Chapter 245 - Bloodskal (3) : Zahkriisos

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"What was that back then?" Wulfur asked me with an angry face. It is the question that I wanted to avoid but was 100% unavoidable.

"I screwed up."

"What kind of a screw up was that?"

"... Sigh! Simply put it as I dabbled into a nasty kind of Aura and it overwhelmed even me, the user."

They all looked at me as if I am some sort of idiot.

"You can't control your own Aura?" They asked.

Well, it is embarrassing. The Aura is part of a person's nature, to not be able to control it actually idiotic.

"What is the characteristics of that Aura?" Alina finally asked a good question.

I answered her based on what happened and the feelings I had during using that Aura. Still, I couldn't credit stopping me to Shadow.

"I see… It sounds like you indeed lack power. Strange! For an Aura to have such characteristics! It is illogical and logical at the same time. Dominance is the main purpose of power and if your Aura is more powerful than you then you indeed won't be able to control it… still, for it to change you." Alina was murmuring and looking at me with curious eyes.

"I know right."

"And for you to find the link between [Soulfire] and the Psijic secret spell [Imbue Weapon]! Master will be very happy with you. Even uncle Jonrad will be happy to see his teachings showing effect with you."

"... First of all, Nurina is very happy with me and that father of mine was showing off his Flame Aura off."

"Oh, come on, give him a chance to be happy."

My conversation and Alina's turned to a strange turn for a second.

"Okay, let's leave that topic aside for now! That Aura of yours, you won't be able to use it so will you use your usual or will it be impossible?" Wulfur butt in.

"No worries, I can use my Madness Aura well alright."

"I see… what will you call that new Aura then?" Jullanar asked.

"I don't know… maybe Dominant or Overbearing."

"Great, now he became a bigger S than he used to be… just called it Tyrant Aura." Jull refuted but she gave a good suggestion.

"Great, I'll go with that."

"I was actually thinking about Aura of the Daddy because red actually fits yo…"

"""Shut up, Jull."""

She seemed to be going with the conversation somewhere unpleasant. Good thing we stopped her.

***

We had to rest here to replenish our strength anyway, we also recovered the belongings of the great-grandfather of Raven Rock's mine foreman and it was a journal and some other things. I kept the Bloodskal Blade for myself as my personal sword.

"Say, can you appraise that sword for me?" I asked Wulfur.

"Good, very ancient and needs some patching put the craft is really amazing. The red design on the silver is also unique. The magic in the sword probably kept it well preserved too. I like that red magic cresent that you did with the sword."

"Yeah, the enchantment is very unique but I can think of a way to replicate the Magic one day."

"Good luck with that." He said and gave me the sword back.

I took the sword and linked it normally with [Soulfire], it glowed red and had a good sound to it.

"Remember that Lightsaber I was holding when we went to Quagmire?"

"Bleh, don't remind me. You almost cried when we came out without it. I thought for one second that you were going to ask Vaermina to give it to you."

"Yeah, I was about to but she pulled Alina's eyes out and… well, you lived that traumatizing moment too."

"Man, that was one messed up place."

"I know, right! Vaermina, the Daedric Prince of Nightmares and Skooma."

"Skooma?"

"Well, it didn't make any sense to me back then, anyway there is that thing about the small idea I had, let's changed the design."

"That thing? But changing it again? First time you added cat ears and later you wanted it to be more vivid. Look, man, I am a blacksmith, not your artisan."

"Technically, you work for me which makes me your Boss and you know my reputation in that field. And relax, I am actually simplifying it for you, I'll show it to you later."

"Fine, just get us out of here first."

"Roger, everyone. We are moving." I said and started warming up a bit.

"How will we advance?" Jorna asked.

"Watch and learn, baby." I said and walked towards a certain wall.

It was not really a wall, it was a sealing wall that needed some sort of special magic to open. Luckily, all I needed is the Bloodskal Blade.

There were certain markings on the wall, I aimed at them from far away with the blade the slashed. With the Bloodskal blade in my hand, a red energy ribbon was unleashed and hit the marking accurately.

Just like that, some pieces of the wall started moving.

"Woah! Amazing…"

Another marking appeared on the wall and I kept sending energy slashes from the sword and hit them all. With the last one being hit, the wall started shaking and opening like a gate.

"Damn, was the ancient Nords so good at engineering?"

"Let's just get going."

"Yep."

We advanced through the tunnel that opened behind the wall and walked through a lot of traps to just reach a large chamber with two platforms in both ends and a pool of water in the middle. Just as we stepped closer, the tunnel behind us got blocked and the water in the pool started to shake.

"Alina, you're first."

As I said so, Alina ran towards the pool and dipped her staff in, as she did so, the water started turning into ice on a fast and a visible scale.

None of us were just watching as we arranged ourselves around Alina and I started Conjuring Storm Atronachs.

