Chapter 20: Stone Knight

Marcus was the first one to engage the Boss in combat. Without any sense of hesitation, he just rushed forwards. The Stone Knight raised its great warhammer, and slammed it back down with enough force to create a miniature crater and kicked up the ashes into the air, forming a cloud of ashes and dust.

But Marcus had clearly sidestepped the initial strike, and swung his sword towards the Knight’s gauntlet in a counter attack. Clang! The sword strike did nothing, except make a loud, bell-like sound resonate through the air. Its armor was too thick, Jacques surmised from that.

By now, everyone had gathered about their wits, and moved as well.

“Marcus, don’t try to hit its armor. Just focus on keeping its attention for as long as possible! Clara, provide firing support and aim towards its helmet!” Jacques ordered out, as he sprinted to provide Marcus some frontal support. “Bastille, hit it with your hardest hitting spell. Tell us when it’s ready!”

“Understood!” Clara answered back, as she nocked her arrows, and sent them flying towards the helmet’s gaps. But none of them were accurate enough to land from her current distance. The Stone Knight actively swinging its weapon and moving about did not help in the slightest.

Jacques had joined in the fray, but he focused exclusively on dodging the Stone Knight’s somewhat slow, but destructive strikes as best as he could. He knew that his sword wouldn’t be able to do anything against such heavy armor, much less try to stop a warhammer twice his size.

Bastille said nothing in turn, but begun to peruse his spell arsenal, his grimoire’s pages fluttering wildly as he read the flickering pages at incredibly rapid rates. The pressure was on him now; only he had enough firepower to beat their target. What beat stone and metal?

The Grimoire’s pages stopped moving. He had the answer. And now, it was simply time to begin.

***

Tobias never stopped moving. The warhammer came from above again, and in the next instance, crushed the ground right next to him. He would have been crushed if he didn’t roll at the last second. His hands snaked upwards to perform a counter thrust, but that only clanged off the stone-iron armor uselessly once more.

Maybe he should stop trying to counter attack, and only focus on stalling it? That was the advice that Jacques gave him, after all, and it made too much sense to ignore.

Behind the Stone Knight, Jacques had tried to swing his sword against the stone-iron armor, his efforts only met with the clang of metal against metal. Then again, while attacking it was ineffective, it seemed to be great at grabbing its attention, as the Stone Knight began to turn towards Jacques.

So Tobias whacked it again, and it turned to face him. And within its helmet, its eyes seemed to burn a brighter red, and his instincts screamed at him.

Then in the next moment, the Stone Knight raised its warhammer above his head. Tobias had expected another downwards strike – but he was wrong. The Knight swept its warhammer sidewards in a large arc, the flat face of the warhammer quickly sailing towards him...!

An arrow sailed towards the Knight’s helmet slits, and the hammer’s strike was thrown off course from the sudden intervention. He was able to roll beneath the skewed strike, and looked at the Knight, who roared in pain and glared at their Archer for her interference. God bless Clara, and may she live a long, happy life.

Tobias looked at the openings in its helmet. Of course... The Armor was invulnerable, but the monster underneath was more than vulnerable. That must have been why its armor was so thick to begin with.

He stood up, making himself as big of a target as possible to draw the Knight’s attention. And the red light behind its eyes lit up, as it raised its warhammer to strike again.

He needed to dodge an overhead strike as narrowly as possible. His legs were tensed, and his eyes were tracking the Knight’s movements. His plan was to use the warhammer that was brought down, and somehow climb it and stab the Knight on its face.

A wide, low sweeping blow again. Tobias knew his plan couldn’t work with that strike, so he opted to leap backwards as much as he could. He landed on his back, but he transitioned his landing into a roll, his arms springing him up to recover his stance in a moment.

The Knight’s attention was lost on him. It already turned to fight against Jacques, as it raised its warhammer above its head again. Tobias assessed the Stone Knight’s back. Much like its name, it really was encrusted with stones...!

