Chương 44

"It doesn't matter," I growled, and then I jumped at Tim. The problem, though, was that while Tim's body was now growing a thick layer of metal armor on itself — from the rather thin armor he had been wearing before — his head was now floating fifteen feet above the ground, laughing. Oh my God. Well, isn't this pretty cool? I looked at my mana tank. I had only enough mana for one Judgment of Raziel. And I could either use it on the body or the head. The question was: what did I need to destroy?

Now that Tim was an undead, what was the part of his body that, if destroyed, would actually kill him? Was it his head? Was it his body? His heart, maybe? I guessed that, seeing his head float so high, there was a good chance that it was his head. But at the same time, this could all be a trick. And I saw the horde of undead about to reach us. I looked at Regulus.

"You know anything about that?" I pointed at the now stallion-mounted Dullahan and his floating head.

"I have fought such vile creatures before. Not in this tutorial, Sir John. They anchor their essence to their mount and head. We must destroy both, or they will regenerate themselves without end." Okay, that was not good news. So, if we had to destroy both the mount and the head, we needed to split. I looked at the head, and I said, "Which one do you want?"

"Sir John, that undead horse is extremely powerful. Its strength is—""Regulus," I said meaningfully.

"I got it. You take the head. I'll take apart the body. Shoot it out of the sky, or jump high, or do whatever you need. And don't worry about it. Trust me." I looked at the mount with the body on it. Now, the spears that Tim had been wielding were rotating alongside his arms, levitating in the air.

"All right, let's see what you can do, Johnny boy," Tim laughed.

"Do you like the reference?" I didn't even reply. I just took one of the throwing spears out of my satchel — it appeared magically in my hand — and shot it right at the chest of the Dullahan. The spear disintegrated on the hard metal. And the skeletal horse — to which the monster looked fused — rose on its rear legs and let out a roar before charging me. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Once again, I fully sunk into the Sphere of Intuition. I could see where the horse was about to charge, and despite its immense size, I managed to avoid it with a simple roll. I saw, though, that the body of Tim — which seemed to work independently of its floating head — now ordered the spear to fly toward me. And as soon as I dodged the spear as well, a portal appeared. And I swore as the spear caught me in the side.

It failed to penetrate the Armor of Raziel, but it bruised me and made me stumble, which was enough for another spear to cleanly catch me across the leg. I immediately drank a health potion taken from my satchel. Then I focused on the horse. Its bones seemed way less strong than the Dullahan's. And instead of throwing the throwing spears that had been forged for me by the crafters, I threw the Lance of the Hero. It burrowed deep into the skeletal body, grinding bone to dust as it passed through.

And I recalled it immediately after, as the horse stumbled and had to kneel on one leg. I threw it again. And then again, and again, and again. By now, I could see that the horde of zombies was upon us. In less than thirty seconds, I would be fighting them alongside this monster. And I was sure that if we didn't hurry up, Tim would be able to climb up the walls and create mayhem on a scale never seen before.

But the horse was still moving and regenerating — and then three bright, laser-like bolts vaporized the remaining limbs of the skeletal horse. Just for a brief moment, I turned toward the wall, where I saw Alice holding just one gun in a shooting pose, smiling at me. A line of chat appeared in front of my eyes. It was her.

"You two finish the job." I immediately marked the horse with Judgment of Raziel as Tim shouted, "What the hell was that? Who is—" And then, as the body of the skeletal horse started shining, covered in sparks, I threw the Lance of the Hero once again. As soon as the lance entered through the skull of the creature, the entire thing exploded. And just in that moment, Alice had shot twice at the head, forcing it lower — until Regulus.

"The fuck," I said, flinching, as the giant lion simply crunched on the head and chomped on it several times, reducing it to a paste.

"Holy fuck." Then a message from Bluemont appeared to me.

"Get the fuck back, kid." And I saw that the first zombie — a running thing, six-four, built like a linebacker — was about to tackle me.

"Regulus," I shouted, and the lion spat out the bloody flesh, and I grabbed onto the saddle. Then something weird happened. For the first time since I had gotten the Sphere of Intuition, I was pulled inside the Skill, despite having turned my attention to my own two eyes. I couldn't see beyond the range — and beyond the range there was nothing — but I could feel something. In that moment, I knew, as well as I knew my own name, that there was a bone arrow coming for me.

Time slowed, and my brain told me that if I dodged it, it would go through my pet's head. But it also told me that I didn't have any other option. Someone had to die.