Silence loomed for a while in the ashen lands. Harwin and the rest had woken up a great monster. Wind howled, carrying the stygian ash — blackened sand — with it as well. It was still day, yet there was not much light. Dark ominous clouds, as always, were scattered throughout the sky. Even the rays of the sun dared not enter these accursed lands.

  There was a need, no, a necessity for brave leadership yet Kaith, the supposed commander of the adventurers, was no where to be seen on the battlefield. He was standing way behind in the rear, observing the enemy carefully. The man even had the guts to shout at the front-liners to charge forward.

  His grand addresses and commands would have worked before, but this time the enemy was far too overwhelming. Fear had made home in the hearts of the poor men, refusing to leave.

  Why? What had this creature even done to terrify half a hundred men? Nothing, to be precise. S'kaal had stood still, but a few of the adventurers had vanished without a trace. His face covered with a horrendous grin, yet he did not make a move for now, savoring the sight of his broken opponents.

  All of them had heard about the cruel commander of Qareen before, but witnessing him in plain sight was something else.

  The being was broad and muscular as if wearing an armour, although, it stood bare. Its arms were abnormally large which might have been the reason behind being able to wield such a heavy weapon. S'kaal was as pale as milk, he was hairless as well. He had no visible nostrils or ears, but a huge mouth which further added to his henious appearance.

  "Charge! Attack the monster! We outnumber him one to fifty!" Kaith yelled once more. However, there was no weight to his words. The man did not trust his own statments, either.

  S'kaal the cruel could not wait any longer, though. He decided to engage the adventures himself. In his hand was a chain, so thick and so heavy that it could not have been wielded by anyone humane. He spun it around, splitting even the air around the trajectory.

  The men at the front lines could not have remained motionless anymore. Not when death lingered in front of them. Harwin, although, terrified still gripped his sword firmly, but his hands were still shaky.

  None wanted to be the first one to attack this time, not a single one of them desired glory anymore. Only survival was on the minds of these poor souls. The young mage looked towards his comrades, he realized that they were all going to be massacred in the first charge. It was only then that something dawned on him which made him shout at the top of his lungs:

  "RETREAT! RETREAT!" His words were heard through the vicinity.

  As if waiting for just a simple sign, almost all of them followed the instructions of this fellow, whom they had not even known until a few days ago, immediately. Of course, some chivalrous fools retained their positions, standing against literal evil.

  The reason behind this retreat was simple: Harwin had finally realized the plans of their commander — Kaith. The latter wanted to make the lot scapegoats to tire the opponent or to analyze his strengths and weaknesses. The young mage now understood why Lyam and Kaith had been so kind towards anyone joining the cause, they were fattening up the herd only to sacrifice it at the right moment.

  The lad was honourable as well, he understood loyalty, but he also had common sense. If the leaders just wanted their army slain for testing out their theories, then they did not deserve the positions at all.

  Kaith was left wide-eyed, a vein bulged against his forehead as he looked at the orchestrater of this scheme — Harwin. In that moment he realized: he would need to fight as well.

  As for S'kaal, he was busy enjoying his time butchering the few men who had decided to stand against all odds. The being had even thrown away his kusarigama; he did not deem the opponents worthy for it. One of the brave ones tried to strike first with his sword, surprisingly the attack connected as well, thrusted right into the gut of S'kaal.

  The lad's happiness knew no bound, he was sure of his victory. The overjoyed fellow tried to pull back his sword to repeat this action once again, however, he was not able to do so.

  It was only then that he dared to look at the face of his enemy, towering over him. The monster was not grunting with pain, no, it had maintained the same devilish smile. The adventurer soiled his pants, embarrassing himself entirely. But who could have blamed him.

  That when S'kaal grabbed him by the neck, lifting the human up in the air, effortlessly. Of course, the man tried to fight a little, however, the former only enjoyed it even more. In a split second, the cruel being bit his opponent's head off, munching on it while throwing the lifeless body away.

  S'kaal's mouth had hundreds of beastly teeth. He could have bitten right through steel. It was another source of terror for the rest standing.

  The ones who had remained behind before, now tried to run for their lives, but it was too late. The creature mutilated the rest swiftly as well with his bare, twisted hands. He began to feast on the fresh prey without care for the rest, at least for now.

  Harwin and all his surviving fellows had managed to almost reach where the reserve stood. He earned a scowl from all the members of "The Mortis", but hardly cared.

  Suddenly, Lyam ordered all the mages and archers to cast and shoot right towards the retreating party. Of course, it was to target two birds with one stone — killing the disobedient and possibly weakening S'kaal in the process.

  However, Harwin was too clever for this. He now understood the motives of his former master and commander. Just before the ranged division could have completed their chants, he shouted again:

  "Scatter away!"

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  All of them now trusted the mage-sword with their lives, so they followed his instructions without any doubts. Although, that was not the end of his plans. He was a mage himself, so he understood the timings of all the basic and intermediate spells as well.

  Most importantly, there were allies in the lines as well. Eiza, Daren and Ava tried their best to stop the other mages and marksmen from following the ruthless orders of Lyam. They found support rather easily, as many in the rear had comrades fighting in the front-liners as well. The trio were able to stop almost half of the mages as well as archers from attacking their companions. It only further infuriated the already disgruntled leaders of Mortis.

  But, there were still some men ready to kill even their own party members. It was because of this that, just at the right moment, Harwin yelled once more:

  "Dive and duck!"

  As the lot obliged, a dozen of "Blazing deaths" and "Stone lances" and other spells — intermediate ones — launched right over their heads. They were able to save themselves only narrowly. Of course, not all of them were so fortunate, few were late and got murdered by their own sworn friends.