Because it had stone handholds, he could climb it! That was a much better plan!

So he sprinted forwards, and with a grunt of effort, leapt from the ground as high as he could. His hands clutched at the stones, and he felt the stones’ edges scrape against his leather gloves. But that was why he had gloves, right? Without any more hesitation, he climbed upwards.

The Stone Knight had noticed this. The Stone Knight had begun to do something about it. And in the next moment, the Knight that he was climbing on shook itself violently, as it flailed its warhammer wildly.

But even then, Tobias had only kept his grip strong, and tried to hold on as much as he could. The intense shaking made the stones dig into his leather gloves, and it began to feel uncomfortable, gloves or not.

“Marcus! Get out of there!”

Tobias was not sure who shouted. But the next thing he knew, he felt gravity shift. His own instincts awakened for the first time, and he knew that he had to get away from the Stone Knight’s back.

So he let himself drop to the ground, landed on his feet, and rolled forwards in between the Knight’s legs, just as a massive crash happened behind him. He instantly turned around, only to see that the Knight had let himself fall to the ground, intending to crush him if he reacted just a moment too late.

But because it was lying on the ground... It was a golden opportunity. Both Jacques and Tobias rushed forwards, and climbed its torso while it was still prone. Then they raised their swords, and plunged it deeply into the helmet’s slits.

No sooner after they did that, The Knight let out a screech, as its arms moved and slapped them away from its chest. Tobias himself had landed on the ash covered ground, rolling to reduce momentum. His coat was covered in gray ashes but he was relatively alright.

Jacques was not so lucky – he had been smacked into a petrified tree, as his impact broke a huge chunk of petrified wood from the stone-like tree. He dropped to the ground with a faint thud shortly after.

“Jacques!” Clara shouted, as she released an arrow and sprinted towards the fallen Swordsman. “Marcus, cover for me!” She yelled, as she reached into her own pouches and withdrew a Healing Potion.

On the middle of the courtyard, the Stone Knight knelt, but the red, glowing eyes weren’t present anymore. It knelt on its knees, as it roared with such ferocity, Tobias’ instincts flared up to warn him.

He looked around with a narrowed glare. Warned him about what?!

And then – the ground shook. Tobias looked around again, and felt his senses tingle. The Stone Knight – its armor changed. Gone were the stones encrusted within its armor. Instead, the dust-covered metal armor was revealed in its full knightly glory.

The Knight rose to its full height again, and with another roar, slammed its weapon into the ground which made all of its previous strikes look like mere slaps in comparison.

Then it slammed it again. And again. And again, with as much power, as much force as it could. The ground trembled with each violent strike, stronger than the last, before finally – sparks flew out. The strikes removed the stones which covered the weapon, only to reveal a black metal warhammer head, encrusted with ember-like stones.

Are those... Firestones?

And with another hard pound against the ground – the warhammer made of black, scorched steel and coated with Firestones only ignited itself, and the Knight turned to look at Tobias, even if its eyes were already blinded.

Tobias met its blind glare with a glare of his own, as he stood up and readied the sword by his side. He knew that he was faster and stronger than it, even if the Knight’s warhammer was engulfed in bright, orange flames.

If he bothered to turn towards their Sorcerer, he would have had two questions to himself;

Why was Bastille’s book floating ominously in the air? And why was he surrounded by countless of symbols?

***

Confirm Spell Selection; [Incinerator]?

Affirmative.

Grimoire Red, set output to maximum.

Alright.

Proceed through the Four Steps of True Sorcery.

Assist me with this one.

Got it.

First Step – Realize the boundaries of the World.

The air is stale. It smelled like dust and ashes – These are just faded embers... waiting to be ignited once more!

The Mana Quality in the Air – Absolutely terrible. We have to provide our own Mana. Tsk.

The Ground beneath is stable – Fully cemented. It provides a solid base to withstand the Spell you have chosen.

