Power Corrupts: Raid Bosses (ch. 39) (Patreon)

A reminder: I will be taking a break from July 3rd to July 10th so there will be no updates during that week.  

...

 "That weapon, what is it?" Aela spoke up first after we cleared the opening room. She double-checked a few bodies, to find that they were thoroughly dead but her eyes lingered on Lili's crossbow. Which was a very valid response because Lili had killed the bulk of them in a handful of seconds. It was hardly the first time I had seen her use it, but it was the first time on targets that weren't monsters. 

Looking at the damage she inflicted, the only thing I could compare it to was a gun. 

"It's Lili's crossbow," Lili answered from on top of my shoulder. der. She loaded in a few more arrows into it as she spoke, likely aware of how Aela was eyeing it with interest. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Aela admitted. And that was actually a little surprising. The Dawnguard had crossbows that were looted from the Dewmer, but I thought that it was a bit odd that they were the only ones. That in all of the city-states that the Dwemer had, and in the thousands of years since they vanished, no one found a single crossbow and replicated it. 

It might be for the best. Either way, it gave us an explanation where Lili got her unique weapon.

“It based on a Dwemer weapon,” I spoke for Lili. Lili hummed as she nodded, going with my story. Aela looked at the carnage that Lili had unleashed before she nodded as well. 

“I can believe it,” Aela remarked. “The Dwemer were rather creative with their weapons before they vanished.” I nodded, thinking of the surprises awaiting in the depths of Dwemer ruins and wondered what I could find down there. The Dwemer were on a completely different level when it came to tech -- they went from playing with steam power to playing with the fabric of the universe in a heartbeat.

Bethesda was content to let their disappearance remain a mystery forever, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t find a secret or two. 

“There’s going to be more inside,” Vilkas spoke up, earning our attention. He pointed to a few tents, “There are more tents than bodies. So either they're inside, or they're on patrol." 

I turned to Hestia, wondering what should be done with her. Would it be safer to leave her here or take her with us? I was tempted to try to leave her here, but… at the end of the day, until we got to whoever this tomb was dedicated to, Hestia was safest with me. But, as I glanced at her, I noticed how she eyed the corpses. One of them died clutching at an arrow through his throat, blood pouring down his wrists and chest while it dripped from his mouth into a pool of it he laid in. 

Hestia didn't seem too disturbed by the sight, but when she closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, I felt… disappointed in myself. Because it felt like I had disappointed her in some way. 

"Then we should get moving. If they're inside then we know we've gotten them all, and if they're not well know to expect an ambush on our way out," I decided, making Vilkas nod in agreement. "Is everyone ready to head in?" I asked, trying to not look at Hestia specifically. Even still, she seemed to sense my gaze because she looked right at me and gave me a gentle nod. 

"Right behind you, my Thane," Lydia stated as we formed up at the richly decorated door. There was certainly some level of magic involved because the carvings in the grayish-black stone seemed untouched by time, not counting the dust and cobwebs. The door was inside the massive jaws of Alduin, the metal covered in more carvings. 

Reaching out, I opened up the door, which groaned theatrically as it swung to the side. This time I wasn't blasted in the face with stale air, and I saw clear signs of activity on the other side. Puddles of water from melted snow, scuff marks, footprints as drops of blood. With the latter, I'm guessing that draugr were an issue to the bandits. 

Stepping forward, we walked down a short tunnel that was lined with more carvings of dragons and people bowing to them. And, as soon as we stepped into the first room, I decided I couldn't use my memories of the Barrow since they were already dead wrong. Instead of a straight shot towards that puzzle room, there was a place of prayer by the look of it. Only it was filled with ancient corpses. 

"Servants," I observed. Most of them were naked, the clothing they wore rotting over time until nothing remained. There were dozens of draugr piled up. "Looks like they might have been here a while," I said as we continued into another room to find more corpses. Given the low light of a few flickering torches, it made for a chilling sight. And because my sword doubled as a torch because of the fire enchantment, I found the others pressing in close around me. 

