The Dullahan was an unknown enemy I had never faced before. I was aware that it couldn't use magic like a Lich but was still just as powerful. It was also evident that its two guards weren't just simple Dread Knights either. Regardless, they were at a disadvantage. There were only three undead versus us four, and they were cut off from their reinforcements. It was only a matter of time before our reinforcements reached us.
I read Varnir's lips as he spoke, "We just need to keep them busy until help arrives, right?"
"Exactly. Let's make sure they don't escape," I said, unable to hear myself.
The two Dread Knights rushed us, deftly moving through the rubble with speed and agility that dwarfed all the other skeletons before them. I used the debris nearby and formed a spell core to create an Earth Lance and launched it at the Dread Knights. My spell soared off at rapid speed, but the still-moving Dread Knight swung its hammer and crushed the lance back into debris. Tsarra's Water Bolt also fell short as the second Dread Knight dodged it.
Mom, Varnir, and I moved forward to meet the quickly approaching Death Knights. I was the first to make contact, and I dodged a hammer swing only for a second hammer swipe to come right over the head of the first. I managed to block it with my spear, and I felt the impact in my bones. I gritted my teeth, but I was shocked. Following the momentum of the second swing, the Dread Knight went airborne and was about to crash into me. I was already on my back foot, and even with gravity magic, I wouldn't be able to dodge the small Skeleton missile headed my way.
But my worries were cut short as Varnir smashed, with his own body, into the airborne Dread Knight. The move sent both parties tumbling through the debris, but it let me focus on the one in front of me. I was already backstepping from the two initial attacks, so I planted my foot on a solid piece of rubble and pushed back. My spear thrust was deflected with another swing of the hammer, and I smiled at myself as a lightning-clad dagger bisected the skull of the Dread Knight in one swift cut.
However, the Dread Knight kept moving.
The Dread Knight swung its hammer wide and forced us back. I took the opportunity and thrusted my spear at an exposed leg joint, but to no avail. That Dread Knight was truly different from the others, and with its speed and agility, it was unlikely that I'd be able to land such a precise strike…which meant I had no choice but to switch weapons.
I sent my spear into my Spatial Ring, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye. In its place was a crude iron hammer that appeared from thin air. The Dread Knight dodged my mother's swipe and carried its momentum into a swing aimed at me. The wide strike would crush my ribs, but I stepped just out of its range. Perhaps, if the Dread Knight had the anatomy of a Human, it would have reached me. But with its short, stout frame, it just didn't have that kind of range.
My hammer came down right on top of its shoulder. The force of my blow dented the armor inwards and destroyed the bone underneath. I went to raise my hammer for another crushing strike when my vision swam. The air was sucked from my lungs as something impacted the dead center of my chest. I winced in pain as I flew backward into a pile of rubble.
I rolled over, and even though I was gasping for breath, I stood back up in time to see a blur moving back toward the Dullahan. The headless Skeleton raised its stubby arm and caught its hammer as it flew toward it.
…
Did that thing throw its hammer across the entire room and hit me directly in the chest? What the hell? It can do that?
I checked my body and thanked King Maxwell silently. My armor was unscathed, and it was clear it had taken the majority of the damage for me. I shuddered to think what would have happened if I got surprised wearing no armor at all. My ribs may just be sticking out from my back.
What was most worrisome was that I didn't sense the attack at all. There was no magic in that throw or when it returned back to Dullahan. If I had my hearing, perhaps I would have at least heard it, but it was moving so fast that I doubt even I could have dodged it.
Mom continued to dismantle the other Dread Knight as Varnir and Tsarra beat the second one into submission. The only problem was that these Dread Knights were recovering rapidly, three or four times as fast as the previous undead. It was just like in the Iron Citadel. The close proximity of the Dullahan probably had something to do with it.
With my breathing in check and my damage at a minimum, thanks to my armor, I decided to focus entirely on the Dullahan. I launched a barrage of Lighting Bolts at the Dullahan, but the creature moved out of the way with its tremendous speed and agility. It was mind-boggling to see an armored Skeleton of a tiny Dwarf move in such a manner.
Another blur whizzed by me and crushed the rubble into smithereens next to me. That hammer was moving so fast that I could barely even see it with my eyes once it was airborne. Now that I was away from the others and more isolated with the Dullahan, I formed a spell core for a more deadly spell.
The air warped with smoldering heat, as the orange flames flickered and turned white. A White Fire Lance dripped flames and soared off at the Dullahan. I even led the spell and intended to hit it mid-movement, but the Dullahan's returning hammer smashed into my spell, destroying the core along with it. The following explosion kicked up dust and rock into a fiery inferno.
