Chapter 52: Operation Schoolyard Rescue (9)
Reidar forced his will through the skeletal warriors; their hollow eye sockets flared with ghostly blue light as they turned toward the Elite Ember Rift-Sprite.
The creature stood atop a crumbling brick wall, seemingly sending orders to the other rift-sprites and sending attacks of its own.
Reidar’s ten skeletal warriors disengaged from their immediate targets and turned on the Level 12 Elite Ember Rift-Sprite.
Then they started advancing. It was not a charge but a grinding push that gave the chills to whoever saw them relentlessly advance. Because they hacked and sawed through the scores of monsters between them and the elite Rift-Sprite.
They did so in silence, their bony feet scraping across pavement without a whisper, their rusted blades slicing through the air without a hiss. Instead, it was the Rift-Sprites that made noise for them. It was a rising chorus of high-pitched shrieks and wet, crackling pops as shells shattered, a dissonant symphony of pain that rang through the ruined area.
A swarm of Rift-Sprites rushed them, but the skeletons just pushed right through like they weren’t even there.
A rusty sword swung, cleaving a Level 8 Wind Sprite clean in two. A bony fist smashed through an Aqua Sprite’s shell when it got too close. They ignored the other lesser threats swarming around them—Reidar’s order was absolute.
The Elite hurled a fireball that engulfed the lead skeleton. The bones blackened but held. Reidar pushed them to go faster. The sooner the elite Ember Rift-Sprite died, the sooner the coordination of the entire nest would crumble.
[Your Skeleton strikes an Aqua Rift-Sprite for 330 bludgeoning damage.]
A group of Wind and Stone Sprites dive-bombed the Militia from above. One skeleton’s ribcage shattered; another lost an arm but continued its forward march, its remaining hand still gripping its blade.
"Distract the others!" Reidar said. Even if the skeletons felt no pain, they could still be damaged.
Malcolm’s summoned Rift-Sprites launched their attacks, knocking the Wind and Stone variants attacking the Bone Militia off course.
Fifty feet from the target. The Elite Ember Rift-Sprite noticed the dedicated push. It turned towards the advancing skeletons and raised its arms.
A giant fireball, way bigger and hotter than the others, came roaring right at them, carrying the scorched-metal reek of super-heated air and the sharp, acrid tang of ozone.
Three skeletons got caught in the blast and just turned to ash and glowing bone chips, the air filling with the chalky scent of pulverized calcium and the ghost of ancient, incinerated marrow.
Only six skeletons remained.
The Elite screeched again, this time in frustration, though, because it had assumed that it would have killed the skeletons by then. Yet, that didn’t happen, and to begin with, it had been lucky to have killed three skeletons. They had already been injured after the constant bombarding they received from the other Rift-Sprite.
Reidar couldn’t call more skeletons. It would reset the ones already fighting, pulling them back to Erik’s side and wiping out the ones still pushing forward. They would need to start anew.
The distance closed. Thirty feet. Twenty. The Elite screeched, a sound of fury and surprise, and unleashed a torrent of fire. The remaining skeletons lowered their heads and pushed through it. Their bones blackened and cracked under the intense heat, but they did not stop.
They finally reached the Elite Rift-Sprite. Like the others, it was built for ranged combat—and up close; it was clumsy, though not as clumsy as the regular Rift-Sprites. It swatted at a skeleton, shattering its skull.
The first skeleton lunged forward.
[Summoned Skeleton strikes Elite Ember Rift-Sprite for 12 slashing damage.]
The creature roared in pain. The coordinated volleys raining down on the human lines faltered and ceased.
The creature retaliated with a fireball that reduced another low-health skeleton to ash.
[Summoned Skeleton defeated.]
The last four skeletons rushed in. One threw its arms around the Elite’s middle, clinging tight even as its bones started to smoke and blacken from the heat.
[CRITICAL! Summoned Skeleton strikes Elite Ember Rift-Sprite for 220 slashing damage.]
The last three skeletons went at it with ruthless, savage focus. They hacked with swords and hammered with bony fists—crunching through that shell. They ripped the Elite to pieces, bit by bit. One last punch from a skeleton’s fist smashed right into the Rift-Sprite’s stomach.
The Elite thrashed, fire erupting from every crack in its shell. Two more skeletons disintegrated in the blaze, but the last one plunged its blade through the monster’s glowing eye.
[Elite Ember Rift-Sprite Level 12 defeated.]
[You have gained 85 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 70 Survival Points.]
The battlefield was affected instantly.
A ripple of confusion spread through the Rift-Sprite ranks. Without what were their commander’s piercing shrieks, the swarm’s coordination shattered. Bolts of different elements flew wild, striking their kin. Others simply stopped, chittering in confusion.
The human fighters and their summons felt the shift. The pressure lessened. The rain of enemy magic slowed to a confused sprinkle.
Of course, Reidar had already taken out the other elites; otherwise, they’d have just stepped right in as soon as this one died.
"They’ve lost their leader! Press the attack! Now!" Malcolm said. A wave of adrenaline surged through the human ranks.
The human forces surged forward. George cleaved through panicked Stone Sprites, Kate’s arrows picked off stragglers, and Linda and Margaret drove their summoned Rift-Sprites into the heart of the disarray.
Reidar’s Guardian Shade kept siphoning mana from the surroundings.
The Bone Militia was unusable anymore, and there weren’t enough left to really grab the Rift-Sprites’ attention. Not when the monsters were already scattering and confused.
<I need to make them again.>
That would mean resetting their positions. The skeletons would need to make their way into the cluster of monsters again, and that might be problematic.
<Well... it’s not like I have a choice.>
Like that, Reidar checked his mana reserves. They were 3/4 full thanks to Arcane Leech and the guardian shade. He grinned and used the skill.
The last of the Bone Militia crumbled into ash, scattered by the wild Rift-Sprites’ attacks. But Reidar just grinned as fresh skeletons rose around him, sprouting from the ground like weeds. The remaining Rift-Sprites panicked even more, scrambling over each other in total chaos.
Then the Bone Militia advanced toward the Rift-Sprites once again.