The pool was large but Alina went wild with her Magicka and froze it all in a few seconds.

As everything settled down for a short while, the room started shaking again.

"That Bastard!"

I felt a strong sure of Magicka and suddenly in the middle of the pool, a strong Lightning Magic blasted the area and a lot of icy mist covered the view.

Just as we were trying to see what happened, a strong lightning spell found its way to Alina and almost hit her but luckily…

*boom*

… my Storm Atronach was there.

No matter what Lightning Magic you are casting, even if you are an Arch-Mage, you can't destroy a Storm Atronach with Lightning Magic, you may as well heal it.

Alina finished her spell to freeze the entire pool and retreated back with a pale face.

"Alina, rest and recover. Jorna, cover her. Wulf and Jull, from the sides. Nefertiti, from the back."

I was obviously going to take the front as I directed the [Staff of Sheogorath] towards the snow mist that started to settle down. There, a figure with a strong Magicka sensation and a suffocating feeling around floated in the air. It was a Dragon Priest.

We defeated two Dragon Priests thus far, the first was Ahzidal of Flame, the Second was Dukaan of Frost. This time we are facing Zahkriisos of the Lightning.

As soon as Zahkriisos was visible through the mist, I used the [Staff of Sheogorath] and cast its special effect 'Bind' at the Dragon Priest.

At first, I was successful but not a couple of Seconds passed until Zahkriisos unleashed a shock wave from within himself and canceled the binding as if waving away a fly.

"Tsk, the bastard!"

Jull and Wulf were attacking and I had to distract it as fast as I could for them to land a hit and retreat but Zahkriisos was no easy opponent. Just as I cast 'Lightning Bolts' at him, Zahkriisos blacked all my attacks with a Ward and blacked Wulf's hammer with the staff in his hand.

"Fuck! Retreat!"

I couldn't help but to try and spell focus my Magic as much as I can on Zahkriisos. Luckily, Wulfur managed to retreat with his shields absorbing most of the damage and Nefertiti changed its mind from attacking to grabbing Jull and retreating away.

"Dammit, this is bad!"

I was a bit terrified by the strong reaction of the Dragon Priest. I knew it should be strong but it can even block the physical attacks like that! Ahzidal was a Fire Mage and a Necromancer, Dukaan was an Ice Mage and a Conjurer. In both Necromancy and Conjuration, I wasn't some amateur and I could turn the tide against them but Zahkriisos seemed to be a different story altogether. It seemed like his style is relying on both Magical and Physical powers.

"FUS RO DAH!"

I didn't think of a better choice to keep Zahkriisos away until my team retreats to a safe position and luckily Zahkriisos didn't see that one coming. He got engulfed by the Shout's effect but it still managed to hold on with its strong magic.

Zahkriisos is a Lightning Mage after all. It can be said that this element in Magic is the representation of power as no one can wield that demanding element long enough except those who are strong in the term of Magicka.

I rallied the Storm Atronachs forward towards Zahkriisos and as they are all Greater Atronachs, I don't think that Zahkriisos can deal with them using only Lightning Magic. I had to keep him occupied until I finish charging the next spell.

To my surprise, Zahkriisos used a spell that didn't seem to be related to the Destruction School and started destroying the Storm Atronachs with it. I couldn't dally anymore and let out all the Magicka into the spell as I overcharged it. As Zahkriisos was done with the Atronachs, he faced me with a spell too.

I shot a strong Lightning spell towards Zahkriisos and he did the same. Our spells met together midway and we clashed in a Magic Duel.

It was so bright that I had a hard time focusing ahead. At our point of clash, lightning started scattering to all direction towards anything close to it. Still, I was being overwhelmed again.

"Goddammit, what is wrong with that thing?"

Its Magicka was so freaking powerful that I couldn't help but be pushed back a few steps. I was feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world by just facing Zahkriisos. If not for the [Staff of Sheogorath] that I was using, my state would have become a lot worse.

Still, it was inevitable, Zahkriisos increased the Magicka Output in the spell he was casting and I was completely pushed back. As my spell fell short only a few centimeters away from my staff, Zahkriisos unleashed his power and the spell exploded and I was blown away completely to the wall behind me.

All I could feel was a sweet taste in my mouth and I became so dizzy due to the Magicka backlash and the impact.

***

Jon was blown away like a ragdoll and his face was pale. It was completely out of his team's calculations as the leader they always relied on was not easy to push back.

Alina was infuriated and stood up as fast as she could to block any harm that can come towards Jon with her body if she had to. She used the same strategy as Jon and conjured some Storm Atronach to delay Zahkriisos.

"Jull, Nefertiti, I want you both to delay it a few seconds."

"Roger."

"Jorna, heal Jon."

"On it."

"Wulf, do something flashy."

"Sister-in-law, you came to the right place."