Lightning zipped through my body as I fed mana to my body. I closed the distance with the explosion and burst through the smoke and onto the other side. The Dullahan still had its skull cradled in one arm and its hammer in the other. I swung my crude hammer, and the Dullahan deftly dodged it. I extended my hand, and a torrent of flames spewed out to consume the Dullahan. But with a single swing of its hammer, the Dullahan swept the flames away, completely unscathed.
I exchanged blows with the Dullahan, and we dodged each others' attacks, but I was quickly overwhelmed. The Dullahan was faster than me, and it also appeared to be slightly stronger. It truly had the uncanny properties that monsters had. Perhaps in life, it was a strong and proud Dwarf warrior from an ancient time. Or maybe it was just both.
I formed more spell cores and launched bullets made of stone magic propelled by fire magic. The tiny bullets actually hit their marks and riddled the Dullahan's armor with holes. But that was all it did. Even if I damaged the bones underneath, it seemed like the Dullahan was quickly regenerating itself, and it wasn't doing anything to stop or slow it down in the slightest.
The Dullahan did something that I also hadn't expected. As it dodged one of my swings, it tossed its own head up into the air and, for the first time, gripped its hammer with two hands. I was too close to dodge it now and was forced to use my own hammer to counter its swing. The crude iron hammer practically exploded in my hand from the force of the impact, leaving the entire upper head section of it destroyed, and me with only the handle.
The Dullahan's head came back down, and the creature caught it and set it directly where it should have been. The skull itself didn't seem to be connected to anything at all and just sat floating on top of its body. Its glowing orange eyes glared at me with hatred as it continued to swing its hammer at me wildly. It even tossed its hammer at me a few times, and I was forced to block it with what little I had. I quickly tossed the destroyed hammer and continually dodged its onslaught as I tried to score some beautiful blows. However, a bolt of water slapped the Dullahan directly in the chest just as it missed a swing on me and staggered it.
I took my spear out and thrust it directly into the center of its chest. I finally managed to surprise the creature as my spear cut through its armor like a hot knife through butter, but I felt none of the usual telltale signs that I had caused any damage. However, instead of backing off, I pushed my weight forward and drove the monster backward until it lost its footing.
But, as I was about to pin it to the ground, the monster rolled back, planted its stubby armored legs on my chest, and tossed me over it. Not wanting to be without a weapon, I took my spear along for the ride as I went flying into a pile of rocks. The Dullahan was turning out to be a challenging opponent. If I was alone, I could try and use a Rail Gun to destroy it in one go. But since I was in the middle of the city and my allies were so close to me…I wasn't desperate enough to take on that risk just yet.
Besides, we were winning.
My mother had completely dismantled her Dread Knight and even tossed its only weapon far off into the rubble. The creature was putting itself back together, but it was taking some time. Varnir was keeping his pinned down with roots and constantly destroying it. My mother rushed from her fight and engaged the Dullahan. I quickly got up and rejoined the fight.
The two of us tag-teamed the Dullahan, and even with its tremendous speed and uncanny reactions, the monster was finally starting to show signs of being on the back foot. It could no longer afford to throw its hammer carelessly and it was being more defensive than before. Mom and I finally cornered the creature against a large section of rubble so it could no longer dodge backward.
We took turns striking the monster over and over again, chipping away its armor. Mom's sword sliced one of its arms off, and my spear sunk into the leg armor just above the knee. The Dullahan knelt to the ground, and Mom went for the head, but she stopped mid-swing because of a new rumbling beneath us.
Mom tossed her body into me, and we tumbled away down the rubble as something exploded out from the ground. Another one of those mole creatures burst out, but this one was three or even four times as big as the first one. The creature must have let out an ear-piercing screech, but I couldn't hear it. Mom covered her ears as the two of us stood up.
The Dullahan was standing up in the creature's rotting mouth, and even though it had no face at all, I still felt like it was smugly looking down at us. There were also more sets of rumbling as more mole creatures exploded out from the ground. They were all the exact size of the first one, being much smaller, but there were five of them now.
Damn… are they—
Mom looked up at the open sky, and I sensed a multitude of spell cores coming. The next second, a shower of spells rained down on the mole creatures. Fire, earth, ice, water, and much more saturated the area with a barrage of magic. The mole creatures were ripped apart as dust and rubble kicked up in the air.
