden magic must have included hiding these unfortunate souls from the death reapers – a heavy crime indeed.

Unlike normal dead souls, who drift to the other side of the death gate, find Felkawyn, and attain peace… these souls have been kept adrift in the sea of blood in the spirit realm – eventually growing mad completely and becoming monsters.

As Haalfrin makes a tactical retreat, he pulls out Kaalhyme's spear and whispers to it, "I need you to pull in one direction, and I'll leap in that same direction. We'll go faster that way."

It's only because of this that the two of them are able to outrun the hollering dark mage as he tears through the underground place, leaving behind only wreckage in his path.

On the way back out, the ceiling collapses on the dark mage because of his reckless explosions in an enclosed space… but instead of Querry being crushed to death by his own foolishness, the old man waves his hand, and all the rubble is caught by an invisible force and sweeps forward, shooting at Haalfrin at incredible speeds.

As Haalfrin turns a corner while getting out of the dungeon, a loose rock smashes his ankle and breaks it, while another shatters his sword arm.

Despite Haalfrin being on his last leg of the journey out anyway, he successfully makes it back out under the sunlight.

…Not that his escape made much difference.

Haalfrin turns over on his back and sees Lord Querry walk out calmly with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

The black mage looks down at the impudent boy, who was holding his injured arm with the other hand and putting all his weight on one leg. 'Is the boy going to beg for mercy, or...'

Instead, Haalfrin grins, and the thickest bloodlust the dark mage had ever felt bursts out of the boy.

Of course, Haalfrin really did feel he was about to die, so he'd mind as well go all out before the end. In his mind, Querry is on the same level as his master, so even if he gives one last attack, Haalfrin thinks he'll still lose.

…And so, Haalfrin unleashes his Yiir name completely on the dark mage.... though it doesn't go the way he wanted.

Haalfrin expected the dark mage to be an overpowered boss till the end, but reality is different.

After all, being a powerful mage has nothing to do with having a stout heart. Theoretically, a child could be more immune to his Death Aura than a god, much less a 3rd gate mage.

The man called Querry is a chronic coward who's so afraid of death that he turned to necromancy in order to prolong his life, even by a little bit. He's a sniveling wretch who looks away in the face of death.

Gawking in shock, Haalfrin watches as the dark mage kneels on the ground and starts crying, begging for mercy, and rolling on the floor like a pathetic loser. "NO! Don't Kill me! There's so much research I need to do!"

Haalfrin hobbles over to the dark mage and remarks disdainfully, "You know, I'd feel embarrassed for myself if I had to die to a coward like you, I-" He pauses in the middle of his sentence. "Eh. Whatever."

Looking at the pathetic mage, Haalfrin says sadistically, "You know, I've been wanting to do a bit of research myself..."