Chapter 99: Stepping In

Professor Kal couldn't see the expressions on the knights' faces but could tell by the way they were shifting while standing in line that they were apprehensive about the approaching monstrosity. So far, only one such insect had hatched, but there were still a few hundred bulging, veiny sacs ready to burst open at any second. Once they had, the Royal select would be greatly outnumbered, even with the remaining members of the church and city guard bolstering their numbers.

The eight-foot long, four-foot-high insectoid skittered across the hard frozen ground, closing in on the knights with their shields raised. Just as it reached the solid line of flesh and steel, it jumped up into the air and at the knight unlucky enough to be in the center of the line. Ducking his head behind his shield, the knight tried to block the creature with the thick piece of metal while the ones next to him hacked at the leaping insect.

Ignoring the sharpened blades gouging out its flesh, the monster drove its blade like legs into the armored knight. Finding little resistance from the knight's armor, the foot long blades tore through steel and flesh alike, sending up a fountain of blood that stained the nearby soldiers. Before the knight's body could hit the ground, the insect swiped its long legs to the side, catching another knight's unprotected neck and separated his head from his body.

Now covered in blood, the nearby knights furiously drove their swords into the monster's body. The monster didn't seem to care about its own life as it took every hit, only focusing on killing the next knight. Another two knights met their end before the insect was finally killed, its body curling up on itself like a dried-out spider. One monster managed to kill four knights, and injured several more, before they were able to kill it and there were hundreds more just now hatching.

The knights regrouped, being forced to step over the bodies of their fallen brethren as more of the insects burst from their eggs and made a beeline for them. Large fireballs sailed overhead, impacting the ground in front of the knights, forcing the insects to zig and zag in order to avoid them. Arrows followed shortly after, many missing completely, but a few finding their marks but doing very little in terms of damage. Holy spells strengthened the Royal Select, faint golden light emanating from the armored figures. Everyone present was doing everything they could to fight the monsters bearing down on them.

The Royal Mage finished a spell and held his hands up over his head, a wall of flame thirty feet high erupted in front of the knights, blocking off the monsters' path. The red-hot flames swirled and danced, causing the entire area to heat up, driving away the winter chill. Agonizing screeches could be heard from behind the roaring flames as dozens of the insects were engulfed in the spell. Smart enough to not rush to their deaths, the other monsters instantly turned in either direction, skittering off to go around the blazing wall.

One step ahead of the insects, the Royal Mage redirected his spell to either side of them, cutting off their path once more. Unfortunately, even though he was one of the strongest mages in the Kingdom of Morgania, his mana supply was not infinite. By extending the wall of flame to cover the flanks of the knights and those behind them, the overall thickness of the wall went down dramatically. A few of the insects threw themselves into the now thinned wall, sacrificing themselves, prodding for weak spots.

Many of them were burned alive doing so, but a few managed to break through relatively unharmed. Seeing their brethren breaching the flames, the monsters all rushed towards the thinnest parts, climbing over each other to be the first ones to spill blood. The Royal Mage had his hands full in maintaining the spell, he was constantly adjusting it to counteract the insects constant prodding but was unable to keep up with the flood of bodies.

More and more of the vicious insects broke through the wall, the mages that accompanied the Royal Mage were raining down fire and brimstone atop the monsters in an effort to kill them before they could tear through the line of knights. Even though they were powerful mages themselves, their battle experience was severely lacking, the fear of the enemy caused many of their spells to fizzle out before doing any damage.

"Shouldn't you be helping them? You'd probably get more gold if you saved their lives." Ryan stated as he and the Professor watched the pitched battle from a safe distance.

Some of the insect by now had reached the waiting knights, tearing into the line, rending steel and flesh alike. Heated battle cries mixed together with howls of agony as the well-disciplined line fell apart and morphed into a quagmire of brutality and stinking death. The Knight's Captain was still atop his horse, barking orders and doing his leveled best to keep his men together.

Most of his men had never seen a true battlefield, the last several decades were peaceful, the only enemies were groups of bandits and the occasional small skirmish along the border with the two neighboring countries. But even if they did have any experience with fighting, it would have been against other humans, not relentless insectoid monsters that only desire was to slaughter.

