Chapter 14 - Watch your step

All four of them were frozen, staring at the new monstrosity that had landed on the roof.

The Shackled King was struggling to untangle itself from the mass of Draugr and its Mischiefs, but it would be free very soon. Even in the chaos, the group could feel the aura of fear it exuded. Their budding Talents were countering it to an extent, but it was not enough. The fear was seeping into their bones.

And the presence of the new abomination did not help.

The black butterfly exuded dark mist like all Nilgrim, the swirling haze making the haunting visage of a silently howling human face—mirrored on both wings—even more terrifying. Its antennae twitched as it searched for prey, while its milky-white, human torso-sized eyes stared emotionlessly at everyone in the hall.

Power and malice exuded from the massive Nilgrim, making the hair on Erik’s arms stand on end.

“What in the name of the Exalted is that?” the red-haired baboon exclaimed.

"Shoot it!" The noble scion shouted.

The archer snapped out of his stupor and let an arrow fly. It struck true, slipping between the creature’s long insectile metal scales. Surprisingly, the arrow pierced the butterfly’s body with little resistance, and a torrent of blue blood rained down, drenching one of the Mischiefs below.

The butterfly let out a high-pitched screech and took off into the air, but not before scattering large black dust flakes from its wings into the grand hall.

The Undead did not seem affected by it, but most of the Mischiefs collapsed after a few motes landed on them. Only the one covered in the blue blood appeared unaffected. Even the Shackled King looked less energetic, but the large Nilgrim was a Horror. It would not go down that easily.

The group was not directly hit by the dust. Only a few flakes reached them. However, even that little bit was enough.

Erik immediately felt drowsy, as if he hadn't slept in days.

It has an Ability to put others to sleep!

They all fell to their knees, on the verge of falling asleep.

Then, the noble scion cut his forearm with his spear and stood up with a struggle. The others, seeing what he did, imitated it, and Erik felt the pain push some of the drowsiness away.

"Move!" Yaren shouted.

They all made a dash for the hole made by the Shackled King, doing their best to avoid the black dust.

The Draugr were relatively slow and attacked everything in sight. They could afford to ignore the few stragglers in their path, as the Undead were weak on their own.

The only thing in their way was the Mischief that was covered in blood, which seemed torn between attacking them and cowering in fear from the abomination above the castle. Then the Shackled King let out a roar, quickly dispelling its hesitation.

It charged towards them.

Thankfully, the archer was ready and let an arrow fly, hitting it right in the eye. It was not dead but wounded.

It reeled back and swiped blindly with its claws. Unfortunately, Erik was the closest one to it, and the monster tore a wound on his upper right thigh. The gash wasn't too deep, but it hurt a lot.

The noble jumped forward and stabbed it in the shoulder, pushing it back.

But the Nilgrim twisted its body, getting ready to strike back with its tail when Erik shouted, "Get down!"

The noise distracted the abomination momentarily, and the noble scion dove to the ground as its tail whipped above him.

Luckily for the group, a few Undead attacked it as well. This preoccupied the creature long enough for them to flee through the opening, with the noble scion and the archer leading the way.

The ruins of the city greeted them outside—and they were teeming with the Undead. The screeching of Mischiefs echoed from everywhere as well.

The place where they exited was at the northeastern side of the plaza that surrounded the castle. There were two main roads from here. Straight ahead was one going north and out of the city, and to their right was another going towards the lake.

They all dashed on the northern road, and Erik began to hope that he might actually survive this.

He had barely taken a few steps when the noble looked back towards him and then threw a glance towards the red-haired baboon.

In the next moment, Erik felt the butt of an axe slam into the wound on his thigh, making him scream and trip, falling to the ground.

“Someone has to stay and hold them off! Thank you for your sacrifice!” the bastard shouted, laughing as he ran.

Erik gritted his teeth, pointed at him, and shouted back, "Hold him down!"

The brute threw him a quizzical look—but he should have paid more attention to his surroundings. At that moment, one of the skeletons lying motionless in the dirt sprang to life and lunged for his legs, tackling him to the ground.

Not only that, but its skeletal fingers dug into the wound on his leg, making him shriek.

What the others didn’t know was that Erik’s earlier shouts weren’t meant for them—but for his minion. And it had performed even better than he had expected. Placing itself exactly on their path of escape.

Amid the chaos, he realized he could feel a connection to it, always aware of its location despite the commotion. He only needed to focus slightly on that link to ensure the Draugr obeyed his commands.

He had just a heartbeat to grin, relishing the sight of the wide-eyed, struggling vermin on the ground before he, too, had to run. But he hadn’t even moved when another obstacle appeared.

The other two had advanced ahead, barely sparing a glance back. They did not really have much choice but to leave their companion behind.

The road north was filling with more Undead, and another Mischief barged onto it, emerging between the two who had pulled ahead and Erik and the red-haired baboon.

Cut off from his escape route north, he was about to look around when a deafening roar came from the grand hall, drowning all other noises.

Without thinking about it, Erik dove behind one of the columns that lined the outside of the castle.

