Shroud of Shadows

Slaughter

As we made our way to the east wing of the Royal Armory, I felt my stomach churn with nausea at the sight of the strangely empty hallways. Then I saw the shroud of shadows at the end of an intersection ahead of us. Something resided in it, made of living metal and eldritch fire. "Tell me I am not the only one who sees that."

Oscar and Kieran shook their heads and readied their weapons. The horrors of metal strode froth from the shadows. Their armor was polished to a gleam, though through several vents I could see green smoke emitted from the viridian fire that burned within them. They stood defiant and stoic, though the aura of their souls were permeated by the malice they carried.

The Tempest Dao flared to life in my hands and I raised it in the form of salute to my opponents. The sword was a weapon descended from the foundation of House Delbray, and I was the ruler of the noblest realm of all Crimea. I brought honor to my ancestors every time I strike down the foes of Kingdom. Flayed One armor is formidable, but they would not stop my assault. These were of the warrior caste, I judged by their lack of ornamentation. They were the mere foot soldiers for their dark empire.

I lunged forward with a mighty battle cry on my lips, striking down low against the unyielding defenses of the dead. "For Elincia!" The one I was to attack swung his bastard sword down to intercept my own blade. We met with a loud crash of metal against metal. My two sub-commanders responded to their own, Oscar brandishing the mighty Wyrmslayer pike while Keiran fought with a weapon he forged from his own hand, Libertas.

These bastards we fought may have been simple grunts compared to their overt leaders, but they were still very formidable opponents. They fought sluggishly, the dark magic gave them form but the speed was something they could not truly replicate. I felt the rare emotion of fear claw at my stomach as I wondered what exactly these creatures would have been like in their prime.

I slashed off the arm of my first opponent and bisected his head clean from his shoulders. Another instantly was upon me and I forced myself into a defensive stance against the murderous onslaught of the monsters. Oscar and Kieran were scarcely having much more luck. They may have been skilled opponents, but we learned our bitter lessons from Volus. The most important one was never to underestimate the opponent you fought.

Oscar impaled one on a lance before he twisted the point more and pulled it out to deliver another blow. The flayed one could handle one blow and easily repair itself, though two in such rapid succession proved to be its downfall. It disappeared into a shower of enchanted flashes before a bitter smoke wafted from the place the monster once stood.

"I am the hand of the General! I will broke no insults upon his honor or my own!" Kirean's fanaticism echoed in my ear as he cleaved through two of the lower caste in a single swoop of his axe. One reached out with dagger-like fingers and slashed down across his face. The scream of pain cut his boasts short but they were superficial. Painful, but not debilitating or lethal.

I drove my Dao through the gorget of one and brought the energized blade down until that one monster was half the individual he was before. As they evaporated into nothingness, I sheathed my sword in the scabbard. It seemed pointless because I knew there would be more coming, but I could strike opponents down when I drew it from my sheath.

Oscar pulled his spear out of the disintegrated remains of one opponent and he revealed a gouge in his armor. His armor was simple steel, no runes of warding or enchanted components, and the flayed ones tore through it as if it was made of tin. "How many of these things await us?"

I shrugged as we proceeded with caution, we were near the Armory and they surely would have heard the sounds of battle. "From the sheer amount of tables needed to hold all of the remains, no less than four dozen."