Devos and I were beginning to grow close to the rearguard of the undead horde, and we were both beginning to breathe harder from the run. I spoke between breaths, “When I start, I’m going to be glowing, I’ll be the distraction, you take them out from hiding, yeah?”

I saw Devos glance over at me before responding, “Yeah. If a Knight shows up, focus on the regular skeletons and getting away while I weaken it.” At that, I nodded and that was the end of our planning.

Devos knew from experience, and even I could guess that when fighting a group as big as the horde, anything more than basic planning would fall apart in the chaos. As we neared a hundred meters from the closest skeleton, Devos simply disappeared. One moment he was running next to me, the next he was gone.

Looking forward, I swallowed. My life has gotten seriously weird. I was tempted to laugh at the out of place thought. Instead, I summoned my sword to my hand, the now familiar glow and weight comforting in a way. The skeleton barely even noticed I was there before I struck.

My blade slammed straight through its spine. While I still sliced through it one slash, I could feel the resistance was stronger than the others I’d killed before. A moment later, I learned why.

[Ding!] You have defeated a Level 24 Undead Skeleton Soldier!

So they really are different.. I barely had time to think that before I was slashing towards another one, my momentum carrying me into the midst of this slightly split off group. I could feel a moment’s warning from Warrior of the Sun as I quickly killed another. Without looking I raised my hand and a solar blast slammed forward.

I ignored the sound of bones going flying as I simply moved fluidly around one soldiers strike to retaliate against the one beside the first. I grinned when one of the skeletons that had been approaching me instead had a bolt sprout from it’s skull, giving it an impromptu third eye.

After that, I began to sink into Warrior of the Sun. Letting the instinctive action and reaction guide me into a trance-like state. My world became the swing of their sword and the swing of mine. Every other moment a skeleton would fall with a bolt in their skill, or a group that had started rushing towards me would disappear in a roiling explosion.

I started losing count of the number I had killed, far more focused on blasting away concentrations of skeletons with solar blast and slashing through the more loose groups. Every now and then, a skeleton would land a blow.

Sometimes the wound would be on my leg, sometimes on my arm, and sometimes on my torso. Some would be deeper, forcing me to blast back skeletons as fast as I could, while others would be shallow, letting me continue fighting. The light of my healing glowing through the wounds, sealing the rends and rifts in my body.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a part of me was terrified of the pain I was feeling, and the threat of death that the skeletons presented. But as I fought, longer and faster, I could feel it slowly grow quieter. It never silenced, but I was able to focus more and more on simply fighting, fighting and winning.

Eventually, a dull ache in my mind drew me out of the trance-like state. It felt like a powerful migraine had suddenly slammed through my skull without warning. I looked around wildly, expecting some mage or enemy to be responsible. It was only when I drew back from the fight for a brief moment that I realized what it was.

Health: 1953/2300

Mana: 312/2250

I was shocked for a moment at how low my mana was. Even in my fight against the wight, it hadn’t fallen so low. Then I looked up and stared almost uncomprehendingly at the scene in front of me. While I knew that I didn’t compare to the devastation the mages in the town had visited on the horde in their massive spells, I was still shocked to see what I had managed to do.

A floor of slashed, broken, and charred bone was scattered about in front of me. And while I could see some here or there that had bolts sticking out of them, the majority were clearly the results of my handiwork. And still, a dozen dozen skeletons were beginning to rush me once more.

I glanced once more at my low, but recovering mana before I began to back up. Glancing around, I couldn’t make out where Devos might be hiding, but I had no choice but to retreat. If I took a wound without mana to heal it, I would easily be overwhelmed and killed.

Without a second thought, I turned and began running away from the horde this time. I ran for a number of minutes, looking over my shoulder to see the skeletons falling far behind. While they had once been faster than me in the swamp so long ago, they were no longer.

Once I was a good ten minutes away, and made sure I could see where they were, I stopped and began heaving for breath. Bending over with my hands on my knees, I simply gasped for air, glancing up every moment and then to make sure no skeletons had followed me.

Five minutes of resting and greedily gulping air saw me sitting on the ground, looking towards the battle still raging. I could feel myself grit my teeth when I noticed the powerful spells were being flung out less often, and were only being used where the horde was thickest.

