Ian swept his gaze over his opponents swiftly analyzing their strengths. Who was strong, who was weak. It only took him a second to figure out what he needed before he made his move.
The dust on the ground was kicked up as the earth beneath Ian's foot cracked.
Jacob did not even see his image, the man was on another level. From what Matthew and Angelia told him, this man was a former general. Someone that stood at the top, a figure powerful enough to control thousands of troops.
In-game, Ian's level would be close to being maxed out. So he was a being above Jacob in all forms, both being experience and levels.
Before Jacob could think of where Ian was going to strike from, the man already struck. Jacob's just sensed it late, but luckily Mattew moved in to block the strike.
The clash of their blades caused Jacob's eardrums to hum. Jacob took a few steps back from the impact.
"Can you bind him?"
Jacob hurriedly and asked Angelia.
She did not respond with words, but actions. Quickly she mumbled some words and started her spell as Matthew kept Ian in check.
Jacob paid attention to their series of lightning strikes and decided he would take on the role of a supporter. His current arsenal of abilities did not have many for offense, which was something he planned to fix. He was fast, twice as fast as a normal person. Yet, his speed still did not match up to what Ian and Matthew's. Jacob was missing something, and he wanted to know what after this was over.
Angelia completed her spell just in time as threads of shadows emerged from the ground. They entangled Ian, slithering up his legs restricting his movements. They were like snakes constricting his limbs, leaving him immobilized for a few seconds.
Ian had a look of shock on his face when he noticed this. He never expected the girl to be a mage.
Matthew glared at Ian.
"Give up Ian, you are outmatched. Why drag this out?"
Matthew questioned the man.
Ian snorted.
"You'd have to do better than this to match me. Bring five mages, then we can talk."
Ian glanced at Angelia for a second.
"You'd have to do better than this if you want to hold me for more than a second."
Ian seemed to flex his muscles and the threads of shadows that entangled him broke apart as if they were fragile. He moved, leaving no traces to be found.
Jacob had that sensation again, he jumped to the side. Ian's blade missed him by a hairsbreadth. Ian rotated his body and kicked Jacob in the stomach sending him flying back.
"You have the same stench as those dammed dogs."
Ian said.
Jacob sucked in the cold air, trying to catch his breath but it was difficult. He started to choke as his ribs felt broken.
Moving his hand to his chest, he cast heal and recovered from the damage.
Laughing at this sight, Ian glared at Matthew.
"A priest? Never thought you'd team up with those vile bastards. After all, they put us through."
"That was a long time ago, things have changed. You've had your chance back then Ian, and I just gave you another one. Let's stop this pointless chatter and finish this."
Ian's facial expression changed, so did his stance.
Jacob cast another heal on himself just for good measure, then quickly conjured a barrier for protection. A transparent golden dome surrounded him, giving him an extra layer of protection. No one could harm him unless they broke his barrier first.
It was not permanent, as the barrier would vanish after one attack, but it was useful as he could cast it often.
As Jacob was casting his barrier, Angelia managed to summon a shadow creature. It looked like a leopard to Jacob, a black leopard at that. Yet, the way the black shadows seemed to turn to mist made it very creepy. Its eyes were purple and seemed to glow as it bared its fangs at Ian.
Ian's claymore had a red hue to it that made it look menacing. He held it by its handle with one hand gripping it tightly. The ground underneath him cracked.
"Get ready."
Matthew told the two of them as he knew that Ian was about to attack. This time, the man would come at them with his full force and not only use a small percentage of it.
Matthew's blade gained a green tint to it as he took up a different sword stance than what Jacob was used to seeing. Before he could fully make out what it was, Ian already blasted off the ground leaving a crater behind him.
Ian stood in front of Matthew, his claymore in full swing. His blade howled like a wolf as Ian swung it in an arc. Matthew's defense stance was strong, but it was shattered by Ian's fierce strike. Swiftly following up on his attack, Ian swung his claymore up knocking Matthew into the air.
Angelia's shadow leopard jumped into action as it darted for Ian. Noticing the creature, Ian stomped the ground causing the area in front of him to rumble. The creature lost its footing, but that was all Ian needed as he cut right through it.
That was all he did. His claymore did no damage to the shadow creature, as it was not real.
The shadow leopard on the other hand recovered its balance and swiped its claw at Ian, causing him to block the attack. Deep claw marks were left in his golden armor.
