Free Web NovelChapter 52: Captain Malrik
The fortress commander had circled around through an alternate route. His warhammer rested on his shoulder, scarred face twisted with grim satisfaction.
"Clever." Malrik stepped forward. "But did you really think you could escape me with such puny tricks?"
Behind Marcus’s group, specimens and soldiers flooded into the corridor. Trapped between Malrik ahead and chaos behind.
Marcus made the call instantly. "We fight through him. Malachar—full assault!"
The Crimson Tyrant charged.
Malrik met him head-on.
The collision cracked the stone floor. Marcus felt the shockwave in his bones. This wasn’t normal Tier 4 strength. Malrik had power that matched Malachar blow for blow—at least Tier 5 raw output.
The warhammer’s corrupted energy flared. Malachar actually staggered back a step. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Your summon is strong!" Malrik grinned, pressing forward. "But I’ve killed stronger!"
Black veins erupted across his skin. Corruption surged through his body like infection spreading through flesh. The transformation was controlled, deliberate—like he’d done this hundreds of times before.
"Corrupted Fusion!" His voice deepened, layered with something that wasn’t entirely human anymore. "I volunteered for this! Became Lord Duskhollow’s experiment willingly! Controlled corruption without losing my mind!"
His muscles bulged. Speed doubled. The massive warhammer moved like it weighed nothing.
Malachar took a direct hit to the chest plate. The armor cracked audibly.
Marcus watched with cold calculation. Malrik was matching Malachar. That meant he was atleast Tier 5 minimum, possibly higher with the corruption enhancement active.
They were burning time fighting someone this strong.
He caught Liz’s eye. She gave quick signal—two fingers, then a cutting motion.
She nodded signaling to Round things up stop wasting time before more reinforcements come flooding in.
Marcus and Liz engaged simultaneously.
Dagon clashed against the warhammer. The impact sent Marcus sliding backward, arms numb from raw force. Liz’s blade cut into the corruption enhancement, white light flaring where purification met darkness.
Malrik laughed. "Purification magic? I’ve built resistance over years!"
The battle turned brutal.
Marcus’s group gave everything. Malrik matched them blow for blow, the corrupted commander fighting three opponents without showing strain.
Then Marcus felt something shift in Malachar’s presence.
Not damage. Something else.
The summon flickered.
[MALACHAR DURATION WARNING][5 MINUTES REMAINING BEFORE EXTENSION REQUIRED]
Marcus blinked. He’d summoned Malachar in the courtyard after entering the fortress. That was twenty-eight minutes ago.
He’d never kept the summon manifested this long before. Never needed to.
So there was a duration limit after all.
"That’s new," Marcus muttered, rolling under a hammer strike that pulverized stone.
Good to know but very bad timing.
Four minutes of desperate combat later, mid-parry:
[MALACHAR DURATION EXPIRING][EXTEND SUMMON? COST: 25 MP FOR 15 MINUTES][CURRENT MP: 50/100]
Marcus selected YES without breaking rhythm.
[MP: 50 → 25]
Malachar’s flickering form solidified instantly. "Your power sustains me, my liege!"
The Crimson Tyrant’s renewed assault forced Malrik back a step. First ground they’d gained in minutes.
But Marcus was running dangerously low now. Twenty-five MP. If Malachar needed another extension, he’d be empty.
He materialized a Big MP Potion mid-dodge and drank it in one motion.
[MP: 25 → 125/100][EXCESS MP DISCARDED]
The magical energy flooded his system. Better.
"Vera!" Marcus called out. "MP potions—everyone who uses magic, drink now!"
He tossed one to the Keeper. She caught it, drank, and her healing magic flared brighter as the reservoir filled.
The battle raged on.
Marcus’s group held against Malrik and the soldiers breaking through from the specimen horde. Behind them, the lab descended further into chaos—screams, roars, the wet sounds of claws finding flesh.
Then Tobin went down.
