Chapter 86: Necro Archmagus Grimoire XIV
Laxin’s jaw dropped, his voice cracking. "Oh, no. Nope. Nope. Not fair. That’s cheating! We didn’t get an army manual!"
The commander’s crimson eyes burned brighter as its soldiers locked shields with flawless precision, the metallic slam echoing across the chamber.
Aria’s throat went dry. These weren’t the clumsy bone piles they’d been breaking before. This was organized. Disciplined. An army, even in death.
Fenric’s cold voice cut through like a blade. "A leader turns chaos into strength. Show me if you can break his order."
The commander lifted its massive sword and pointed forward.
The phalanx surged.
Spears thrust in unison. Shields slammed forward as one wall of bone and iron.
Aria scrambled back, summoning skeletal warriors from the scattered bones around her, trying to form her own line. Her creations stumbled into place, shields rattling.
The clash was instant—and brutal.
Her skeletons shattered in seconds. Spears punched through skulls and ribcages, shields bashed them aside like toys. The ground littered with fragments as her connection to them snapped one by one.
Aria flinched, pain jolting through her. "Too strong—!"
"Too organized," Laxin barked, already firing a barrage of Bone Lances. They splintered harmlessly against raised shields, bouncing off as the wall advanced.
The commander marched behind them, massive blade poised, moving with slow inevitability.
Laxin’s face went pale. "It’s like fighting a marching band from hell."
Aria’s mind raced. Direct clashes were suicide. They’d be crushed. She bit her lip hard, forcing herself to think. We can’t overpower them. We have to break their rhythm.
Her eyes flicked to the floor. The stone was littered with shattered bones from earlier fights. A thought sparked.
"Trip them," she whispered.
"What?" Laxin yelped as he dove aside from a spear jab.
"Break their rhythm!" Aria shouted, slamming her palm to the floor. Mana surged, rattling loose bones into motion. They wove into traps—coiled around ankles, slid beneath boots.
The phalanx pressed forward, shields up... until one soldier stepped wrong. Its spear dipped a fraction. The one behind stumbled. The line faltered.
Aria’s eyes lit up. "There! The cracks show!"
Laxin grinned through the sweat and panic. "Finally, a plan I like."
He raised his staff, channeling what mana he had left. Bone shards shot out like arrows, aimed not at the shields but at the joints—knees, elbows, necks.
A spear arm locked. Another shield wavered.
The phalanx shuddered.
Aria shoved harder, pulling the bone traps tighter. "Keep the pressure!"
The commander’s head snapped toward her, crimson fire blazing in its sockets. With a single gesture, the faltering soldiers snapped back into line, rhythm restored.
Then the commander strode forward itself.
It didn’t need the formation. Its greatsword swung down like a guillotine.
Aria gasped, throwing up a desperate shield of bones. The blade cleaved through like paper, the shockwave hurling her back. She hit the floor, coughing blood.
"Aria!" Laxin roared, his hands trembling as he gathered more mana. He unleashed a barrage straight at the commander.
The knight raised its shield, deflecting every strike with inhuman precision.
Fenric’s voice echoed from the shadows. Calm. Cold. Unyielding.
"Adapt—or be broken."
The commander advanced, every step heavy as doom.
Aria staggered up, her legs shaking, but she forced her bones to rise again. Her skeletons lurched to their feet, cracked and broken, yet still obeying her call. Sweat poured down her face as her mana burned thin.
The undead commander strode forward, greatsword dragging sparks against the floor. Every step made the air feel heavier.
Laxin’s lips trembled. "We... we can’t stop that thing..."
Aria clenched her teeth, fire sparking in her eyes despite her pain. "We’re not supposed to stop it. We just need to outlast it."
Laxin blinked. "Outlast—?!"
The commander lunged. Its massive blade cut an arc that could have cleaved through five men at once. Aria pushed her last shield forward, bones fusing thick around her like a dome. The strike landed with a thunderclap, shattering half the barrier instantly.
Aria collapsed to her knees, vision blurring.
Laxin dove in beside her, his staff glowing faintly. "Alright, fine! If you’re going to be stubborn, then we do this together!"
He slammed his staff down, spikes of bone bursting from the ground—not at the commander, but around its feet, forming jagged walls and uneven terrain.
Aria’s eyes widened. He was limiting its movement.
She forced her hands up, bones writhing across the floor into skeletal ropes. They whipped forward, coiling around the commander’s sword arm.
For the first time, the knight slowed.
Its crimson eyes flared, and it ripped the bone restraints apart in seconds—but that heartbeat of resistance was enough.
