A Soldier's Life - 440 - Wraithful Bovines (8-18-25 minor edit)

Chapter 440: Wraithful Bovines

From its masculine attributes, it was definitely a bull minotaur, and it snorted a misty red cloud as it roared in triumph, thinking it had cornered us. It thundered toward us, and at its shoulders, it was over four feet wide as its shoulders brushed the ivy on either side. It had no weapons other than its fists and black horns.

I was surprised when it dropped to all fours in its charge and lowered its head; a spray of ivy leaves swirled behind it. As it reached our safe room, it tore through Bharok’s aetheric webbing, but the combined effect of Baelira’s thickened air made its charge stall, making it easier for me to overlay my dimensional space. The creature's head vanished, and its charge turned into a tumble as it continued across the room and crashed into the far wall. Zynae barely moved out of the way in time to avoid the monster’s mass. The body of the revenant minotaur had to be over a ton.

The black hooves cracked loudly against the wall as the body finally was arrested. Everyone was breathing more easily and beginning to relax. Since it was undead, the only valuable part of the creature was the horns, and I already had them. I was relieved I didn’t need to reveal my collector to Lepidus, as there was nothing to harvest.

“Why is the exit still sealed?” Zynae asked, drawing our attention to the wall where the oily surface should be. Instead, solid rock remained. The headless minotaur’s arm snapped out and grabbed Zynae’s ankle. The headless beast stood, dragging the struggling elf upside down. Bharok’s hammer came down on its thigh. Zynae screamed as the powerful arm used his body like a club to smash the wall. The only thing that broke was Zynae’s head as it exploded in bone and brain.

It didn’t make sense that it still lived. “What is it!?” I yelled, reaching for an aether restorative in my belt.

We all made an effort to get some distance after Zynae was clearly dead and we could do nothing for him. “Some type of wraith hosting the body,” Lepidus said as he edged toward the corridor to enter the maze. Black tendrils of smoke came from the stump of a neck to form a new head on the revenant’s body. This time, the head was serpentine and not that of a bull. It was a shadowy duplicate of the naga.

Aether rushed into my core and channels as I exchanged magebane for Heartseeker. Wraiths were incorporeal, and only runic weapons could harm them. “How is it puppeting the corpse?” Baelira yelled. Everyone here was an expert on undead creatures, and this was not something a wraith should be able to do.

“It is not a true wraith, but something else. The nether saturation must have increased its strength and given it new abilities,” Lepidus said as he lowered his wand, and a thick beam of blue-white aetheric energy blasted the creature’s chest, burning a hole in the minotaur. The naga head seemed to shift in and out of sharpness as it scanned the room with luminescent orange eyes, deciding on its next victim.

Heartseeker lashed as I attacked, and the creature blocked with an arm. The severed arm was sent flying across the room. Immediately, tendrils of black energy emerged from the stump to form a new arm. I wasn’t even sure if Heartseeker had damaged the wraith’s body. Bharok tried to strike its back, but the minotaur’s hand grabbed his hammer head mid-swing. Bharok wouldn’t release his grip and was flung with his hammer across the room. As he rolled across the floor, his metallic armor took a beating on the stone.

“The nether essence is so dense in the dungeon, it is regenerating as fast as we damage it,” Lepidus offered unhelpfully. I tested the theory with Heartseeker, and the revenant minotaur parts fell away easily enough—the other hand, and then a foot. Still, the wraith appeared unconcerned, always reforming the missing part with wraith darkness. It was slowing somewhat, as it lost the strength and speed of the revenant it was controlling.

There was only one artifact I could think of to turn the tide. “Do everything you can to hold it!” I ordered as the kettle of souls appeared in my hand. Bharok and Baelira quickly obeyed, and both worked together to slow the creature. The normally cold artifact got warm in my hands as I attempted to draw in the wraith’s nether essence. It was resisting stronger than anything I had experienced in the past. As the violet smoke was pulled toward me in the tug-of-war, it finally howled in anger.

“You are weakening it.” Lepidus said, sounding almost surprised.

Without the strength of the minotaur’s body, it was sluggish under the restraining spells as the kettle of souls siphoned it. The urn got so hot that my hands were burned, and the strong smell of my cooking flesh filled the room, but I would gladly endure the pain to finish it.

As the seconds passed, I became increasingly concerned that the artifact was not strong enough to defeat the creature. It was so hot that I thought it would fail before it succeeded. Then, like a switch had been flipped, the urn turned from blistering hot to an icy cold in my hands, and the violet smoke being drawn in thickened until the inky blackness was gone, and the remaining parts of the revenant minotaur collapsed to the ground.

We looked at each other, shocked for a moment that it was over. I didn’t need the skull tattoo to know that the undead creature’s power was incredible. Suddenly, Bharok was attacked from behind by one of the ghouls. With the death of the wraith, the exit from the dungeon had been reestablished, but we also lost a member of our group, allowing someone else to enter.

Bharok stumbled forward, a rusty sword in his lower back, just below his cuirass. Baelira was the closest and beheaded the ghoul with a sweeping attack. The ghoul fell, dragging its blade from Bharok. The dwarf was already reaching for a healing potion. Another ghoul entered almost immediately after the first fell. This one was met with a blast from Lepidus's wand, which left a gaping hole in the chest. 