They’re starting to run out of mana too.. And when they do, the battle is going to get a lot more dire..

Just as I was thinking that, I heard a purposeful crunch on the ground behind me. My sword summoned into my hand, I spun around to face whatever it was. I only relaxed when I recognized it was Devos. He had his hand up towards me, a warding gesture.

I let out a sigh before letting my sword fade, “Sorry, can’t be too safe.” He nodded, and for a moment I thought I recognized a hint of new respect when he looked at me.

I saw him look me up and down, at the tatters that were left of my clothes after the many small or sometimes deep wounds I’d received. “I’m not gonna lie, that was rather impressive. Especially for someone at your level….” As he spoke the last word, I heard his voice trail off. For a moment I was confused why, before I realized. With some trepidation, I allowed the notifications that had stacked up during the fight to flood through.

[Ding!] You have defeated a Level 26 Undead Skeleton Soldier!

…

[Ding!] You have defeated a Level 23 Undead Skeleton Soldier!

…

[Ding!] You have defeated a Level 32 Undead Skeleton Commander!

…

[Ding!] You have defeated a Level 27 Undead Skeleton Soldier!

I felt the long list scroll through with more than a little surprise. After a moment, I remembered the Skeleton Commander. He’d taken more than five different slashes and a solar blast to kill. My attention returned quickly to the messages however.

[Ding!] You have leveled up to Level 32! You have gained +3 Attribute Points!

…

[Ding!] You have leveled up to Level 53! You have gained +3 Attribute Points!

I felt my own mouth drop in shock. Devos finally chuckled at my expression, “Didn’t check it until now did you?” I nodded numbly, still not quite realized what it meant. “As pissed as I am at how fast you made it there, you were fighting mostly alone, outnumbered, and for over two hours.”

My eyes shot towards him when he said that, “Two hours?!” I exclaimed in surprise. I’d known I’d fought for longer than ever before, but two hours?

“Yeah, roughly. I have no idea how you managed that without taking advantage of the increases in level…” He seemed to consider for a moment, “Unless your skills just use stupidly low amounts of mana?”

Thinking, I slowly began to nod. “Two of my skills are just passive, and the other two use very little.. And my class increases my mana regeneration, so that probably helps..” He snorted and shook his head.

“Sure it does. Now, choose your new skills, assign everything and we’ll get back into it. We might be alone on this side of the horde, but the other side has plenty of people fighting for their lives.”

I nodded, then again, more sharply. He was right, I couldn’t just wait around. I raised every attribute to fifty-eight, and added the last left over point to Vitality again, wanting the slight extra buff to my health. A moment later, the increases to my skills levels came in.

[Ding!] Solar Blast has leveled up to Level 2!

…

[Ding!] Solar Blast has leveled up to Level 5!

[Ding!] Sunlight Sword has leveled up to Level 5!

[Ding!] Sunlight Sword has leveled up to Level 6!

[Ding!] Warrior of the Sun has leveled up to Level 5!

…

[Ding!] Warrior of the Sun has leveled up to Level 7!

[Ding!] Healing Sunlight has leveled up to Level 4!

[Ding!] Healing Sunlight has leveled up to Level 5!

Again, the flood of levels overwhelmed me for a few seconds. This was the single largest gain in levels, even surpassing the wight. Only the thought of the battle still going on pushed me through the flood of information. I’d passed both level forty and fifty, so I could choose two skills. More importantly, unlike the last times, there were more choices this time than simply what I hadn’t chosen before.

I glanced over at Devos for a short moment, seeing him staring off at the battle still going, his hand gripping his crossbow tightly. Not for the first time, I thought he must know some of the people involved in that fight. I shook my head to clear away the distraction and brought up the list off skills I could take.

Skills Available:

Solar Body Sunlit Shield Sun’s Strike Sunlit Perception Light Solar Armor Sunlit Battle Meditation

While I knew Solar Body and Sunlit Shield from the times they’d been offered before, I didn’t know the last four. Summoning up the details of each, I quickly read.

