While this wasn't the first they had witnessed the death of one of their party members, this time was unforgivable as the the penguin had kicked their party member's head off the stairs, as a clear sign to provoke them.
Jigar could not care anymore about orders of restraint. He instantly dashed towards Kido with the intention of grabbing that penguin and smashing his body until his innards appeared.
However, before he could even make a proper sprint, he felt his legs being restrained by a tight rope, causing him to fall and injure his hands as he hit the edge of the staircase. Then the party realised that they were being surrounded by more penguins, each armed with dual choppers.
"More killer penguins?" Slaze chuckled as if it was some bad joke and felt that this was a losing battle no matter how their party struggled.
Adora on the other hand, raised her staff and magic started to acc.u.mulate rapidly through it. She might be just a support healer, but she was still a part of the Elites from Tyr Gauntlets, so she knew how to handle her portion of trouble.
"Goddess of the Afterlife, I plead you. You are the light and dark. The beauty beyond the disaster. Grant your beloved children another chance and guide them to your light! Resurrection!" Adora shouted, clasping her staff even harder as she remembered the faces of those who were killed. "I am your shepherd. Come back to me for those who were lost!"
Adora shouted as a massive amount of energy was whirling around her staff and the Peggies understood that if she was to succeed, they might have a lot of trouble handling them. Slaze also believed this was the only chance they might stand to fight against this Penguin Queen and her lackeys, but the spell itself required time to activate.
It took some time to find the lost souls in the swirling abyss of the Dungeon World 'afterlife' plane and the bodies needed to be reconstructed again with the surrounding magic. That was why most of them were resurrected in the churches, which were places of heavily condensed magic.
Immediately after Adora's incantation, Slaze slammed his sword on the ground and placed his broken shield right beside it, shouting. "Great Crusade COVER!" Two blinding flashes of light emerged from him and instantly connected to Adora and Jigar. As the Killer Peggies assaulted the rest of the party, they noticed that their attacks were being blocked by the lights.
But instead of stopping, they tried again, and this time it was with greater force, a stronger motion. Their swings were wider as they tried to cut the magical light. Only when they heard a cry far out to the side.
Swordsman Slaze was tanking all the hits that the Peggies were swinging at his party members. The light shining was the barrier to protect as well as transferring the damage to the swordsman instead.
It was a simple but efficient defensive maneuver that Slaze possessed and it was usually accompanied with Adora's healing. Alas, Adora already had her hands full with the resurrection procedure and Slaze thought that he could buy enough time for her to complete the spell before he went down. However, knowing that the light barrier had such an effect on Slaze, the Peggies violently smashed their choppers down repeatedly.
Slaze could not tolerate the pain any further and he released a series of shouts as he held onto his sword for support. The pain subsequently became too excruciating to bear, destroying his magic buffer, making wounds appear all over his body. Seeing that Slaze was visibly wounded, it prompted the Killer Peggies to try even harder until the wounds started to fester and more blood oozed out from the wounds.
"Argghhhhh!" Slaze gritted his teeth and continued to tremble until the Killer Peggies had decided to attack him too. While he was protected in that light barrier, the wall separating him and the choppers were dangerously thin. True enough, in a few chops, his barrier broke and the Killer Peggies were happily dipping their blades into his armour and flesh.
"Resurrection!!" Adora shouted once more and three rays of light shone through the lighthouse and soon, three figures were apparent. It was the Axe Warrior which Jin had burnt and frozen, as well as the Tyr Archer and Demon Lizardman Arthur who had been killed in battle. Suddenly, another ray of light shone in front of them and Lynn saw the very same Lancer whom Kido had killed mere minutes ago emerging from the light.
However,despite their reappearance, the Killer Peggies ignored them and kept whacking Slaze and Jigar who finally managed to untie the ever tightening restraints from his legs. (The Killer Peggies had used an inscription to tighten the ropes on a regular basis.)
"What are you guys spacing out for?!" Jigar exclaimed as he now went out of the light barrier and started to clash with the Peggies. With a live target that could retaliate, the Peggies were livid and many tried to land their chopper blades into the monk.
Seeing that Adora had completed the resurrection spell, Slaze released his spell and fell to the ground, helpless from the onslaught of attacks from the Killer Penguins. Their healer also held onto her staff, tired from the resurrection spell but her comrades were not moving and the Killer Penguins merely held their choppers in their flappers.
In a state of confusion, Adora looked at them and called out to their names. None of them responded, even Arthur who had protected her so feverently previously from the knife attack.
Had she made a mistake with the resurrection spell by rushing it? Impossible, this was not the first time she had performed this spell. The penguins inched closer to her, now that the light barrier had dissipated in a flashy blast.
"Guys?! Guys?!" Adora's voice trembled further as a Killer Peggie raised its chopper and slammed it downwards. With her reflexes, she managed to block the first hit with her staff but it was subsequently broken into two. Soon after, more and more Peggies moved closer and slashed their choppers into her.
Despite her screams, Adora's eyes continued to fill with dread as she saw Slaze get cut from a corner of her eye while Jigar was desperately trying to come to her rescue. Her other resurrected comrades were not doing a single thing to help her at all.
"Why?" Adora's face was sunken as she struggled to draw her last breath.
