Chapter 66: Fortress Assault
After a short flight where they were protected from the biting wind and cold by his domain, Vahn and Grayfia touched down on the parapet closest to them, prompting ghostly blue lights to appear within the snow covering it.
Peering back at Grayfia over his shoulder, Vahn's expression and tone exuded measured confidence as he stated, "These Draugr were proud warriors in life. If any approach you, face them as you would someone deserving of respect..."
"Yes, Goshujin-sama..." responded Grayfia, standing, as usual, with her hands folded over her lap, her silver eyes focused on Vahn as he turned to face the nearest Draugr with a pair of sleek, ivory white, gold-trimmed gauntlets with a cross motif in place of his spear.
Waiting for the axe-wielded Draugr to fully animate and charge him, Vahn briefly materialized his Touki to accelerate forward, hammering his left fist into the skeletal warrior's sternum. The force of the impact fractured each of the Draugr's ribs and sent it crashing into a second, but Vahn held back just enough that he wouldn't end the bout in a single blow, giving both the chance to rally.
Shifting his gaze to the opposite side of the parapet, Vahn briefly met the gaze of Grayfia before darting past her, leaping into the air to intercept a Draugr performing a leaping, overhead strike with a large war hammer by inverting his body to dropkick it. In the same series of motions, he landed in a kneeling posture, the fingers of his right hand touching the ground as he made a pushing gesture with his left hand, dispersing a beam of frigid, bluish-white energy and knocking the Draugr unleashing it from the tip of a skull-headed staff off its feet.
With his domain effectively giving him eyes in the back of his head, Vahn turned to grab the wrist of the axe-wielding Draugr, thwarting its attempts to split his head open before meeting its subsequent headbutt by donning an ivory-white helmet with a golden, cross-shaped nose and brow guard. This knocked the Draugr off its feet, but it also moved him out of the way, allowing the one behind it to unleash the arrow it had nocked.
Though he turned his body, Vahn experienced a heavy impact to his left shoulder, knocking him off balance. Fortunately, the defense of his fur-lined armor was demonstrably greater than the offensive capabilities of the arrow as it bounced off rather than piercing him.
"Great shot," acknowledged Vahn, simultaneously equipping a single-handed crossbow from his inventory, firing a shimmering silver bolt into the archer's chest, causing the blue flames in its mouth, eyes, and chest to extinguish as it promptly collapsed into a pile of ash.
"Isskald...haldur...kall..." incanted a raspy, bone-chilling voice, drawing Vahn's attention to the Draugr that had attempted to blast him with an icy beam. Now, it was creating a bluish-white Magic Circle distinctly different from the ones used by Devils beneath it. Instead of a Devil Crest with an intricate pentagram encircled by astrological and geometric symbols, it wove shimmering runes in a circle and siphoned energy directly from the air and surrounding environment.
Completing its incantation, the Draugr slammed the end of its staff into the parapet, generating a swelling vortex of ice and snow with glowing blue eyes and a vaguely humanoid shape. The surrounding temperature dropped rapidly, and ice spread out across the parapet, but thanks to his 100% Cold and Ice Resistance, Vahn only felt the air become drier as he swapped the crossbow for his Legendary Spear, swapping its element to Fire, causing the head to transform into a three-pronged, flame-like blade with fiery golden runes on its surface.
"Try this on for size...!" shouted Vahn, throwing his spear with such force that he briefly bounced in place. The humanoid mass of ice and snow had grown to nearly five meters by that point, but when the flaming spear ran it through, it was promptly torn apart by the intense heat, creating a large, swirling cavity in its chest. Fortunately, as his spear continued traveling as if it were determined to break free from the pull of gravity, Vahn was able to summon the Legendary Spear back to his right hand with a thought.