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The Martial Lord’s eyes widened as a beam of black light flew towards his face. He kicked with his feet, shooting his body towards the side, but he was too slow. The beam struck his shoulder, penetrating all the way through, leaving a hole the size of a fist in his flesh. “Damn!” Ouyang Feng cursed and kicked the air once more, sending himself flying through the air behind the Shadow Lord.
Zoose turned into a thunderbolt and struck the ground, appearing in front of Lindyss and Darkie in an instant. The Lightning Lord swept his halberd in an arc, attacking with the back of his weapon to avoid cleaving the Shadow Lord in half. The golden weapon passed straight through Lindyss’ body, electricity crackling where it did, and struck the rifle-wielding Shadow Lord. The impact sent the possessed man tumbling along the ground until he crashed into the earthen wall of the pit.
Lindyss turned her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at the tiny mushroom cloud of dust coming off of the Shadow Lord’s body. “I think you killed him,” she said and looked at the Lightning Lord. “Good job.”
Zoose shook his head. “He isn’t someone who’d die to an attack like that,” he said. “More importantly, I see you’re similar to me, someone with a body made of lightning.” His eyes narrowed as his root bracelet flashed amber, and a black, rubber covering appeared on the blade of his halberd. “Have you ever been struck by something in your lightning form?” He swung his weapon at Lindyss. “It’s quite painful!”
“Get her!” Ouyang Feng shouted as the rubber head of the halberd struck Lindyss’ side. He positioned himself off to where the cursed elf would be launched; however, the cursed elf didn’t even budge upon being hit. Instead, Lindyss reached down with her left hand and grabbed, grasping the halberd’s head.
Zoose trembled, and his muscles bulged as he pushed and pulled at this weapon to no avail. The Lightning Lord swallowed as he made eye contact with the cursed elf. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “How are you so strong?”
“Do you expect me to answer that?” Lindyss asked and gave the halberd a gentle tug, causing the Lightning Lord to stumble towards her. She grasped his neck with her free arm, and a layer of earth coated her right hand, separating her skin from Zoose’s. “Well, here’s a hint: there’s a bone dragon in my shadow.” A smile appeared on Lindyss’ lips. “Now, I have a question for you.” She tossed aside the halberd, the weapon torn out of Zoose’s grip, and lifted the Lightning Lord by his neck. “What happens when lightning meets the ground?”
“Stop!” Ouyang Feng shouted and dashed forward.
Lindyss ignored the Martial Lord and slammed Zoose into the ground. A web of cracks spread throughout the earth with the Lightning Lord at its epicenter, and he wheezed as his breath was knocked out of him. His eyes rolled back into the top of his head, and Lindyss released him before turning towards the bejeweled skeleton. “Didn’t you say you wanted to fight too?” the cursed elf asked as if she were oblivious to the Martial Lord charging at her. “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
“I was dizzy!” Erin’s voice said from within the skeleton’s skull. Her arm stretched out of the skeleton’s eye socket, and she pointed at Ouyang Feng. “Polymorph!”
“Eh?” The Martial Lord blinked when he tripped and fell forward, his legs suddenly becoming too short to reach the ground. Then, his legs disappeared completely as his arms retracted into his body. Ouyang Feng squirmed as he shrank, his skin turning glossy and brown. With a tiny plop, the Martial Lord fell to the earth as wriggling worm.
Lindyss squatted by the spasming creature and raised an eyebrow. “If I cut it in half and regenerate each half into a full worm, do you think two Martial Lords would appear after the polymorph ends?”
“There’s no way that’ll happen!” Erin said and flew out of the bejeweled skeleton’s head. “After you cut him in half, the polymorph will end, and there’ll only be one dying Martial Lord.”
“A shame,” Lindyss said before standing up. She tilted her head up, peering at the lords who were watching the fight from the edge of the pit. “They didn’t flinch when I looked at them. Get back inside the skeleton.”
“We’re going to fight them some more?” Erin asked but flew back inside the skeleton anyway. “You don’t think you showed off enough?”
“It hasn’t even been more than a few minutes,” Lindyss said. “The onlookers are probably thinking I’m dangerous after seeing me defeat these three fools, but they’re coming up with ways in their head to deal with what I’ve shown them. Unless I personally have them taste despair, there’ll be a vague notion in their minds that I can be defeated.”
Erin scratched her head. “But you weren’t even the one that defeated that guy,” she said and leaned out of the skeleton’s eye socket to point at the wriggling earthworm. “That was me.”
“We’re a team, aren’t we?” Lindyss asked, raising an eyebrow.
“We’re a team?” Erin’s head tilted to the side. Then, her eyes lit up as she straightened her posture. “Yeah, that’s right! You and I are a team! The might Erin Koller and Lindyss…, uh…, the Corrupted One.” The fairy queen nodded. “When we join forces, no one can stop us!”
“Don’t we get credit?” Zilphy asked, a green rock materializing on the bejeweled skeleton’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t have summoned such an awesome skeleton if we weren’t helping you out with Vur’s mana.”
“I could still summon an awesome skeleton without your assistance,” Lindyss said, “but alright, thanks for helping me save some energy.”
“I have a feeling she doesn’t actually appreciate us,” Diamant said. He sighed. “Then again, this feeling does seem to follow me around wherever I go….”