"Did our work for us," Farkas remarked, kicking a severed hand out of the way as we continued into the next room. The next one was larger, also filled with bodies with indentions in the walls for the draugr to sleep in. Farkas and Vilkas spread out, going into a backroom and coming back out a moment later. "Looks like a production area back there, but nothing worth taking." 

"Production area?" Hestia questioned, sounding like she was directly behind me. I tried to focus my hearing, trying to pick up any sounds that would hint that there were others in the area, but it wasn't that easy with how much noise our party was making.

"The draugr servants use the areas to create things like oils, candles, and torches. To maintain the Barrow," Lydia explained as we continued deeper into the Barrow. While I wasn't able to completely tune out the others, I noticed we were slowly making our way downward. And, if I knew my tropes, the actual tomb would be in the direct center of the mountain. Meaning that we had a long way to go before we reached our destination. 

"They've been at this a while," I remarked as we entered another room to find more corpses. If I did my math right, then there were at least three metric fuckton of dead draugr piled up so far. Rivaling the amount that had been in the last tomb put together. And these were meant to be the unworthy draugr. All naked without a single weapon besides their hands. How many warriors would there be? 

"Whoever was buried here must be very important," Lili remarked as she kept her crossbow at the ready, still waiting for enemies to show up. She seemed oddly comfortable with the situation, but that probably had something to do with the fact she had been exploring the Dungeon for years. One poorly lit crypt could hardly compare. 

She was right about that. If the last tomb had contained a Deathlord, then a Barrow this grand… in the game it had been a leveled Overlord. The deeper we went, the more bodies that we found, the clearer it became that whoever was buried here was on a completely different level. Each room was grander than the previous rooms, dedicated to various things but mostly to worship dragons and proclaim how great they were.

Outside of the noise we made as we walked, the tomb was oppressively silent. At least until I heard the sound of draugr moaning, cursing in their own undead language. Echoes of it reached us, slowly growing louder as we approached. I felt Hestia reach out and grab my free hand to give it a squeeze, one that I returned. However, as we neared the next room, I was forced to let go since from the sounds of it that was where the party was. 

Walking into it, I heard Farkas take in a sharp breath. “Fuck that,” he muttered as we walked into a battle between draugr and frost spiders. 

“Yeah, fuck that,” I agreed with him, watching dozens of draugr get ripped apart by the spiders the size of a small horse with their fuck off massive barbed fangs. Their eight legs and body were covered in a brownish-orange exoskeleton while their joints had fine wispy hair. There were only a couple of them, ten originally, but three of them had died, taking ten times that number down with them.

“Milk drinkers, both of you,” Aela accused with an amused grin in her voice. Our presence went unnoticed by both parties as they tore into each other. Judging by the spiderwebs, knowing what I know now, I’m guessing that the spiders were trying to move into the room and the draugr took exception to that. 

“No, they’re right. Spiders are the worst thing ever… and Kayne made them bigger… why would she make them bigger?” Hestia questioned, grabbing hold of the tabard that went around my waist for reassurance. Vilkas chuckled at that before he let out a sigh. 

“There’s a nesting ground deeper inside. Judging by the size, those are adolescents. Scouts, basically,” Vilkas explained. That was a very unwelcomed change. I’d rather fight an army of draugr than giant spiders. 

“Maybe there’s a way around? Some kind of back entrance? Spiders are a deal-breaker for me,” Farkas spoke up, earning an annoyed look from Aela while I glanced behind me to see Hestia enthusiastically nodding her head in agreement. 

“What would be the point of putting a back entrance in a place like this? It’s a tomb, not a palace. There’s no need for an escape tunnel,” Vilkas stated, making any hope for a Skyrim Door die a dog’s death. After, he thumped Farkas on the shoulder. “Man up, Farkas. They’re just spiders.”

“If being a boy means I don’t have to fight spiders, then I’m okay with that,” Farkas stated firmly, unwilling to bend on the issue. 

