Eight Intertwined

157 - Runelord

With the blade of the scythe retreated back into its hilt, Tressa finally felt confident enough to charge forward again, her blade at the ready and aiming for any target it could find. Her spear slashed open a new injury across Balogar's leg, and when he tried to raise his sword to fend her off, Tressa met him with a blast of wind. They were forced away from each other by the momentum of the attack, but she couldn't bring herself to mind. 

Tressa's eyes went wide as they dropped to the sword in Balogar's hand. He was trying to cast a small water spell, and the fluid was snaking up the side of the blade. It was subtle enough for most people to not even realize what was happening at a first glance, but Tressa knew what to expect. She had already been told about the element of water thanks to Cyrus' study of the eldrite, and that gave her all the advantage she needed. Tressa didn't know what Balogar was planning on doing with the water, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it. 

So Tressa stomped her healing foot against the ground, and a series of jagged icicles spread across the ground before slamming into Balogar. He staggered backward, trying to pull his sword out of the barricade. Unfortunately for him, that was much easier said than done since the water around the sword had already solidified into ice. Balogar's only other option was to use his scythe, but Cyrus' previous attacks had been enough to tell Balogar he couldn't use it safely. Tressa could only assume that Cyrus had leaned so heavily into the element of fire before because it was the best way to push Balogar into a different fighting style. Fire and ice were the perfect elements to use against someone who was a master of water. The fluid was what had been fueling his attacks with the scythe before, and without that advantage, Balogar was left at the mercy of the travelers. 

Olberic was quick to rush toward the runelord next, but Balogar was too swift for him. In fact, Balogar was so fast that it was a miracle the group had gotten any hits on him at all. He avoided all of Olberic's slashes effortlessly, a smile on his face even though none of the travelers were going to let him keep it. Alfyn rushed in next, and while he failed to get in any lucky hits, he was enough of a distraction to help Olberic to slam the hilt of his blade into the hand holding the sword. Balogar dropped it on instinct as his fingers flexed from the pain. He hissed softly, but the sound was gone just as quickly as it had come moments later. 

Balogar reached for the blade once he was able to get a grip on himself again, but Alfyn moved too quickly for him. The apothecary planted his foot on the sword before kicking it backwards. Ophilia picked it up when it slid to a stop in front of her even though she stood no chances of using it. She had grown stronger since joining up with the rest of the travelers, but that still wasn't enough to make her an expert with any physical weapon save for maybe a dagger. However, Ophilia didn't need to worry about using the sword. At this point, her only goal was to keep it out of Balogar's hands, and she had already more than succeeded in that goal. 

H'aanit released an arrow when Balogar tried to create his scythe again. Water was spreading across the surface of his hands before aiming for the scythe, but the electric attack from H'aanit stopped it immediately. The lightning magic traveled across Balogar's body before striking his hand and scythe in one fell swoop. Once again, Balogar was forced to cry out in pain and drop his weapon. This time, Primrose was the one who pushed it out of his way, casting a dark spell that sent the scythe sliding across the ground. 

Tressa crouched down when the hilt of the scythe tapped against her foot, and she smiled before claiming the weapon for herself. She had to admit that the scythe was an interesting weapon. It was unlike anything she had ever fought with before, and while it could be called similar to the lance, Tressa knew it was probably different in practice. Even so, she couldn't wait to see what she was able to do with it going forward. Somehow, she already knew this weapon was going to be hers just as Cyrus had claimed Dreisang's scepter.