No notable changes in this Dungeon? The Gravity is the same... The Magical Laws function the same... We are in the same layer of reality... This is just like the normal World.

Second Step – Realize the fundamentals of the World.

What do you wish?

That Stone Knight over there. I want it gone.

How would you do so?

Conjure the brightest, hottest flames until it ceases to exist.

That is a powerful enemy. Much more powerful than what you have ever faced.

I know that.

Run through the computations, and maybe you can overwrite the World itself.

Of course. I will do so. But assist me with analysis.

Understood.

What was its armor made of?

Stones and Steel.

What kind of steel?

Steel that is... enchanted to become resistant to most flames. Is fire truly the wisest course of action?

Are you mocking me? You, who know that fire is my one and only domain.

My apologies. I forgot about that fact that you’re a one trick pony.

Snide comment aside... What temperature is enough to disintegrate it?

... To say you would ‘disintegrate’ it would be currently impossible, even for maximum output.

Then is it possible to turn it into molten scrap instead?

It is within the realms of our combined might, but you only have one shot.

Good enough for me. Give me a number so we can do so.

Around 3220 Units of Calor. Or in your world’s terms; around 1,840 or so Degree Celsius.

As much as Chromium? Well, no matter – it was just enchanted steel. It wasn’t even that high of a melting point. That honor would go to Wolfram – no, wait. In this world, that honor would go to Adamantite. Of course it would.

Please focus.

My apologies.

... Give me a few minutes to calculate the formulas...

... Entropy... Thermodynamics... The boundaries between Magic and Science... Aestus-derived Symbols...

... Its melting point was similar to Chromium, was it...? Adjust the values like so...

... Finished.

It’s astounding. I’ll never be able to get used to these symbols and numbers...

Can you handle the mana cost?

These numbers are... I personally do not like this. But maximum output is my pride, therefore... My mana core is capable of providing most of it, but you’ll have to provide the rest by yourself.

How much do I need to provide?

In numerical terms... around one-thousand five-hundred Mana.

That’s... pricey. According to your calculations, that’s barely within my mana core.

You think your mana price is bad? That’s only a small fraction of mine!

I know. Kinda sorry for making you do this, Grimoire Red.

... What will I ever do with you?

Move towards our next step. We don’t have enough time to bicker while my party is barely dodging blows from that thing.

Speaking of which, there goes your friends. Ouch, that landing has to hurt. The other one seems fine, though.

If you really have time to make such idle commentary, then can you focus and charge the spell faster? My calculations are waiting for you to get ready.

Fine. Third Step – Are you ready to step into my realm? The Realms of the Gods?

Who are you to call yourself a God?

My apologies. Force of habit, it seems.

Don’t worry about it. I already trespassed their domain once before. This is nothing.

Trespassed? More like you were invited.

And now, you should just focus.

Alright. Fourth Step – Witness the World tear itself Asunder!

No need to make it sound so dramatic.

Then maybe you shouldn’t have chosen such a destructive spell in the first place.

Fair enough. Fourth Step – Change the World.

Computations are completed; formulas rechecked, numerical values recalibrated.

The mana needed to do so has been paid. The fundamentals are applied. To change the World with our Sorcery – we go.

The ground beneath me had been covered with inscriptions upon inscriptions of magical formulae, as my grimoire floated in the air. A multi-layered inscription of magical symbols surrounded the grimoire, before it opened its pages as wide as it could, pointed towards the Knight who had ignited its hammer, and shed off its stone skin.

Oh, by the way. Enjoy your vacation for now, Grimoire Red.

What a troublesome child... Don’t get yourself into any more trouble while I’m sleeping, you got that?

Got that. You got the spell fully charged now?

Yes. Go forth, this spell which would change the world...

“Incinerator!”

The World grew bright with white, incinerating flames.

***

Tobias had seen the World end that day. No, he lied. He had seen the World get enveloped in white light, and he had been forced to close his eyes.

