Those three in the rear did not carry any weapons and it was only a moment later that Mane found out why.
They extended both their hands in front of them, all three of those unarmed warriors, and a second later, the air was lit up with a rainbow of colours.
Mane barely had enough time to plunge his sword down in front of him and use it as a shield before three streams of different magic came at him, threatening to turn him to ashes in three different ways.
From one, there came a steady stream of blue frost, as cold as the deepest depths of a frozen sea. From another, there billowed hot red flames that already scorched Mane's skin, and from the last, there was the crackling lightning of a god.
"Damn it!" Mane cursed. There was little that he hated more than mages. His sword glowed blue as the runic enchantment that had been forged into it took hold, shielding him from the damage that came his way as he stood behind it. Without that, then he feared he would have been long gone.
Ermos and his short shaven-headed apprentice stood nearby, dumb looks on their faces, apparently with no idea what to do. Mane growled like a beast with anger. "Help, damn you!" He cursed. For some reason, those skeletons only chose to target Mane. Ermos and Pash were completely free from the wrath of their magic.
"But… axe?" Ermos held up the rusty axe to illustrate his point, pulling an unhappy face. Mane could hardly believe it. Under the pressure of the powerful magic that was being cast, that squirrel-faced man still found the gaul to play the idiot.
And, to make matters worse, the two armed juggernauts were marching towards Mane now, slow and steady. He'd be rooted out of his protective little hole in a matter of seconds.
Mane struggled to think what to do. He was a man of instinct, after all. He needed but a window of opportunity – someone to take the aggression of those skeleton mages, so that he could close the gap between them unharassed. As much as he hated to admit it… he needed the strength of that man, Ermos Windbreaker.
Mane dared to glance out from behind his sword. From his left, there came the battle-axe wielding skeleton and from the right, there was the other with the curved chevalar's sword. As they came closer, Mane realized that their weapons were also enchanted with runes, just like his was. The axe glowed a red from a fire rune, whilst the sword glowed blue from an ice rune.
They stepped into Mane's range with a confidence, knowing that he couldn't move without injuring himself. But Mane gritted his teeth and moved anyway, leaving his sword behind.
He caught that damnable sword-wielding skeleton off guard when he dove from his cover like that. The creature bellowed its annoyance, but before it could react to punish him, Mane punched it hard in its helmeted head, stunning it, before he wrested the sword from its grasp, using the same technique that Ermos had done on him earlier.
Fire, ice and lightning all crackled against his shoulder, dealing him the most immense pain.
"ERMOS, YOUR SWORD!" Mane shouted, flinging him the weapon, praying to the gods that Ermos was what he thought he was – a swordsman through and through. A man that could not fight without his preferred weapon. Not a man that was merely afraid of combat.
As that sword travelled through there air, there was a distinct change about Ermos. His eyes went from stupid and dull to alert and fiery, he was like a different man altogether. He caught it with ease.
'Let's see what you've got,' Mane thought to himself, clutching his charred shoulder, barely managing to get behind the cover of his sword. But with a juggernaut coming at him from either side, things were not looking good.
Mane didn't even see Ermos move. One moment, he was standing, testing his weapon, ridding himself of the rusty axe, and the next, he was standing beside Mane, driving his sword through a tiny gap in the battle-axe juggernaut's armour, shattering his skull through his neck.
A pile of heavy armour fell to the floor a moment later.
'Gods…' Mane whispered to himself.
The remaining juggernaut came searching for his sword, growling angrily as he saw it in Ermos' hands. That man turned to him, his form loose and full of weaknesses. The creature lunged at him with its arms stretched open and Ermos cut it from head to hip, tearing through solid metal with strength alone.
The ice rune on his sword activated a moment later, dealing the finishing blow. In a block of ice, that skeleton shattered against the floor.
Mane's jaw hung open. Even he would have struggled to do such a thing, and there's no chance he could have done with such a small blade.