A heartbeat later, the Shackled King burst through the gaping hole, its wrath shaking the castle walls.

Thankfully, it passed by Erik without noticing him and went straight for the red-haired bastard who was still struggling to extricate himself from the Undead.

He didn't wait to see what would happen to him and frantically looked around for another way out of this situation.

The grand hall was chock full of Undead now, while the west side of the plaza had a horde of Draugr, and multiple Mischiefs fighting each other, and all heading for the north road.

In the sky, the large butterfly was hovering above the castle, sending more black dust down. Its blood had created blue puddles everywhere, even filling up the small fountain in the city square. That, however, had not slowed it down at all. It was content to try and put its prey to sleep before consuming them. Although not a direct threat for the moment, he still needed to be careful of the black flakes.

Then his gaze turned to the road leading to the lake, and after a moment, his eyes widened.

He hadn't seen it earlier during the commotion, but now caught sight of it. There was a small wooden harbor that was partially submerged at the shore of the lake.

Not wasting any time, Erik made a run for it.

He threw a glance over his shoulder and actually got a better look at the Shackled King. It was almost identical to the other Mischiefs but several times their size. Like its minions, it wore massive shackles, but it also had a massive scar across its entire right side. Spreading to its front and back legs.

He now noticed that it was actually limping. Whatever had caused that scar had left it somewhat crippled.

That said, he had no delusions and knew that even if all of them had faced it, they would have died.

The monstrosity leaped at the red-haired baboon, who had just managed to rise, and tore his right arm clean off.

A throat-wrenching scream ripped from his lungs, but somehow, he still managed to swing his other arm, his red-glowing axe cleaving into the Nilgrim’s front left leg. Black blood splattered everywhere, and the strike wrenched an earth-shaking roar from the creature, making it stumble back as well.

However, that was it for the brute. He couldn't react in time as two Mischiefs came up from behind him, one biting into his leg, while the other into his one remaining arm, immobilizing him.

Then the Shackled King jumped on top of him and ripped his head off. A fountain of blood erupted from the corpse, bathing the monsters in a red shower.

After their kill, they all gave off ravenous howls and started devouring the carcass.

Erik redoubled his efforts running away, not wanting to meet the same fate.

Thankfully, the road leading towards the lake was relatively empty. There were only a few scattered Undead on it, easy to avoid.

Luck was on his side as the Horror and its minions did not pursue him and instead seemed to head on north.

The howls and screeches grew distant as he neared the harbor. To his relief, he saw a small fishing boat still floating on the lake, tied to one of the wooden poles.

Grinning, he ran faster—he was going to make it.

But he had let his guard down too soon.

At that moment, a Mischief burst out from one of the alleyways ahead of Erik, standing between him and the salvation.

With a groan, he halted in place as the abomination saw him and dashed in his direction.

Looking around, he saw that a few yards away from him, there was a skeleton on the ground. It was missing its left leg and arm and part of the skull. For some reason, it had not turned into a wild Undead.

He quickly approached it and used his Ability, praying it would work.

In a heartbeat, teal sparks appeared in its eye sockets.

Yes!

Then Erik felt lightheaded. Though this time, he wasn't sure if it was due to blood loss or essence depletion. Still, he pushed through.

"Hold this," he said and gave the Undead his hatchet.

He grabbed a thick wooden pole from the debris of a collapsed house and hurried back to his minion. Wedging one end against the ground with his foot, he angled the other toward the approaching Nilgrim.

It did not slow down as it came closer, directly jumping on him, trying to bite his face. That, however, allowed him to skewer it on the wooden pole and then slam it into the dirt next to his minion, pinning it as best as he could.

"Kill it!" he shouted.

His Undead immediately moved and started hacking away at the struggling Nilgrim. It left several deep wounds and managed to sever one of its legs before the creature broke the wooden pole, throwing Erik on his back and leaving him with a short stake.

It did not stop or pay further attention to his minion. Limping, it went straight for him.

His injuries were slowing him down, leaving him unable to react in time. Just as he was about to take a fatal blow, a large shadow loomed over them. It was followed by large black dust flakes that fell on the Nilgrim and Erik.

The monster lost its momentum and only left a laceration on his right shoulder. Using this opportunity he stabbed the wooden stake right through its remaining front leg—crippling the creature completely.

He looked up and saw that the massive butterfly was above them, spreading black dust everywhere. This abomination had decided to go after him instead of the others.

"Shit!"

He got up with a groan and grabbed his hatchet before stumbling towards the boat. Black motes were falling everywhere, and more and more were landing on him. The pain could no longer stave off the Ability of the Nilgrim. Between the flakes, exhaustion, and his injuries, his vision was starting to blur.

Struggling to stay conscious, he reached the boat and untied it, then pushed it off and climbed inside.

It slowly drifted off away from the harbor and inwards on the calm lake.

Through his blurred vision, he saw that the butterfly only gave off inhuman screeches but did not follow him. Instead, it flew off towards the northern part of the city.

Erik collapsed on the floor of the small fishing boat as it drifted off.

Finally, he was safe.