Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight
Chapter 98: Relentless attacks
The Terracotta’s sword descended without the slightest trace of hesitation, cleaving through the air with merciless precision as it hurtled straight toward Veyrath...
Time itself seemed to slow for a moment as the failed Alchemist reacted almost entirely on instinct. Every muscle in his body screamed as he threw his legs apart with all the speed he could muster...
CLANG!
The ancient blade plunged into the obsidian floor between his legs, burying itself nearly half its length into the stone.
Fragments of black rock erupted outward, scattering across his clothes and face but he didn’t even focus on them.
For a long, terrifying heartbeat, Veyrath simply stared as his eyes remained fixed upon the gleaming edge resting scarcely inches from his groin.
A chill colder than death coursed through his entire body.
The color drained from his already pale face, while beads of cold sweat gathered across his forehead.
Had he reacted even a fraction of a second later, his lips twitched involuntarily as he realized he would have gone from being a failed Alchemist to a failed eunuch...
The horrifying image surfaced so vividly inside his mind that his entire body shuddered at that thought.
A long, shaky sigh of relief escaped his lips. It was actually absurd; ridiculous, even, because out of every possible way to die in the middle of a life-and-death battle, that was somehow the only possibility his terrified mind had decided to fixate upon.
Unfortunately, the Terracotta granted him no time to recover...
With mechanical efficiency, the construct wrenched its sword free from the obsidian floor. Stone fragments burst into the air as the massive blade rose once more, its edge humming faintly beneath the crimson glow pouring from the creature’s visor.
But just before the next strike could fall, Veyrath moved...
Summoning every ounce of strength left inside his exhausted body, he lashed out with his right leg; his boot slammed squarely against the Terracotta’s abdomen...
The impact echoed dully and though it wasn’t enough to dent the construct’s armor neither was it enough to stagger the massive guardian in any meaningful way, the kick still accomplished exactly what Veyrath needed.
The Terracotta shifted backward by a single step, creating one tiny opening which Veyrath seized without hesitation.
He scrambled upright with surprising agility, every instinct screaming at him to run; but before he had even managed to straighten his body... A second blade was already descending toward him.
His pupils contracted instantly, panic spreading across his chest as he hurried to get out of the way...
Elsewhere, Vaelorin found himself trapped.
Four Terracottas had silently spread into a loose circle around him, advancing with chilling discipline as they gradually erased every avenue of escape.
Each measured step echoed across the fractured dais, each crimson visor remained fixed upon him, and like predators cornering wounded prey, they closed the distance with terrifying patience.
Vaelorin tightened his grip around his staff until his knuckles turned white. His fiery crimson eyes darted frantically from one construct to another, desperately searching for the slightest weakness within their encirclement.
But there was nothing as very route was blocked and every opening vanished the moment it appeared...
His breathing gradually quickened.
"...Damn it." He cursed through gritted teeth.
Without warning, one of them charged.
Its towering shield rose before its body as the construct accelerated with frightening momentum, its thunderous footsteps reverberating throughout the crypt.
It resembled less a sculpted soldier and more like a charging rhinoceros...
Vaelorin’s heart skipped a beat and almost instinctively, he thrust his staff forward. "Solar Lance" activated as he channeled Fiery Aether into the Soul Essence.
WHOOSH!
A torrent of crimson fire erupted from its tip before compressing into a blazing lance of concentrated flames.
The beam screamed across the battlefield before striking the charging Terracotta head-on...
BOOM!
An inferno blossomed around the construct, swallowing it entirely beneath swirling crimson flames and immediately, heat washed violently across the shattered platform.
Vaelorin’s eyes widened with hope and for the briefest instant, he believed that he had succeeded. Then...
A colossal silhouette slowly emerged from within the blazing inferno; untouched and completely unharmed.
The construct hadn’t even bothered raising its shield against the attack. Instead, it simply continued walking through the flames as though they were little more than drifting mist.
The crimson blaze rolled harmlessly across its armor before dissipating into countless sparks.
Seeing this, Vaelorin’s hopeful expression froze as his pupils trembled instantly. It was only then that Regaleon’s earlier warning violently resurface within his thoughts.
These things were comparable to Rank One Animas so ordinary techniques capable of incinerating lesser creatures amounted to nothing before opponents of such caliber.
Realization dawned upon him but it was too late as the Terracotta had already reached him...
Its massive shield crashed into Vaelorin’s chest...
BOOM!
The collision felt less like being struck by a shield and more like being trampled by a runaway carriage.
His ribs screamed in protest, the breath exploded from his lungs, and his feet left the ground completely as his body was launched backward like a stone fired from an enormous ballista.
The world spun violently around him and fragments of shattered obsidian blurred past his vision. Then...
CRASH!
His back slammed against the fractured dais.
The tremendous force caused his body to bounce once, then twice... Before finally skidding helplessly across the broken stone.
Fresh waves of agony erupted throughout his battered frame; every bone felt as though it had cracked, his vision blurred, his ears rang violently, he struggled desperately to draw even a single breath.
Yet before he could even inhale, heavy footsteps thundered toward him...
Another Terracotta had already arrived and this time, the construct wielded a gigantic iron mace.
Without hesitation, it raised the weapon high above its head...
The enormous head of the mace cut through the air with terrifying momentum before crashing downward.
Vaelorin’s survival instincts exploded into action.
He rolled sideways, causing the mace to miss him by barely a hand’s breadth...
BOOM!
The weapon struck the obsidian floor with catastrophic force...
Stone shattered instantly and a shallow crater formed beneath the impact as razor-sharp fragments erupted in every direction like deadly shrapnel.