In the sky above were the Royal Gryphon Knights, launching magic at the creatures. The spells ceased for a moment as a familiar face jumped down into the hole. Ms. Taurus, wearing bright sky-blue cobalt armor with a red Blood Iron trim and a white cape, leapt onto the giant mole monster and sent her spear directly into the creature's neck. Blood sprayed out, and the monster reeled back in pain, swallowing the Dullahan.
The other smaller moles started swarming the larger one, trying to shred Ms. Taurus to pieces, but she jumped off the larger one and started sending her spear into the head of another. The mole went limp as it fell to the ground, and she jumped off of it and moved to the next. My mother and I quickly joined the fight, but there was more rumbling as the larger mole burrowed itself back into the hole from which it came, taking the Dullahan along with it.
It seemed the Dullahan would escape, as there was no way we could chase it into its tunnels. Doing so was practically suicide, as it could just collapse on us. So we took the rest of the time to dispatch a few of the larger mole creatures, and now, with no limitations, I burned the creatures despite their magic-resistant skin.
However, some of them managed to escape back into their holes as we mopped them up. In total, three, including the largest one with the Dullahan, managed to escape in the end. The Zombies, Skeletons, and leftover Dread Knights that began emerging from the trapped ruble were being rounded up and destroyed completely by the Gryphon Knights as they perched above the hole.
Despite all the magic, I saw someone else leap from the top and straight down into the hole. Sylvia landed right next to us in the same red and black armor she wore in the tournament with a worried expression. She came right up to me and was trying to talk to me, but I couldn't read her lips because they were moving too fast, so I just pointed to my ears.
"Can't hear what you are saying," I said.
Sylvia forced me to bend at the waist, and I felt her fangs sink into my neck. The pain started to fade away from my chest, and my hearing returned to the sound of explosions and yelling.
"Are you okay?!" Sylvia shouted.
I gave my ear a rub and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you."
Sylvia blinked a few times and looked around. "Why are you acting like nothing—you know what…never mind. What even happened here? How did you get into the sewers in the first place?"
"Our outposts got attacked by undead, so we found the source and came down here. We tried to take the Dullahan down, but it escaped with the monsters it was using to burrow in the ground," I explained.
Sylvia put a hand to her head and sighed deeply. "Well…at least you weren't hurt. Is everyone else okay?"
"Yeah, everyone else should be fine. I only lost my hearing because I was the one who ignited the sewer gas," I said.
"Ignited…sewer gas…you can do that?" Sylvia questioned hesitantly.
I looked around again and nodded. "Sure seems like I did. I imagine you guys heard the explosion?"
"We did. It rattled the entire city and blew up a lot of pipes…" Sylvia said.
"Did I….hurt anyone?" I asked somewhat nervously.
Sylvia shook her head. "The damage wasn't bad. A few houses sunk into the ground, but no one died. I don't even think anyone was really hurt."
"That's good to hear," I said.
Ms. Taurus walked over to us with a smile, "You did well finding the source of the undead. But was that a Dullahan?" she asked as she looked at the giant hole in the ground.
"Yeah, it was. It was having the undead bring bodies to it so it could turn them," I said.
Ms. Taurus clicked her tongue and rested her spear against her shoulder. "It's a shame it got away…but we won't let it surprise us a second time. We have troops clearing out the sewers and connecting tunnels. It's just these damn monsters that are going to be a problem if they can dig through stuff."
"Do you have any idea what those creatures are?" I asked.
"Fodere Rats. They are native to the mountains near Krunbar. They are infamous for collapsing mining tunnels and being a general nuisance to the Dwarves…I didn't expect to see some turned undead," Ms. Taurus answered.
"How about the situation at the wall? Any developments there?" Mom asked as she walked up to us.
Ms. Taurus shook her head. "The undead have reached the walls, but we are holding them back for the most part. The Liches haven't shown themselves, and the few Corpse Giants remaining are out of range for our attacks now. However, the lesser undead has started to surround the wall, so we are adding more troops to handle it," she told us.
"Mostly okay news then," I said.
"Indeed, things are holding up. This surprise attack was unexpected, but thanks to your swift actions and that of others, the damage was minimal, and the source has fled. So why don't you go back to the castle and get some rest? We have no idea when the Liches are going to make their next move, and we may need everyone at short notice," Ms.Taurus suggested.
I looked over to Varnir and Tsarra, who were resting on some rubble. "I think that's wise. Thank you for helping us."
Ms. Taurus just smiled. "Of course. It's my job, after all."