S'kaal was unlike any of his counterparts. As one of the ten commanders serving under Qareen, he was immensely strong. Yet, this was not the reason for being the most dangerous of the bunch. It was his ferocity and ruthlessness that made him a terrifying opponent to face.

  All his other comrades would bring the bodies of the dead back to their master — for him to raise the corposes as undeads. However, S'kaal would eat some and feed the rest to the force assigned under him. He would sometimes even challenge his underlings to fight, consuming them ultimately at the end.

  None had really survived after a direct confrontation against this monster, but few had managed to scout him out and lived to tell the tale.

  According to these men, S'kaal was about three meters tall. Hideous and terrifying in appearance, so much so that he inspired fear at the mere sight. Around his neck was a necklace, mind you, this was not an ornament made of gold or perals but skulls of his fallen enemies.

  His choice of weapon was a kusarigama — a thick and long chain with a sharp blade at one end. It was a unique weapon, but the immense strength of this being allowed him to wield the weapon quite efficiently. No one knew where this undead creature had obtained a weapon from. As normally, the monsters of ashen lands were not intelligent enough to craft weapons or tools on their own.

  Most notably, S'kaal also held the power to control his surroundings, at least to some degree. Scouts reported that he was able to control the stygian sand of the shadow ruins, launching it at the intended.

  The limits of his powers were unknown, but that did not matter for Harwin's group who were tasked to defeat this terrible creature no matter what.

  After taking their leave from Belarit, they soon entered the shadow ruins once again. Usually, it would have been difficult to find their target in such a vast land, but their target wanted to be found which made it easy for them to locate him.

  The morale of the group was high which was one of the reasons that the journey did not feel tough even in the harsh terrain. They were careful of their surroundings, yes, but the lot also enjoyed themselves whenever resting in the ruined structures by innocent banter or playing games, native to their settlements. Harwin was a bit worried, but he did not let it show on his face.

  In just a week of travelling, they finally caught the sight of S'kaal. Of course, a commander without an army could not be called such, so he was surrounded by at least a hundred underlings. However, the subordinates were nothing special, just plain imourte which even Harwin and his associates were easily able to deal with now.

  A final strategic meeting was held. Kaith's instructions felt strange to everyone for the first time. The former commanded the adventures, who were not from his own party, to be on the front lines. Even Harwin and his party were told to fight head on while Lyam and Kaith's group would remain in reserve, supporting from the back.

  He gave another grand speech and convinced all of the front-liners to oblige, but the young mage remained doubtful. "The Mortis" was the most elite group of the bunch, yet they were to remain behind the lines which would have raised the brows of anyone with common sense. It could have been part of a deeper plan, but Harwin did not understand the reasoning behind it one bit.

  As the lad could have not argued — having been bestowed upon with a great many favours by Lyam and Kaith — he simply followed through.

  It was high noon when the ambush was to commence. The enemy had no idea of what was about to unfold. Harwin chanted something strange, something he had never even read of before. Soon, sparks began to fly around his right hand.

  He had already unsheathed his blade before chanting and placed it in front of him. Soon after, the young mage gripped the sword firmly. Miraculously, the sword caught fire, a peculiar inferno that had a hue of blue and crimson.

  This was the result of his training under Lyam who had taught him to use his imagination to conjure whatever he wished. "The Blazing Sword" is what Harwin had named this spell. It relied on magika of the user to remain lit. It was no trouble to maintain it, however, as he was able to utilize his capacity quite efficiently now. Everyone around him were marveled at the sight, but they did not have much time to savor the moment.

  At the signal of Kaith, the entirety of the front-line began to charge at the undeads. There were, of course, some archers and mages in the group as well. They were instructed to remain at a distance and support their comrades from the rears. Although, arrows proved to be useless, as the undeads were prone to any damage except for mutilation of their body or most effectively: blaze.

  With the burning blade, which was also enchanted, the mage‐sword — Harwin — was able to cut through the imourte in a single strike. Winston was also able to handle himself without being a burden. The rest of the adventurers were just trying their best to stay alive while inflicting the most amount of damage as possible.

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  It was rather difficult for an average adventurer to fight an imourte. Most took down a single undead in groups of, at least, three during their ventures. That was where the support came in.

  From time to time, under the leadership of Lyam, the mages of the force would unleash basic to intermediate level fire spells at the enemy. There was a chance that they would hit their own men, but the reward far outweighed the risk. With a single, well coordinated cast, dozens of undeads were taken down in the blink of an eye.

  It is to be noted that there were still severe casulaties. The front line had lost almost a quarter of their force in the first charge. It was only after such a great loss that they began to gain advantage.

