A lot of clattering and gnashing sounds erupted suddenly from all around them, accompanied by the clashing of flesh against bone and bone against steel. Before they could rescue the other Augias, a horde of Skeletons rained down on them, pouncing from the bushes and plummeting from the trees.
"Aaarrrh!" Kailu skidded to a halt and rolled backwards to avoid a Skeleton's sword, his eyes twitching with fear.
A second Skeleton landed heavily next to him, but its femurs broke as it landed, snapping him momentarily out of his daze. The Undead slowly raised its arm and swung it even more slowly in his direction, in a feeble attempt to decapitate him.
Under a rush of adrenaline, the Healer didn't notice anything and retaliated with 200% of his strength. He sidestepped nimbly, deflecting the enemy's rusty blade with his longsword, then with a flashy spin, knocked its skull off its shoulders.
He thought he was done with this Skeleton, when the headless body of the latter brandished its sword again and swung it in his direction blindly. Once again, the Undead was incredibly slow, and even in his fright he found the courage to raise his blade to parry the enemy's attack.
A ridiculously low impact force barely shook his arm, but even more absurd was that the skeletal arm holding the enemy's weapon snapped into pieces from the shock. The Skeleton lost its balance and toppled forward. Kailu cautiously avoided it and watched in a daze as his opponent fell to the ground and shattered itself.
"What the... They're fucking weak!" His eyes lit up with joy. He couldn't believe he had put himself through so much misery for these fragile things.
"Look around you!" Noreen yelled sternly as she shoved Kailu forward with a kick to the butt.
With a few swipes of her claws, she shredded a dozen Skeletons that were about to surround the Healer and a shower of bones fell down in all directions.
VLANG!
At that moment, the Long-Necked Augias they were following whipped its tail around and smashed a good fifty Skeletons that had the misfortune to be in its path. Dozens of more or less intact Undeads shot up into the sky, sometimes reaching the top of the tallest trees before starting their descent.
Ikaris and the others finally learned where the Skeletons that had dropped on them a few seconds earlier had come from. The other Augias they were supposed to be rescuing had not been shy about using their tails to sweep around them either.
That was a good sign. It meant they were still in fighting shape. On the other hand, it also confirmed Magnus' words. The Skeleton Sorcerer he had defeated was not alone and was part of a larger army.
Besides Noreen, the other three Werewolves were experienced warriors and none of these slow Skeletons already in bad shape managed to breach their guard. The sound of breaking bones continued to echo through the forest where they stood for a little over twenty seconds and then silence returned.
The knowledge stored in his Necromancy Spark had taught him that without using complex spells he could easily tame Undeads weaker than himself by virtue of being a Nephilim of Faulch. If he gave them some of his Death Mana, the effect became much more permanent.
Yet, the reason he was sweating was because he could feel a force eroding his hold on these Skeletons. He couldn't see the Mana he had left in those Undeads, but Magnus had already confirmed to him that it was burning up quickly, even slightly strengthening the Skeletons controlled in the process.
"Kill them now." The old Vampire snorted gloomily. " Faulch's mark is not so easy to erase even if you can now be considered his descendant."
He plugged back into his Necromancy Spark to tap into his list of spells and knowledge and found a way to retrieve the transferred Mana with a snap of his fingers. The Skeletons awoke from their slavish trance and immediately targeted him and his companions.
"Even if I can't control them for long, because I'm a Nephilim I can still influence them." Ikaris concluded with a smirk. Before they could approach him he calmly commanded, " Stand still."
The Skeletons closest to him halted their movements as if in a dilemma and glanced at their fellow Skeletons as if to ask their opinion.
"Kill them." Ikaris said indifferently to his friends.
While the group of Skeletons dithered, his companions shrugged and complied, slaughtering the indecisive Undeads.
"It would be even better if you could infuse your voice with your Soul Strength." Magnus sighed appraisingly in his head. "The Influence ability stemming from your Vampiric Charm allows for that to a certain extent, but it only really works well on living humans of the opposite sex. Undeads are obviously not one of them."
The high-pitched whining of the Augias boomed louder and Ikaris and his party suddenly realized that their four-legged guide was no longer with them. He had joined the fray with its fellows. From a distance, they could see dozens of giant, bloody corpses covered with Skeletons like the prey of a swarm of ants.
"Let's hurry." Ikaris urged them.
The smell of blood grew more pronounced as they neared the battlefield, and they passed thousands of broken skeletons and bones on their way. On two other occasions, the tail of an Augias triggered a bombardment of Undeads in their direction, but after the first instance they finished them off in no time.
They passed a few more bushes, then suddenly a clear view of the battlefield appeared before them. Giant trees uprooted, bushes and tall grass torn up as if a combine had passed before them. Augias' blood, bones and corpses were everywhere.
These huge mammals had long since perished, but sometimes they were still alive while these Undeads munched on them. It was like one of those animal documentaries where a dying zebra was eaten by a pack of hyenas without batting an eyelid as if it had already given up on life.
Only nine Augias were still fighting, including the one who had guided them here.