The guard, a Level 97 Warrior, placed her hand against a rune on the wall, and a moment later Duncan could hear a clanging sound from multiple sources in the Temple.

“Follow me, please,” said Josef. “We have a warded room where Bente will be safe.” He led them through a door and down a circular staircase, then into another passageway. Suddenly the temperature dropped dramatically. Josef said, “Ware!” and placed his hand on Bente’s shoulder. A sphere of white light surrounded the priest and the girl.

Duncan equipped his dragonskin armor and his Necrobane sword, thinking for a split second before his spirit sword appeared in his off-hand. He looked around, alert for marauding undead.

Two greyish ghostlike creatures flew into the hall through the ceiling. They had beaked faces, fluttering cloaks, and a dagger in each hand. They dove unerringly for Bente and bounced off the sphere of light.

Duncan swept his spirit sword through the closest monster, feeling more resistance than he usually did. The ghost felt almost solid to his spirit sword. It howled and slashed at him with its wicked black daggers. He placed a fold in space in front of the first dagger, and it slammed into it, stopping dead. Interesting! Apparently even spiritual weapons or whatever those are can’t be in two places at once, so the fold stops them.

A bitter cold swept over him as the second spectral assassin (as he’d later discover they were called) slashed him with its daggers. The attack completely ignored his armor and tore a line of cold through his belly. His Assessment told him his health had dropped noticeably from the attack, though all he felt was the biting cold. Something like a spiritual attack, then.

His necrobane sword passed through the monster, doing no damage. Duncan hit the first one with a Mind Spike to see if he could stun it and if it would take mental damage. It froze, and his Assessment showed the attack was very effective. A Blade Echo with his spirit sword cost significantly less mana and did more damage, but the stun would be worthwhile. He followed up the Mind Spike with two attacks from the spirit sword and took another blow in the back from the second assassin.

Duncan Blinked to the other side of the sphere protecting Josef and Bente, and regenerated his health, noticing that it cost far more of his mana than he expected. Ouch. Not sure I can win a battle of attrition here, even with Leech Mana constantly active. The spectral assassins both swung at Bente through the sphere of light, and all their attacks bounced off. Inside, Josef appeared calm, while Bente buried her face in his robe.

Duncan hit both assassins with Mind Spikes, then Blinked behind the one he’d already wounded and attacked with his spirit sword and Blade Echoes. The moment they moved, he used Mind Spike again and continued his attacks. I don’t know if the double damage against undead with the Necrobane sword applies to attacks with the spirit sword or Mind Spikes. But I can’t really afford to experiment against these.

A few more repetitions of the stun and slash pattern turned the first assassin into a pile of dust and Duncan turned his attention to the second. The guard who’d been in the hallway upstairs came through the door behind them and immediately rushed forward to help. A white aura burst out from her and the assassin appeared more solid.

Duncan took a tentative swing with his Necrobane sword and was pleased to find it bit into the assassin. He struck with another Mind Spike and then Blade Echo attacks from both swords. Ingrid also struck with a glowing white sword.

The spectral assassin shot up towards the ceiling, looking to escape. Duncan landed another Mind Spike to stop it, then he and Ingrid both attacked. A white beam from Josef disintegrated the creature, and he said, “Let’s keep moving. The warded room is not far. Fourth door on the left.”

“We’re being pressed hard upstairs,” said Ingrid as they rushed down the hall. “Three Liches, a dozen bone golems, some plague belchers and more of those spectral assassins. A minute later with the warning, and we’d have been overrun. As it is, we’re just trying to hold out until help arrives from the Duke’s forces.”

“They are here for the child,” said Josef. “Once she is safely warded, we will join the battle upstairs.” They reached the door to the warded room and Ingrid opened it. Inside were four more spectral assassins. Josef immediately used his Sphere of Light Technique again, and he and Bente were immobile in the hallway, surrounded by the protective Technique.

“We can’t activate the wards whilst the undead are in there,” said Ingrid. Her white aura suffused the area again as she and Duncan leapt to meet the onrushing spectral assassins. Ingrid bashed the first assassin with her shield and followed up with a cut from her sword. Duncan hit his target with a Mind Spike and attacked with both his Necrobane sword and spirit sword, Blade Echoes smashing into the assassin behind each blade. He Blinked further into the room, keeping his eyes on the assassins.

The spectral assassins ignored both of them to attack Bente, who remained safely ensconced in Josef’s Technique. They circled the sphere, dragging their blades across it, and Josef began to look alarmed. Duncan used another Mind Spike and continued to hammer his target. Nothing else I can do to these. I just have to whittle them down as fast as I can, and hope we get them before they break that sphere.

Ingrid appeared to be in the same boat – her aura made the spectral monsters vulnerable to physical attacks, but she could only bash with her shield and cut with her glowing sword. Still, they continued to hack away at their targets. Duncan’s first target fell, and he moved on to the one Ingrid was working on, deciding that reducing the number of attackers on the sphere faster was the best course of action. The second one dropped, and they switched to a third. Inside the Sphere of Light, Josef looked calmer again. Bente kept her face hidden.

