Chapter 32

Our group was now resolved to fight our way though the entire dungeon, having no other real choice can do that to you. We stepped out of the gatehouse into the bailey bathed in moonlight. The full moon above us gave off enough light that it was unnecessary to maintain the fireflies spell so I let them disperse.

It's a pretty good thing too since it allowed us to clearly see the two large eight-foot-tall suits of armor walking right towards us from a distance.

“Prepare for combat,” I said to everyone. I drew my sword a stepped into my position at the front of the group. It was as I was staring at the approaching armor that I acutely felt my lack of a shield. The horror I had fought earlier was larger than me as well but its grotesque form made it fight more like a beast. The suits of armor however had humanoid weapons, albeit giant ones, and I was going to have to parry their attacks and strike at them with just my single longsword.

The closer one had a huge sword, it was a longsword in proportion to its wielder but it would be a pretty big two-handed claymore in my own hands. The other had a giant shield and a simple mace.

“Bella, Morrigan, try and slow them down as best as you can. Torien and I will try our best to take them out one at a time.”

I receive a variety of affirmative responses before a flash of magic chilled the air. Morrigan was using ice to try and slow their joints as they approached and Bella called roots from the ground to trap the mace wielding armor. It was clear from a glance that it wouldn’t hold the armor indefinitely but I could see Bella weaving multiple spells intending to keep continuously wrapping it as best as she could.

That left the sword wielding one. On paper it might sound like a one on one sword fight but in truth, that thing was huge, its one handed sword was nearly twice the length of mine. I had a feeling that even with my strength I wouldn’t be able to block any attacks head on, but my sword instincts told me that it shouldn’t be impossible to parry and redirect the attacks despite the size disadvantage.

It was obvious from the first attack that I would have to be on the defensive nearly the entire time. I couldn’t afford to block any attacks directly and getting hit at all was just out of the question. It would be a complete loss if I was alone but fortunately I wasn’t. An arrow shot past me and plinked off the monster’s helmet causing it to stagger. The moment the opening was created I was able to get a solid swing in and cause some damage before retreating back to a safe length.

It was like this that the two of us danced around. My brow was furrowed in concentration as I worked to carefully parry each strike and get a swipe in every time Torien created an opening for me. After a few hits I realized the thing I was fighting wasn’t actually a living suit of armor but some kind of zombie wearing armor.

After doing this for a short while I started to wonder if this strategy was even going to work when Torien got a super nasty hit in. She managed to thread an arrow right between the slits of the closed helm and into the monster’s skull. It clearly wasn’t dead but it lurched back in response to the attack, completely breaking its stance as it clutched its face with its off hand. In reaction, I was able to get in close and draw a long slash across the back of its knee, crippling it.

I was able to cleanly do the damage and get out of range of a retaliatory strike just in time, avoiding an attack by millimeters. The creature fell to one knee as it threw its helm to the side arrow and all. Underneath the helm was what looked like a mummified corpse with black pits for eyes. Dark black blood was draining from the arrow wound but it didn’t seem to be critically injured.

Unfortunately it seems that this wasn’t going to be an easy fight even with the new advantage. Since it no longer had to focus on its footwork it became much more capable of defending itself from my sword attacks and the arrows sent its way. The monster, despite bleeding from one eye, managed to perfectly intercept every arrow Torien shot while parrying each of my own attacks.

The tables had completely turned but I wasn’t in any better of a position to actually kill the thing. I glanced over at the other girls to see how they were holding up. The other armored zombie would struggle and break Bella’s binds only to take a swing at one of them and get rebound again. They were delaying it decently enough but it would only last as long as Bella’s mana pool held out. Morrigan was mostly using environmental ice magic to slow it down or give it unstable footing but her contribution seemed minimal at best in this situation.

“Morrigan! Switch with me, I think you’ll have better luck executing this one while I fight the other!”

“Got it!”

I quickly ran up and tried to get a slash in right as the mace-wielding armor got wrapped up in another set of vines but it just deflected my sword with one of its vambraces.

“Are you going to be able to keep that up Bella?”

“Only for a little while longer!”

Fighting with this guy was a lot harder than the one with the sword. It wasn’t completely impossible to divert blows with my sword but I found myself having to dodge completely more often than the other one. It was only a matter of time before I made a bad judgment and when I did, it had a pretty nasty consequence. I tried to parry away an attack but I misjudged the angle and the large armor’s heavy mace caught the blade in the air and snapped it against the ground, leaving my sword in two distinct pieces. I cursed under my breath at the sword hilt with only half a foot of blade left attached.

