Chapter 13 – Three Vs Three

As the zombies rushed him, something within him awoke, a feral rage, an overwhelming urge to tear everything apart.

With a primal roar, he lunged, his claws flashing red as he struck. Each swipe of his massive paws shredded a goblin, releasing thick, noxious gas as they burst upon death.

Maximus ignored it all; his only goal was to kill them. He leapt from goblin to goblin, either raking them apart with his claws or sinking his saber-like fangs into their bodies, tearing them into pieces and spitting out chunks of decaying flesh.

“A beast entered our headquarters!” one of the necromancers shouted, while the other roared, “Corpse Explosion!” And as he screamed, the remains of the zombies Maximus had slain detonated in flashes of green, decaying flames, and flying body parts.

Jagged shards of calcified bone whipped through the air like shrapnel, puncturing his emerald flank and hurling his heavy mass across the concrete floor to the far end of the massive warehouse.

His Cat Form crumbled as he reverted to his human shape, dropping to one knee, pieces of bone lodged through his back and limbs, making him look as if he had wrestled a porcupine.

“Sprout… Call for help,” he rasped weakly. Sprout nodded, opening a small portal before slipping through it, leaving him alone.

Maximus pulled out his staff and used it as a crutch to rise, his body shaking and bleeding heavily. He cast Rejuvenation on himself and swallowed a handful of seedlings.

Spectral Wolf, come to my aid. He whispered inwardly as spirit energy gathered at his feet, coalescing into a dog-sized translucent wolf that emerged with a low growl, its fangs gleaming with a deadly glow.

“Who are you?! Why are you spying on us?” the blonde necromancer shouted.

“Silence, you ghoul. How dare you take so many lives?!” Maximus roared, deliberately provoking them, hoping to force a mistake.

“Ghoul? Me?” the blonde gasped, while the other two burst into laughter.

“Hah! I told you, you’re not as pretty as you think,” the brown-haired necromancer said between chuckles.

“I’m prettier than both of you!” the blonde snapped. “What the hell does our taking over this place have to do with you?” He ignored his comrades and barked back at Maximus, who was slowly recovering his vitality.

“Your goblins attacked me first, so I came to see what was happening here. And what a sight I found.” Maximus growled.

“His shouting is pissing me off… Skeleton Warriors!” the blonde screamed, summoning five skeletons armed with crude iron swords.

“Bone Wall!” the third necromancer shouted, fusing the scattered bones of the fallen goblins to seal the exit.

“Zombies, attack!” the brown-haired man yelled, commanding the remaining undead forward.

Curses… Maximus frowned as his Spectral Wolf lunged ahead, tearing an arm free from one of the skeletons with a loud crunch.

Seeing his wolf attack, Maximus raised his staff, channeling spirit energy into it before slamming it into the ground. “Entangle!”

Roots like serpents burst violently from the ground, binding skeletons and zombies alike, even ensnaring two of the three necromancers.

“What the—?!” the blonde screamed as the entire room seemed to ignite with chaotic energy.

“Nature’s Wrath!” Maximus unleashed a blazing beam of verdant power that struck the two necromancers head-on, igniting the poisonous gas still lingering in the air.

Meanwhile, the Spectral Wolf dismantled three of the five skeletons before Maximus called it back, activating his Lupine Legs and sprinting through the now-collapsed Bone Wall.

As he burst outside, he heard familiar shouts. “Die, you damn monsters!” Oscar roared as the cries of zombies were cut off one by one.

Maximus and his wolf raced toward the sound of battle; it seemed all the remaining undead outside had converged on the two invaders.

***

At the village gates, Oscar danced around ten or so remaining zombies whose legs were frozen up to their knees in thick, translucent ice, while Felix struck with precise, measured movements, avoiding the mad clawing strikes and bursts of poisonous gas as the monsters collapsed.

“Spinning Gust!” Oscar shouted, spinning his spear before him and creating a focused vortex of wind that pushed the poison away before he carried the motion through, mowing down the remaining goblins.

As the last of them fell, Maximus arrived. “Took you long enough!” Oscar grinned as Sprout leapt from atop his head toward Maximus.

“This little guy of yours suddenly showed up right before a loud explosion went off inside the village,” Oscar added.

“What happened?” Felix asked, his gaze lingering on Sprout for a moment longer than necessary.

“There are three necromancers, you were right,” Maximus said, his voice steady despite the blood still dripping from his wounds. “There was a fourth, much stronger, but he left… Not before breaking my stealth and trapping me with the others.” He drank some of his potion and swallowed a handful of seedlings hurriedly.

Then he added, “They’re still inside. Let’s go.” Maximus summoned his blade and turned back toward the village.

“Wait! Are you crazy? Three of us against three necromancers?” Oscar muttered.

“We can’t leave them alive. They are enemies, Oscar. They will hunt us down.” Maximus replied, his voice turning cold and resolute.

“Agreed.” Felix nodded, spinning his sword once as the lingering frost in the air condensed along the blade’s edge.

“God damn it, you two… Fine,” Oscar growled.

“Come here and die!” Just as they were about to charge back inside, a loud shout echoed from behind them.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Oscar said, shaking his head, then smirking. “Though I do like the challenge.”

With that, he sprinted after Maximus and Felix as they rushed back into the fight.

***

The blonde necromancer wiped the blood from his face as his two comrades wrapped their scorched arms with what remained of their robes. Bits of what looked like bone armor crumbled off them as they stepped outside.

“I’ll kill him and make a servant out of him. He will serve me forever!” Blondie gritted his teeth.

“Come, you two… You’re not dead yet,” he muttered as the others limped behind him.

Just as they were about to summon more skeletons, Maximus returned with backup.

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“Surrender, you monsters!” he shouted, pointing his blade toward them.

“You think zombies are all we had? Idiot. Sacrifice Vitality!” the blonde shouted, and the other two joined in. Their faces paled as the scattered corpses began glowing green. “Golem!”

The body parts assembled into a three-meter-tall monstrosity, limbs, organs, and bone barely stitched together with writhing strands of green mana.

They worked together to use a skill? So, rituals can be performed through the system… Maximus thought, uncertain how it functioned.

“That’s a C-Rank skill; how can you use that?!” Oscar shouted.

“Shut up and die!” Blondie screamed as the golem charged toward them.