“Didn’t he lose his magic!?” Hawthorne shouted at the top of his lungs. As we were heading over to the Savior’s longhouse from the armory, I reiterated everything I learned during my tenure on the surface. Fucking Niel himself, the Savior’s own abusive son, told me his father couldn’t perform magic anymore aside from a few tricks. Then what am I seeing in front of me right now?

A total of 13 earthen spikes, each spike six feet long and one foot wide, grew out of the dirt ground around the Savior and pierced through all the people surrounding him within seconds. As puddles of blood started to form under each dangling body, I looked around to judge how everyone else was handling this and it wasn’t good. Every single one of them, aside from Hawthorne, is frightened out of their minds. Even Hawthorne himself is growing more worried with each passing second.

A few seconds later, the earthen spikes started disintegrating, turning back into clumps of dirt and stone. The bodies that were suspended by the spikes also fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Before the dust settled back down, the Savior stood up shakily and looked in our direction. His dark silhouette behind the veil of dust looked imposing despite his disfigured body and hunched over frame.

Hawthorne and I glanced at each other at the same time and he discreetly started herding our group towards the exit. I can’t even start to predict how strong the Savior is right now but if those spikes are any indication, he’s not someone I can handle on my own. Right when we reached an appropriate distance, everyone turned around and ran towards the open doorway. Glancing back, I saw the Savior raising his hand towards us and I shouted, “Get to the sides!”

Everyone aside from five people listened to my warning and dove off to the sides, away from where he was aiming towards. Luckily we did because a moment later, a barrage of sharpened stones flew towards where we were just standing and penetrated the backs of the five who ignored me. Like arrows, the projectiles pierced into their bodies and all five of them fell to the ground motionless, a mere ten feet away from the open doorway. All of a sudden, the ground at the entrance to the longhouse started shaking and an earthen wall rose, solidifying in the doorway and completely blocking off our only exit. Ugh, how many things did these cultists get wrong about their own god?

It’s pretty fucking clear to me he hasn’t lost his magic at all and he can even make an earth wall instantly appear out of nowhere. Hearing a cough next to me, I look over and see it’s Sylvia starting to have problems breathing because of all the smoke. Hawthorne gives me a glance and then looks towards the Savior’s direction before looking back at me again, his eyes showing his resolve. Nodding, I get back on my feet, pointing my sword at the Savior, and shouting to everyone, “The only way we can get out of here is if we kill him. Don’t let your hard earned freedom end in this shithole.”

After a moment of conflict, they all get back to their feet and gather around me with me at the front. Hawthorne joins us after making sure Sylvia stays where she’s at. I guess he thought this fight was too dangerous for her and I agree. The brothers wanted to stay behind using the excuse that they were protecting her but after a few quick slaps to the back of their heads from Hawthorne, they joined up with everyone else. Aside from me, there’s only two other people who have shields. The armory was filled with cheap, discarded swords and random weaponry like the poleaxe but in terms of defensive equipment, it was pretty barren.

There’s no way a shieldwall works here and I doubt they’d follow my command obediently if I tried to give orders. I suppose that means we’ll just have to overwhelm him with moving targets. Slapping my sword against my shield, a loud clang rings out in the longhouse, grabbing everyone’s attention. I shout at them, “Split up and keep moving! He can’t hit all of us and we’ll suffocate if we can’t get out. Move! Move! Move!”

With my shout, I start running at the Savior who’s nearly 20 yards away. Following my lead, everyone else starts running as well. As long as someone is willing to go first and lead from the front, even the most cowardly rats are willing to move forward. As I’m approaching the Savior, he raises his hand again and fires sharpened stones randomly into the crowd.

One of them flew right at my face and I blocked it with my shield. These stones are as fast as an arrow but there’s not much force behind the impact. These are tiny stones he’s firing at us and I’m sure if he decided to fire long stone spikes instead, they’d pierce through my shield before impaling themselves into my skull. I hear cries ring out all around me as people can’t dodge the stones or they can’t see them flying towards them. The flames consuming the ceiling has lit this place up really well but watching and tracking projectiles like these stones isn’t easy. I’m fine because I had to learn how to block arrows while on horseback but not everyone can be as lucky.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Hawthorne and the brothers dropping to the ground onto their bellies to fully avoid the barrage. When I’m five yards away from the Savior, I can see how he’s firing these stones. Every time he raises his hand, sharp stones float up in the air in front of him from the ground underneath him before quickly shooting towards us. He doesn’t need an incantation and it honestly looks like the stones are naturally bending to his will. Is this what a sorcerer is?