Jacob aimed his heal towards Matthew who fell to the ground. The man's knight armor was dented in, and Jacob could only wince at the sight. It was hard to believe that he managed to survive that blow, especially when his guard was blown apart.
Angelia finished casting her next spell, summoning forth five floating dark needles. They were longer than Jacob's entire arm and as thick as a can from his world. Each one floated behind Angelia's back waiting to be launched.
Ian gave up on the shadow leopard as none of his attacks could harm the creature. Instead, he turned his attention to Angelia, the caster. His body flickered and with it, Angelia's body turned into a poof of smoke.
As she materialized a few feet away from where she was, Angelia shot her dark spears forward. The place she shot them was exactly where Ian appeared a moment later.
Jacob finished healing Matthew, but the old knight was still shaken up by the attack he took head-on.
Turning his attention to Ian, Jacob cast Repentance on the man, snaring him and reducing his movement speed down to a crawl. Although Ian broke free from the binding spell Angelia put upon him, he could not get rid of the effect Jacob placed on him. They were different types of spells, and this was one without a materialized form.
With the debuff on Ian, he would also take increased damage from holy attacks. But, Jacob only had one of those right now and it was linked to his prestige class.
As Ian's movements were slower, he could not block the five shadow spears that were coming his way. Each one struck him in the center of his chest, and each one caused him to slide a distance away. The impact from one sounded like a wrecking ball colliding with a building.
The golden armor that protected him started to crack from the impact. Even Ian could not fully withstand Angelia's spell, as blood slid down from his mouth.
The duration of the debuff would run out soon, and they needed to finish this fight fast. If Ian caused this much damage to Matthew with one attack, he could only imagine the amount of injures he would suffer. Granted, he was kicked prior, but that was not a direct attack from his claymore. Ian would probably tear Jacob in two.
Matthew shook his head and got up from the ground. He spotted Ian and charged at the man. Just as he made it to Ian, the debuff ran out allowing Ian to regain his full movement speed. Ian sidestepped the assault Matthew launched against him.
The two men traded quick blows against each other, and it was easy to see that Ian had the better trade. He just created distance between both of them as he focused on the biggest threat. His body flicked, and so did Matthew's.
Angelia's body turned to smoke as she disappeared from sight.
"No one will fall for the same trick twice."
Ian's cold voice vibrated in the air as he appeared right behind Angelia who just materialized. His claymore was already moving towards her. A look of shock and fright appeared on Angelia's face, causing Jacob's eyes to widen.
Matthew stood between the two of them as he raised his sword ready to parry the attack. When their two blades connected, Matthew's started to crack from the strength Ian put behind his swing. A second later, the longsword in his hands shattered and Ian's claymore continued forth as if there was never anything in its way, to begin with. Angelia was safe, but Matthew had a deep cut on the side of his armor.
"I always told you, you can't protect everyone. Now, look at you."
Ian said coldly as he watched Matthew slowly look down at the wound on his side. Matthew stumbled forward with his hand shaking.
"Pitiful."
Jacob conjured a large barrier around the four of them. The golden dome radiated light energy. Pillars of light beamed down from above striking all four of them. Healing his allies of their wounds, while causing damage to his enemies.
Ian was surprised by the sudden appearance of a barrier this large, and an attack he has never seen before. Yet, before he could move Jacob struck him with another round of Repentance causing his movements to become slow as a snail.
The beam of light constantly struck him, and all Ian could do was stand there and take it.
The shadow leopard jumped on Ian's back as it opened its mouth wide and bit down on the back of his neck.
"Finish him off!"
Jacob shouted to Angelia.
Angelia tired as she was cast another round of dark needles. This was the last attack she could cast, as it drained her of her mana. Even Jacob was drained as his ultimate ability took everything he had. If this did not finish Ian off, he was afraid that they were done for.
When the light show ended, all that was left was a man standing. His armor was in ruins, and blood spilled from open wounds all over his body. His bronze skin was sizzling red as steam arose from it. All Ian did was stare at them for a moment. The grip on his claymore loosened and with it, the sword fell from his hands.
Ian was dead.
Jacob was sure of it, the man just died standing was all. Angelia seemed to realize this was well as her body turned to smoke as she vanished. When she reappeared, she stood before Jacob.
Her hand landed straight on his cheek as a sound of thunder could be heard.
Jacob could not believe this. Angelia just slapped him.
"I am done. How are you supposed to save anyone, when you can't even protect yourself? Look at this, what are we even doing? Why are we even doing this?"