As the last of the skeletons around the crew leader turned to ash, Cedric turned to three of them and winked. “You found the weakness,” he said, laughing.

Daven nearly dropped his bow trying to send him a thumbs-up back.

They hadn’t won the day yet, though. A few feet away, the skeletons suddenly broke out of their stupor and started bashing away at the golden shield. Valerian took another step back. Even from where he stood, Alex could see sweat beading on Valerian’s brow. He grunted every time a few of the monsters coincidentally hit the shield at the same time.

The mob seemed to sense that too, bunching up in huge numbers on the other side. There had to be some thirty Wooden Skeletons there, striking again and again against the shield like a horde of mindless zombies.

“Let me deal with the lackeys first.” Cedric walked up to stand beside Valerian. There was a sense of supreme confidence in the way he drawled out the words, as if all this time he’d just been playing around. He twirled the spear over his head in a show of dexterity, then set his spear ahead of him in a stance Alex hadn’t seen before. “You can drop the shield, Val”

“What?” It was Valerian who said that through gritted teeth, but Alex heard Diana whisper the same words. Was he about to power up like a main character or something?

“Quick already,” Cedric said. “I got this.”

Valerian shot Cedric a glare over his shoulder, then did the next best thing to shrugging when you were holding back an army with your shield arm. Then the giant golden shield broke away as if it never were, producing a sound like fine crystal shattering in the wind.

The skeletons in the front lines stumbled forward as their strikes met empty air instead of solid resistance. Before they could take another step, Cedric was already swinging. His spear cut from the side as if aiming at nothing in front of him, but in that split second the bronze blade of his spear shone a bright gold, as if a halo from the heavens came down to illuminate it.

A golden shadow rose from behind his swing like an afterimage of his movement, a sharp blade of pure light forming in the air. It expanded out, wider than Valerian’s shield had been, then it flew forward. The force was so great the first skeletons had their spines shattered rather than sliced, all along the line.

Slack-jawed, Alex watched as the energy sword, or whatever that was, cut through the rest of the skeletons like they were nothing. A surgeon’s knife through flesh, only they were wood in this case. Skeleton parts clattered on the ground, weapons and hip bones and femurs, until the attack soared past the last of them and dissipated in the air.

There were so many of them that when their bodies broke into black dust, it burst up in a cloud that covered their view of the clearing. The others looked numbly at the back of the crew leader.

“I didn’t know Lancers could do that,” Alex said into the silence.

The spell broke and Cedric let out a laugh. “I can’t, really.” Despite the levity, a hint of weariness had seeped into his voice. Cedric turned, spear in hand, and pointed a finger at the blade. Alex and the siblings walked up to join them, and to the surprise of the crew, it wasn’t bronze anymore—its color had become a dull gray like any old iron. But on the non-cutting edge, small grooves ran all along the inside. Runes.

“But my baby here sure can,” he said, placing a kiss on the haft of the spear.

“Couldn’t you have started with that?” Alex asked dryly. He was about ready to go back to the inn already. His whole body felt sore and heavy.

“And where would be the fun in that?” Cedric gave them a too-bright smile.

“Why didn’t you say you had a super spear before, man?” Daven said. He sidled up to Cedric and slung an arm over the crew leader’s shoulder. “Can I borrow it? I want to try the whole cutting air thing. Please? Just once?”

Cedric only laughed.

Surprisingly like her brother, Diana crowded around Cedric too.“How does it work?” She almost raised a hand to grab the spear but seemed to stop herself. “I’ve never seen runes that can do… this. It’s not supposed to do this.”

Cedric chuckled. “These runes are different from the ones you know,” he said, “not that you’d be able to read them anyway. But this is hardly the time for a lecture.” He nodded to the other side of the clearing as the dust slowly disappeared.

Alex turned his head.

Oh, right. The ten feet tall monster was still there. And it seemed as surprised as they were that the Wooden Skeletons had been decimated in one blow.

“Perhaps we should consider a more combined approach this time,” Valerian said. It was only phrased like a suggestion. The lines of his face seemed deeper than they had been earlier today. He, too, looked exhausted.

Cedric was wise enough to comply. “Very well, though it won’t be much of a challenge now that I know where to strike it. We can go all out, but I suggest you three keep your distance from it. I’m not sure you would survive getting hit by the bastard, even if it’s a fluke.”

xx

They hit the Sage Treant with everything they got.

Alex had pointed out it needed to have its staff physically touching the ground to raise more of the skeletons, so that’s what they focused on. The Treant was only able to bring a half-dozen more of the level seven monsters before Cedric and Valerian were all over it.

