To say Nephis was shocked would be an understatement, for before her, defying all laws of logic and physics, was... a skeleton.
But it was an enemy nothenless.
So she allowed herself a moment to process the meaning behind this, before moving on to focus on a plan of action.
"Stay together!" The huntress screamed, raising her shield at the lunging monstrosity. With a thunderous crack, the skeleteon was thrown back. Its skull and ribcage shattered, showering the tunnel with sharp bone splinters. Like a broken marionette, it fell to the ground in a shapeless pile.
She raised her brows, still guarded against the abomination— it was certainly strange, no monster they've seen so far acted like this.
"Don't stop, move!" Effie once again ordered, and the cohort rushed forward without a word. When she approached the remains of the reanimated skeleton... there was something chilling.
The bones were still moving, slowly assembling themselves back into the shape that resemvled a human. It was reviving, and... Nephis wasn't sure what to think of that.
Perhaps it was caused by a certain mechanism connecting the entire Forgotten Shore together, she thought, as the memory of Cassie's words and their mission wove together in her mind; they needed the shards which appeared like magic, inexplicable by the workings of the Spell.
She narrowed her eyes as a bang resonated from the back— Sunny. He was slashing through the clawing hand of the skeleton, midnight shard in his hand.
...So this was the rule of the game they were in—these creatures were immortal, undying abominations, and the only way forward wasn't to kill, but to avoid.
It was that moment her ears caught onto a distant rustle coming from the darkness ahead of them—enemies, a lot of them.
Meeting the eyes of Caster and Effie, they wordlessly decided on the plan of action.
Stepping forward, she and the huntress took on the vanguard, taking the burnt of the storm, while Caster would stand behind them, deflecting and making sure no abmonation would pass by.
And... Cassie and Kai would be in the middle as they had decided previously, handling the ones from the side, while Sunny would sercue the rear.
With that, their first fight as a cohort descended upon them.
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Pretty soon, the first wave of skeletons came—in pairs. They were easy prey, Effie crushing them into pieces with her round shield, while she held the longsword by the blade, the Immortal Flame's style etched in her mind.
The sword was a weapon that extended from her, and every part of it was deadly. In the tight crevice of the cave, she used its crossguard and pommel like an improvised mace, eyes flashing as she calculated the most efficent way forward—the blade to deflect their hits, and the other parts to utterly crush their skulls.
It was almost too easy, fighting these mindless beings wearing the skin of a human. They couldn't think and would only try to overwhelm them with numbers, with no skill or mind of its own, so—
Changing Star has yet to use her mind to think, to plan on how to overwhelm a being stronger than herself, nor did she have to dive into the opponents combat style and analyze the best way forward; all she had to do was move, and attack.
But the horde wouldn't be an easy solution, this was only the first wave.
In just a few seconds, the skeletons descended in small groups, assualting them in a constant stream. No longer could she and Effie crush every single skeleton that came their way, instead, Caster had to join the fight.
Moving with as much precision she could muster, Nephis cut down the ones that brought the most danger to their formation, it couldn't break, it couldn't.
She whipped her head, glancing at Caster—the Legacy of Valor was picking up on the ones she missed. It's alright.
And at the split second between crushing one and preparing for her next move, Nephis sacrificed this window of time to glance at the back of their group—at last, Sunny, Cassie and Kai were no longer safe, for when they passed through complicated crossroads and dived into a branching path, undead creatures would lunge at the cohort from the side, bypassing their formation.
But... the skeletons that were supposedly dead would rise again, surrounding them in the front, and all around them.
She caught a glance of the Midnight Shard, flashing as Sunny powled through the enemies in the rear. Kai and Cassie held their respective weapons, slicing through the skeletons that bypassed their formation. And finally there was the Echo Sunny had, the magnificent knight of ruby and stone—her sword was steady, admirable even, cutting through the skletons in an epic balance of attack and defence, holding the rear alongside her shadow.
She would analyze its battle dance if she could, but true danger still laid before them, though she allowed herself to bask in the knowledge that they were alright. It's not that she didn't trust them but... she let out a strained breath, before shifting her attention back into the front.
With that, Nephis flew back into the rhymatic movements of battle: she calculated, dodged, moved, blocked, cut, stab, slice, and...
It wasn't enough, the horde only grew wth time.
Two skeletons became three, and three became four, soon, its a wave of skeletons before her.
She breathed—in, out—banishing all unnecessary thoughts. In the battlefield, there were only her and the enemy. There! She thought, finding an opening before her, right as Effie slammed her shield down... the most probable route.
Her sword sliced through the air, and in accordance to her comand, two skeletons fell at the same.
She pushed forward.
Within seconds, clarity found itself within her, the motions of battle flowing through her muscles. Most of her mind was in the battle before her, on the cog and flow of her sword, the unique dance of fluidity she commaned; and yet, she didn't allow herself to fully succumb to the mindless fight. Here, Nephis was a leader before a swordman, and she wasn't alone, the battle machine extended to the cohort—the synchornization of their movements and—
She darted right, catching the glint of the huntress' shield as it bulldozed into an entire wave of skeletons, crushing them until not even bones remained. They shared a glance, and she darted forward, taking cover for Effie prepared for her next move, the familiar sequence of slashing flowing through her.
They exchanged blows—human and the undead—each sustaining their own injuries. A blow to her armor dented it, and a slash from her blade made legions fall.
