They'll still die by normal means though, right?" Beam said, twirling his sword in his hand, having recovered his breath.
"The curse resides in its head. Severing it will not be enough – you have to crush the skull entirely, so that the foulness has no place to remain," Dominus told him.
"Alright," Beam said, sucking in one last deep breath, before he began walking towards it.
"Explore that skill of yours some more, whilst you're at it," Dominus called after him.
Beam nodded in return, picking his pace up to a jog as he covered the distance remaining between him and the corpse soldier. He had to get far closer than he'd expected before the ghoul finally twitched its head robotically, noticing him, letting loose a ghostly scream from a throat that clearly had a hole punched through it.
Beam settled into a fighting stance with both his hands on the hilt of his blade, struggling to calm his beating heart. The corpse soldier dragged its two handed battle axe with one arm through the dirt behind it, as it slowly lumbered towards Beam.
Its slow movements almost lured Beam into relaxing, but once it was in range, its speed changed entirely. With just a single arm, it hefted its mighty battle axe in a flash, sending it crashing towards Beam before he barely registered what was happening.
"Woah!" Beam shouted in surprise as he leapt back, clear of the blow. The axe landed hard in the dirt, sending up a cloud of soil as it did.
But as that strike sailed over Beam's shoulder, the corpse soldier didn't allow the axe to fall to the floor again this time. Instead, with the blue flame in its eye sockets burning with rage, it kept the attack up and slid another hand onto the shaft of its weapon, swinging it even harder now, towards Beam's side.
Caught off balance, Beam was forced to use his sword to deflect it. But where that strike ended, another strike immediately followed. With two hands on its weapon, not only was it stronger, but it was faster too. The corpse soldier bellowed with each strike, the remains of its wispy black beard swaying with its movements.
In that fast-paced battle, Beam comfortably held his ground, realizing that he was taking too long. Already, he was settling into the rhythm of endurance, the same rhythm that he'd settled into with the hobgoblin.
As the fight went on, its movements only grew more erratic and harder to track. Beam's eyes managed to keep up with them, but only barely.
Beam grit his teeth, putting more strength into his deflection this time, sending the axe off to his side and forcing the corpse soldier off balance with it.
That instant was all Beam needed now. He was faster than he'd ever been before, and stronger too. He closed the distance between them in a second, acknowledging what he thought to be surprise burning in the flaming eyes of his enemy. And then he swung, quickly and efficiently, cutting its head from its body.
The skull of the massive Yarmdon man landed with a thud, but its body did not collapse as a result, nor did its movements even slow. Instead, the jaw of the severed head opened wide, and it gave a ghoulish scream, ordering its body to rescue it.
"Damn it," Beam cursed, as an axe was raised up behind him. He dove forward into a roll, towards where the head had landed. Using that extra momentum, as soon as he came back to his feet, he swung his sword down on top of it, shattering the skull into pieces.
With that, it was as though he had cut a string. The reaction was instant – the body behind him collapsed straight to the floor, and the skull in front of him let loose a dark cloud, along with a whisper – both of which faded after a moment.