A four-armed specimen broke their defensive line. Clawed hands raked across the Warden’s back, finding every gap in his armor with surgical precision.
Tobin stumbled forward. Blood poured.
"TOBIN!" Vera’s scream cut through the combat noise.
She was too far. Too many enemies between them.
Mikael was closer. The Chronicler grabbed Tobin, trying to drag him back.
The specimen lunged for the kill.
The lucid specimen intercepted it.
Both corrupted beings crashed together in a tangle of limbs and fury. The lucid one fought with desperate precision, buying seconds.
"Get him back!" Its voice was human, strained, fighting its own corruption. "I’ll hold them!"
Mikael dragged Tobin backward. Vera reached them, healing magic already pouring into the Warden’s wounds before she even knelt.
But Tobin’s eyes were unfocused. The damage looked bad.
"No, no, no..." Vera’s hands glowed brighter. "Stay with me!"
Marcus glanced at the scene but Malrik was already pressing the attack.
"What a pest".
The warhammer forced him to parry or die. No time to help.
"Your friend’s finished!" Malrik taunted between strikes. "One down! Six to go!"
Something cold settled in Marcus’s chest.
He’d watched enough people die. Enough allies fall in his previous life. Enough bodies left behind.
Not again.
Marcus activated every ounce of speed he had. Dagon moved faster than Malrik could track—a blur of steel that found the gap in corrupted enhancement and cut deep into the commander’s shoulder.
Malrik roared.
Liz pressed from the other side. Her Purifying Edge carved through corruption like mist, finding flesh beneath the darkness.
Malachar’s greatsword came down from above.
Triple assault. Perfectly synchronized.
Malrik blocked Marcus. Deflected Liz.
Couldn’t stop Malachar.
The greatsword caught him across the chest. Armor shattered. Blood sprayed across stone.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Malrik staggered back, eyes wide with shock. "Even with my fused body ! I should be unstoppable!"
Marcus’s expression was ice. "Seems you’re not."
He drove Dagon through Malrik’s heart.
The fortress commander looked down at the blade. Then up at Marcus. Blood bubbled from his lips.
"The Magister will kill you all..." His voice was fading. "He’s waiting at Ashveil..."
The light died in his eyes.
[VOID HARVEST ACTIVATED][+150 CURRENCY]
[BONUS STATS INCREASED][STR: 30 → 31][SPD: 41 → 42]
Marcus pulled Dagon free. Let the body fall.
He turned immediately to where Vera worked on Tobin.
The Warden’s breathing was shallow, wet-sounding. His shield lay discarded nearby, cracked completely through the center.
"Vera?" Marcus kept his voice level.
Her face was streaked with tears. "I stopped the bleeding. But he needs real healing—a temple, someone with advanced restoration magic. This is beyond field medicine."
"Will he survive the escape?"
Vera’s hesitation told him everything. "I don’t know."
Tobin’s eyes cracked open. Focused on Marcus with effort.
"Did we get him?"
"Malrik’s dead." Marcus knelt. "You held the line. Did exactly what we needed."
Tobin managed a weak smile. "Good." His voice was barely a whisper. "Don’t let me slow you down. Leave me if—"
"No." Marcus cut him off. "We all leave together."
A sound from the lab made everyone turn.
The specimens were overwhelming what remained of the Ashfang soldiers. Only five fighters still stood, surrounded by fifteen corrupted nightmares.
It was a slaughter.
The lucid specimen limped toward Marcus’s group. Badly wounded one arm hanging useless, corruption spreading faster as its control slipped.
"The explosives..." Its voice degraded with each word, layering with inhuman sounds. "You need to plant them at the ley line chamber..."
"Where?" Marcus demanded.
It pointed deeper into the complex with its remaining functional arm. "Down. Three levels. Central anchor."
Corruption overtook it for a moment. The specimen’s eyes went fully white, mouth opening in a silent scream.
Then it shook its head violently, fighting back to lucidity.
"Destroy it. End this. Free us all."