Alex certainly didn’t mind dusting three of the skeletons on his own when they were distracted trying to protect their summoner. Seeing as the monsters were still a few levels higher than him, he was sure they made for good exp. In fact, Cedric taking down all of them on his own was a true shame. Having the crew leader and Valerian act as human shields as he safely farmed the skeletons had been a blessing, now that he thought of it.

The last skeleton still on the field was cut to pieces by one of Diana’s air traces, and then there was only the Sage Treant left. Cedric and Valerian acted like a well oiled machine as they darted in and out of its guard, diverting the monster’s attention whenever it got too close to hitting one of them.

Unlike the Wooden Skeletons, however, the Treant wasn’t dumb. It knew its weakness well enough to defend it, especially after Cedric’s first attempt at reaching up with his spear to cut at the monster’s face. It kept its staff on a high guard, ready to slap down any attempt to reach its face, as most of their attacks on its body were useless against its thick cloak.

The only other way to break through its defenses would be to strike in between the fold of its cloak; but for a monster that big it was surprisingly quick on its feet, and it kept up well against even Cedric. Their dance was a brutal one, shields and spears thumping and clashing against staff. Each step of the Treant was worth two of the humans, and it used its reach well by always circling around the two of them.

Alex thought he saw an opening once, but after his first fire arrow nearly hit a jumping Cedric, he and the siblings refrained from attacking outright. The exchange between the two second-rankers and the Treant uninterrupted for another minute before Diana spoke up.

“I have an idea,” she said. “I’m sure Cedric will understand it as soon as he sees it too.”

“What do you want us to do?” Alex asked.

“Cause a distraction on its flanks. Don’t aim for the head, leave that to Cedric. It doesn’t matter if you hit the cloak, it only matters that you distract it for a second.”

“Fine,” Daven said, an arrow already in hand. “When do we hit?”

“You’ll know.”

Alex gave her a tight nod and set off, circling wide to the right. Daven went left, staying just as far away. With how fast the Treant was, neither of them had any intention of coming close to the monster. Cedric was right. One hit like he’d taken in the beginning of the fight and any of them would have to be carted back to the village in pieces.

He pulled on his power as he got into position, though even that was easier said than done. The fight had moved them to nearly the other side of the clearing. Cedric and Valerian tried to corner the Treant like a pack of wolves, but the monster was slippery. And any full swing of his staff had to be dodged or blocked head on. That gave it some breathing room every time.

A sound much like a gong reverberated in the air as the wooden head of the staff crashed against Valerian’s shield. The paladin rocked back with the force, but as Alex was starting to notice, the man knew how to hold on. Cedric chose that moment to thrust at the masked head, spear flashing, but the Sage Treant spun its staff in the air expertly and batted the thrust away.

Diana acted then. As she said, it was hard to miss. The earth rumbled like an empty stomach, and something like a wave rolled out from beneath her toward Cedric and Valerian.

A bright flare exploded out of Alex’s hand as soon as he saw it, and the projectile zipped away toward the side of the Treant the next moment, hissing through the air like a firework. It was a useless spell in combat, in reality, something Alex had made more as a signal flare than anything. It burned a terribly bright orange, but it was more bark than bite.

On the other side, Alex heard a thwang and saw a trio of arrows shoot out all at once. Daven certainly wasn’t trying for accuracy here—which was good. The two attacks converged at the same time. Alex swore he saw the recognition in the Sage Treant’s eyes when it caught the incoming missiles in its periphery.

And he saw Diana’s plan too. Her earth wave grew in size as it went, until the crest was nearly waist-high on the towering monster by the time it got there. He wasn’t the target though. As the Sage Treant moved to intercept Alex and Daven’s attacks, swiping at the flare with his staff and turning his cloaked back to the arrows, Cedric got the idea.

He leapt, using Diana’s earth as a springboard, and slashed at the head of the monster. The Sage Treant must have noticed it too late. The blade bit deep into the side of its face, slicing the mask in half. Black blood sprayed out, and the Sage Treant reeled back. The monster roared in pain, swinging its staff erratically to stave off any further attacks.

Cedric was already back on the ground. He gave Diana a nod over his shoulder, though he didn’t take his eyes away from the Treant. Neither did Alex. Cedric’s attack had broken its mask and gouged out half the monster’s bark-like face, but it still stood, growling like a wounded animal.

“Let’s press it,” Cedric told Valerian, who showed his assent by charging the right flank of the Treant. Cedric circled left, twirling his spear above him in a show of dexterity.

Before either of them could strike at the monster, the Sage Treant opened its mouth and blew out a cloud of bright yellow particles in the face of the two second-rankers. Cedric and Valerian didn’t even take two steps before they fell flat on the ground, eyes glassy and unseeing.

A sharp gasp came from where Diana stood.

Alex’s stomach fell. “Shit.”