The skeletal hand that shot out of the darkness groped the air blindly, but went no further, as if trapped in or reliant on the darkness surrounding it. Ikaris and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived.
The skeletal hand slid to the floor, its gaunt fingers rasping against the wooden frame of the entrance. As it bumped against the floor, the hand flip-flopped horizontally, its fingers curled slightly like a five-legged spider, and the tip of its index finger scratched against the rune carved into the wood by the teenager.
A chill of fright ran down Ikaris' spine and without thinking he stifled his fear and lurched toward the entrance, bringing his sword down on the hand with all his might. The skeletal hand was chopped off cleanly and froze in place.
Holding his breath and ready to strike again, the boy turned pale when he saw a second skeletal hand spring from the darkness to retrieve the severed hand. Malia and the others stood still for a moment, praying that none of those things would return, but unfortunately their wish was not granted.
A dozen skeletal hands sprang up from the darkness at once and wasting no time this time they began furiously scratching the floor to erase, or at least damage the inscription. Not quite so frightened after succeeding the first time, Ikaris began to swing his blade relentlessly in all directions, slicing hand after hand, but soon he began to sweat as he realized that the challenge was not as simple as he had thought.
To slice through those freakishly strong bones he had to hit pretty hard, over half his strength. It was hard to control it, and every time he hacked at a hand a deep gash was added to the wooden floor.
"Damn it, how am I supposed to get rid of them?" The boy growled as he stomped on a hand that was a tad too sneaky before slashing at it with his sword.
At that moment he got a foreboding feeling and abruptly withdrew his foot from the entrance, just in time to see three other hands grabbing the empty space where his leg had been.
'Hmm... Let me think. Have you tried your Heart Puncturing Spell?' Magnus suggested unconvincingly.
'Have you ever seen a heart on skeletons and specters?!" Ikaris snapped out while kicking away yet another bony hand that he had just lopped off.
"Hehe, I was just kidding. Look in the booklet, there must be more combinations of inscriptions specifically targeting these Skeletons."
Ikaris and the two women began to skim the booklet again, and he and Malia decided to each carve a different inscription in front of the door. The young woman drew her sword and tried her best to carve the inscription she had set out to carve while chopping off the hands of the skeletons that were snooping around a bit too closely.
In the blink of an eye, the boy finished carving his combination of runes, but when he saw that Malia had barely drawn a line, he nearly choked with anger and exasperation. Being businesslike, he ordered,
"Okay, you go ahead and chop off the skeletons' hands and let me carve the inscriptions. I just don't want to have these things around."
The Kitsune nodded with embarrassment, then with a steely resolve began to slash at all the skeletal hands with far more skill and precision than Ikaris. At least it was clear that she was better at swordplay than he was.
The teenager carved the inscription chosen by Malia and when the symbol was close to completion, something happened that both horrified and delighted him. All the hands that had been focused on scratching the first inscription swooped down on his sword, clutching the blade as hard as they could, even if it meant hurting themselves.
Ikaris pulled hard to break free, but it was him instead who began to be dragged into the darkness.
"Fuck! Malia, cut that-
Long before Malia had time to react, the huge Tartarus Enforcer, which had to crouch to fit inside the narrow cottage, appeared next to Ikaris and slashed at the darkness with the explosive power of 100kg of C4.
SHRRRRIII!
Shrill moans echoed through the opaque smoke as thousands of bone fragments were blown in all directions. The humanoid creature stood stoically between Ikaris and the billowing smoke like an impenetrable wall.
He heard the clatter of impacts and collisions against the creature's armor, as well as the bone-chilling wails of the Demon Wraiths, but the Enforcer stood firm.
'Hurry up and carve that rune!' Magnus urged him imperiously. "Even if the Tartarus Enforcer is soulless, it won't last long against those Wraiths! You wouldn't want one of them to take over its body, would you?
Ikaris took the threat very seriously and hurried to finish the inscription. As he completed the last line, the skeletal hands that were trying to crawl between the Enforcer's legs ran into an invisible wall, just like the black smoke and the Demon Wraiths a moment earlier.
Actually, rather than an invisible wall, it was more like these skeletons didn't dare to move their hands any further, as if they were forbidden to do so. When the Tartarus Enforcer backed away from the entrance, Ikaris and the others knew they were finally off the hook.
'Not yet.' The Vampire Emperor snickered grimly. 'Those skeletons can still scratch the runes on the walls outside. Considering the airtightness of this cottage... I wouldn't feel safe.'
The boy shuddered under the pressure, but after describing the urgency of the situation to the two women even Ellie ignored her fear and got to work. After a few minutes, interspersed with shrieking wails and unsettling wooden creaks, they finally managed to secure the building.
All the interior walls were now covered with more or less successful engravings. The already dubious aesthetics were ruined, but at least they were safe.
The black cloud and the things lurking inside persisted for a while longer, probing for the faintest crack in their rune network, but once they realized it was useless they let go and they heard the skeletons outside walking away in search of another victim.
"Phew, Thank God it's over!" Ellie slumped to the floor clutching her pounding heart. "I thought those bastards would never leave us alone..."
"Yeah, we're safe." Malia smiled as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"Moo!" (I would have charged them if you'd let me.)
Ikairs sheathed his sword, but seeing that the black smoke blocking all view of the outside still clogged the entrance to the cottage, his curiosity overcame his fear.
'See-through Vision.'
Then he saw them. Thousands of skeletons as far as the eye could see, but not only that. There were other, more horrific things as well. Huge things that could squash their cottage with one swipe of their paws.
When he spotted them, Ikaris gaped and decided to engrave all the combinations of runes provided in the booklet to get some peace of mind. It took him half the night, but the previous Lord's doom was the only reminder he needed not to gamble his life on a fluke.
Perhaps the previous Lord had died of a mere negligence.
The two women offered to help him, but in the end realizing that he was drawing better and faster than the two of them put together they ended up letting him work, albeit somewhat shamefully.
"How come you engrave them so well? You look like you've been doing this for years." Ellie grumbled in an envious whisper.
"My Soul Strength of 101." He repeated absentmindedly.
Ellie nodded blankly. She had heard him mention that number before in front of Orym, but she still didn't know what it meant. To Malia, however, his performance was normal. It would have been embarrassing if he couldn't do it with a Soul Strength so overpowered.
When the dust settled, the fatigue of their journey caught up with them and the two women closed their eyes, trying to sleep as best they could on the hard floor. Ikaris sat cross-legged in front of the entrance with his eyes wide open and alert and took the opportunity to chat with the old Vampire.
'Magnus do you know what these runes mean?' He asked telepathically.
'No, but there's nothing magical about them. These things in the darkness just take them seriously.'
'As if they were programmed to obey these symbols?' Ikaris wrinkled his nose.
'Hmm... programmed? Nice analogy.' Magnus approved with a chuckle. 'It's quite plausible. This is the kind of Necromancer magic Faulch could have devised. He's always been a peerless genius in that regard.
'Now that you mention Faulch again...' Ikaris suddenly thought with great interest. 'Can you finally tell me who these twelve Major Saints are?'
