Unfortunately, I don't have time to play around here, I need to get back and help defend the town. So instead of wasting time defeating the remaining ettins I grab one by the rib cage and throw it into the others. Then I charge past them and head straight for the death knight and take a swing at him.

As he brings his sword up to block I change the direction of my sword and cut the horse's head off. That was what I was aiming for from the start, now he is forced to fight me on foot. He reacts well by jumping clear of the horse as it falls, but I was expecting that and am already swinging at him before he lands.

My swing connects right as he lands, but it only damages his armor which I already know can heal. Somehow, I need to destroy him before the ettins can get back into the fight. Unfortunately, despite going fully offensive, I am not able to do much damage to him.

Most of my attacks are either parried or dodged, the few that hit don't do much besides damage his armor. Fighting against a skilled opponent I find myself wishing I had taken more time to spar with Vacker. If my opponent was a human the few hits I have managed to get would have already killed them.

The death knight, on the other hand, isn't even slowed down by my attacks. Despite having the edge over it in both strength and speed, I haven't done any serious damage by the time the ettins rejoin the fight. Again the death knight retreats and heals while I am forced to deal with the ettins.

The only good news is that the army has marched out of sight by this point so there should be no more reinforcements. By the time I finish off the last ettin the death knight once again looks perfectly fine. The only difference this time is he can't heal his horse so he is still on foot.

As expected, as soon as the last ettin skeleton goes down the death knight moves forward and attacks. Even though I am exhausted I still manage to defend against its first series of attacks. The problem is, with as tired as I am already, if this fight drags out I am going to lose.

If I don't win quickly I don't stand much chance, but to win quickly I will need to take some risks. So the first thing I do is let the death knight get a light hit so I can see his sword's power. His sword cuts through my armor easily and then leaves a small cut on my arm.

First I feel a burning sensation as the sword cuts me, then the wound freezes and is covered by a layer of ice. Only after the ice melts do I start bleeding but the wound soon stops bleeding and closes. At least his sword doesn't interfere with my regen, that was my greatest worry.

Now that I know I can take a hit it is time to gamble, so I let him get a solid hit in on my side. At the same time I get a hit in on his helmet and send it flying, exposing his bleached white skull. Finally I can see the cold blue orbs of light where his eyes should be.

After a few more parries I manage to manipulate the death knight into swinging low. Instead of parrying I stab my sword into the ground and leave it there to block his strike. As his blade is hitting mine I reach up and grab his skull with both hands.

As soon as I touch his skull I feel my hands start freezing, but that doesn't stop me from squeezing. As the first crack appears in the skull I feel his sword sink deep into my side. The feeling of my insides burning causes me to scream in pain, but it also makes me squeeze harder.

When his skull shatters under my hands the rest of his body turns to dust, including his armor. The sword, however, remains stuck in my side and I have to pull it out myself. It is a good thing there is nothing else around, right now I couldn't even deal with an ettin skeleton.

The wound freezing after I pull the sword out actually helps, it numbs the pain for a few minutes. I sit down and rest for a while as I wait for the wound to heal, moving would just hurt worse. Since I have the time I take a good look at the death knight's sword.

*Magic Item*

Sapphire - Ice & Fire Greatsword

Durability: 576/1000

Damage: +15, +10 Fire, +30 Ice

Wounds will freeze for fifteen seconds.

It is a really nice sword, but I am not sure if it would be better than the chief's sword that I am currently using. The freezing ability would work really well against living opponents, but it wouldn't do anything against the undead. For now I put it in my backpack, I may use it later depending on the situation.

Once the wound in my side is healed enough for me to move I get to my feet and start walking towards town. By now the first of the ettins have probably reached the town, hopefully I delayed them long enough. As soon as my wound finishes healing I pick up the pace, to make better time I follow the road.

It takes me about a half an hour to catch up to the back of the ettin skeletons. When I get close, the back few turn and move towards me, they almost take me by surprise. I was expecting them to ignore me like they did before, but they aren't being controlled anymore.

After defeating the ones that came after me I circle around the army to see how the town is doing. The ettins haven't actually reached the town walls which makes me breath a sigh of relief. I was half worried I would get back and find the town in ruins already.

When I see the mercs they are fighting against the ettins at a trench cut through the trade road. That tells me that Nived got back and accomplished his mission, and so did Raindrop. Looking around I spot the two of them and Zimmy on a slight rise where they can see everything.

As I head towards them I watch to see how the battle is going, and it looks fairly one sided. The mercs are working together well and killing the ettins one by one. The trench is playing the biggest role in the battle, when the ettins are in the trench their skulls are easy to target.

Zimmy says "Ash! Good to see you!"

Nived says "You look like crap!"

Raindrop says "I don't see any wounds but your armor is pretty torn up."

"The wounds have already healed. I'm fine, just tired!"