Sun’s Strike

Infuse your strikes with solar flame. You may infuse a melee attack with solar flame, inflicting solar damage dependent on your intelligence. The mana cost depends on your attunement.

Combat Skill : Melee : Solar : Active

It helps deal more damage.. Which no doubt would make every swing insanely strong, but I’m already cutting through them in a few swings. And no doubt after all the new levels and attributes take effect, it’ll be even better… I don’t think I need more damage, not right now.

Sunlit Perception

To the eyes of the sun, nothing lies beyond perception. Your vision extends and clarifies beyond what it was before. You notice weak points and vulnerabilities in foes, and neither complete darkness nor complete light will blind you.

Enhancement Skill : Perception : Solar : Passive

Makes me more perceptive. Seeing weak points and vulnerabilities sounds pretty good, and would probably work well with Warrior of the Sun… It’s passive too, no direct mana usage. It’s a good option.

Light Solar Armor

Clad yourself in armor made of sunlight itself. Your vitality and resilience increase by 10% (50%) and you gain light armor made of sunlight. The mana drain cost depends on your attunement.

Defensive Skill : External : Solar : Active

Actual armor. Something I sorely need. While I can heal myself, I don’t really enjoy it, and it uses up mana. This armor seems to have a constant slow drain of mana, but my regeneration rate might be higher with my classes bonus..

Sunlit Battle Meditation

As the sun’s warrior, you may meditate during battle, allowing the flow of combat to come more easily and your natural regeneration rates to increase. Your natural health and mana regeneration rates increase by 10% (50%) during combat and you gain a preternatural sense for the flow of battle.

Combat Skill : Internal : Solar : Passive

It looks like an actual skill for that kind of trance I went into.. Increasing my natural regeneration rates by fifty percent each would help massively with helping me fight longer.. And the ‘preternatural sense for the flow of battle’, is interesting…

I could tell Devos was wanting to rush back into the fight, but I made sure I was making the right decision before I did.

Sunlit Battle Meditation will make me able to fight for longer and should work well with Warrior of the Sun. It’s extra boost to my natural mana regeneration should help take the bite out of the constant slow drain from the armor as well… Protection and the ability to sustain combat.. That’s what I need right now.

Without letting myself double guess the decision, I quickly selected Sunlit Battle Meditation and Light Solar Armor. For a brief moment, nothing happened. Devos turned to me, his mouth opening to speak before I interrupted, “I’m almost done, hold on..”

Strangely enough, the flood of sudden information that came with the two skills and their integration into Warrior of the Sun, didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had before. I had some guesses as to why, but we didn’t have the time to sit around and philosophize. I already felt anxious about how long we’d been out of the fight already.

I waited for the shifts in my internal magic to slow down and settle into the new patterns. Only two minutes after I made my choices, they’d settled in. Glancing over, I made sure that my mana and health had risen with the changes and the time to recover.

Health: 2738/2950

Mana: 1491/2900

It’ll just have to do. “Alright, let’s go.” As soon as I was finished speaking, Devos immediately broke out into a run. Quickly catching up, I relayed the basics, “Regenerate health and mana faster in combat, and I got protection.”

Without breaking stride, “Good. Good to go for a while then?” As he asked, I checked over how I felt. For the first time, I realized how exhausted my body was from the fight prior. Almost as though acknowledging it made it real, once I knew it was there it weighed heavier on me.

There’s a whole town that needs all the help it can get. No time to be too tired! I scowled through the exhaustion and forced a short pulse of healing through my body, letting it soothe the worst of it. “I’ll be good. Even more of a distraction too I’m guessing.” He only grunted in response.

After our short back and forth, we silently ran the ten minute distance back to where we had fought before. During the run back, I made sure to make myself familiar with the ease with which my body moved. Twelve more points to both dexterity and strength made a big difference, and I was able to keep up with his run even easier.

This time, when we arrived, there was a greeting party. Just like before, Devos disappeared once we were closer to the hundred or so skeletons waiting for us, this time in an organized structure. As impressive as the formation was, my eyes flew to the one at the head.

