Saintess Summons Skeletons

In a very large yet quite empty private spectator room, a few people watched the Ark’s craftsmen showdown with more eagerness than anyone else.

An old ‘man’ chuckled as he watched Alith’s Zombie get splattered all over the arena during its semi-final match. “Quite impressive, really. To have so many different products ready in just two hours at her level,” he said before he turned to the messy-looking fairy to his right, “You’re the only good alchemist who came today, what’s your take, hands?”

“Definitely talented. She has the passion and wit necessary for the job… But she clearly still lacks experience and knowledge. It’ll be interesting to see where she is in a few years.”

“I see. Not going to offer mentorship?”

The fairy shook her tiny head, “I think not. Her style is too different. She’s running on pure intuition and brute force, my academic style would only hinder her growth. If anything, what she needs is money, a lot of it. But look at the things she’s wearing. I’m sure she has that well figured out.”

“Hmm… True enough. Wasn’t Richard trying to sell that ring for twelve stones? Quite the level of wealth for that age.”

“Never thought I’d see the day I would hear you of all people praise someone’s wealth, Rayra.”

“Hah, what can I say, my daughter is setting up high expectations. But the younger generations of craftsmen have been really quite placid this last millenium, all new faces in the field are worth praising, that Odon’s work was not bad either.”

The fairy sighed. “I only hope she will not take her defeat badly…”

“Who? My Zuluk?”

“Of course not! The alchemist.”

“Huh, so you, who understand her alchemy better, would bet on my daughter right now? Interesting. Such flattery is quite unlike you, hands.”

“What flattery? You’ve seen the duels as well as I did, no matter how good her potions and rocks are for her level…”

“Is that so? I know Zuluk’s creation the best, and I would quite honestly more readily bet on that alchemist here. I truly believe she has her shot.”

“HUUUH?! Really?! Is that you Rayra? Are you alright? Did you eat a soul parasite with your breakfast?”

Archmagus Rayra chuckled again. “Let us bet on it, then. How about one stone? I win either way.”

“Bet.”

Alith watched her Zombie, back to his initial state with all of his potions ready, step onto the final, larger arena at the center of the amphitheater. The clay golem on the opposite side was intimidating, to say the least. Watching the imposing creature of stone inscribed with too many rows of runes to count heavily lumber to its spot, one would be hard pressed to even see what, if anything, remained of the original brittle-looking clay golem.

The last arena was bigger, with some uneven terrain, rocks and trees in the way, like a small piece of a hilly valley plucked out to serve as a stage, which could make for a more interesting battle, and made it harder to win by pushing the opponent out of bounds. Of course these were all details Mid had explained long before the preparation phase even started.

Someone sat next to Alith without a word.

“Here to taunt me?” Alith asked.

“Not at all. Why the hostility?” Zuluk asked back, “The die is already cast, what good does taunting do? I’m here to make friends, if anything.”

“Ahah… Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous. I never expected having to watch without being able to do anything would be so stressful.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“I know, right? Ugh! This damned golem is driving me up the wall with its antics! But I suppose it’s worked out fine so far. Ah- It’s about to start. Good luck.”

Alith nodded, feeling strangely relieved to see her competitor suffer the same plight as herself. She smiled at the strange pearl-haired woman. “Good luck.”

The duel started with another shot of sparkly magical fireworks.

Right away, Alith’s zombie opted to drink two of its potions. That was a temporary stat-boost combination, derived from the formula of the stat candies. These two potions were also essential parts of the deadlier flesh melting combination the Zombie has extensively used until now, but that would be entirely pointless against the golem. It helped the zombie regain a decent movement speed, which he used to immediately take cover behind a large nearby rock.

On the other side, the rectangular shoulders of the large golem had detached themselves from it as it slowly advanced toward the Zombie. The two tiny stone pillars hovered noisily behind its back, and quickly gathered nearby mana to charge up with an intense orange light. Just moments after the zombie was out of view, the charge was full, and the two pillars discharged the light, sending two traits of orange energy shooting in a straight line toward the boulder.

The stone exploded in a cloud of debris, dirt and rocks flying everywhere. The zombie had kept moving, already past the exploded boulder. The flying debris was harmless to its reinforced skin, and it hurled a potion vial at the golem while evading the attack.

A square stone plate detached itself from the golem’s chest, flying to intercept the potion. The potion exploded against the stone, eroding it wherever its liquid splashed, but barely enough to do anything, although hovering a bit shakily, the stone slate returned to the golem’s chest.

“Do they move by themselves?” Alith asked, her eyes glued to the duel below.

“No, individually controlled,” Zuluk answered, “Not enough time for automation.”

Meanwhile, the battle continued. The golem’s flying shoulders shot time and again slowly destroying the environment while the zombie, faster than the heavy golem, kept circling around.

It threw a few more potions, forcing different parts of the golem to detach and defend, but most of those potions did not have too great of a destructive effect by themselves, so the damage was minimal.

“You’re running out of places to hide,” Zuluk commented.

“Your golem is starting to wobble,” Alith answered.

They both smirked as they watched the match.

It was true that the zombie was almost all out of places to hide against the devastating ranged attacks of the golem, and the stat boost would not last for much longer either. But what actually worried Alith was the zombie being entirely out of potions to use, although it had not used any of the candies yet.

A change of strategy was urgently needed. Despite that, the zombie continued to run, no longer attacking, until there were no rocks or trees left to serve as sacrificial lambs.

Both Alith and Zuluk’s expressions turned a bit grim. The zombie had nowhere else to hide, and would probably be downed in a single good hit, but the golem was unsteady, and starting to suffer from the lack of ambient mana its continuous attacks had created.

The zombie charged straight at the golem, but without the stat boost, it was pitifully slow. The golem opted to be the one on the defensive now, stepping back and charging up another shot with the little ambient mana left.

The zombie was too slow to possibly avoid the two orange blasts, instead, it used the refractic candy, properly this time, throwing it hard at the ground between it and the golem while it kept charging ahead.

The candy exploded creating a rippling pulse that sent the orange blasts back to their source, destroying both of the hovering shoulders.

The golem’s reaction was instantaneous, doubling down on its attacks. It stood its ground and raised both arms with clenched fists. As the zombie drew closer, the golem sacrificed some of the mana stones powering its external stone plating to fuel a decisive attack. Its two arms shot toward the zombie like deadly arrows of stone. The two were only some ten meters apart, it was impossible to dodge.

At the same time, the zombie took its chance with the final attack it had been preparing, lobbing the entire closed pouch of candies at the golem’s chest. It, too, was too close to do anything about it.

The zombie had not used a single exploding candy yet. The golem was engulfed in a bright explosion as the zombie was turned to meat paste under two giant stone fists.

The amphitheater was silent as the dust settled. There were only two stone feet left of the golem, and almost nothing of Alith’s zombie.

Alith and Zuluk turned at the same time to look at each other.

Mid sighed as he hovered above the arena.

“Ladies and gentlemen… after checking our logs… The cores of the two warriors stopped responding at the exact same time… I already know there will be complaints, but rules are rules. For the first time in the history of the craftsmen showdown, I declare this finale: a draw.”