Chapter 15: Undead Dark Knight. (Part 2)

"It's not just any undead… It's a high-ranked one." Lyra declared, nervously.

A high-rank monster was powerful enough to be a threat to an entire city on it's own. To make matters worst, this one had a mount which only strengthened it. 

"Lyra, stay out of sight, don't get involved in this fight, no matter what happens focus only on protecting Ava." Said Julius.

Lyra hesitantly nodded.

"Leaving the room might be better-"

*Thud* 

The gates behind them suddenly shut, interrupting Julius as they were trapped inside. When they saw this, the two in front acted immediately.

"Nightmare Domain." 

[Nightmare Level 1: Nightmare Domain.]

"Rise… Ogre." 

[Necromancy Manipulation: Rise Undead.]

Through the glass dome, the sky had become pitch black with a waxing crescent moon in the center. Meanwhile, Ruby's shadow had expanded, revealing two huge arms.

Its huge muscular arms grabbed the ground, before pushing up the rest of its body. It stood tall at 10 feet, with a large head, muscular body and a single piece of cloth around its waist. 

Dark blood slowly flowed down its body. Remnants of the injuries it had gotten from when it lived.

The undead dark knight stood in the same spot, without making any moves.

"Heh~ It's waiting for us to make a move is it… well then. Ogre, have at it." Ruby commanded with a grin. 

With those few words, the Ogre charged at the undead dark knight at the centre. The ground shook with each step, showing how heavy and monstrous it was. 

"Undead versus undead, I wonder which will prove to be victorious-"

Ruby was interrupted as the moment the Ogre, reached the undead dark knight- 

*Slash!*

From its head to its feet, its body was instantly split in half. In front of the Death Knight who held out his sword, its split body collapsed to the ground. 

"Whoa~ I can't believe it. In a single swing?" Said Ruby surprised.

Julius, who had also been watching, narrowed his eyes as its horse slowly leaned towards them, the ground in front of it ice cold. 

"It's coming!' Lyra shouted before creating a thin line between the chamber's two walls with her threads. 

To reinforce the threads, Julius had used his shadow strings. Their goal was to knock off the Undead Knight after it charged at them. 

In the next moment, however, Julius' eyes widened as the edge of a blade was reflected in his pupils. 

Within a blink, the horse and death knight appeared before him, leaving a trail of ice in their wake-

*Crash!* 

By using the shadow strings, Julius pulled himself out of the way, barely avoiding its thrust.

As he slid down the chamber, he glanced back in the direction it had attacked. He feared that Ruby or Lyra might have gotten caught up in it instead.

When he saw that Lyra and Ruby had managed to escape without injury, he breathed a sigh of relief. Since undead Knight had targeted Julius, they had a wider window to dodge.

The undead knight slowly pulled the sword which pierced through the wall out of it before turning to Julius. In recognition that it stood within Julius' domain, it ignored Lyra and Ruby's presence.

Julius was the greatest threat in the room at that moment.

'It's too fast… what the hell was that charge? Did it cut through the string? I need to separate it from the horse-'

An icicle was fired at Julius, interrupting his thoughts. 

When he leapt to the side to avoid it- The figure of the horse appeared ahead of him again, it was a set up.

Mid-air, he had no way of avoiding.

*Fwoosh!*

Suddenly, Ruby appeared from the side, pushing him aside. Julius's body went rolling away, whereas the horse struck her.

She soared across the air before crashing into the wall and coming to a halt. 

"Ruby!" Julius called out to her as he quickly got up. 

"I'm okay!" Ruby responded with a shout.

He wasn't given much time to worry about her, however, as countless icicles were launched from the air towards him.

Julius ran, barely avoiding the barrage of icicles that were being propelled towards him. Amidst it all, the horse turned to him again, preparing for another charge.

*Fwoosh!*

Catching a glimpse of this, Julius leapt to side. A split second, the undead knight's swing barely grazed Julius's head as they blew right past him.

Julius glanced to the side, watching as Ruby slowly pulled herself out of the wall she had crashed into. Just about all of her injuries had healed. 

"You got any more other undead you can rise?!" 

"Nope! Just like the Undying Flames, they're too powerful, If I summon them here, we'll all get caught up in the crossfire!" Ruby responded

"Then, can you buy me some time!?" Julius yelled as he avoided the Undead Knight's next charge. 

Even though he couldn't keep up with its speed, he could predict the direction it would charge in, since it tended to lean in the direction it planned on going.