As Jullanar and Nefertiti started annoying Zahkriisos with long-range attacks from afar and Bjorna started healing Jon. Wulfur and Alina started to do their own things.

Wulfur let go of his hammer and shield and put down his helm, he then looked around and saw a large pillar that seemed to be broken since long ages past. Wulfur came in front of the pillar and squatted down, he wrapped his strong muscular arms around the pillar and used his Aura. He started radiating like the sun for a second with the Golden Holy Aura that enveloped him, he was being buffed and healed by it but his physical action was still harming him. To him, it was good training as he managed to left the large pillar up.

"Take this, fucker."

Wulfur moved towards Zahkriisos and spun his body with the pillar two times around himself. As he finished his move, he let go of the pillar that got launched towards Zahkriisos in a scary manner.

As strong as he is, Zahkriisos wouldn't want to take that pillar head on and was about to dodge it but… he was too slow. The reason seemed a bit familiar to before as when Zahkriisos looked towards Jon's direction, it saw him holding the [Staff of Sheogorath] and using 'Bind' on him.

Jon's head was bleeding but he was grinning as he managed to contribute to the attack. Zahkriisos was forced to use magic to block the pillar and there was only the [Warding Barrier] in his Arsenal that could do such a thing.

The pillar clashed with the barrier and Zahkriisos was pushed back completely to the side of the chamber. It wasn't pleased with the result as it felt its power going down significantly.

This power that was cultivated in ages of long slumber under the damned seal was now being sucked away by the six brats around it. It felt frustrating as Zahkriisos couldn't curse at them as his body was still in that of a draugr form, given enough time he would recover back his body and power but these brats were so persistent.

Alina has finished preparing but waited until Zahkriisos was visible in front of her eyes, once she saw him, she cast the spell she prepared with inner cast.

She disappeared from her place and appeared right behind Zahkriisos then touched it with her left imprinting a rune on it then used the spell on her right to teleport away.

All that happened within one second and even Zahkriisos couldn't react.

"Suck it!"

As Alina appeared away, she snorted towards Zahkriisos and flipped the bird to him in contrary to her usual manners. Still, the effect of the imprint she cast on Zahkriisos started showing its effect. A curse of some sort.

As Zahkriisos noticed the change around himself, he realized that he could no longer cast Lightning Magic. It wasn't due to a 'Silence' spell or anything similar, it was Alina casting a spell to push away all the Air around Zahkriisos.

Without Air around him, Zahkriisos can no longer cast any of the destruction elements. Frost is mostly relying on Air and Lightning needed Air to travel through as well as Flame that needs Oxygen. With this idea that Jon told her about, Alina managed to make a Wind Spell that would be considered one of the most annoying Spells ever created, even dispelling it was tricky.

At that time, Jon finally recovered.

He walked forward with Bloodskal at hand and looked at Zahkriisos with disdain.

"Let's see how much you can hold on."

Jon started waving Bloodskal madly and a series of energy arcs were unleashed with his waves. Zahkriisos could use a Ward to defend but Jon was adding more power and speed in his attacks.

First, he cut a leg, then an arm then a part of the Armor. The team completely overwhelmed the weakened Zahkriisos as he ran out of options to face them.

Jon's eyes were fixed on the Dragon Priest while letting bits of his Tyrant Aura in the attacks. He was trying to control it without completely letting it go. It was a careful process but Jon was on his best mindset and managed to put down Zahkriisos for good. Zahkriisos fell down with a noisy howl of a beast that shook the entire chamber.

Jon spoke no more and acted as if a robot.

He said two words and walked ahead.

"Word Wall."

His team that was about to cheer for the win were taken aback and followed him with their eyes. As Jon arrived at the Word Wall in the other end of the room, he sat down and started Meditating.

"What? Now?" Jullanar wanted to refute but Alina stopped her.

"Shush! He must have realized something."

They all observed Jon who started to act strangely as he was meditating.

His face was twitching from pain and his skin started to become red. The scene resembled that time when he absorbed the Padomic Energy from the spriggan and it seemed Jon was using the last of the excessive energy to achieve a breakthrough.

"This fast?"

"I don't know. He must have a reason."

He was still in the processing of stabilizing the 9th Level of the Dragon Robbing Stage but it seemed that he wanted to make another breakthrough.

"Why would he want to rush for the 10th Level that fast? He said it is good to be patient." Wulfur asked.

"I am not sure but something is unusual. Give him some space and rest for… what?... what is that?"

As Alina was trying to clear some space for Jon to relax, she noticed the change of energy around him.

On a normal breakthrough, an energy pulse wave should go out as the Mortal Essence within the Spirit gets replaced with a Profound Essence but this breakthrough was different. The Energy was taking a manifestation around Jon and that was…

"Oh no!"

"Not again!"

They all have witnessed that disaster before… A Fire Wyrm manifested around Jon and started revolving around him.

Something unforeseen was going on.