As soon as she took out a wave of abominations, she allowed herself a moment of repreive to watch their skeletal parts fall onto the floor, before timing a step back, letting herself a quick breath.
But the undead was numerous, pushing forward—she couldn't give in anymore.
Catching the right second, she raised her blade, blocking a particularly brutal attack. However, a single skeleton got through, its claws raised as it conducted a suicidal attack, lunging it deep into her armor and piercing through her flesh.
She faltered for a moment, blade pausing for a mere second, yet soon, she continued her movements, redirecting the skeletons to Caster behind her.
Then, she gave way to the next sequence of attack from their vanguard—Effie once again struck true, yet this time, her shield was slower, parts of it pierced by the undead legion—she could see it, even the huntress was growing weary of the mobs.
They shared a glance, worlds of communication contained in a single moment
And... now.
Digging deep into her soul, Nephis called upon her aspect, igniting her blade with fire. A familiar pain swept from her soul to every part of her being, as if she was set on fire. She winced, biting her lips in defiance of her instincts.
A lesser men might fall to the temptation of giving in to the pain, but she was of the Immortal Flame, she could never surrender.
The skeletons faltered for a moment, as if afraid of her flames, and her cohort couldn't help but notice—instantly, Caster took a step forward, rushing forward with excruciating speed and cutting the wave of zombies with his jian. He crushed as many skeletons as he could afford, blade almost invisible in its incredible speed, before dancing back to his position at the back, exchanging glances with her.
Rest. She tried to convey, for as long as she could, Nephis will hold out against the horde for the cohort to catch its breath.
From the reflection of her blade, she caught a glint of Sunny's echo stepping forward, seemingly more powerful than what she'd seen before. He must have activated his hidden card.
And with that, she continued fighting with renewed vigor, the flames in her blade making the process of slicing easier.
But she was in no illusion that they held the upper hand, if things didn't change soon, all of them were going to die...
"Hey Effie!" Sunny screamed from the distance, "How far are we from the exit of this damned place?! When is this going to end?!"
"What do you mean "end"?!" The huntress replied, swatting a skeleton of her own, "This was just a warm up!"
Like the speak of the devil, the undead legions seemingly responded, an entire wave crashing into their formation, threatening to break it appart. Effie pushed forward, her shield taking most of the impact from the horde, splitting it in two.
An opening!
Internally thanking the opportunity Effie provided, she dove into the horde from the left, slashing through the skeletal army again and again with all the strength she could muster. The scion of the Han Li clan leapt forward, facing the legions from the right. They stood back to back, cutting through the skeletons with astonishing speed, a whirlwind of ghostly green and silver light.
With Effie in the front, she no longer had to think about the formation of the cohort. Here, she was a mere swordsman. Her goal? To kill the enemy.
She needed to be faster, quicker than before. The wave wasn't patient, wouldn't wait for her to gather her bearings. A skeleton plunged into her sides, scratching into her flesh. She was too slow, too slow!
The familiar sting of danger crept into her bones, and silver flames danced in her eyes as Nephis shredded all remaining thoughts about formation and future strategy from her mind, leaving only the present in her mind. The feeling of clarity overcame her, and her thoughts were two:
Kill, or be killed.
Using this clarity, she entered the state of flow. Her perception expanded, absorbing every detail and aspect of what was happening in the dark tunnel. Her thinking accelerated, turning the mayhe that surrounded them into a stark and steamlined pattern of cause and effect.
She had given in the power to perdict and calculate, gaining time to act more easily, instead relying on her intution to guide her forward.
She breathed, and her sword flowed.
In this sea where probablity and action interwined, Nephis called upon every single instance she had seen of skeletal movement, analyzing their respective battle patterns and her own fluid swordsmanship. Like a wave of the ocean, the skeletons crashed into her, but she responded to the call of water through her own way—unperdictable strikes of fire—not to crush the entire wave, but to find a breach in its defence, and to clear the way to a playing field she knew.
Her sword responded in kind, the training of a thousand slashes staying true. It was as if the countless hours she spent on her sword, perfect form slicing through the air all gathering in this singular moment—to kill.
It sliced through the chest of skeleton as if it were butter, and the abomination hadn't even struggled.
Nephis felt an epiphany at the corner of her mind, the knowledge and experiences she had in the Dark City coming into her like two puzzle pieces combining.
In theory, the most efficient way of combat was to precisely calculate a feasible clan before carrying it out. However, in the death zone of the Forgotten Shore, even such respite would be generous. Nephis had gradually felt the time lag formed by her strategizing, sustaining injuries because her sword just wasn't fast enough: she wasn't Han Li Caster, didn't possess the power to move to the milisecond.
Even she was human, and she was but a Dreamer, her body but an upgrader version from the mundane.
However, it was because of such limitations had she been able to grasp this epiphany. Through practice and experience of fighting an enemy of similar shape and side, of knowing their weak points by heart; every bit of knowledge about the battle patterns of such an abomination could flow into her mind, not only staying in her memory for her to call into during moments of consciousness, but also sub-consciously.
And now, she was doing that. At this moment where she needed to be faster, swifter, her mind had evolved, instinct calling to her. She didn't need to glance sideways to know a skeleton would dive towards, instead, she could glance at the bigger picture, her body moving on its own to face against it.
She felt the familiar call of adrenaline rushing through her veins, and she couldn't help but think: she could get used to this.