"It's fine," I decided, watching the battle turn in the favor of the spiders. Unfortunately. I was really hoping that the draugr would win. And that they would keep pushing until all the spiders were dead. "Farkas, you stay here with Hestia," I said, taking a  step forward. Farkas nodded, looking thoroughly unphased by some of the dirty looks he was getting as he stayed behind to protect Hestia with Lydia. “And keep an eye out. If we didn’t run into the other bandits, then that means they must be behind us.”

With that, I readied my sword as I strode forward. The spiders clicked and hissed, possibly communicating with each other for all I knew. They shifted when they heard our approach, their oversized fangs baring as they hissed threateningly before they rushed towards us. And it was moments like these that made me incredibly happy that I didn’t need to sleep because I would have been seeing that in my nightmares -- watching spiders move was creepy as it was. When they were the size of a small horse was a whole different level. 

Lili fired off her shots as we closed in. I aimed to take on the biggest one as it lunged at me, its front legs going up to stop me from going anywhere. A little faster than normal, I swung my sword, hoping to both kill it and get it away from me, and my sword cut right through its exoskeleton like it wasn’t even there. The spider jerked to the side, the only damage that it managed to do was hitting me with one of its legs as it fell over dead. Which was pretty awful. Almost as bad as the smell of burnt spider guts. 

Once that one was dead, I turned to see that Lili had reduced another two to pincushions, one slumping over dead while the other tried to limp towards Aela. Who finished it off with a few arrows in its beady black eyes. Vilkas disleged one spider, buying himself time to kill another before he finished the wounded one-off. All the while, I rushed towards the remaining few and cut right through them. 

It was a short fight, but a memorable one. Mostly because it solidified my hatred for spiders. 

“They’re just spiders, Farkas,” Vilkas called out to his twin brother, who sent a rude gesture right back at him. Vilkas let out a small huff of laughter as he turned to me, “They should be safe if they trail behind us.” 

I nodded, my lips thin as I turned my attention towards a door that was marked with spider webs at the entrance. Since the draugr couldn’t get inside, there weren’t any torches lit within so the room was a pitch black. And I’m guessing that all of the rooms would be pitch black until we reached a point that the spiders didn’t eat the draugr. 

“Lili can help with the darkness,” Lili spoke up before she held out a hand in front of her and clenched her eyes shut for a moment. Then a small ball of light flickered to life above her palm, illuminating the intense shadow in the room. Lili smiled down at me, unable to see my face because of the helmet but it must have been clear that I was surprised. 

"Already got the hang of it, huh?" I questioned as Lili formed several other candlelights. Each one hovered above a member of the party, and with all of them, the entire room was illuminated. I was a little jealous, Lili was using magic. 

"Of course," Lili said, proud of herself. "Lili is Mr. Jericho's supporter, after all." 

That got a grin out of me, "Remind me to give you a spellbook once we're out of here." I told her, earning a puzzled if excited look from Lili while Aela let out a small laugh, having guessed what the spellbook was. "You'll like it a lot." 

And with that, we continued deeper into the crypt. With Lili's candlelights lighting the way, we saw the growing signs of disrepair. Dust gathering on the floor, the thick curtains of spiderwebs covering the walls. A few spiders attempted to sneak down from their hiding spots to ambush us, but Lili and Aela made swift work of them before they got the drop on us. It was increasingly obvious that the spider problem was anything but a new development. 

Draugr corpses were bound in webbing embedded in the walls. Hundreds of them. Right next to them were those web balls that I recognized as a spider egg -- and given the number of ancient corpses turned into an easily available meal, I felt increasingly uneasy. Which was only made worse as the deeper we went the more spiders there were. And the thicker the spiderwebs until it felt like we had found ourselves standing in a giant web. 

The ancient carvings and stone were gone, completely covered by a thick web that was naked with bodies and spider eggs. Then corpses of spiders as they fell upon us, screeching and attacking at us with mindless fury. I didn't know anything about spiders, but they seemed territorial. 

