Chapter 38: Sealing magic

Chapter 38: Sealing magic The air popped under the crushing weight of Korgath’s force. Set flinched as the sound pierced his ear. He waited for the force to hit and the ground to break and splinter, but it never came. Warren stood before the twisted beast. Not even a single strand of his greying hair out of place. His armour was black and stone-like, and a broad greatsword rested on his shoulder. A golden magic formation spread from Warren’s feet, beautiful patterns that formed a circle around Warren and Korgath. The damage from the Cruncher’s heavy blows could not spread beyond this circle. Korgath’s unnaturally long arms slammed against Warren’s greatsword, and the air around them compressed like mist and exploded. Warren met each of the terrible blows with indifferent blocks. Set had to force himself to focus on his fight, dodging as a Crusher almost took off his head. His jaw struggled to stay fixed. Could he even reach that level? Sealing magic was said to be the most complex of Divine magics, but Warren cast it like an afterthought. He shot towards his enemy, determined to kill it and help Warren. Light radiated from his body as he used [Blessing of Light]. He danced around the creature in a dizzying flurry. His simple iron blade parried and slashed hard at the beast’s arms. The Cruncher moved unnaturally. Its arms bent when it reached for his neck and then stretched to catch him off guard. Set whipped his sword in front of him and slashed its hand off, but that wasn’t the end. The white bone under the bloodless skin suddenly sharpened into a blade, and the Cruncher drove it towards his now open neck. He needed to use [Radiant Sword], but the runes for the spell slowly formed in his mind, resisting his command. The bone dagger was only an inch from his neck when a sharp kick pushed the Cruncher back. Gregor. His face was dirty, and his chest plate was dented, but he was still fighting. "Thank you!" Set shouted as [Radiant sword] finally manifested. A great sword made of golden light cleaved down on the Cruncher, slicing it in half and crushing its body. The bone-like material that made up the Cruncher’s true body tried to rise from the sundered form only for Set to slash it into smaller pieces. He turned to Warren and Korgath’s tall, eerie form. Fear wrapped its hand around his heart. Gregor looked from him to Korgath rapidly, his dirty face wide-eyed and shocked. Set couldn’t blame him; they had watched men die each time they failed to properly kill a Cruncher. Then they had to kill those dead men again. Set looked back at the rest of his team and Ymir’s—which he was in charge of till she returned. They were all free and watched him. He swallowed his hesitation and entered the sealing circle. He needed to show the right example, show these soldiers that the Lightcloaks weren’t cowards hiding in the Keep. Korgath’s voice was high-pitched and haunting. "Is parrying all you can do? Your student was a lot more impressive. But I guess I’m asking too much from someone called the Snail Knight." Warren deflected a heavy blow and skipped backwards. Korgath leapt over him to deliver a crushing overhead smash, but Warren simply waved his hand. Something invisible slammed Korgath into the ground like a petulant child. "Combat is not the place to speak," Warren chastised. "Do you think you are the first to insult my title? I’ve come to see it as a badge of honour. I wasn’t born with the talents of a Knight like my brother, but here I am, facing... this wretched beast. Woe is me." Korgath glared at Warren’s dejected expression. It suddenly turned to him, and a disgusting grin spread over his toothless mouth. The monster’s face was gaunt and unnaturally long, and his eyes were dark, empty pits. The skin on his face was warped like old leather from Warren’s attack. Set might have found it funny if Korgath wasn’t so horrifying. The Cruncher’s arms and legs were stretched thin, and the skin around its fingers tore to reveal bone claws. He slammed his hand into the dirt, and dust rose. The dust swirled and formed copies of Korgath, which all spread out with malicious smiles. Not good! Set’s eyes followed the doubles as they rushed towards the young knights. One solid hit and they were dead. "Castel, Ruben! Use your earth spell to disrupt the doubles." Set commanded, "People that can use wind magic, help them!" All the copies couldn’t hit as hard as the original, and depending on the spell rank, they would be easier to break. Warren was walking towards them, casually batting aside copies as they burst back into dust. Castel’s earth spells affected the bodies of the doubles as he expected, and the wind magic scattered them even more easily. The real Korgath was right in front of them, going for Melanie, the girl with a healing water spell. [Blessing of Light] heavily augmented his reaction speed, and he took off like an arrow. But he wouldn’t get there in time. He summoned the Runes for [Radiant Sword] once more. They formed slowly, fighting against him. Melanie’s eyes widened as all the Korgaths, except the one right in front of her, disappeared. A sinister smile widened on Korgath’s face as he reared his fist back. "Stop!" Set roared, screaming harder internally for [Radiant Sword] to form. Korgath slammed his fist into her. Her body folded and crumpled like tin foil, shooting backwards, slamming into the ground, and bouncing into the air like a rag doll. Set’s eyes widened. His mana exploded in a golden storm of light, forming a fully corporeal greatsword that smashed into Korgath. The air was split by the blow, and the rest of his team was pushed back. But Korgath caught the great sword in his hand. He had a confused frown on his face. "Are you that weak? Or am I just that strong?" Set stumbled as [Radiant Sword] dissipated. That was the most mana he had ever been able to force into a spell. His fingers tightened around his sword, and he stepped forward despite everything telling him to run. Korgath exploded towards him, but he was ready, dodging around the blow and sliding under Korgath’s backhand. The wind of each blow roared in his ears as he dodged them. In one smooth motion, he went from a slide to jumping into an upward slash. Korgath laughed. His neck snapped downward on its own to dodge Set’s sword, and his two arms shot forward to grab the boy’s neck. Once again, he called on [Radiant Sword], his supposed fastest spell, to save him. But again, it refused him. He resigned himself to death but promised himself to stab Korgath through the neck. Something hit him in the back and sent him tumbling over Korgath and to the ground. When he looked up, he saw Theo, the quiet boy with an ice spell. Korgath’s hands were wrapped around his neck. Set turned even paler and rushed to his feet. But then stopped. Theo wasn’t choking. Korgath looked supremely shocked that the neck didn’t break under his long fingers. Warren was still warding off the copies that were meant to distract him indifferently. "Did you think I’d let any of you help me with insurance?" It suddenly clicked in Set’s head. He turned to ‌Melanie, who had taken Korgath’s blow. Her iron armour crushed like paper, but she was alive. She looked around dazed, her face was covered in dirt, but she was very much alive. Korgath snarled, "What did you do?" "Sealing magic," Theo said, looking feeble between Korgath’s fingers. He sent Set a meaningful look, stammering. "You can only damage Master Warren, but in exchange, we can’t hurt you." Korgath’s eyes widened. Set’s eyes met with the boy once again, that was why [Radiant Sword] didn’t hurt him. He turned to Warren, who gave him a slight smile and nodded. Set shot towards Korgath. Behind him, Gregor also lunged towards the tall, twisted creature. Theo smiled. "Time to die, you wretch." He opened his hand, and a small dot of white hovered over his palm. Korgath sensed the danger and let go, trying to escape. A wave of ice exploded from the white dot, washing over just Korgath and turning him to a block of ice. The boy landed, smiling proudly, despite his spell freezing his hand. Warren released his sealing spell. Set roared as he forced the runes of his spell. A golden greatsword came down from heaven and split Korgath in half.