Chapter 30: The Forgotten Lands, Part Eight

Rin put her fists up.

"Do not let your guard down for a second, Rin," Xhez told her, and Rin saw a look of intense worry come over her. "This one is powerful."

"Y-Yeah, I could sort of guess," Rin replied.

[Still... It's just another skeleton. Can't be too hard to fight, if the others were easy enough for me to survive against. Even though it was pretty damn hard for me to land hits, but still.]

Beside her, Xhez drew the [Fireball] spellsign in the air, painting an upwards arrow, and that exceptionally bright fire of hers shout out from her right palm, flying toward the skeleton.

But, the fire struck a purple barrier of some sort, before ever coming into contact with the skeleton, and dissipated in the air.

"Huh?" Xhez asked, confused. "My ability did not reach it."

"... Okay, that's not good," Rin said, taking a deep breath. "Is there something invisible in front of it?"

"If so, how do we fight it?"

"Only one way to find out," Rin gulped and walked forward.

The strange skeleton knight watched her approach and it took all of the bravery in her body not to turn around and run. Even if she planned to, she felt like if she let her eyes leave this thing for one second, it would cut her head off before she could take two steps in the opposite direction.

The skeleton raised its sword, with both of its bony hands wrapped around the hilt, and Rin prepared herself. Then, the blade fell down almost too quickly for her to react. Rin managed to step to the side though and went for a punch on its head, the only part of its body that had no armor.

She learned two things then.

First, as her fist got close, she learned that whatever barrier had stopped Xhez's [Fireball] from striking it did not affect Rin's body. Second, she learned that this skeleton was just as fast as the others, if not faster. It twisted backward unnaturally, leaning out of the way of Rin's strike, and Rin barely managed to pull her fist back before the skeleton's sword rose to try to cut it off.

Rin walked back a bit as the skeleton groaned lowly.

[Okay... Let's try again.]

Rin charged toward it a second time. The skeleton watched her approach and Rin went for a series of punches, mostly hooks, and uppercuts. All of them missed as the skeleton moved out of the way of each one, making avoiding Rin's attacks look easy.

Rin's eyes widened when the skeleton suddenly spun, trying to bisect her with its greatsword, but Rin moved away just in time to avoid it.

[It's definitely faster than I am, that's for sure. How do I approach this?] She wondered as she put her fists up, while the skeleton maintained its beady red eyes on her.

[Maybe... With Essence,] Rin thought. [I think that might be the only way I stand a chance, to even land a hit. I have to pick the right time though. After I use it, I'll be so sore, killing me will be easy for this thing.]

As Rin considered her options, a ball of flame flew toward the skeleton and struck it.

"RAAGH!" The skeleton screeched as Rin looked over at Xhez, and then back at the skeleton.

[It landed?] Rin asked herself. [How?]

However, unlike the other times Xhez had landed her spells, this time, the skeleton did not disintegrate instantly, even as it had been covered in fire as a result. It turned towards Xhez and ran straight at her.

It was halfway there when Rin registered what was happening.

[Crap,] she thought as she ran Essence through her legs and sprinted towards it.

Xhez, shocked, only watched the skeleton as it ran over at her with a sword raised, ready to cut the sprite down.

Rin leaped up into the air and managed to kick the skeleton away, just before it could end Xhez's life. The skeleton rolled to the side, ending up in a crouched position, with its red eyes focused back onto Rin.

Then, it looked like it calmed down, and the skeleton took up its earlier, much calmer stance, keeping its sword by its side.

And Rin fell to the ground as she stopped the Essence from continuing to flow through her.

"Agh," she gritted her teeth, feeling her legs burn.

Beside her, Xhez was staring ahead at it, and she lifted a hand in the air. Rin, however, caught her by the wrist and pulled it down.

"No," Rin said. "Don't draw its attention, I don't think I can stop it again," Rin said, trying to ignore the residual pain in her legs.

At that, Xhez nodded, but soon, she paused and looked away. While she did this, Rin stepped forward, willing her legs to keep moving, as she put her fists up.

But Xhez called out to her.

"Rin, I hear something..."

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Rin turned toward her.

"What do you mean?"

"Something else... Another spirit calling to me."

[I don't think we can concern ourselves with another enemy right now, not when this one is still up and ready to kill us.]

As the skeleton began to approach, Rin got into position to fight.

"I-I think we should move toward it," Xhez added. "This one is different."

"Stay focused," Rin said. "We're in the middle of a fight, Xhez."

"But... right," Xhez nodded as the skeleton started jogging towards Rin. "Right."

It lifted its greatsword then, with one hand, and swung it vertically in Rin's direction. Rin dodged to the right, and the greatsword planted itself in the ground, cutting into the metal floor. Rin saw an opening and went to punch it, but the skeleton continued dodging everything Rin tried to do.

[Come... on... Just... let... me... hit you!]

The first hit Rin managed to land against it came when the skeleton raised its greatsword with both arms. Here, Rin decided against dodging, and instead, moved closer. And, finally, she landed a right elbow onto its cheekbone.

And the skeleton responded by slashing across Rin's waist, which sent a string of her blood up into the air.

Rin gasped as she fell back, the sharp pain from the cut too much for her to bear. The elbow she'd landed hadn't even fazed the skeleton, and the creature moved up then.

It got closer to Rin, lifting its greatsword over her head.

[... Crap, crap, crap.]

And then, fire struck its head. Like the previous attempt, whatever barrier had been erected the first time didn't stop it. The skeleton screeched, sounding like a genuine human scream as Rin looked over at Xhez.

Whereas before, the skeleton's entire body was covered in fire after being hit, this time, only its head caught fire, and the skeleton tried to put the flames out, flailing and moaning while the sprite ran over to Rin.

"W-We must go!" Xhez said. Rin noticed that she had the bag in her hands, the water spilling all over the ground as Xhez had run to her.

"... Do you have enough Essence to heal me?" Rin asked.

"Yes, just a little," she replied as the skeleton continued thrashing behind them.

"Do it," Rin said, trying her hardest to stand, feeling like her guts were going to spill out.

Xhez then drew the spellsign for [Heal] in the air, and Rin's injury was halfway done healing when she started running away with the sprite, hoping the skeleton wouldn't catch up.

Rin risked one glance behind her, finding that the skeleton had stopped its panicked movements, and was watching them leave with its sword held at its waist.

[... I really am weak, huh?] Rin thought as she and Xhez left the area.

"Ahead," Xhez called out, "the spirit that called to me is just a tad farther."

"Are you sure it won't be another skeleton trying to kill us?" Rin asked.

"I cannot be certain, but it did not feel the same as the others. Not in terms of its power, but its presence felt more like yours."

"... Okay," Rin nodded. "Let's see. But, first, can you finish healing me?"

"Of course," she said and Rin stopped as Xhez did the same as before, casting the [Heal] spell and placing her hands over her body.

[... Shit.]

At that moment, as Xhez's hands hovered over her and her eyes looked down at Rin with worry, the adventurer could not have felt more pathetic.

"Sorry," Rin chuckled as she felt Xhez's warm hands on her.

"For what?" Xhez asked as she looked up.

"For sucking so badly," Rin laughed, feeling nothing but self-pity. "I... I'm not very good at this. So, yeah." 

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