And, once we reached a wide-open room that’s purpose was lost to time, it became clear why. 

There was meant to be a puzzle room, the first where some bandit gets himself killed by a puzzle that was meant to keep out draugr. As we went deeper, I expected for it to serve as a roadblock for the spiders, but I failed to consider that the place was so webbed up that I ended up walking right by it without noticing. 

I heard a loud hiss, prompting me to look up just in time to see a large glob of green poison being spat at me by the largest spider we had come across so far. It was utterly massive, large enough that it wouldn’t fit down the hallway I had walked through with Lili on my shoulder with plenty of clearance. Its legs were as thick as two of mine, and it's barbed fangs that dripped with poison were the size of longswords. 

Reacting instantly, I shoved Lili off of me as I dove to the side, feeling poison splash over my armored legs. Lili landed a safe distance away, landing with a grunt, but was otherwise unharmed as the massive spider landed not far from me. I looked at it, forced to look up at its beady black eyes that didn’t reflect light. 

Old instincts kicked in as I dodged out of the way when it lunged at me, moving much like the previous spiders. My sword slashed out, catching one of its legs at the joint and cutting right through it. The massive spider screeched in pain, throwing back its head and lashing out. Blindly, apparently, because I noticed that Aela and Lili both had the same idea and put arrows in its eyes. 

Even still, it was large enough that it lashing out blindly carried a good chance of hitting me. Its front legs swung out at me, racing towards my face, but a quick swing cut through them both. The only issue was that they were moving too fast, so the severed limbs winged me, slamming into my shoulder hard enough that I stumbled back. 

The spider hissed, spitting more poison in my general direction and forcing me to back off. Meanwhile, Vilkas darted forward, his weapon in hand before he buried it in the spider’s face. He yanked the sword out before the spider could rear back, aiming to crush Vilkas in a final act of spite. At least until I rushed over and hacked through another two of its legs, making it collapse to the side. The spider spasmed, its legs lashing out in jerking motions that freaked me the hell out, and it wasn’t solely for the exp that I cleaved its head in half. 

Only then did it go still. 

“Yeah… yeah,” I nodded to myself, “Next time there are spiders, someone else can deal with it.” I decided, hearing a few laughs because they thought I was kidding. I wasn’t. Turning to Lili, I saw her offer a small smile, showing that she was fine. Holding out a hand, I helped her back onto my shoulder. Once Lili retook her rightful place, I turned to the others. "Everyone good to continue?"

And once I got confirmation, we continued deeper into the tomb.

… 

The spider infestation stretched far and we eventually found where they got in. A tunnel had collapsed at some point so the draugr began to remake a new walkway to the final destination of the crypt. Except before they could finish the tunnel and new rooms, the spiders came and more or less took over the place, leaving the construction half-finished at best. The battle for the crypt was waged over centuries and as time passed, it grew harder for the draugr to drive off the spiders as their numbers were whittled away. 

In the end, it was only a thick metal puzzle door that kept the spiders from going any further. Pulling out the golden claw, I checked the bottom to make sure that the code I recalled was correct. It was. Shifting the rings inside of the door, each one displaying an animal or insect, into the correct order I pressed the golden claw into the key slot and turned. The ancient rings shifted, grinding haltingly as they worked through several thousand years worth of dust and grime, but a few seconds later the door began to lower. 

This time I was hit by the stench of stale air. White fog spread out over the floor, coming from the pitch black room that light seemed to refuse to enter. The fog washed over our feet, and I heard Hestia gulp audibly. 

My grip on my weapon tightened before I took a slow step forward into the darkness. As soon as my foot crossed the threshold, two braziers flared to life, washing the room in some light before the fire spread down an oil flow that slowly illuminated more and more of the utterly massive room. In the flickering flames, I saw the Word Wall that seemed to dominate the far wall. 