Fortunately the armor was left unbalanced from the accidental disarmament and at that same moment the armor’s foot slid against a patch of ice that had been left on the ground earlier. The armor landed flat on its stomach and quickly began trying to scramble back to its feet on the slick ground.

After this bastard broke my sword I was not letting him recover, I quickly circled around it and stabbed the broken point of my sword into the back of its neck. Before I could confirm the monster’s death I heard cheering from the twins.

I jumped back and quickly glanced over to the sword wielding armor that was now impaled with numerous ice spears through different parts of its body. It was slumped forward and no longer held its sword as the monster visibly turned to dust. I returned my eyes to the one we were facing as it also began to turn to dust and collapse.

[Your party has defeated 2 Dread Knights][Black Cat has increased from level 2 to level 3][Learned passive skill Special drop rate up]

[Special drop rate up - Rare Passive Skill]A Black Cat comes across all sorts of interesting things in its travels. For good or ill your luck provides you with more opportunities to find unique, strange, fantastical and improbable items. Sometimes the difference between bad Luck and good Luck is what you make of it.

When the notification popped up in my head I released tension in my neck that I didn’t even realize I was holding. And my first new Black Cat skill! Though the text makes it sound rather ominous. I’m not sure if this skill is a good thi-

“Hey! This one dropped something!” Morrigan yelled over.

Well… guess we’ll find out.

I walk over to the two of them looking down at a sword. When this one decayed away its sword didn’t go with it. The sword looked a little big for me, more akin to a claymore than something more standard. Still if I can swing it okay the extra length may help me a little.

“Oh! This is perfect, your sword broke in the last fight so you’ll be able to use this one till we can get to town. What good luck!” Bella said happily.

I got a chill and an uneasy feeling when I heard good luck. Was it good luck that I found a sword to replace the one I just broke or is it bad luck that I lost my sword just in time for me to use this one.

“Is it safe to use without having someone check it out first? Aren’t there cursed items out there?”

Morrigan crouches down and inspects the sword closely, presumably with magic sight or something. “I can tell this is magical but even if it is cursed, with this much magic power the curse would have to be minimal at most. Something with debilitating or long term effects would be more noticeable. Either way, it would certainly be better than trying to fight bare-handed.”

“If you say so…” I decided to reach down and grab the hilt despite my reservations and wow. This sword is way lighter than it looks. I stepped away and took a few practice swings with it. I could easily swing the two handed sword with one hand and while it’s a little awkward getting used to such a long blade, I felt completely capable of using it effectively. Also, with such a long hilt I now have the option of switching between a one handed stance or a two handed stance at will without any trouble. The length might make it difficult to use when in tight spaces or near others though and I’ll have to get a sheath custom made for it if I decide to keep it.

I looked back over to everyone. “Is everyone okay if I use this for now? We can split up its value after we get it appraised later.” Everyone seemed to nod. For now I’ll have to resort to carrying it against my shoulder while we walk around. I walked over to the broken piece of blade and slid it into my sword sheath. Maybe I can get it salvaged or something.

Torien was going through the arrows that she had shot at the dread knights hoping to find ones that she could still use or at least salvage the arrowheads from the broken ones. Morrigan and Bella were both taking a breather since they used so much mana in the last fight. From what Morrigan has explained to me, since she uses mana from outside of her own body, it doesn’t tax her as much as it does Bella but instead it requires a lot of focus and concentration so it can be easy to mentally exhaust herself if she isn’t able to take some breaks.

Since I didn’t have much to do at the moment I kept watch while everyone rested. Because I was mostly relying on the instincts gained through the system I didn’t feel particularly mentally tired but I was definitely pretty winded from the last fight. Keeping watch wasn’t as big a deal for me since I could still rest physically while being alert and I thought everyone else in the group could use a moment to destress their minds for a bit. We rested for maybe an hour before we decided to get moving again.

The bailey was pretty large and we didn’t know exactly where we were going other than towards the inner towers of the castle. It would make sense for the door of the great hall to be somewhat lined up with the gatehouse but it’s too hard to see from this distance at night. We remained vigilant while getting closer to the castle’s inner walls but it wasn't until we got within a stone throw of the large central building of the castle that we saw any more enemies.