Laxin roared, firing another volley at its exposed joints. Shards cracked into the gaps of its armor, not stopping it, but forcing it to shift.
The rhythm was broken.
The phalanx behind it faltered again, stepping into the uneven ground, colliding into each other as Aria’s traps snagged their ankles. The shield wall splintered.
Aria shouted, voice raw: "Push now!"
The two of them threw everything they had left—bone spears, skeletal ropes, jagged spikes. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t perfect, but it was desperate enough.
The commander staggered, shield lowering for a moment under the barrage.
Then—
CLANG!
The greatsword swept again, breaking through their combined assault. The shockwave flung Laxin into the far wall, blood spraying from his mouth. Aria barely held her ground, coughing violently.
The knight raised its sword high for the finishing blow.
And then—
Fenric’s voice cut through the chamber, steady, commanding, cold as winter.
"Enough."
The commander froze. Its blade stopped inches from Aria’s head.
Aria’s heart pounded so hard it hurt. She looked up, trembling.
Fenric stepped from the shadows, his silvery hair glinting faintly in the torchlight. His eyes burned with quiet authority.
"You fought clumsily. You bled too much. You nearly broke."
His gaze fell on Aria, then on Laxin crumpled against the wall.
"But..." His tone shifted, almost like a whisper of approval. "...you adapted."
The commander lowered its sword and knelt before Fenric, the phalanx behind it reforming in silence.
Aria fell back, gasping, every nerve in her body shaking. Laxin groaned from the wall, blood dripping down his chin.
"...I hate training," he muttered.
Fenric’s lips curved the faintest fraction upward. "Good. Then you are learning."
The training chamber was silent except for the faint rattle of armor as the undead knight returned to its place behind Fenric. Aria pressed a trembling hand to the ground, dragging herself upright, while Laxin slid down the wall and sat there breathing like he’d just wrestled a mountain.
Neither dared to speak first.
Fenric let the silence stretch, letting it dig into their bones heavier than the commander’s strikes ever could. Finally, he moved. With a flick of his wrist, the air shimmered, and his grimoire floated before him. Pages turned on their own, stopping at a section that pulsed with faint, dark light.
His tone was calm, almost casual. "What you two saw today was structure. Discipline. A commander that binds soldiers into one will." His eyes lifted, sharp as blades. "If all you can summon are mobs of bones with no leader, you will always crumble the moment order stands against you."
Aria swallowed, still shaking, but she dared to ask, "So... it’s not enough to just make skeletons stronger?"
Fenric closed the grimoire with a snap. "Strength without command is wasted." He stepped closer, and the undead knight knelt again at his side, the faint red fire in its helm flaring. "This... is a commander-class summon. One who takes your will, and spreads it to the rest. With it, an army moves like one body."
Laxin blinked, half in awe, half in despair. "Wait, wait, wait—you’re telling me we’ve been breaking our backs just to get these boneheads to swing their swords in the right direction... and you’ve had cheat codes this whole time?"
The undead knight’s helm turned toward him, eye flames flickering as if offended.
Aria quickly bowed her head to cover a laugh. Fenric’s expression didn’t shift, though the faintest glimmer of amusement passed in his eyes.
"Not cheat codes," he said evenly. "Simply... higher spells. Which you now will attempt."
Aria and Laxin froze.
"W–wait, now?!" Laxin sputtered, still clutching his ribs. "We can barely stand!"
Fenric’s voice was quiet, but unyielding. "The battlefield won’t wait for your breath to return. Summon."
The chamber went still. Aria’s eyes flickered toward her grimoire, her hand hovering uncertainly over its pages. She could feel the pull of the new spells like a whisper in her mind, heavy, dangerous, yet calling to her.
Laxin groaned, dragging himself upright with his staff. "Fine... but if I end up summoning a skeleton donkey instead of a knight, I’m blaming you."
Aria almost smiled despite her fear. Together, they both reached for the page.
And as their fingers brushed across the glowing script, the ground began to rumble.
The ground rumbled louder, and a chill swept through the chamber as Aria and Laxin both channeled mana into the glowing runes on their grimoires.
Aria’s circle formed clean and sharp—lines of silver light etching themselves into the floor. Laxin’s... was wobbly, flickering like it couldn’t decide whether to stay or fall apart.
Then, bones rose.
Aria’s first. A full frame assembled from the floor: broad shoulders, tall, armored. A skeletal knight, its bones fused with faint traces of dark steel, stood before her, bowing its head slightly as if awaiting command.
She gasped. "I... I did it."