Before it was four coffins. One on the highest platform that served as the stairs, the Word Wall almost wrapped around the coffin. The other three were on the platform below that one, serving as a guard. I only felt it then, an unnatural chill in the air. I hadn’t felt cold running up a mountain, but looking at the top coffin made a shiver race through me. Beneath both coffins was treasure. Literal mountains of treasure -- bars and coins of gold, precious gems the size of my fist, jewelry and other items made of precious metals.

There were millions in the hoard of treasure. Maybe more. If I had to compare it to the hoard of money in my inventory, there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt in my mind that the pile before me was bigger. It was covered in a layer of dust, obscured with fog, but there was no mistaking the wealth that was around us. 

“Hestia, Lydia, stay by the door,” I spoke quietly, reaching up and helping Lili off of my shoulder. Despite the incredible wealth that surrounded us, no one commented on it. Simply because, despite the wealth, the four sacrofugus seemed to loom over it all. All of us felt a tension that I hadn’t felt since the War Game -- the deep-seated certainty that danger was close and one mistake could mean certain death. 

“As you wish, my Thane,” Lydia confirmed, and I didn’t comment on the slip-up. Not in this situation. 

“Lili, try to find a perch and don’t draw attention to yourself,” I said, eying the top coffin like a snake that was coiled and ready to strike. Lili nodded, spotting a dragon statue that would give her a good vantage over the entire room. Then I managed to tear my eyes away from the coffins to look at Aela, Farkas, and Vilkas. “You might want to go ahead and transform.”

“Yeah… that sounds like it might be a good idea,” Farkas muttered. Before either Aela or Vilkas could argue the point, Farkas began to shift. This time, now that I was much closer, I watched the transformation take place -- his skin darkened and grew coarse black fur around his neck and head. His face elongated into a snout, his eyes became a golden yellow while his hands became claws. The armor he wore popped off in place, falling to the ground with a clatter that echoed throughout the room. 

I heard Lydia gasp at the sight, but she realized that this wasn’t the time for questions. When I glanced at her to make sure she didn’t do something stupid like rushing Farkas, I saw Hestia was looking at me with a worried expression. However, as soon as she caught me looking, she schooled herself. She threw on a brave face and offered me a reassuring smile before she mouthed the words, ‘Be careful.’

Nodding to show that I got the message, I turned to face the coffins once again as I heard Aela and Vilkas transform. I reached into my inventory, hesitating on what kind of potion of resistance I should get before I settled on a potion of resist magic. 

This place was too grand. A Deathlord had been buried in a hole in the ground. In a place like this? 

I was willing to bet every penny that I had that it was going to be a Dragon Priest. It was only a question of which one? 

There was only one way to find out.

Draining the potion, I tossed the empty bottle into my inventory and braced myself for the fight that was coming. I walked forward, three werewolves behind me to meet against the four residing in the coffins, with Lili serving as a sniper. Hopefully, Stealth Archer was just as OP as it was in the game. 

The moment I stepped on the first platform, the closest three sarcophagi began to open. The lids cracked open before they began to roll to the side with a low grinding sound and a thump that echoed throughout the room. The draugr began to pull themselves out of the sarcophagi -- I'm sure that the scene was going to be daunting, but it was lost on me as I sprinted up the stairs, my sword in hand. I had learned my lesson last time. 

Reversing the grip, I slammed my sword down into the first sarcophagus, the black blade wreathed in fire punching through the draugr's chest. The Glass armor wasn't enough to stop my sword, the edges where my blade touched glowed red as the draugr Deathlord let out a hiss that I cut off by slamming a fist down to crush its skull. It was a cheap shot, but I couldn't bring myself to care. 

"FUS!" I heard, giving me a split second to throw myself out of the way before a shimmering unrelenting force tore through the sarcophagus like a wrecking ball. Rubble and bits of the Deathlord rained down onto the pile of treasure below as I rolled to my feet. To confirm my fears, the remaining two draugr were Deathlords. One carried a sword and shield made of ebony, while it was wearing a heavy suit of Dwemer metal armor. The other carried an ebony bow, while it also wore a set of Glass armor. 