The third and fourth spectral assassins were killed in the same way, neither deviating from their attempts to crack Josef’s shield to get at Bente. The moment the last assassin burst into a cloud of dust, Josef dropped his sphere and ushered Bente into the room. “Ingrid, will you stay with Bente, please? Her safety is of paramount importance.”

“Of course, Archdeacon,” Ingrid replied. Josef ushered Duncan out of the room and activated the wards. A light blue haze filled the room.

“They will have to bring down the entire temple to take down those wards,” Josef said. “Bente is as safe as we can make her for now. We must eliminate the attackers immediately to ensure her continued safety.” He led Duncan down the hall to another staircase up. They ran up the stairs together and emerged into bedlam.

Three Liches floated near the temple entrance, acting as artillery. They looked very similar to each other – all looked like dehydrated men wearing fancy robes with magnificent embroidery, all with glowing green eyes. The dehydrated skin stretched over their skulls made it hard to see facial features that would differentiate them. Thick beams of necrotic energy crashed into the white shields and auras of the Church warriors. In front of them, almost a dozen Bone Knights smashed their weapons into those same shields and auras and massive bloated corpses of some sort belched green gas into the air as they too attacked the defensive line of the Church warriors. Even as Duncan and Josef arrived, the Liches focused on a single target and overpowered his defensive aura. The Church Warrior rotted where he stood, then collapsed.

“I should be able to cripple one, if they behave normally,” Duncan said, “See if you can blast the one I hurt.” Without waiting for an answer, Duncan Blinked into the air above the Bone Knights, summoned a sword to fly on, and hung there just a moment.

“You! DIE!” screamed one of the Liches. That’s the one I’ve fought before. Duncan opened a fold in space in front of him, aiming the output at one of the Liches he’d not seen before, in case his friend had learned to dodge after the last time he pulled this trick. Three beams of necrotic energy flashed across the room and entered his fold in space, redirected to obliterate Duncan’s target. Guess there’s no need for Josef to target that one.

Duncan Blinked down to the ground, putting a Plague Belcher between him and the Liches. He struck it with both swords, inflicting some serious wounds. He Blinked away immediately, appearing beside another Plague Belcher, again keeping it between him and the Liches. As long as these continue to beat on the barrier the Church warriors are maintaining, I can wreak some havoc here. He attacked his new target with both swords, then Blinked back to the previous one.

“Kill him!” shrieked the Lich who’d faced Duncan before. A third of the creatures turned towards Duncan. Well, that’s good, too, I guess. Less strain on the Church warriors. Maybe they can attack a little now.

“Focus the barrier, you fool!” the other Lich responded. It had a much deeper voice than the first one. Duncan Blinked about ten meters directly above the head of the Lich that wasn’t targeting him and attacked the back of its head through a fold in space, using each sword in turn. Then he Blinked down behind the other Lich and immediately Blinked away again, without attempting to hit it. A ball of darkness burst from the Lich as it tried to catch him attacking. Duncan was barely able to Blink out in time; the second Lich was caught in the blast.

A beam of white light struck the injured Lich, and Duncan’s assessment showed it was badly wounded. Unfortunately, he had three Bone Knights and two Plague Belchers bearing down on him, and he had to keep moving. He Blinked back to the first Plague Belcher he’d attacked, which was still trying to break the barrier the Church Warriors were maintaining. He stabbed it twice more but got caught in an ice storm cast by the Lich targeting him.

He Blinked back above the more disciplined Lich and opened a fold in space to attack it again. The Lich surrounded itself in a sphere of inky darkness, but Duncan’s fold in space had already opened up inside it and he was able to strike it once before Blinking away again.

The Lich targeting him was firing bolt after bolt of necrotic energy his way, and he was forced to keep dodging. While he did, Josef hit the other Lich’s shield with a bolt of white energy, dispelling it. Several of the Church warriors hurled ghostly hammers at the Lich, hurting it. It floated behind the one targeting Duncan and re-shielded itself.

Duncan continued to Blink randomly around the room, occasionally targeting one of the Plague Belchers attacking the barrier, keeping well away from the ones on foot chasing him and avoiding the necrotic bolts from the enraged Lich attacking him.

Josef had begun targeting undead that were trying to beat the barrier down. He would hit one with his beam of white light (holy energy, Duncan would later learn) and then several of the Church warriors would follow up with hammers made of mana. Slowly, the tide began to turn in the favor of the defenders.

Duncan Blinked into a corner near the temple entrance and tried to strike the badly injured Lich through a fold in space that bypassed the protective sphere around it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sense inside the sphere to place the second part of the fold. He Blinked away again before the Lich targeting him could land a beam of necrotic energy on him. I don’t understand – I could bypass the other one’s necrotic shield at the Academy. Ugh - mana’s starting to run low from all the Blinking. Haven’t had to Mind Spike or heal yet, which is a relief, but all this Blinking is slowly eating away at my mana pool.