You could barely see the skeleton, most of its bones covered and hidden behind shifting metal plates. It’s legs and torso seemed completely covered in metal armor. In one hand, it held a massive tower shield, and in the other it wielded what looked like a greatsword with one hand. There was no doubt in my mind, that was a Skeleton Knight.

As I got closer, I began to slow down, looking over the group waiting for me. Once I was within a hundred meters, my heart sank. Every one of the skeletons behind the Knight had on a metal breastplate, and studded leather armor for the rest. What made me nervous though, was every single one of them had a spark of blue light, shimmering and glowing in not just one, but both of their eye sockets. And now that I was close, I could see the same emanating from the Skeleton Knight.

When I came to a stop over fifty meters away, the Knights jaw lowered and raised quickly for a moment. It took me a second to realize that it was laughing, but had no vocal cords to laugh with, no face to smile with.

The odd stand-off was broken when the leftmost soldiers detonated. This time it was my turn to grin as Devos fired the opening shot. The Knight’s jaw snapped closed and it began searching the ground behind me, even as it’s other hand gestured it’s soldiers towards me.

Even when I went to rush towards the slowly advancing block of soldiers, I kept an eye firmly fixed on the Knight. I knew something was different about all this, and I identified these new skeletons as soon as I could.

Awakened Undead Soldier - Level 39

Gritting my teeth, I simply raised my hand and let two solar blasts rip forward, used so quickly they almost seemed like one massive blast. Before I even looked to see the effect it had had, I summoned my solar armor and sword.

With my eye on the Knight, I saw it’s gaze slam back onto me as my armor and weapon appeared. A bright, warm glow emanating from me. What looked like relatively thin and lightweight metal armor appeared overtop of my tattered and torn clothes, a leather undercoat filling in to protect my joints and the areas the metal didn’t cover. The armor was all made of the same soft orange-yellow light as my sword, glowing and lighting up my surroundings.

It appeared in mere moments, but I didn’t have time to examine it’s appearance. Instead I threw myself into the hole my solar blasts had opened in the Awakened formation. Instantly, I felt Warrior of the Sun kick in, the familiar instincts falling into place. And this time, instead of gradually falling into a trance-state from the constant, continuous fight, I felt something else descend along with Warrior of the Sun.

My battle meditation fell into place along with Warrior, locking together like two spinning gears. The instincts one gave to me, being given direction themselves. I felt more than saw the way the skeletons in front of me pulled back slightly. The way I shifted myself to the side to dodged the blade from behind, more instinct than thought.

My own sword flashing out, batting away their own metal ones. Scoring lines of scorched bone, cutting through weak leather, piercing through thin metal. My free hand rising time and again to force back groups, open holes in formations, even to batter shields to the side. And all the while, I kept an eye on the Knight, who had yet to join the fight.

It seemed torn between watching me fight, and looking for Devos’ position. Every couple of seconds, the Knight would either raise it’s massive shield to deflect a bolt, or it would watch one of the Awakened fall to the ground, a bolt emerging from it’s skull.

After a minute of frantic combat, I could easily tell how much stronger these Awakened were than the regular skeletons. And not just that, how much more intelligent they were. Instead of blindly attacking, they would parry and feint from time to time. They would attack in time with each other, forcing reactions from me. In the time I could have killed fifteen regular skeletons, I had only managed to bring down three of the awakened.

They were all in the low-forties, but I could tell they were strong for that level. Recovering from a powerful lunge that had just brought down the fourth, an explosion had my gaze shooting towards the Knight.

As the fire wisped out and the smoke faded away, I could see the Knight lowering it’s shield from where it had blocked the explosive arrow. It’s sparking blue eyes began letting off arcs of energy as it lowered it’s jaw and let out a soundless roar, that even without noise still shook through the air.

As it began charging out towards the area Devos was hidden in, I suddenly switched from my passive defensive stance to full-out offensive. Using solar blast, I cleared through the slowly encircling skeletons, barely taking the time to cut down a few that were too slow to react to the sudden change.

Within seconds, I had broken out from my position fighting the Awakened and was standing in front of the Knight. It’s charge slowed, and it’s eyes shifted from looking for Devos to me. I tried to calm my breathing, Devos, please help me out here.

And with that silent plea, I started forwards, towards the Knight.