"GAAR! YAH!" The Bowman shouted, its voice making the cavern tremble before it took aim at me with an arrow. The other rushed the Deathlords, Lili taking a shot that slammed into the Bowman’s eye, but the arrow still leaped from the bow. I dodged to the side, my gaze settling on the sword and shield Deathlord, who looked right back at me as it descended the steps with alarming speed. 

The same moment that the Deathlord reached me, lunging with its sword, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my leg. I grit my teeth and resisted the urge to look behind me to see what had hit me. Instead, I clashed blades with the Deathlord, using the pain to fuel a rage-filled Power Strike to drive it back. It retreated up a step, shifting its body so my next attack landed on its shield. Unlike everything else, my greatsword didn’t cut right through it like butter. 

Instead, I felt some kind of kickback in my arm as my sword seemed to bounce off the surface of the shield. In that same moment, its sword lunged for my chest and only my quick reflexes let me smack the blade away with mine before the Deathlord could stab me in the heart. Shifting my grip, I slashed at the Deathlord, using Cleave in the hopes that I could break down the body behind the shield. 

Again, my sword bounced off the surface of the shield. Harder this time. I stumbled back a step, pain flashing in the back of my knee and my shoulder. The Deathlord seemed to anticipate that reaction, I noticed because as soon as my attack was blown back, it seized the opportunity again with what must have been well-practiced ease. This time it aimed for my arm, intent on taking one off. It might have if it weren't for Lili putting an arrow in its side. 

The arrow skidded off its armor, doing no damage, but it offered a distraction that was followed up by a werewolf pouncing on it from behind. Given the scraps of armor the werewolf wore, it was either Farkas or Vilkas. The werewolf clamped down on the small opening at the base of the neck, trying to chew through the chainmail, but Dwemer metal was stronger than that. Regardless, I took the moment to yank out what had hit me in the back of the leg. 

An arrow. How in the hell did an arrow that I dodge hit me in the back of the leg? 

The Shout. Or an enchanted bow. I guess it didn't matter, I thought, sparing a glance at the other two werewolves attacking the other Deathlord. Only to watch as their attacks passed right through it as it became mist before floating upwards in a cloud and reforming on a perch similar to Lili. Right. That just became a big problem, didn't it? 

My grip tightened on my sword as I lunged at the Deathlord in front of me. It shifted its shield to catch the blow, but I wasn't aiming for it. My blade slammed into the ground and a concussive force blew apart the stone as Explosive Strike did its work. Stone rained down as all of us were knocked off our feet, with me recovering first since I expected it. The Deathlord landed heavily, the werewolf that clung to it's back cushioned the blow a fraction. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Bowman Deathlord take a shot at me, trying to give the other time to get its feet back underneath it. I jerked out of the way, watching the arrow zip by me, only to turn itself around and attempt to bury itself into my back. Smacking the arrow away, it hit the ground and stayed there, so it wasn't something that was impossible to dodge forever. 

"FUS!" The fallen Deathlord Shouted at me. I had a split second to brace myself before I felt the Unrelenting Force slam into me hard enough that I was sent flying. I landed some feet away in a pile of gold and jewels that shifted underneath me. I expected to feel the same pain that I felt the last time, but it wasn't there. I felt like I had just got kicked by a horse, my body ached and my lungs were emptied of air, but I was fine. I was alive.

My armor? The magic resistance potion? Or was it because I hadn't been in its face when it hit me with a Shout? 

It didn't matter, and I put the topic out of my mind when the Deathlord slammed the shield it wore into the werewolf's face and I saw bone snap and teeth fly free from the blow. The werewolf recoiled, letting the Deathlord get up. I moved to close the distance but the gold underfoot shifted, preventing me from launching myself at the Deathlord as it stood. And while the werewolf had suffered a bad blow, he wasn't out of the fight. The werewolf lunged at the Deathlord and paid for it with his arm. 