The violent tremor spread beneath Vaelorin’s body even as he completed his roll.
He hadn’t even managed to stop moving when his instinct screamed again. His entire body stiffened as a cold sensation crawled across the back of his neck.
Another Terracotta had already closed in from his blind side.
Its sword swept toward him in a wide horizontal arc. The gleaming blade sliced silently through the air, heading straight for his exposed neck...
Not far away, Regaleon’s halberd collided head-on with a Terracotta’s spear.
CLANG!
The clash rang throughout the crypt, steel shrieking against steel as brilliant sparks erupted between the two weapons. Regaleon’s wrists twisted sharply, guiding the spearhead away from his throat before it could pierce the gap in his armor.
The construct responded instantly.
Without the slightest hesitation, it reversed its grip and drove the butt of its spear toward Regaleon’s chest with startling precision.
The failed Knight’s eyes narrowed and he sprang backward immediately.
The reinforced shaft sliced through the space where he had been standing only a heartbeat earlier, stirring a violent gust that tugged at his silver hair.
Yet his retreat seem to have been anticipated as a second Terracotta emerged from his blind spot with frightening coordination.
Its enormous mace carved a brutal arc through the air and by the time Regaleon sensed the danger, it was already too late.
BOOM!
The mace smashed squarely into the center of his back, sending violent jolt rippling through his body.
The force launched him several meters through the air like a ragdoll before he crashed shoulder-first into a mound of shattered stone.
Broken debris exploded beneath the impact and mouthful of blood burst from his lips, splattering across the obsidian floor.
Every nerve in his body screamed in agony, his vision blurred, and an unbearable ache spread through his spine.
From within the confines of his armor came the unmistakable groan of tortured metal, an indication that the backplate had caved inward.
Clearly, the tremendous blow had warped the enchanted steel itself.
Regaleon gritted his teeth as he forced himself onto one knee. Pain coursed through every muscle as though his body had been crushed beneath a collapsing mountain.
But just before he could fully rise... A shadow loomed overhead.
Another Terracotta stood before him and this one wielded a broad, ancient sword.
Without a moment’s delay, the construct raised the weapon above its head before bringing it crashing downward with enough force to split stone.
Regaleon didn’t dodge; instead, he struck first. With a sharp exhale, he lashed out with his right leg...
His armored boot slammed directly into the Terracotta’s knee joint. Though the impact failed to deal damage to the construct, it still disrupted its balance, causing its body to lurch forward by a fraction and that tiny opening was all Regaleon needed...
His eyes flashed as he activated "Silver Sheen." Luminous energy surged along the weapon’s shaft before gathering around the axe blade, coating it in a razor-thin layer of shimmering light.
The air itself seemed to tremble as Regaleon thrust outward.
The halberd shot forward with an explosive speed, becoming little more than a silver streak...
He ignored the construct’s heavily armored torso and every reinforced plate covering its body. Instead, he aimed directly for the narrow crimson slit of its visor.
THRCK!
The blade punched cleanly through...
Resistance met the edge for only an instant before giving way.
Regaleon clenched his jaw and drove the halberd even deeper.
The gleaming axe head burst from the back of the Terracotta’s helmet in a shower of fractured stone and crimson sparks.
And for the first time since the battle had begun, a construct faltered...
Its body staggered backward, the crimson glow within its visor flickering violently. Bright sparks erupted from the narrow slit as though unseen mechanisms hidden inside were malfunctioning...
Its movements became erratic, jerky, and unstable. The crimson light blinked repeatedly, like a dying ember refusing to surrender, and all through these, Regaleon remained tense.
He refused to lower his weapon because even with such damage done to it, he half-expected the Terracotta to continue fighting.
Then... The scarlet glow dimmed. The construct froze and a heartbeat later, countless cracks spread across its stone body.
CRACK! CRACK!! CRACK!!!
The entire figure collapsed...
Its armored shell shattered upon the floor, breaking apart into lifeless fragments of ancient stone.
Regaleon exhaled slowly the moment after the construct collapsed into a heap of rubble. However, something soon caught his attention.
Unlike the previous Terracottas they had destroyed earlier, which had crumbled into nothing more than worthless rubble, this one had left something behind.
Nestled among the scattered fragments rested a single object, pulsing rhythmically with a warm amber glow.
Regaleon’s brows knitted together as he observed it.
The object bore little resemblance to the crystalline Aether Cores harvested from slain Animas. Instead, it looked disturbingly organic.
Roughly the size of a human heart, its surface consisted of overlapping metallic plates engraved with countless microscopic runes.
Thin mechanical veins branched across its exterior, carrying streams of golden light that pulsed with each rhythmic beat.
The translucent metal surrounding its core revealed intricate gears no larger than grains of sand turning with flawless precision.
It was neither entirely mechanical nor entirely mystical, resembling the artificial heart of the construct itself; the very engine that had animated the ancient guardian for untold centuries.
Regaleon’s gaze lingered upon it for only an instant.
Questions flooded his thoughts but there wasn’t time for an investigation as the rhythmic pounding of heavy footsteps echoed across the crypt once more.
His instincts screamed and instantly, Regaleon snapped his head upward just in time to see another Terracotta charging directly toward him.
Its enormous tower shield completely concealed the front of its body, transforming the construct into an unstoppable wall of stone and steel.
The shield’s lower edge scraped violently across the fractured floor, carving deep grooves through the obsidian as showers of sparks burst outward.
Every thunderous step shook the dais, causing dust to drift from the ceiling.
The charging construct resembled less a warrior and more a battering ram unleashed upon a castle gate. Its momentum was terrifying and relentless...