The temperature around him quickly rose to scalding levels, but his coat managed to protect him from the heat. Tobias opened his eyes, and saw a line in the World, painted black.

The stone floor was scorched black in a wide line, originating from Bastille’s position, and extending towards the Knight’s position until it ended up against the distant courtyard wall. The scorched line set the stone on fire for a few seconds – proof of its immense, almost impossibly high heat.

And the Knight in question... still somehow managed to survive that all. Its metal armor – was viciously melted at parts, and outright obliterated in other parts. Whatever managed to survive was reduced to red-hot, liquidized metal which only seemed to stick to the monster’s surface.

The inside of the Knight revealed a specter-like entity which somehow managed to survive. It was void black, and vaguely humanoid in appearance, except its legs were too long, and too spindly; much like tendrils of darkness. Its eyes were sealed shut, its left eye had an arrow sticking out, and its right eye had deep gouges where it had been stabbed twice.

In its arms were the remnants of its armor, molten metal sticking into its inky black skin. And in its hands were the remains of its warhammer – the handle was gone, yet the warhammer’s head survived intact, glowing red-hot.

And finally, the specter who had its armor melted off – charged towards Bastille. It took three seconds to close the distance. And when it did, it raised its arm, and swept it with full force. With a solid thud, his body flew across the courtyard, before sliding across the ash-covered ground painfully.

“Bastille!” Clara screamed, as she drew her bow and let loose a shot against the Specter. The arrow landed on its head, and it seemed to freeze. That is, before it turned around very slowly, and even with its non-functioning eyes, seemed to stare at Clara’s soul.

It let out a screech, before it dropped on four legs, and scrambled towards the Archer in a mad dash.

Tobias had already moved, and got himself in between the Specter and the Archer. But it didn’t pay any attention to him, only continuing its wild sprint.

But he was faster. Tobias managed to score a deep cut into the Specter’s legs, and it quickly turned to him with malicious intent.

It quickly swiped at him with an intent to grab him, and he barely dodged it with an even quicker sidestep. And while he did, his sword lashed out again, earning another glancing cut on the Specter’s arm.

Another arrow sailed forth, and hit the Specter in its head with an audible thunk. It let out a screech of pain, but didn’t go for the Archer.

Instead, it raised its right arm and swiped it to slap at Tobias. He dodged it again by sidestepping, while counterattacking swiftly.

...!

But while he was recovering from his sidestep, the monster raised its hand, and brought it downwards, intending to pound him to the ground. It met its target with the sounds of a body crashing against the ground.

Tobias’ body fell to the ground, crumpling like a puppet whose strings were cut, and his eyes seemed to roll to the back of his head.

***

“Marcus!” Clara yelled, as she only nocked her bow again and let out arrows as quick as she could. All her friends were either unconscious, or even possibly dead. And she was the only one left conscious... maybe even alive.

While she felt her tears sting at her eyes, she held them back. Because what good was an Archer, who blinded themselves with their tears?

Arrow upon arrow was let loose, as the Specter walked towards her, with an almost relaxed expression. It dodged most of them, but when an arrow did land, it only let out a hiss of anger, before moving slightly faster.

And there it was. In front of her. While it looked blinded, its eyes still seemed to look down at her, as if mocking her for daring to challenge it. Her hands scrambled about her quiver to get another arrow, but found that she had already run out of them.

And so... her bow was dropped to the ground, as she was grabbed by the large Specter. It seemed to look at her mockingly, but she only grit her tears, refusing to let any of them fall.

If she was going to die... then she was going to do so with as much dignity as she could, while denying this monster any satisfaction from it.

And then it raised its arm, holding her above its head, and from within the inky-black face, a jagged maw emerged. It raised Clara, intending to devour her. She saw the void from within its maw, lined with countless razor finger-like tendrils for teeth, before she closed her eyes and winced.

But if she kept them open... she would have seen something glint behind the monster...