Chapter 42

Everyone tensed up after seeing the skeleton. It seemed unreal to see a alone skeleton holding a sword while walking along the woods. Yet that is exactly what it did. without hesitation shack threw his spear at the Skeleton yet while it should have hit its body the spear instead flew through its ribs dealing no damage.

The skeleton halted as it turned towards the five. suddenly with no warning signs it started to spring towards them. Shak's follower stood in the front as he held his speer forwards to meet the incoming skeleton. Soon the spear collided with the skeletons shoulder bouncing off with negligible damage dealt. Shak pulled him aside just in time to save his friend from the skeletons retaliatory attack. the two lumberjacks flanked the skeleton from each side swinging their axes at its limbs. One axe cleanly sliced of one of the skeletons arms while the other got lodged in to its already damaged shoulder. before the two could dislodge the axe or land a finishing blow the skeleton punched the older lumberjack un the face causing him to fall face first onto the ground. the other the skeleton kicked the other lumberjack that failed to retrieve his axe. but before it could pick up its sword Vincent's sword stabbed through its neck from behind causing its skull to roll off. As it hit the ground the skeleton body collapsed too. the five made use to hack what remained to pices before they moved on.

Older Lumberjack: "No wonder dad and uncle didn't want us to fight these bustards."

Younger Lumberjack: "Agreed."

Shak: "I need to improve my aim."

Older Lumberjack: "You didn't miss if you were facing a normal creature that would've been a direct hit to the chest."

Shak: "Not good enough."

Younger Lumberjack: "These are not the fish or birds you usually hunt. No need to blame yourself."

Vincent: "Guys we gotta focus on the cave ahead."

Shak's Follower: "Yeah we're infont of the cave already."

The five stoon infront of the caves entrance. Vincent and the Lumberjacks were to enter and finish of the skeletons within. while Shak and his follower were to keep guard outside. Vincent also suspected that another reason to why they were there was to make sure he won't ditch the lumberjacks and escape mid battle.

Shak: "Spears are especially bad in caves, it turly is for the best we stay out here."

Older Lumberjack: "Leaving all the fun for the two of us, have you already have enough."

Shak: "Two of you? your already keeping all the action your selves, will out guest not get any action for himself? If so that why need I join, you already have one man to many."

Older Lumberjack: "Heh Shak good one."

with those parting words the three entered the cave. It was Dark in the cave yet surprisingly enough it wasn't pitch black. the roof had a few small holes that were spread around the caves ceiling every here and there, letting in some light from outside into the cave. The cave was damp and the air was humid. Eventually the three reached a part of the cave that split into two sperate passageways. They chose to take the left passageway as it was slightly wider. however just a couple of dosen steps in one of the lumberjacks tripped over wet floor. letting out a loud yelp. Soon the cave was full of crackling noises echoing through its walls.

Younger Lumberjack: "Well at least we wont have to find the skeletons ourselves right?"

And he wasn't wrong as soon the three SkeltonSs walking towards them. Vincent used water hook to prepare to crate a waterball yet as he did he felt a strange energy interfering with his spell. the water was still tugged towards his palm yet it was considerably harder than usual. the waterball wouldn't be ready in time so he ditched his attempt and raised his sword in preparation for combat.

The once thee three Skeltons starred charging at Vincent and the lumberjacks. Soon the cave rang with the sound of clashing blades. swords slashed, axes smashed, chaos rained supreme. At first Vincent tried to focus on his allies but the skeleton infont of him demanded his attention. So in order to stay alive Vincent focused only on himself and his opponent. this skeleton was unusually tall while also being slightly larger than the any of the skeletons Vincent saw up until now. It was ferocious as its swings had surprising power behind them. Vincent could barely parry them as he was getting pushed deeper into the cave. He had no choice but to continue going backwards and backwards as he couldn't go on the offensive. Unfortunately for Vincent with each parry his arms grew week and weary. His arms aching so bad they might as well have been on fire. Vincent couldn't let this keep going on like this. his mind spun in search of a solution until he remembered it! a old trick he already performed once. Even though it was more difficult to perform it under the current circumstances it was better than nothing. Vincent hooked the water in his surroundings and pulled it slowly towards him. After another minute of being battered by the Skeletons blade it was ready!

The skeleton raised its blade to deal a might slash downwards. Vincent too raised his sword to block the incoming strike. yet as the blades collided the Skelton's blade slipped off Vincent's sword. Vincent's released the water on his blade as the slippery sword slashed at the Skelton's neck. The sword was too fast as it failed to react in time and soon its head wad lopped off. Vincent immediately abandoned the Skelton and ran over to where he last saw the lumberjacks.

Yet it was quite, too quite. Once he arrived he saw a pool of blood. The a mangled corpses was on the ground next to two lopped of limbs and a crushed skull. there was also another skull sliced into to half's with a axe between them. and Infront of it was another body. Yet then it twitched. The body rolled around exposing its face. it was the older lumberjack. His eyes widened as he saw Vincent standing above him. The older lumberjack tried to speak but instead he ended up puking blood. only after lying near motionless again for about a minute he could finally talk.