  S'kaal stopped in his trek as dozens of spells and arrows headed his way. Instead of trying to dodge the strike, he decided to plant his feet firmly and gripped his mighty chain, waiting for the right moment. Just at the moment of impact, he whirled his weapon in an arc, spiraling in the way of impending danger. This basically disrupted almost all of the attacks, however, a few still managed to reach the monster.

  Explosions followed and S'kaal was hidden away in smoke and dust. Everyone looked anxiously in the enemy's direction with hope, but the experienced one knew that this was not the end of the cruel commander.

  Just as the sight cleared a bit, the lot saw their enemy standing without flinching. The conglomerate efforts from the mages and archers were only able to create small scratches on this ferocious monster. However, this was still better than they had anticipated.

  As S'kaal was still at considerable distance, Kaith began to berate the escapees:

  "You dare disregard my orders! Do you cravens have a deathwish, you ungrateful bastards!?"

  "We do not have that desire, ser. That is the very reason that we retreated. For now, we should focus on the trouble at hand rather than arguing." Harwin replied.

  His words cut right through, adding oil to the fire, but he also had the backing of almost all of the surviving adventurers who were grateful to him. Lyam and Kaith could not pursue the matter any further, of course, partly due to the thing that was grinning right at them.

  "If you want to slay that beast, then you will have to fight right beside us as well. None of us are going to be your pawns anymore, ser." Harwin stated before the commander could have even delivered new instructions.

  This only further frustrated the leadership, but they already knew that this was going to be the case.

  "Jasm and Tareth, you two will follow me. Lyam and the rest, you can support us from the rear. Try to take down the foul creature in one hit, I will create the opening for you." Kaith instructed his party. He then turned towards the others, "Do whatever you want, but do not get in our way." He warned.

  His party was rather small, only six men in total. It was all a balanced group required as well.

  Harwin and the rest did not object. They did not care for being a part of another scheme, either. All decisions were taken rapidly as S'kaal did not just stand still, he was sauntering towards them, indulging in the panic of his enemies.

  Kaith and his two companions charged forward. Lyam and the rest of their party also closed in some distance to be precise in their attacks.

  The burly swordsman — Kaith — engaged head-on, slashing right at the three meter tall monster. The latter deflected with ease. Sparks flew everywhere, as the blade rattled with the chains.

  Jasm and Tareth attacked from the sides, both of them were spear-men, so they could maintain some distance. Their attacks did not connect, though. S'kaal whirled his chain around with such ferocity that it became a barrier of sort, blocking any and all openings.

  The trio stepped back a bit. Kaith raised his hand, as if to signal something, he then charged forward once more, a feint only. However, this was when the monster of Qareen scythed through. The range of the this move was great, and incredibly swift at that. Kaith and Tareth managed to leap just in time, however, he looked behind to find Jasm cleaved in half.

  The poor lad had tried to defend against such a powerful strike with his weapon alone, only to be cut down in half.

  All of them were seasoned veterans, they did not just stop a midst battle to mourn the death of their comrade. That was the correct decision, as at the very next moment, several great inferno blades were shot right at the murderer of their friend.

  Lyam and his group were all great mages. Their castings were not only powerful, but also precise. S'kaal tried to roll away, but the being was too heavy to perform such an action in time. He snapped the kusarigama in an arc once again, coiling it to possibly vanquish the attacks heading his way.

  These were not some shabby basic spells, but powerful advanced ones. They made their way right through the heavy, reinforced steel without effort.

  Kaith smirked, sure of his victory. This was when the stygian sand began to levitate. It felt as if the entirety of the shadow ruins was caught in a violent earthquake. In the middle of it all, S'kaal stood proud. The advanced level spells, having clashed with endless grains, disappeared without dealing any damage to the intended.

  Kaith was frozen in place. He had heard that this monster was capable of manipulating his surroundings, but the burly fellow had never anticipated such magnitude.

  S'kaal had created walls as thick as that of a city. Nothing could have passed through. The floating sand soon fell down, returning to its former state. The cruel commander grabbed whatever was left of his chain, and took a stance once more. Although, this beast had just blocked the combined effort of several advanced — possibly expert level mages — he did not wear the same grin anymore.

  Kaith finally calmed himself down. He decided to risk it all with the next move — the same one he had used against the Gogliath. With a single wave towards Tareth and Lyam, he leaped high. Soaring, once more, like an eagle. His comrade on the frontline did not waste time either and lunged forward with his spear.

  S'kaal lashed his, already shortened, chain towards the man in front. The spear-man managed to dodge and push forward, but the monster dictated the chain, entangling Tareth entirely.

  This was when Kaith came crashing down, targeting only the head of his enemy. That was not all. Lyam and the bunch launched several "Blazing Arrows", packed with magika, right at the already surrounded S'kaal.

  It was a mistake, though, they had learned nothing. A sand dome formed around the cruel being in an instant. Kaith was repelled quite easily, thrown away to be precise. The spells exploded but were not able to penetrate through the great defensive barrier.

  This time, though, something was different. Tareth had been caught inside the dome as well. His companions looked anxiously as the sand cleared off once more. Suddenly, a strange object was shot right at the burly swordsman — Kaith. It was not an attack, as the target managed to catch this projectile with ease, only to be horrified. It was the head of his companion.

  The rest of the body was being eaten by S'kaal as the Mortis looked in terror and powerlessness. Kaith, the boisterous fellow, was quiet now. His usual arrogant demeanour was wiped right off his existence. The bunch did not know what to do, they had already tried their best combination which had annihilated any and all of their enemies before.

  However, Harwin had noticed a discrepancy in all of it. His eyes had always been fixated on the creature unlike the rest who were too busy arguing of whether to run away or not. The next step by the young mage would either grant the lot victory or erase them completely off the face of the earth.....