Alatariel Meneldur and some other girl at school, these two chapters will be for you.
Chapter 21: Intertwine
That same moment, in the streets of Glastheim…
"Daniel, your division was ordered to fall back! What in the hells are you doing?"
A huntress yelled to a mounted knight who had just jumped into a band of dagger-wielding skeletons.
"I told you I'm taking them down! I'm not so cowardly unlike someone I've heard of, Inara."
Inara Gibran was the recently promoted commander of the 10th Hunter Division. Ever since the endpoint of the Elven Extermination war, she had been a versatile huntress. Long brown hair fell to her upper back while sharp green eyes glared at the knight.
Daniel Cypher, on the other hand, was a knight and was once charged with guarding the castle. However, since the shortage of soldiers in the war with the elves, he was assigned to the frontal waves.
"Just fall back with Ahrandia and the others. Let me do this!"
The knight's saber spun in his armored hand as he drew it. His horse screeched to a halt as he swung his sword at the nearest undead, cutting its skeletal body in two halves. A barrage of silver-tipped arrows flew above him and tore down the remaining skeletons.
Before Daniel could spur his mount to charge, the towering figure of a khalitzburg landed on the pavement beside him. A bloody rapier gleamed in the dusk skies.
'Damn!'
From behind the knight, Inara aimed her bow at the skeletal monster's skull and launched a silver-tipped arrow that punched through its rusted helmet. The holy metal scorched part of the bone-construct's head.
"Inara, more undead from the west road!"
Daniel didn't bother looking if the huntress heard him and spurred his mount to leap at the khalitzburg while he slashed at the right arm, severing it completely. The skeletal monster stumbled backwards but its left arm raised another sword unexpectedly and swung it at the knight.
'No!'
Before the bloody rapier can reach its target, it bounced off Daniel's shield. The force of the blow sent the knight careening backwards, causing him to nearly fall of his mount. Inara glanced at him before firing at another zombie.
"Let's go! This street is lost! Knight Commander ordered us to…"
Daniel grunted before raising his sword for another charge.
"To hell with him. I receive orders from Lord Knight Necron now…wait, what are YOU still doing here?"
Inara shot an arrow at a wraith, hitting it in the torso and sent it falling to the ground. Before the huntress could answer, a group of floating desiccated corpses emerged with wooden crosses strapped to their backs.
"That's not important right now! Half of my division was destroyed and we're seriously outnumbered."
Behind her, Daniel charged to the opposite direction, to the khalitzburg and swung his saber at the skeletal monster's femur. The leg bone was cleaved apart and the skeletal monster collapsed.
The knight turned and raised his shield protectively above his head then charged towards the floating corpses.
"Fine, I'll watch your back."
"My back's just fine, Daniel."
'Yeah right…'
A flurry of arrows peppered down a few scarlet-robed undead while the knight slammed the flat of his saber into one of them. Flames exploded from his weapon as he whirled it at them once again.
A dozen burning corpses slowly descended when Daniel sprang out of their group. The knight looked back at Inara who was busy launching arrows at the incoming undead.
"It's pointless to go on here. Let's push on to the monastery."
The knight rode off to the direction of the monastery.
"Y-you! Wait…"
The huntress looked around her. The other roads were blocked off not only by undead but also by the large, hulking minorii.
'Can you believe this guy?'
She readied another arrow before turning and sprinting to where Daniel had ridden across. From the corner of her eagle-like eyes, the huntress could see zombies clambering out of the building windows and some of them even had dismembered body parts hanging from their jaws.
After running past a few more blocks, Inara found herself in front of an alley that was splashed with blood all over. Fallen dark-robed priests probably Abraxil's followers were littered all over the ground. Many of the corpses had their heads twisted off with what seemed like a human hand.
"Lord Necron can be as merciless to traitors as this. His right arm is a menace…"
A deep roaring sound suddenly rang through the alley. Inara quickly turned and continued her pace; an arrow was already locked in her bow.
'I'm in hostile territory. That Daniel…'
……………………………………………..
A screen of oridecon-tipped arrows bounced off Daniels shield as the knight charged alone against a band of raydric-hunters.
'Damn, I didn't want to fight them!'
The knight shifted his stance and raised his saber. For some reason, the suits of armor that used to be the raydric-hunters kept firing only to have their arrows bounce off his shield.
'At least they're a lot stupid now…'
He swung his saber at a raydric-hunter wearing a commander's armor. The force of his blow was that of a Bowling Bash, sending the raydric crashing against its companions.
Daniel knew that he had no time to finish all of them now that the monasteries will soon be overrun by raydrics. He knew that other knights would come of course but he had to do his part for the sake of troop morale.
His horse leapt over broken suits of armor and human corpses. The knight scanned the buildings as he rode past them. Upon seeing corpses hanging from the windows he began to wonder why he chose this road when the Knight Divisions used the other path.
All of a sudden, Daniel heard the sounds of at least a dozen more hooves belonging to armored horses from behind him.
"Knights? But how did they…?"
He turned his head to look at the newcomers. They weren't knights.
"What are these things? Of all the luck…"
Six gruesome-looking knights mounted on armored spectral horses rode behind him with their claymores drawn.
"These things are out for blood…!"
Daniel spurred his mount to run faster. He couldn't take six of these creatures alone. The hollow riders also hastened up. Their spectral horses were powerful but weren't bathed in flames as Raydric General's.
The knight's amethyst eyes fixed on the pursuers. They were slowly nearing him.
'I have to reach the monastery soon or they'll rip me to shreds!'
The monastery was still a fair distance away and the monks have abandoned it at the orders of Champion Osiris. If this was going to be a mission to recapture the lost parts of the city then it would be the ideal spot.
The sound of armored hooves echoed across the streets as they leapt over bloody corpses that were scattered around. Daniel tightened his grip on his saber before he saw an intersection.
'I could lose them in here…'
The knight grabbed the reins and tried to urge his mount to turn but that was when he spotted a band of raydrics blockading the road.
'No!'
Before he could react, however, an orb of lightning flew above him and struck a defense turret. The projectile knocked off a large part of the structure, sending it tumbling down towards the "knights".
Daniel saw this opportunity and turned to face the scattered "knights". One of them that had not been crushed by stones charged. The knight whirled his saber at it but the sword met the "knight's" claymore. Daniel withdrew his weapon and slammed his shield into the enemy's chest.
Another "knight" emerged from the dust and charged. Two more followed. Daniel spurred his mount to spring up threateningly to let his saber slice past the nearest knigh-like creature's helmet.
The knight waved his sword about as the recently slain rider collapsed. The saber met the breastplate of another attacker and he drove it down. Before the knight could withdraw his weapon, the last attacker raised its claymore for a killing stroke.
Daniel stared in horror as the claymore fell towards his head. That was when a silver-tipped arrow flew out of nowhere and struck the creature on the helmet and knocked it off its mount.
"Do not be so reckless…"
From behind the debris, Inara emerged with her bow armed. Daniel let out the breathe he was holding and sheathed his saber.
"It was only a moment of weakness, that's all."
"Huh? Look who's talking."