With horrifying howls, the wights lunged at the count and his men!
Only their master's will stopped them from attacking immediately when the gates were breached, but now he let them loose. Dozens of wights surrounded the count in seconds.
They struck at the bodyguards with their rusted swords and rotten spears, aiming for faces and other holes in the armor. The sheer number and ferocity of the wights were enough to easily break the resistance of even the elite soldiers.
But there was more. The weapons of some wights were enchanted with Pain spells. A single scratch was enough to kill a person.
A spear to the neck, a sword strike that cut through the gaps in the armor, a wild lunge to bite off a man's face—the count's defenders were dying like flies! Even if they destroyed some wights, another would immediately take its place!
The entire courtyard was full of them, with more coming out of the inner keep of the fortress. A sea of glowing green eyes! And behind it was a dozen of undead horses, who were much slower to attack.
Aleric was watching this from the staircase leading up the wall, so happy that he was about to burst laughing.
He expected this trap to take some soldiers—those who went in first. To weaken his enemy just a little more. But the foolishness of the enemy leader (at least, he has been shouting orders; Aleric actually could only guess if he was the count mentioned to him by Gedich, or someone else) would spell his doom and break the spirits of attackers.
"For the Light! Begone, creatures of Dark!"
A ray of Light came from the gates, blasting through a wight about to stab the count. Right after it, Justicar Esvan charged through the gate, surrounded by a glowing aura and followed by a dozen templars.
This glow made Aleric's eyes hurt!
"What… is this magic?!" he hissed, squinting.
"I don't know, master! Magic of Light—a defensive spell?!" Spine Staff replied. Its handle was shaking in Aleric's hand, as if the artifact also wanted to turn away from the glow.
Aleric's undead stumbled away from the aura. He ordered part of the wights to stay their ground and meet the new attackers, and immediately felt their reanimating magic strain and weaken.
The aura of Light was slowly destroying them and impeding any undead near the justicar. They had no chance.
The templars smashed through the line of wights like they were dust, quickly reaching the count and his men. With a single blow of his Light-imbued sword—he was the only templar with a sword instead of an axe—the justicar beheaded an undead puppet about to rise near the count.
"You fool! Retreat now, Count, and let the blessed do their work! You've done enough harm already!" Justicar Esvan shouted.
"S-saved… I am saved!" the count gasped out. "Retreat, men! Retreat!"
Whatever dreams of glory he had, they were shattered when he heard the wights' howls. He knew that he would see their glowing eyes in nightmares—if he survived this day!
"Not so easily!" Aleric scowled, raising Spine Staff.
He had restored some mana now—and he used a part of it to send a burst of Pain bolts into the count's back.
But the justicar already sensed the Dark magic. He moved to stand in the bolts' way and raised a palm. The justicar's lips moved.
A burst of Light came from his hand, creating a shield very much like the one Aleric had seen before. It caught all the Pain bolts and shattered immediately, but it was enough.
The count escaped to the outside of the fortress!
And Aleric was staring right in the justicar's eyes.
Even if Aleric didn't know that he was the templars' leader from all the shouting, he'd understand it now. There was powerful magic in the man, and even more powerful determination in his gaze—a determination to kill the necromancer!
Aleric met it with his own will to survive.
Obeying his mental orders, the wights spread into two halves. One went to defend the gates, while the other attacked the justicar's group.
Aleric was sure that the justicar would retreat now. If he stayed in the fortress's courtyard, he'd be surrounded just like the count by a hundred wights. Even after a couple of dozen of them were destroyed, there were still that many left. And the zombie horses—if the wights even let them reach their prey.
If the justicar wanted to succeed, he'd be better off returning to the gates and trying to establish a beachhead.
But these thoughts weren't running through the heads of templars or Justicar Esvan.
His mana was low after using the Aura of Light and all the first rank spells from earlier. But Esvan's blade was still blessed to kill undead and unholy, and his faith was gradually recovering his mana.
This meant that he, a Paladin of Light, could still crush the enemy!
"The necromancer is at arm's reach at last. It's time to end this battle!" Justicar Esvan shouted, pointing a sword at Aleric. "For the Light!"
"FOR THE LIIIIIGHT!" his templars echoed.
Together, they charged right at Aleric!
While the justicar's aura slowed the wights down, his men chopped their bones, clearing the path toward Aleric. The path leading away from the gates!
Because of that, it was the area where the circle of wights was the thinnest. And besides some wights, only thirty feet were separating Aleric from the justicar's sword.
In his heavy plate and surrounded by the halo of Light, the justicar was almost invincible. He shrugged off the blows of wights, getting only scratches on his armor.
'He… is he so self-assured, or is he really so strong?!' Aleric thought, suddenly wondering if he should flee. He could run up the wall, at least…
'What bullshit. Even when cornered, I still try to come up with ways to run... What a cowardly mind I have. Enough of this! These templars will die today, and I will live. There can be no other option!'
Aleric pointed the Spine Staff at the justicar and released a bolt of Dark magic.