The Deathlord lashed out, its ebony blade cutting through muscle and flesh like they weren't even there, severing the arm just below the elbow. The werewolf howled in agony, but even then they weren't out of the fight. He rolled out of the way of an attack, clumsily falling down some stairs as he managed to settle onto his feet. Bone restructured, the bleeding slowed and new teeth settled into place as the werewolf snarled at the Deathlord. And by that time, I sprinted at the Deathlord, my sword at the ready. 

"FUS!" The Deathlord shouted at me, and this time there was no hope of me dodging it. Instead, I slammed my sword into the ground and used it as an anchor to stop myself from flying off. The steel parts of my armor crumpled like paper, my bones rattled and it felt like someone was using my organs as a punching bag, but I didn't budge an inch as the Unrelenting Force washed over me.

I was wrong. I think it just sucked at using the Thu'um. It… the Thu'um was shouting at reality until it did what you wanted. It was possible to shout louder with more intensity. It could Shout, but it couldn't Shout well. 

Snarling behind my dented helmet, I strode forward and hefted my blade. It prepared its shield, and I knew what was coming. Gathering up all of my strength, I slammed my sword into its shield and felt every bone in my sword arm break from the returned impact as a loud bang rang out so loudly my ears were ringing. Gritting my teeth through the flash of pain before my bones were reset, I seized the opportunity I made for myself as the Deathlord slammed backward into the stairs that leading up to the final platform from the resulting Explosive Strike. 

The Deathlord was a seasoned fighter, but its strategy revolved around the shield. And I doubt that I would be able to pull off any maneuver that it hadn't seen before it was buried here. Except for powering through, accepting the broken bones to break its in return. 

It tried to move its shield to block, but the bones were thoroughly shattered. The shield, whatever enchantment it had on it, wasn't able to blow back a hundred percent of an attack. If it had, then my earlier attacks would have gone a lot worse for me. With its head left open, I buried my sword into its face and the stairs behind it through its helmet. The blue light faded from its eyes, telling me that it was dead. 

Looking over, I saw that the other one was being finished off as well. The two werewolves were riddled with arrows, blood pumping out of them, but they were alive. So was Lili. 

"Damn it all," I heard Vilkas curse behind me, making my stomach sink as I glanced at him. He was half-naked, holding his arm at the stump to stem the bleeding. Rushing over, I reached into my inventory and pulled out a high potion from Danmachi before I dumped it over the stump. The bleeding stopped, while flesh began to cap over the stump nearly instantly as the red liquid flowed over the injury. Vilkas sighed in relief. 

"Shit," I cursed alongside him, looking at the other half of his arm. "Could we reattach it? With your healing factor and enough health potions, it could-" 

"Won't work," Vilkas interjected, pushing himself up onto two feet and ignoring my hand to help him up. "We've tried it before. Anything short of a trained Restoration mage means that something gets fucked in the process and the arm ends up rotting off or useless." 

"I-" I started, feeling responsible for the loss of his arm, only to be cut off when I heard the sound of a sarcophagus top hitting the ground. I whipped around to see a finely dressed corpse float out of the sarcophagus, and my stomach dropped right next to my heart. In one hand it carried a staff. In the other, mist swirled around the bone-thin fingers. Its face was covered by a mask. 

A Dragon Priest’s mask. 

And just like that, the moment of triumph was lost. 

With an almost lazy gesture, it swiped its hand at me, and the mist that surrounded us condensed into massive ice spikes that surged forward in a wide wall. I grabbed Vilkas and threw us both back, landing heavily at the base of the stairs but safe from the wall of spikes. He grunted as both of us scrambled to our feet. 

“I’m no use to you like this,” Vilkas noted before he began to back off. I wanted to tell him that wasn’t the case, but it very much was. With one arm, no armor, and unable to transform into a werewolf, he was deadweight. I didn’t respond in favor of sparing the others a glance just as fire wash over Farkas and Aela as a fireball slammed near their position. I took off running, sprinting towards the Dragon Priest, and I saw the others emerge from the flames with only some minor burns. 