"!"

As it launched another Icicle at Julius, Ruby appeared between them, grabbing it and launching it back at him.

"That I can do." She responded with a smile.

*Slash!*

Immediately after slashing at the icicle, Ruby's figure appeared before it with a kick in motion.

*Thud!*

It blocked her kick easily as it raised its left arm before launching a counter with the sword on its right.

*Swoosh!*

Her entire body swayed to the left as she watched the sword pass her before she returned another kick.

Her blows were weak, but she was fast. Her figure blurred as they engaged in an intense clash. 

[Necromancy Manipulation: Grasp Of The Undead.]

Simultaneously, skeletal arms appeared from beneath them, pinning the horse in place.

Lyra, who watched from a distance, also wanted to help, but she didn't want to risk putting Ava in danger. Julius on the other hand, stood there watching, deep in thought. 

❖First Stage curse effects: Sleep deprivation.

'The curse isn't having any effect on the boss, because it's an undead… But it's working on the mount… the mounts showing clear signs of fatigue. If I can hurry up and activate the second stage curse, I'll be able to blind force the undead knight off of it.'

[Energy: 71 -> 70%] 

Julius glanced up and frowned. It was still a waxing crescent moon.

'It's taking ages to progress…'

When Julius recalled what had happened during the full moon, his eyes widened. 

'My entire energy reserve was consumed that time… meaning if I focus on feeding more energy into my ability… I should be able to progress lunar phases faster...'

After coming to that conclusion, Julius focused on the flow of energy circulating throughout his body.

The flower of energy was like a current. With the source starting at the heart, a warm wave travelled and circulated throughout his body.

That was the sensation of circulating one's energy.

Julius could feel it the energy leaving his body and flowing out towards the moon in the sky. He focused on that flow, pouring more energy into it.

[Energy 69% -> 68% -> 67%]

While his energy was drained faster, the lunar phase was progressing more rapidly as well.

Within seconds, his energy had reached 60%, and right when it did- The lunar progression had reached half of the full moon.

❖Second Stage curse effects: Blindness.

*Neigh!* *Crash!*

There was a sound of neighing followed by a crash. Turning in the direction of the sound, Julius found the horse's head dug into the wall. 

Because it had become blind, it must've panicked and failed to gauge the distance of its charge.

Regardless, as soon as it tried to pull out its head, steel threads attached to the wall around it, wrapped themselves around it, forcing it to halt.

[Thread Manipulation: Restrictive Coffin.]

Further threads latched onto it the more it tried to pull away, securing it in place. It tried freezing the threads, but it didn't work, it only tightened them. 

"I caught it." Declared Lyra while hiding behind a giant torch.

'Nicely done, Lyra.' Julius thought to himself.

"It's finally been demounted…" Said Julius with a yawn as he walked towards it while staring at the screen in front of him. 'We should be able to-"

Julius was interrupted, as Ruby's figure soared straight towards him, crashing him before sending the two sliding back into the wall.

"You okay?" Julius asked as he held her in his arms.

"Ah- I'm good thanks to you catching me… More importantly..." 

*Step.* *Step.* 

Julius and Ruby slowly looked over to the Undead Knight which slowly marched towards them. With every step that it took, they could feel a surge of bloodlust falling on top of them.

"...I thought it was the mount that made it more powerful? Not only is it not affected by the blindness, but it's stronger than when it was on the mount…" Said Julius

"Even if it puts us at risk, I'll have to use a bring out one of my undead servants-"

"No, wait, that's a last resort. There's something I want to try first." Julius responded as he stared at the screen which manifested in front of his eyes.

[You have 1 skill point available.]

'There's no other choice. System use a skill point on Nightmare.'

[You have used a skill point on the skill: Nightmare.]

[Skill: Nightmare has levelled up!] 

[Nightmare Level 2: Nightmare Mode.]

[Puts the User in a sleep-like trance / Nightmarish state. This state enhances all abilities, pushing the user's body beyond its limits.]

'So a power boost, huh… Alright. This is exactly what I need.' 

❖ Warning: The User will experience a blackout-

Julius missed the warning when the undead Knight slowly raised its left arm into the air, catching his attention.

A large ball of flames slowly manifested and expanded above its hand, sending burning hot winds towards them.

[Hellfire.]

Seeing this, Julius stepped forward, his hair and clothes swaying backwards as he walked towards the figure.

"Nightmare Mode."