Flameskull (Part 2)

The flames compressed to their limit rapidly expanded, and the result was an explosion.

Fireball could unleash blazing flames over a thousand degrees hot. A direct hit would blow someone apart beyond picking up, while even being caught in the blast would cause severe burns. It was a powerful spell that the School of Evocation took great pride in.

But precisely because its destructive power was so singular, defending against it was not impossible.

As the liquid-like blaze spread in every direction, a shield flashing with intense red light appeared beyond the smoke. The flames flowed around the shield as if they had encountered their natural enemy, leaving broad scorch marks across the spacious corridor.

The effect of the divine spell Protection from Energy was spelled out in its name. Even Fireball could not break through it in one shot. Its drawback was that each casting could only protect against one type of energy damage, leaving all others unguarded.

They knew that Fireball was Flameskull's greatest threat, so they only needed protection from fire damage. This was why knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy offered such a great advantage.

Fire damage could be warded off, but the shockwave generated by the explosion still swept through.

Dwarves might be short, but they weighed almost as much as humans. That meant their bodies were sturdy, and with their low stance came a low center of gravity.

Even so, Fandar had to put all his strength into bracing his shield against the Fireball head-on to keep from being hurled away by the blast.

As for Pei Renli, he simply threw himself flat on the ground when the explosion came. Since he was bound to be knocked down anyway, he might as well lie down first and save himself a tumble.

The two in the rear could not immediately launch a counterattack and needed a moment to recover, while Alton and Gary, who had charged the front line, seized the chance to close to within striking range.

Against undead like skeletons, edged weapons were not very effective. So Alton pulled out a spare torch and used it like a hammer, swinging it sideways at the skull's jaw.

The old bones, which had little resistance to blunt force, immediately cracked. Its jawbone was nearly knocked off. A step behind, Gary also raised his shield and smashed it down hard from above.

Flameskull itself was not particularly tough—its health bar was simply very short. Faced with such highly effective blunt strikes, it naturally had a hard time holding up. Gary might even have been able to smash it apart with one shield blow.

But Flameskull being able to throw only one Fireball did not mean it could not use other spells after casting Fireball.

Before the shield could come down, the skull wrapped in green flame suddenly became extraordinarily blurry. Its image looked like someone with seven or eight hundred degrees of nearsightedness without glasses. What should have been a killing shield strike hit nothing but air, and the wind pressure it kicked up merely made the hovering Flameskull sway.

Blur, a type of illusion spell, could obscure the target's form and thereby evade attacks. That was why Gary had missed.

After Gary's attack missed, a Magic Missile shot out from its eye sockets and struck Alton at close range just as he tried to attack again.

Magic Missile was indeed not especially powerful, equivalent to a full-force punch from an adult. But this halfling, Alton, was clearly not as sturdy as a dwarf. One Magic Missile sent him flying two or three meters back.

It took rather too many words to describe, but in reality, the flames from Fireball had only just fully faded when Fandar, standing in the rear, raised his mace.

"Sacred Flame!"

A vast expanse of glittering golden divine radiance poured down from above Flameskull, completely swallowing that skull.

Gary retreated two steps to avoid friendly fire. Once the holy light faded, he raised his shield again and charged forward once more alongside the regrouped Alton.

Pei Renli had gotten back to his feet by then as well, his fingers continuing to weave the runes of Magic Missile. At this rate, another two hits would finish Flameskull off for good.

Yet, unlike what they had expected, the air around Flameskull rippled as though trembling. Alton and Gary, who had rushed in, immediately felt as if they had run face-first into a bull and were forcibly bounced back.

"It's Force Wave. Flameskull shouldn't have a spell like that!"

The monster guide Pei Renli had read clearly stated which spells Flameskull could use, and Force Wave—the spell that had pushed the two of them away—was not among them.

He immediately realized that the situation had gone somewhat beyond expectations.

The runes for Magic Missile happened to be complete at that moment. After warning the others, Pei Renli sent the magic missiles flying toward Flameskull again.

This time, however, they had no effect. An oval shield-like force field stood between the Magic Missiles and Flameskull. When the missiles struck it, it was like tossing pebbles into a pond, producing only faint ripples.

That was Shield. Its defensive effect was weaker than Mage Armor, but its greatest feature was that it could absorb Magic Missile.

The first one working had been the equivalent of catching it off guard. Getting hit a second time truly was unlikely.

They had been mentally prepared for that much. The monster guide had said Flameskull could use Shield. But its earlier Force Wave had stirred an ominous feeling in Pei Renli's heart.

Sure enough, after blocking the Magic Missiles, Flameskull's flame-like eyes lit up once more with intense magical radiance, and another broad-bean-sized spark flew out...

"This is completely wrong! The book clearly said it could only cast one Fireball!"

"Quit talking! Run!"

Perhaps to avoid hurting itself, Fireball still targeted the rear line. This time, though, it flew toward Fandar, who had inflicted the greatest damage on it.

Naturally, Pei Renli was still within Fireball's blast radius as well. After all, everyone had believed it could only cast one Fireball, so there had been no need to spread the party too far apart after it used that one.