The undead targeting Duncan gave up the chase and returned to attacking the barrier. Duncan immediately Blinked near the Liches and attacked the unprotected one through a fold in space. Josef struck the same one with a beam of holy energy, and it too summoned a shield of necrotic energy in reaction. It fired a necrotic beam through its own shield and struck Duncan, who had expected the Lich’s shield to block attacks both in and out. Bollocks! He spent entirely too much mana to regenerate himself, Blinked sideways and tried to strike the Lich through a fold in space. It worked, and Duncan’s swords struck deep into the Lich’s body. So this Lich can attack out through its shield and I can bypass the shield with space magic. The other is just turtled up, not attacking, and I can’t get through its shield at all. Different Techniques?

The second Lich dropped its shield and fired a necrotic beam at the barrier, breaking through and striking a Church warrior, who collapsed to the ground. Josef put up the same large barrier Duncan had seen at the Academy in response. The rest of the defending warriors sagged in relief, stepping back and dropping their own shields and auras for a moment. Oh good! It’s me, two Liches, and a dozen high level undead on this side of the barrier!

Duncan turned his attention to the Lich that had been turtled up because it had been critically injured. His Assessment showed it was fully healed. That’s… less good. He used Mind Spike on the Lich that had targeted him earlier, since it was still injured, then took the time while it was stunned to attack it twice with each sword. The other Lich attacked Josef’s barrier twice in the meantime, both of its attacks dissipating harmlessly.

The Church warriors behind Josef’s shield were focusing the undead down one at a time. Apparently, the shield was permeable to Holy energy, so the ghostly hammers the warriors threw could pass through the barrier to strike the undead, whose attacks were stopped entirely by the barrier. They all targeted a single undead until it died, then moved on to another en masse.

Duncan used Mind Spike again, and once more was able to strike freely at the Lich while it was stunned. It showed as critically injured to Duncan’s Assessment Technique. Keeping the wounded Lich between himself and the uninjured Lich, he stunned it again the moment it recovered from his previous Mind Spike, then attacked again through a fold in space until the Lich dissolved into a cloud with a shriek that hurt Duncan’s spirit and fled out of the temple.

One Lich, seven bone knights, and one Plague Belcher to go. I could probably solo this lot now, if I had a full mana pool. C’mon Josef – show some aggression. Duncan hit the remaining Lich with a strong Mind Spike, then followed up with some sword strikes. The Lich recovered faster than Duncan expected and caught him with a necrotic beam.

Duncan Blinked away and regenerated. Argh. Down to a fifth of my mana after that. This one feels stronger than the one I’ve been fighting. He Blinked back to the last remaining Plague Belcher and attacked it, keeping it between him and the Lich. It belched a poisonous cloud on him as he arrived. I’m off my game. Should have seen that coming. He hit the Belcher twice then Blinked to the far end of the attackers’ line and removed the affliction, cursing under his breath at the mana expenditure.

Behind the Lich, a group of ten humans charged into the temple and attacked it. A burst of necrotic energy flooded out from the Lich, engulfing the attackers, and Duncan could hear some of them scream. The attackers spread out around the Lich, three of them staggering back behind their allies, where a healer could take care of them. Josef dropped the large barrier and the Church warriors rushed forward to engage the Bone Knights and remaining Belcher.

Josef hit the Lich with a beam of holy energy, and two other casters behind the Church front line added their own spells. Duncan attacked the Bone Knight closest to him, trying to keep it between him and the Lich. He conserved his mana, attacking with Blade Echoes but not utilizing folds in space or Blinks, keeping Leech Mana active.

Working with the Church warriors to double team the Bone Knights, Duncan methodically killed four of the undead while the Church casters focused on the Lich along with the Duke’s forces. “You okay, Duncan?” he heard Josef call.

“Pretty much out of mana,” he replied. One of the casters gestured in his direction, and he felt a small infusion of energy. He continued to fight the Bone Knights conservatively, keeping an eye on the Lich, which was faring much better than he’d expected. Josef was hitting it with occasional holy beams, but nothing else that landed seemed to be affecting it much. It was doing significant damage to the Duke’s men, as well – several of them had fallen.

Duncan’s mana continued to tick up, and with only two Bone Knights remaining, he decided to switch back to targeting the Lich. He pulled one of his few mana potions from his storage and drank it. Oh, that tastes awful. Then he hit the Lich with a Mind Spike, Blinked to about ten meters from it and attacked through a fold in space, thrusting at the top of its head with both his Necrobane sword and his spirit sword. The Blade Echoes that followed did quadruple the damage of the initial strikes, and the Lich’s health began to drop in Duncan’s Assessment.

One of the Duke’s men moved in front of Duncan with a tower shield, saving him from having to Blink constantly to avoid potential necrotic beams. Josef added more holy beams, and Duncan chained Mind Spikes and Blade Echo attacks. The Lich used its protective sphere again, but Josef’s beam nullified it and the onslaught continued, the other two Church casters and several of the Duke’s men adding their spells. After about twenty seconds, in which Duncan almost completely ran himself out of mana, the Lich finally burst into a cloud and disappeared out the temple door.

The final Bone Knight fell as well, and the fight was over.