"I suppose you're right, boy. Alright then, time for maximum effort!" He said to himself, clapping his hands together.

Professor Kal slowly made his way into the open plaza, seemingly like he was taking a Sunday stroll, enjoying the sights of the city. His dark purple robe billowed in the winter breeze, its iridescent mithril thread glimmering in the dim winter sunlight. The massive monster was still standing where it had been, enjoying the sights of its minions tearing through the human warriors. Noticing the lone man walking toward the middle of the battlefield, it turned towards him.

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Following a silent command, a half dozen of the man sized insects split from the rest and scurried towards him. Professor Kal's pace didn't falter even as they closed in, his only reaction was to raise his right-hand level with the ground, pointing toward his attackers. Closing his fist, the lead insect imploded in on itself. Its long, thick body crumpled like a tin-can, spilling hot guts and steaming blood onto the ground. Its blade like limbs bent at odd angles, sickening crunches filling the chaotic air.

Two more pushed past their mangled comrade, their sharp legs gouging the stone paved plaza as they did so. With his next step, Professor Kal stamped on the ground, large cracks formed in the stone, spiderwebbing their way to the onrushing monsters. With a thunderous crack, the ground split open as a massive fissure appeared beneath them, swallowing them whole. Just as quickly as it appeared, the fissure slammed shut, sending a shockwave across the entire city and out into the countryside that could be felt for miles.

With such a show of force, Professor Kal had drawn quite a bit of attention to himself, more of the hideous insects pulled away from the faltering mismatch of troops and headed toward the lone man. Even the towering behemoth that had spawned the monstrosities gave him its undivided attention, ignoring the others as it sensed the threat that he posed.

The final three monsters leapt over the freshly closed fissure, the distance between them and Professor Kal was only a few dozen feet. With a wave of his hand, earthen spikes rose up to meet two of the airborne insects, impaling them on sharpened spears of stone. The final one thrust its long legs forward, stabbing its blade like limbs deep into Professor Kal's chest.

Ryan flinched, closing his eyes to the sight, thinking that if he couldn't see it unfold then it wasn't real. How could his invincible teacher be done in so quickly? And with him gone, who was going to stop the monster that he had foolishly released upon the world?

"This robe is just the neatest." A calm voice said, reaching Ryan's ears even from across the plaza.

Ryan opened his eyes to see that the insect that had fatally stabbed his professor lay dead at the man's feet, blue blood seeping from self-inflicted stab wounds. Ryan smacked his own forehead, how could he have forgotten about the robe that had started this entire journey, the one that had killed Paladin Hargrove so easily. Ryan leaned forward, watching as his teacher took on an army of monsters.

…..

Professor Kal stopped his advance, he eyed the dozens of monstrosities tearing up the ground as they rushed towards him. Killing the handful of insects had taken very little effort on his part, they were slightly more trouble than the demons were back in Swayzee, but not much more. Now though, the numbers he was facing could prove to be problematic, so he decided to call upon a few helping hands.

A massive magical array spread out beneath his feet, smaller magical arrays began to grow off of the larger one, covering an area that took up half of the plaza. The teal light being given off by the spinning runes and geometrical shapes rivaled the radiant light from the wall of flames still burning some two-hundred yards away.

Clawing their way out of the stone ground, eyes burning with animosity, were over two hundred death knights standing solemnly with jagged swords drawn. Seeing the sudden arrival of so many foes, the incoming monsters let out an intimidating hiss as they picked up even more speed. As the first of the monsters tore into the line of death knights, it was made clear that these soldiers were on a completely different level than the ones on the side of the living.

Even as the blade like legs of the insectoids tore into their rotted flesh, not a sound could be heard from the death knights. They hacked and stabbed at the attacking monsters, their armor being cut open and their bones cleaved, but still they fought on. Blue blood ran across the frozen ground like a river, filling the air with the reek of copper.

A death knight finally fell, its helmeted head separated from its bulky frame. Even with overwhelming strength and unending stamina it was impossible not to suffer casualties.. But no matter, Professor Kal simply waved his hand, summoning forth a replacement, keeping his fighting force in top form as the enemies were slaughtered one after the other.

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