95 This Hero Versus The Death Knight!

"With all of us…" Jaq began, holding his blade at the ready for the monster to strike at any time. "We can take it down."

"Just how strong is this thing?" I began, clutching at my blade as I ensured that I was a comfortable distance from the death knight. I could feel its gaze loom over me and then pass to the next member of our group. "Does it have a weakness? Do we have a strategy?"

"Yeah… I think I have one." Jaq readied himself, crouching low to the ground. "These suckers are weak to holy magic which Ron the cleric over there is chock-full of. If we can manage to pin it down, Ron will be able to blast the sucker with something fierce and it'll be killed if not heavily weakened."

I turned my head towards Tael and Erana quickly.

"Erana, I need you to do whatever you can to restrict its movement, the same goes for you Tael. Understand?" I quickly conferred to them. They nodded their heads in understanding so I turned to Kany. "I need you to help limit its ability to dodge. While it's busy with us, you're going to be the distraction, understand? Also, while you're at it, grab the letter on the table. We can't afford to let it get destroyed in the crossfire."

"Got it." Kany began to shimmer away as she clutched her blade, shifting away from my vision as she did so.

The death knight seems to have taken this as a sign to begin. It placed one hand under the table and flipped it at us sending the papers and the candle that was on top of it tumbling towards us.

Jaq rushed towards the death knight while I followed. The table was sliced in half by the shimmering blade that the monster unsheathed. Jaq only narrowly dodged it and I was too far away from it to hit me, so its blade sliced through the rug floor instead.

Our group dispersed quickly, spreading throughout the tent as quickly as we could. Jaq and I stood close to each other in order to ensure that we could take on the abomination together. Our bodies glowed in tandem as we both had the same style active. The monster stared us down. Though it was an undead beast, I could tell that it was thinking.

Jaq and I exchanged a quick glance before we charged forwards. In retaliation, the death knight took a step forward and began to swing down.

Though the monster was not disabled by this attack, it was still limited for a moment. In this mere moment that we were afforded, we began to strike.

"Shifting Sands!" Tael shouted out. The ground beneath the monster began to change from rug to a whirlwind of sand that spun in a draining like fashion towards the center. The death knight began to sink into the sands as it struggled to catch some footing.

Kany appeared beside me, clutching the letter in her hand whilst smirking. After I gave her a quick smile, she placed it inside of her shirt for safe keeping.

"Entangle!" I heard Erana cast. Roots began to wrap themselves around the joints of the death knight, limiting its movement even more. It struggled with the roots that clung onto it, ripping some apart through sheer strength before a few swords that were made of ethereal light flew into the joints of the undead's body as its resistance waned even more. I could see Kilin striking a strange pose while this happened.

Yuna charged up towards the knight. "Ability Boost: Strength!" I heard her shout as she leapt like a lion towards the now restrained enemy. She kicked the helm of our opponent so hard that it spun around and covered its face, effectively blinding it.

To place the finishing touches, Jaq and I also leapt towards the monster as we both stabbed our swords into the neck of the creature, limiting its ability to writhe around.

"RON!" Jaq shouted out.

"In the name of the one…" He began to glow with a soft golden light. Particles began glistening as they flowed around him like spores off of a mushroom. "I beseech you to channel your presence through me. Destroy Undead!"

The death knight began to glow with a holy light. It writhed and screamed with all of its might. My ears began to ring from how powerful its desperate howl was. The tent began to shake as the pillars fell. The roof began to fall as they were no longer supported. Jaq and I took this as our opportunity to run, so we pulled our blades out and jumped towards the exit. Everyone else had already begun running outside which caused us to join up with them.

The roof of the tent had fallen. Enemies were running towards where the explosion had occurred. They weren't looking at us at all.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of, we need to get to the stone and get the hell out of here!" Jaq declared to our group. We gave a resounding "Okay!" As we began to run towards where we believed the stone to be. Jaq led us in the pursuit of our escape as I followed.

As we crossed over what had been the roof of the tent, after only a moment, a shape that was 4 meters tall stabbed through the fabric, piercing its monstrous sword through Jaq's sword arm. Jaq screamed in pain as his sword fell to the floor. His style released as the red aura dissipated into nothingness.

"Ah… AAAAAAHHHH!" Jaq screamed. The blood from his arm began to drop onto the floor. The once-thought-to-be-dead death knight reached its free hand to its helmet and spun it around as it ripped its way out of the fabric of the tent that covered it.

What was revealed made me want to vomit. Melted flesh and steam poured out of the helm of the monster. It quickly pulled its blade out of Jaq's arm as it turned its attention to me.

Though this creature has no facial expressions due to the lack of face other than bone, I could tell that it was smiling due to the elation of it causing suffering upon others.

"K-Kid! It's weakened! Take it down!" Jaq shouted to me as he picked up his sword with his other hand. "I'm useless now, so I need you to take it down while I get to the stone! Kilin, with me!" He stood as he continued his run towards our escape. Kilin quickly joined him, ready to protect his party member.

I don't know why, but I feel a certain confidence towards facing this creature now. A certain serenity that I couldn't explain. Perhaps I knocked a screw loose or something.

Our combined party stood before this absolute abomination. It roared as it raised its blade, but just as Jaq had said, it was definitely weakened. It moved slowly compared to before as I was able to dodge its attack.

As its blade landed on the ground, I jumped up on its arm and ran my sword into its head. Despite taking an attack that would have been lethal to any normal creature, this strike merely seemed to damage it as it stumbled a bit. I pulled my sword out and jumped to the ground as it backed away.

"RON!" I began. Why is it always me at the end of the day? "I NEED YOU TO HIT IT AGAIN!"

"GOT IT!" He shouted back as he began his prayer once more. Seeing the light come from Ron, the monster began to sprint towards him in an attempt to stop his casting.

Yuna joined up with me. I dropped my style so that I could use my skill for a different power.

"Ability Boost: Strength!" We both shouted. Our muscles bulged with power as we charged towards the raging monster. We were able to almost stop its run as we pushed towards it. The undead didn't seem to pay us any mind as we did this. It was only focused on stopping the holy caster from using their power against it.

"Entangle!" Erana shouted again. Roots began to surround the death knights body once more as it struggled to move.

Kany stood at the ready, prepared to strike at any parts that needed to be hit in order to prevent it from moving. Tael was holding his wand and had it readied at the center of mass of the beast.

"Destroy Undead!" Ron shouted out. The death knight was once more covered with golden holy light as it disintegrated, armor and all, into dust.

"We don't have time to celebrate, quickly, to the stone!" I shouted as I began to sprint towards where Jaq and Kilin were before I heard a shout I wasn't prepared to hear.

"Son of a bitch! Those assholes didn't tell us that it needed to be charged!" He yelled out while clutching a marked stone.

"Charged? What does that mean?" I reunited back with him. Enemies had begun to look at us as the battle had finished.

"It means we need to pour mana into it!" Ron chimed in. A morose expression plastered itself across his usually happy face.

"H-How long will it take to charge?" Kany quickly shuffled forwards. She was shaking a small amount. No doubt the fear of the situation had finally reached her.

"About 15 seconds if we have enough mana…" Jaq looked towards the stone as he said this. Anger made his head red like a tomato.

"Erana, Tael, you two need to-" I began, but a flash of white light that crackled like lightning and sounded like thunder struck the ground behind us. In the remnants, a single figure, cloaked in black and wearing a pristine mask looked towards us.