  In the heat of the moment, Harwin was caught in the middle of two undeads. The twisted creatures looked at the young mage fiercely. The latter did not lose his nerve at all, meeting their gaze head-on.

  They striked simultaneously, so Harwin leaped a few steps back. As the beings tried to follow behind, he swiftly casted basic fire spells at one of them with his prosthetic arm. The young mage then cut down the other one in a split second. The mere touch of the inferno blade was enough to set the enemy ablaze, proving once again of how strong the combination was.

  The first one was still distracted from the spell, when Harwin slashed at it as well. However, this was an all out battle, another imourte blocked his attacked with its razor-sharp claws. The being had six arms which meant it could easily attack while defending. Harwin was about to back away when the distracted undead lunged at him, pushing him down to the ground.

  As the twisted being was about to slay Harwin, Stein went into a frezny. He knocked the enemy off of his master, and began to bite its limbs off one by one. It gave the former enough time to get up.

  Stein was a monster of the shadown ruins as well which could have made the other adventurers target him. For this reason, Harwin had requested Kaith to order the others to not attack his pet. Although, everyone was against the idea, but they eventually accepted once they heard the usefulness of this hound. Of course, all of them were glad about their decision when the witnessed the battle prowess of the creature.

  The numbers of imourte had gone down significantly. Only a few remained on the battlefield after the numerous castings from the mages as well as the constant strikes from the front-liners.

  This was when a rather troublesome opponent appeared. A five meter tall giant that had basically brought Harwin and his party to their demise before — the gogliath. The men at the front were in a panic as the giant began to literally squash its opponents flat. The only logical plan at that moment was to retreat. There was no way that the being could have been taken down by them.

  That was when Kaith charged forward, first time during the whole battle. As he closed some distance, he leaped high up in the air. The height he gained was something impossible for a man of his stature, yet he looked as if he was soaring through the sky. Of course, this was only possible by the help of magika and enchantments — wind magika to be precise. It did not mean that the man could fly, it was just small boost at best.

  Kaith came crashing down on the mindless giant. His movement were precise and full of confidence, it was clear that the man had mastered this move. Air itself trembled as this master swordsman sliced right through the head of his opponent at such a rapid speed.

  The rest just stared in awe at the powerhouse that was their commander. That was it, however, from Kaith's side. He went back in reserve which confused the front-liners. Once again, they were signalled to return back to the battlefield.

  In just an hour, the floor was wiped with the entirety of the undead army. None of the imourte remained standing. As for the casulaties on the humans sides, they had lost nearly half of their entire force.

  'Maybe we can win this afterall." Harwin thought to himself, only to regret it later.

  Still, all of them rejoiced, celebrating their victory. Something was a miss, though, and Harwin understood it. The rest of the adventurers had forgotten that they were not there to just hunt down the monsters of the ashen lands as usual. Their target, rather enemy was something far sinister, far too overwhelming.

  Finally after coming back to reality, they began to scan the vicinity for the sight of the final opponent — the greatest commander of Qareen.

  This was when they finally laid their eyes on the being, sitting cross-legged on one of the many stygian dunes. He was there from the beginning, they had noticed him at first as well, yet this terrible creature had managed to conceal his presence entirely in the midst of battle.

  Whatever was the reason, it was fortunate that S'kaal had not made any moves yet. The motive was unclear, but he had ignored his surroundings completely without even a shed of care for his fallen soldiers.

  The adventures in the front gulped in fear, but a few cocky ones — confident from their recent victory — decided to strike before the rest. It was all for a chance to earn glory. Nothing could have been more foolish, but Kiath did not stop these fellows. Instead, he observed carefully and attentively.

  As these brave, yet stupid souls came near the great commander, they felt the ground shaking. The sensation was felt by everyone, even if they stood few yards away. It only grew stronger by the second, as the folly humans kept on trying to close the distance that is.

  However, they became petrified right in front of their opponent, neither striking nor moving an inch. S'kaal had not even opened his eyelids yet.

  Everyone else looked anxiously at their comrades, contemplating as to why they had not attacked immediately. This was when the one standing nearest to S'kaal disappeared in the sand below. Buried without even a trace of him left behind in an instant. The others, who were standing behind this man, were too shocked to react at first, but then tried to retreat. However, they met a similar fate.

  The rest stared in horror. None were able to even blink, much less understand what had just occurred.

  This was when S'kaal finally opened his eye, filled with a menacing glint of blood-lust. The being smiled, no, it was a predatory grin. The hunter had woken up. Harwin and the others realized that they were the prey this time.....