Me and two others arrive in front of the Savior at the same time and right when we lunge at him with our swords, I see a hideous grin on his face. Fear surges through my body and I forcefully stop my attack and step backwards instead, raising my shield high. Before I can warn them that something isn’t right, three earthen spikes, the same ones from earlier, erupt from the ground under the Savior’s feet and impale the two men charging at him. The spike coming towards me doesn’t stop extending and shoots towards my chest. Readjusting my shield, I block the tip of the spike but it still doesn’t stop growing and I can feel my feet being lifted into the air as the spike drills a hole into my shield. Using my sword, I cut the straps on my arm and fall back to the ground, landing on my feet.

When the Savior looks up at me in surprise, I close my eyes and cast Flash right in front of him. Hearing him screeching like an animal, I open them back up and have to jump back because he’s making earth spikes shoot out of the ground around him blindly. Not only are spikes randomly swelling from the ground around him, but sharp rocks are levitating in the air before being shot all around him. Without a shield to defend me, rocks cover me in cuts and scratches before I drop to the ground, waiting for his rampage to end. Alright, no more using Flash on him I guess.

While I’m on the ground, I grab an axe from my belt since my shield is gone. When the ground stops shaking and the spikes stop erupting, I scramble to my feet and throw myself at the Savior. Horror fills his eyes when he sees me leaping at him and he raises his left hand to stop me but I hack my axe right into his hand, splitting his hand in half down the middle. My axe makes it halfway through his forearm before it comes to a stop. Before he can respond, I stab my sword into his chest, aiming for his heart but it lands shallow because a wall of earth rises up around him, catching my blade and stopping me from ending this nightmare. The wall of earth quickly encases the Savior in a sort of horrific cocoon and solidifies, taking my sword with it.

Just before the cocoon finished closing up, I could see the Savior’s eyes glaring back at me, filled with hatred and loathing. Once I couldn’t see him at all anymore, the cocoon hardened and no matter how many times I smashed my axe into it, it wouldn’t budge. Realizing I can’t do anything to him, my adrenaline wears off and I start coughing, choking on the smoke filling the longhouse. Hearing someone calling my name, I turn around to see Hawthorne pointing at the longhouse’s entrance, the earthen wall blocking it from before missing. Taking one last look back at the stone cocoon the Savior’s hiding inside of, I tear my eyes away from him and run outside, gasping for breath and clearing out the smoke in my lungs.

Once I could breathe normally again, I looked around and saw no more than a dozen survivors all lying on the ground, catching their breaths as well. Hawthorne and Sylvia look fine while the brothers are covered in wounds. The remaining eight aren’t much better off than the brothers and it looks like the Savior’s constant volleys of sharp stones nearly wiped us out. Taking a seat on the ground, I stared intensely at the longhouse and watched as the flames quickly consumed the wooden temple. This is ending tonight, one way or another. I also want my sword back.

…

A few hours later when it’s nearly midnight, the Savior’s longhouse finally finishes burning to the ground and the stone cocoon is still there, though with a few new scorch marks. Hawthorne and I walk up to it, intending to finish the job. My sword is still halfway impaled into the cocoon and the blade feels slightly warm to the touch. Grabbing its hilt, I try to pull it out but it doesn’t budge. Looking over to Hawthorne, he just gives me a shrug.

I spend a few minutes trying to wrench the blade free but nothing works. Planting both feet on the cocoon, I grab the hilt and exert all my strength, straining the blade against the cocoon. All of a sudden, something gives and I fall to the ground. Laughing, I held up my sword only to find that the blade snapped in half. Hawthorne bursts out laughing and I try to smash the cocoon with both of my axes, only to have the cutting edges chip.

Is he actually fucking invulnerable right now? Putting my axes back on my belt, I pace around the cocoon, searching for a weakness. When I end up back where the other half of my sword is embedded, I notice all my effort from before did have an effect on the cocoon. Around the area where my sword is, there’s a little room between my sword and the cocoon. Thinking, I look around and spot the poleaxe Hawthorne’s leaning on.

Taking it from him, I position the tip of the spike at the very top where the hole is. Taking a deep breath, I shove the spike in with everything I have, the poleaxe’s axehead grinding against the stone. After a minute of struggle, the axehead snaps off and the spike drives all the way inside before a scream comes from inside the cocoon. A moment passes and the stone cocoon begins crumbling, revealing the Savior inside with the poleaxe’s spike sunk into his heart.

There’s a look of utter resignation on his face and when I pull the poleaxe out, he stumbles backwards a few steps before turning around. He starts hobbling toward his throne behind him and falls to his knees halfway there. But he doesn’t stop trying to get to it and at the end, crawls the rest of the way. When his hand touches the throne, it crumbles into dust, revealing a skeleton inside. The skeleton looks pretty old but it’s in pristine condition considering it was kept intact inside the stone throne this entire time. With the last of his strength, the Savior pulled the skeleton over to himself and died with it in his arms.