“Just cripple the next one,” Baelira counseled.

“No. Keep letting them come to thin their numbers outside,” I advised. Baelira nodded at my wisdom. I tore my frozen hand away from the kettle, leaving behind a large amount of tissue on the kettle. I stepped away to heal my hands and let the others handle the single ghouls.

Lepidus’ mind worked out a new problem. “They are undead. Their arrival has broken the pact.” It was annoying how dispassionate he was about our doom.

“What does that mean?” Bharok said as he was now healed and bashing in the head of the next ghoul coming through the oily surface.

“Creatures are no longer confined to their rooms. The dungeon can replenish its host quicker,” Lepidus drawled out.

“The dungeon is free to do whatever it wants,” I explained. “We could be facing mimics, nagas, oozes, and minotaurs all at once. How long till sunrise?”

“Two, maybe three hours,” Lepidus replied, staring into the maze. The normal poison ivy vines seemed to be coming alive—no, they were growing at an accelerated rate.

“What about the dungeon core? Can we find it and destroy it?” I asked as Bharok and Baelira worked together to kill ghoul after ghoul.

“We have searched this dungeon extensively and never found it,” Lepidus replied calmly.

I offered a plan. “Do we keep killing ghouls until the dungeon comes at us with something we cannot handle and then take our chances on the island?” Pink flesh now covered my hands, and I sent the kettle of souls back to storage and picked up Heartseeker.

No one objected, and Lepidus took watch at the maze entrance while I joined the ghoul slaughter. With the air thickened right in front of the exit, and as each ghoul entered, it was comically easy to kill them. Bharok started pulling away the bodies so they wouldn't pile up.

Most of the ghouls wore chainmail in various states of rust and carried swords; sometimes, they even had a shield. What concerned me was that ghouls normally used their claws and mouths to attack. Their saliva was a strong paralytic, and it was a frightening prospect to succumb to the paralysis and have your body consumed by a ravenous ghoul. Since these ghouls were not using their natural weapons, it was likely that a much stronger undead was controlling them.

“We are going to run out of places to put the bodies,” Bharok grumbled. Over twenty ghouls had been killed, including some that were not wearing armor.

“They are slowing down,” Baelira commented as I beheaded another. It was now a few seconds before a new ghoul entered instead of instantly. By the fortieth ghoul, it was almost a minute between them, but Bharok was right in that this safe room was running out of space.

“At least nothing has come from the dungeon,” Bharok said as he grunted, tossing another body on the pile.

I looked back at Lepidus, certain the dwarf had just jinxed us. “Anything?”

“One sand spider,” he replied without turning around. “Perhaps your efficiency in killing the ghouls is confusing the dungeon. We keep violating the contract, and then not.” That didn’t make me feel more comfortable.

Seven ghouls later, the ghouls stopped coming. The stench was overpowering, and I wanted to leave through the door or enter the maze. The ivy had grown so much that it was impossible to avoid it if we tried to re-enter the maze.

“The sun has likely risen on the island,” Lepidus announced, turning away from the maze. “The ghouls will be more difficult to control and will want to seek darkness to preserve their flesh.”

“Time to go?” Bharok said with relief.

“No. We should give it a few hours,” I said, thinking out loud. “There could be soulless surrounding the exit.”

“Someone should go and check,” Lepidus stated.

“Glad you are volunteering,” I said smugly. The ancient Roman tilted his head slightly and looked at me for a long few seconds before taking steps toward the exit. He had numerous defensive artifacts, and he should be perfectly fine. Baelira looked uncertain about letting Lepidus check while Bharok took the opportunity to collapse on the ground to rest. He had been doing most of the work moving the ghouls for the last hour.

I didn’t stop Lepidus as he stopped at the oily surface. He looked everyone in the eye, maybe thinking someone would volunteer in his place. He was much more important to Sanctuary than any of us were, but I felt no obligation to take his place. Bharok grunted as he got back to his feet, but was not offering to take his place. Lepidus stepped through.

“They can send two at a time now,” I reminded everyone.

Almost twenty seconds ticked by, and Lepidus returned, stumbling into the safe room. His skin was steaming and red. “Bharok help him,” I ordered as I prepared for something to come through after him.

If it was possible, Lepidus’ voice was even drier when he spoke. “There are soulless beyond the gate. Maybe fifteen that I could see, but Emperor Septimus Aquilinus was commanding them.” An almost black blood trickled from Lepidus’ ears.

“The lich lord?” Baelira said despondently.

“There is more. He stood with a member of the Brotherhood of Mitzra. A powerful mage in his own right,” Lepidus said as he started to gain his feet and no longer needed Bharok to help him stand.

“A new undead lord on the isle?” Baelira asked concerned.

“No. The serpent man has not succumbed to the nether, of that I am certain. He is very much alive and working with the Emperor.” Lepidus reached up and removed his bone mask. Beneath was a pale-skinned man with burn scars covering his face. Even the skin on his. Face was smoking from whatever magical attack he had endured.

“Why?” Baelira asked the question for all of us.

“I do not know. But both are very angry with us for not being dead,” Lepidus said, a twitch of a small smile forming on his face.

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