A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 127: The Fruit of Struggle - Part 5

They'll still die by normal means though, right?" Beam said, twirling his sword in his hand, having recovered his breath.

"The curse resides in its head. Severing it will not be enough – you have to crush the skull entirely, so that the foulness has no place to remain," Dominus told him.

"Alright," Beam said, sucking in one last deep breath, before he began walking towards it.

"Explore that skill of yours some more, whilst you're at it," Dominus called after him.

Beam nodded in return, picking his pace up to a jog as he covered the distance remaining between him and the corpse soldier. He had to get far closer than he'd expected before the ghoul finally twitched its head robotically, noticing him, letting loose a ghostly scream from a throat that clearly had a hole punched through it.

Beam settled into a fighting stance with both his hands on the hilt of his blade, struggling to calm his beating heart. The corpse soldier dragged its two handed battle axe with one arm through the dirt behind it, as it slowly lumbered towards Beam.

Its slow movements almost lured Beam into relaxing, but once it was in range, its speed changed entirely. With just a single arm, it hefted its mighty battle axe in a flash, sending it crashing towards Beam before he barely registered what was happening.

"Woah!" Beam shouted in surprise as he leapt back, clear of the blow. The axe landed hard in the dirt, sending up a cloud of soil as it did.

"It's definitely strong," Beam acknowledged. It was certainly a beast that would have been worthy of his final test, had he not already slain the evolved hobgoblin. He could see why ordinary men would struggle with it, despite its lack of walking speed, its attack speed was still deadly and its strength was something else, on par with a normal hobgoblin at least, or perhaps surpassing it.

Fear started to thread its way through Beam's veins as he realized that. One false move, and the corpse soldier would split him in half. Even with his victory over the hobgoblin, that fear had still not faded. But, he knew how to deal with it now. It was becoming familiar – a mere consequence of the fight.

And with the fear he started to remember what he'd felt before, as he was in the throes of mortal combat with an enemy that far surpassed him.

There was that feeling of disconnect, of shattered reality. When he stopped focusing on suppressing his dizziness, the world blurred heavily, to the point of nausea.

Another axe blow came towards him, coming up from his feet and cutting towards his head. Beam was already beginning to find that troublesome – how its attacks always began from beneath him, as the corpse soldier allowed its weapon to return to the floor after every attack.

With the blurriness, there came the slightest of slowing in the corpse soldier's movements, enough that Beam could easily move past the strike before it became a threat. As the axe came up past his shins, rising towards his shoulder, he ducked and attacked what was nearest to it – the creature's arm.

A metallic ring rang out, and a vibration ran up Beam's arms from the impact.

The reason was revealed a moment later, as the fur sleeve that had been covering the corpse soldier's arm fell away, revealing steel braces, protecting its forearm.

The corpse soldier did not allow him time to recover from his shock. It was on him immediately, swinging its giant axe towards him. Beam tracked it and dodged just enough that it flew past him – he was making a conscious effort not to use his sword to block when he didn't have to, for fear of chipping the blade once more and having to fix it.

But as that strike sailed over Beam's shoulder, the corpse soldier didn't allow the axe to fall to the floor again this time. Instead, with the blue flame in its eye sockets burning with rage, it kept the attack up and slid another hand onto the shaft of its weapon, swinging it even harder now, towards Beam's side.

Caught off balance, Beam was forced to use his sword to deflect it. But where that strike ended, another strike immediately followed. With two hands on its weapon, not only was it stronger, but it was faster too. The corpse soldier bellowed with each strike, the remains of its wispy black beard swaying with its movements.

In that fast-paced battle, Beam comfortably held his ground, realizing that he was taking too long. Already, he was settling into the rhythm of endurance, the same rhythm that he'd settled into with the hobgoblin.

As the fight went on, its movements only grew more erratic and harder to track. Beam's eyes managed to keep up with them, but only barely.

Beam grit his teeth, putting more strength into his deflection this time, sending the axe off to his side and forcing the corpse soldier off balance with it.

That instant was all Beam needed now. He was faster than he'd ever been before, and stronger too. He closed the distance between them in a second, acknowledging what he thought to be surprise burning in the flaming eyes of his enemy. And then he swung, quickly and efficiently, cutting its head from its body.

The skull of the massive Yarmdon man landed with a thud, but its body did not collapse as a result, nor did its movements even slow. Instead, the jaw of the severed head opened wide, and it gave a ghoulish scream, ordering its body to rescue it.

"Damn it," Beam cursed, as an axe was raised up behind him. He dove forward into a roll, towards where the head had landed. Using that extra momentum, as soon as he came back to his feet, he swung his sword down on top of it, shattering the skull into pieces.

With that, it was as though he had cut a string. The reaction was instant – the body behind him collapsed straight to the floor, and the skull in front of him let loose a dark cloud, along with a whisper – both of which faded after a moment.