Older Lumberjack: "Ends up axes are horrible at defense..."

Vincent: "Are you ok?"

Older Lumberjack: "Heh i saw what they did to him i lost it i didn't focus and i got stabbed. i took them down but look at me now."

Vincent: "Do should i call for help? what to do! if you stay here you'll die."

Older Lumberjack: "What is the meaning of life?"

Vincent: "Can you hear me?"

Vincent never got a answer as soon the lumberjacks raised head fell down onto the ground as his chest stopped moving. Vincent was shocked, he may of had seen human corpses before but it was always the result of illness. To make it worse in the chaos of the fight Vincent didn't even know which direction lead to the exit. Before panic took his of his mind he remembered his strongest tool. magic! He remembered that using waterhook was harder than usual maybe he could use this to find a exit?

Vincent Raised His hand up into the air. he could feel something distorting the water in the air making it harder for Vincent to control the the water molecules in the air. Following the distortions he walked deeper and deeper into the cave. it was getting darker and darker. it was getting difficult to see in the darkness that surrounded him. The distortions were strengthening wherever it was he was going he was at least going somewhere.

*Crackle Crackle*

Vincent: "Are you kidding me? Now Here?"

A white silhouette could be seen Infront of Vincent. It was a undoubtably a skeleton.

*Crack Crackle Crack*

Vincent: "Wait that's behind me!?"

As Vincent turned around he saw another smaller skeleton form behind him.

Vincent: "Of cores it had it get worse..."

Vincent dashed towards the larger skeleton leaving his back exposed to the smaller skeleton. The large skeleton managed to block Vincent's strike but the attack was never Vincent's plan. He shoved the skeleton aside causing it to slam into the caves wall. Once Vincent dashed past it he turned around. now both skeletons were Infront of him.

The crackles released by the skeleton were as if they were cursing Vincent in rage. They swung their swords at him yet their teamwork was horrible. they kept getting in each others way, but things weren't good on Vincent's end either he was still weary after all his fights and now he was outnumbered two to one! Vincent was forced on the retreat once more but this time he was calm. He saw a bend in the cave behind him, once he was close enough he ducked behind it letting the skeleton hit the wall. before it regain balance he leaped back out from behind the curve as he kicked the skeleton in the pelvic region. It fell backwards onto the other skeleton causing the larger skeleton to crash into the wall once again. Some of its bones were already showing small cracks, this only encouraged Vincent as he continued with a follow up strike slashing the smaller skeleton in half as its upper body fell on the ground he kicked the lower body onto the larger skeleton again. unexpectedly it grabbed its partners legs as sung them at Vincent as a improvised weapon. Before Vincent could dodge two arms grabbed him from bellow blocking his escape. He felt the tough bones smashing onto his face as he flew a few meters back falling into a puddle in the cave. Before Vincent could get up he could already see the larger skeleton towering above him. Vincent tried to stab it but while it did penetrate a rib it also got stuck in the skeleton. The Skeleton raised its leg and stomped on Vincent's chest. Vincent let out a cry of pain yet he still managed to reach out to grab his knife. As the skeleton tried to repeat its action but Vincent held the knife Infront of its leg and stabbed. due to the knife moving upwards and the foot moving downwards the force of the collision cased the foot to get impaled. Vincent used his knife as a grip to tug at the skeletons leg causing it to fall. Vincent used that time to get up and free his sword from the skeletons rib. This time Vincent stomped on the skeleton before slicing its head off with the sword. He soon hacked to bits the larger bones of the skeleton before searching for the smaller one. After a bit of searching he found it with a smashed skull. when it grabbed his feat it too got airborne unlike Vincent it crashed face first into the caves wall.

With another battle over Vincent continued towards where the distortions where stronger. after what felt like half a hour he arrived at a small chamber in the cave. It was empty.

Vincent: "Its empty but why are the water molecules so distorted here?"

Vincent explored the chamber seeing nothing of interest. The only thing of slight interest he could see was a severed hand that probably once belong to one of the skeletons roaming the cave. It was possible one of the previous lumberjacks lopped it off one of the times they went here. Vincent was about to leave but than the hand started moving. It got up like a spider standing on four fingers. Vincent than noticed it had no thumb. the hand was symmetrical having two boney fingers on each side for a grand total of four fingers. it had no middle finger either, yet it moved surprisingly quickly. It rushed at Vincent moving twice as fast as a horse could galop. It leaped towards Vincent who panically swung his sword to intercept it. Vincent failed as he felt a sudden and strong pain in his shoulder. but when he looked at it he saw nothing, as if the had evaporated or disappeared. Soon a sudden wave of exhaustion stuck Vincent, who than promptly collapsed and soon fell unconscious down on the cold damp darkness of cave floor.