As I made my way up the steps, reaching the second platform in a blink of an eye, I saw the Dragon Priest raise its hand. Above it, the fog began to swirl until it condensed into a ball that rapidly grew until it became the size of two of me. My eyes widened when spikes began to poke out the smooth surface of the ball, each one the size of my arm before they began to fire out of the orb like a machine gun. 

Ice spikes rained down on my position, my feet keeping me just ahead of the spikes. I could feel ice and broken stone ping off my armor, the sound of the spikes breaking as they hit the ground was deafening, but not enough so that I couldn’t hear the stone breaking on impact as well. My gaze found the shield that the Deathlord had used. Making a mad sprint towards it, I scooped it up before I began to flank around the daunting wall of ice spikes. 

I drank a potion of resist magic, but somehow I doubted that meant I could tank one of those spikes to the face. 

The Dragon Priest looked at me and through the mask I saw an intense blue light. It flicked a fireball at me as I ran up the steps to close the distance between us. I felt fire wash over me, the heat burning away at my skin, but I could survive that. I had my Fire Resistance, and it was nothing compared to the Infant Dragon that gave me that resistance. 

As I ran up, I felt an ice spike slam into my shield hard enough that it nearly knocked me on my ass. I stumbled a step, and if I hadn’t pivoted to start running to the side, I’d probably be dead as another ice spike punched through the flames. Accepting the pain, I continued to run, escaping the fire that washed over the steps. 

An arrow from Lili bounced off a shimmering shield that surrounded the Dragon Priest. It paid her no mind, focusing solely on me as it nearly skewered Farkas and Aela with another massive wall of spikes. Bigger this time. I… it was getting stronger. I could feel it deep in my gut. It was this strong after waking up from thousands of years napping and this was it rubbing sleep out of its eyes. 

With its focus on me, I grit my teeth and placed my new shield between us as I ran forward. It waited for me to take a swing at it. The shimmering golden bubble around it expanded to meet my blade and it stopped it cold. The Dragon Priest seemed to inspect the blade, tilting its head for a moment, before reaching out with a finger. I started to jerk back, but I was too close and too big for it to miss. 

A red ball of wispy magic slammed into my chest and slipped through my armor like it wasn’t there. I felt something… poke my brain, for a lack of a better way to say it. Poking it to make me calm. To make me his. The mother fucker just tried to dominate my mind. 

It turned away from me, relaxing in my presence because it assumed that it worked. The shield faltered for just a moment, and that was enough for my blade to slip through the ward it had set up. My ebony blade slashed forward, catching the Dragon Priest at the shoulder, and only then did it realize its mistake. It jerked back, sacrificing an arm to prevent me from cutting it in two. The arm and the staff it carried clattered to the ground. 

Mist gathered around its only hand as it retreated and a moment later, it felt like I was standing in the middle of a blizzard back home, without any clothes on. The cold cut right through my armor, down to the bone, and with enough force it felt as if something was pushing me away. The Dragon Priest floated forward, the massive orb shifting to take aim at me, and I knew in that moment I only had once chance. 

The muscles in my legs tensed, straining against the armor as veins bulged with blood, before I launched myself forward at the Dragon Priest with every ounce of strength that I could muster. Closing the distance between us in the blink of the eye, and feeling the cold worsen each inch I drew closer, I angled my blade for a thrust and slammed into the ward it set up. The sword jerked in my hands, but it punctured the ward. Then it punched through the Dragon Priests chest. 

It hissed at me, uttering a few words that I couldn’t understand, but I knew an insult when I heard one. I answered it by yanking my sword up, slicing through its ribs, spine, and robes so my blade exited at its hip. The Dragon Priest fell to the ground, the cold lessening and the ward vanishing entirely. 

My hands shook from the cold as I took a single step forward and stomped on its neck hard enough that I severed its head from its body. 

Congratulations! You have leveled up!