With no time even to curse, Pei Renli and Fandar immediately sprang sideways, leaping apart in opposite directions.

Fireball had no tracking ability, and the instant it struck anything during flight, it would explode.

—BOOM!

A roaring shockwave and deafening thunderous blast erupted behind them. The scorching heat arrived a little later, but charged after them like a beast.

Pei Renli felt like a ball being rolled along by the shockwave. But since he had not been targeted and had dodged in time, the thousand-degree flames did not catch him directly. They merely singed his hair into a slight curl.

Fandar, on the other hand, had it worse. Fireball had been aimed at him. Though he had not taken the full blast, he was still caught in it.

The shockwave flung him into the air and sent him headfirst into the wall. It was only because dwarves had iron heads that he stayed conscious; if it had been a human, they would probably have passed out on the spot.

Fortunately, the effect of Protection from Energy had not fully faded. It blocked most of the fire damage for Fandar, and his heavy armor protected the rest. Otherwise, it would not just have been his head that was hurt—his entire body would have been cooked medium-rare.

After casting another Fireball, the green flames around Flameskull visibly shrank by a great deal. It gave the impression that it had expended considerable power, like a battery running low.

Without bothering to check on the rear line, Alton and Gary immediately rushed in at the sight. Though Flameskull still had Blur protecting it, that was merely an illusion, not some rigid defensive barrier. If one strike missed, they would simply strike again.

Having consumed too much power, Flameskull could barely even keep itself afloat. Pei Renli, who had risen after putting out the flames on his cloak, and Fandar, who was clutching his head and sucking in cold breaths, did not need to act again. After several crisp bangs, this Flameskull—which differed greatly from the monster guide—finally became a scatter of shattered bones...

Compiling a monster codex was not a job to be taken lightly. Many people relied on the intelligence it provided; even leaving it blank was better than writing nonsense.

That was especially true of the Adventurers' School's monster codex. The consequences of passing on false information could be severe. At the very least, any adventurer who got screwed over would never let the author off the hook—they'd scatter even his ashes to the wind.

So if reality differed from the information in the monster codex, it should have been an isolated case caused by some other factor.

Using his writing staff—which was really just a wooden stick like a mop handle—Pei Renli poked through the bone fragments and found a square crystal that looked like glass inside the skull.

Before being transported here, Pei Renli definitely would not have done that. It felt disgusting. But now, it seemed his nerves had been hardened considerably.

Alton looked at the thing and asked curiously, "What is that? A gemstone?"

After poking it to make sure it was harmless, Pei Renli picked up the crystal.

"Probably not. It feels more like glass."

He held the crystal up to one of the magic lamps and found densely packed, rice-grain-sized runes carved inside it.

"This should be a magical device. The mages from about twenty years ago probably put it in there."

Magical devices were important tools for supporting rune magic. When casting certain specific spells, they could reduce the number of runes required.

But since he did not recognize most of the runes, Pei Renli had no idea what this thing specifically did. The Flameskull's differences from the codex were probably caused by this.

"Is it worth anything?"

"If you sell it to a mage who's interested, it might be worth three or four gold coins. But not every mage would want it. We should hand it over to the school."

As he spoke, Pei Renli took out his notebook and charcoal pencil, copying down all the runes for future study. That was about the only value this thing had.

Magical devices were all custom-made. Other than their creators, no one knew how to activate them. Strictly speaking, they could only be considered half-magical items, much like the magic circles Pei Renli drew on paper.

Since it was not worth much, there was nothing else to worry about.

Fandar, who had a huge bump on his head from being hit, pulled out something like a hip flask. He poured a milky white liquid over the Flameskull's bone fragments.

Even when smashed apart, this kind of undead creature could revive after an hour. Only holy water or certain specific spells could make it stay dead for good.

Holy water was a magical consumable similar to blazing fire glue, and only priests could make it. Fandar had made some preparations before coming; after all, undead were easily encountered in the school's underground levels, so naturally they needed something as effective against undead as holy water.

After finishing the cleanup, everyone gathered around the entrance to the third floor and peered inside, checking whether any more Flameskulls were hiding nearby. They had no desire to run into something even more bullshit than an ordinary Flameskull a second time.

Having copied down the runes, Pei Renli casually stuffed the magical device into Gary's backpack. He leaned against the doorframe, but his mind was elsewhere.

Aside from Fireball being its greatest threat, the Flameskull's other abilities were fairly weak. It was especially fragile itself, so it was not particularly difficult to deal with.

But according to the information he had gathered yesterday about the school's underground levels, Flameskulls generally only appeared on the fourth underground floor.

That was because Flameskulls were originally used by necromancers as guards or sentries. They only moved along fixed routes and usually did not wander around.

If so, why had a Flameskull appeared on the second floor?

Recalling the monster codex's description of undead, Pei Renli remembered one of their traits: lower-level undead would be dominated by higher-level undead.

Perhaps there was a high-level undead down below, and the Flameskull had been squeezed up to the second floor?

With that thought, he lowered his head and glanced at his own shadow.

Lavna quietly extended a hand and gave an OK gesture.

—She had learned that from Pei Renli.