Guided by the intelligent knights, the remaining army of knights assembled and marched against Jay, who was completing his defenses inside the giant’s head. They climbed the giant and swarmed like ants that found an intruder in their nest.

They met the first group of them that tried to jump into the skeletal bunker with a bouquet of spears poking out. They died as quickly as they came.

[575 Exp]

Because of the bone beam going across the eye, none of them could break through. Their dead bodies became stuck and pierced with spears, and had to be pulled out before another knight could try.

For now, Jay’s position was secure.

Seeing that the plan to kill the intruder wasn’t working, the lesser knights attacked the head, hacking away with their swords.

Some tried to make new holes in the head, but most focused their swords around the eye, trying to make a larger opening, and it didn’t take long for the first knight to slip past the beam.

Of course, it died instantly. Its body pierced by more spears, but another one jumped through straight after, pushing spears to the side; They already hacked apart the longer spears which were pointing out of the eyehole and pulled them out.

The knights no longer had to remove the corpses either, and the number coming inside increased, along with the weight on top of the spears.

“Damn. It’s only a matter of time before this head fills with their bodies and I’m forced out.” Jay thought.

Jay glanced around the cavity inside the giant’s head, trying to guess how much time he had.

As he looked at the lower platform he made, he noticed something wasn’t right.

“The blood level, is it rising?” he wondered.

[115 Exp]

The knights were relentless and continued to cut open a larger hole while more jumped through. The bone platform began to creak and groan from all the weight.

*Clang! ~*

A knight suddenly jumped down near Sweeper. Instead of attacking the skeleton, it turned its sword against the forest of spears.

*Crack! ~*

It cracked one in half, snapping it, and before Sweeper could guide its sword into its spine, the knight cleaved another, bringing a dead body falling down with it, making a larger gap in the vertical spear wall.

“Fuck.”

Jay quickly replaced one of the broken spears while Sweeper stood guard. Blue weaved through the spears and pushed the knight’s body off the bone platform.

*Splash~*

The knight’s body splashed into the green blood below.

“Shit. It’s getting higher… but why? The giant is dead.” Jay thought.

Glancing down, he noticed another change – the green blood was turning darker.

“It’s still pumping…” Jay thought.

Outside, the root entering the giant’s throat which pumped the black fluid was still active. As Jay guessed, it wasn’t a part of the giant.

The blood was turning darker and darker as it rose higher and higher, and brought Jay another problem.

“I need to escape before I drown.” He thought.

The lower platform of bone already had the rising blood beginning to cover it.

Meanwhile, the knights made a larger hole and flooded into the head, while Jay started making a ramp going upwards.

*Cring!~*

The skeletons became engaged in a struggle.

Blue focused on defending Jay, while Sweeper tried to protect the spears from being cut down.

Yet it was all breaking down, turning to a mess of broken bones in a cesspool of dark blood.

Jay’s bone ramp was only partially complete, and he had to pause as a knight jumped down right in front of him.

“I haven’t got time for this.” he casually said, bringing his hand forward.

*BOOM!~*

An unstable tooth exploded at point blank range; the blast knocked the knight away, giving Jay a few precious moments to build his ramp higher.

The knight fell near Blue, who finished it knight off and moved back to defending Jay.

*Crack! ~*

Under the weight of the knights, the first spear snapped. There was too much weight; above them, a canopy of steel and dead bodies had formed. Jay wasn’t worried, though; it surprised him that the spears had held on this long.

Jay continued to build his ramp and was getting closer to the ceiling; he could almost touch the fleshy roof. Of course, he wouldn’t willingly touch it.

He made the ramp to wrap around the side of one of the bone pillars, just under the edge of the eye. He watched as more knights swarmed through the hole, falling to their deaths on the spears or into the growing pool of black blood below.

For a few moments, all Jay did was watch, waiting for the perfect moment.

(Blue, Sweeper, get ready.) he commanded.

Blue and Sweeper rushed behind him, all three of them standing on the skeletal ramp he hastily constructed.

Jay’s plan was to escape this death trap before the knights block the exit. He would not drown in giant blood, dead knights and black fluid; fighting to his last breath and wisp of mana was the preferable way to go.

(Let nothing attack me.) Jay ordered, beginning his escape plan.

He closed his eyes as necrotic mana gathered in his palms.

In each of his hands, three unstable teeth hovered. He filled them each with mana, focusing on the ones with the least amount, so he wouldn’t overload any.

Each of them slowly being to hum and shake with the undead energy, yet one of them had glowing cracks appear on its surface. He added a little too much.

A single wrong move, a single imbalance, and all six would blow up in Jay’s face.

“Just a little more…” Jay flexed the muscles in his hands as he tried to hold on to the six spells, keeping them under control

Suddenly, another knight fell past, causing a gentle breath of air to touch his face.

“Now!”

Jay suddenly opened his eyes; each of them were filled with necrotic mana and glowed with death. He looked like an undead lich.

The six spells shot out of his hand, escaping between the knights jumping in.

*BOOM!!!!!!*

[920 Exp]

Decimation. Shattered armor and shrapnel. Bodies turned to mist.

The first exploded, causing all others to burst just above the hole.

After releasing the spell, Jay had turned his head and blocked his ears, but even after that, all he could hear was a loud ringing noise.

They sent the knights flying. Many instantly died, turning into giant metal suits of shrapnel and pushing other knights down.

For a moment, the head was clear of enemies.

The skeletons jumped out first, standing in a green mist and raising their swords in defense.

Jay aimed himself at the eye-hole which he had just blown open.

“Iskean.” With a bump of air, he easily cleared the hole and exited.

Turning back, he reached his gauntlet down, quickly storing all the bones from the cavity inside the giant’s head. The mass of dead bodies splashed into the pool of blood below as the spears, platforms, and pillars disappeared.

Jay checked around, surveying the damage he caused. The giant’s nose was gone, and the spell had stripped away most of the upper layers of flesh.

Around the room, he was looking for escape options, or at the very least somewhere to flee to.

Suddenly, he saw Red again.

It had climbed up onto the root, successfully escaping the knights with one of their own swords.

“Red? Just where are you going…” he whispered to himself.

Red, instead of running toward him, headed back along the root and jumped into the portal.

“What the fuck, Red?” Jay thought, feeling confused, and admittedly, slightly abandoned. Whatever was on the other side of the portal was presumably more important than protecting its master.

With nowhere else to go, Jay ran back towards the portal too, jumping onto the giant root coming from the giant’s throat. At this moment, it was still pumping the black fluid, kept alive by whatever was on the other side of the portal.

Meanwhile, the knights recovered from the shock and began climbing towards Jay, who had only just made it onto the root.

“Fuck, what are you doing, Red? Where are my damn skeletons…” he thought, bolting towards the silvery portal.