After we woke up, we parted ways with the Gensies and proceeded toward Miranda's laboratory. With Chris and the others, we were able to navigate the dense forest and reach our destination earlier than we expected.
Bringing Chris and friends along was a good idea.
Glancing up from cover, I studied the obsidian building from a distance. Thanks to my enchanted glasses, I could magnify the image and study it despite the huge structure being a few hundred meters away.
The former barracks of the mage corps, Miranda's magic laboratory was located at the border area of Havan Kingdom, right on the edge of Riaju Province.
The sensors of my glasses picked out extreme mana emanations. Unsurprisingly, the garrison had defensive enchantments cast over them – not just against potential enemies in the form of invading armies or monsters, but also against fellow mages. Apparently there were plenty of mages who coveted Miranda's magic research, and as such would try to steal her data and experimental products. Obviously Miranda prepared countermeasures against such thieves.
While I studied the garrison from a distance, Stella settled down beside me.
"The first idea is to walk straight toward the main gate and let your Fixed Damage ability destroy all the magical attacks that the defensive wards throw at us."
I glared at her. "Can you be serious? Stop the Fixed Damage jokes already. It's getting annoying."
"Forgive me, my lord." Stella bowed her head apologetically. "I mean, you can cast your Absolute Zero spell to freeze whatever spells the defensive enchantments throw at us. Brute force our way in with your ice spells."
I rubbed my forehead, as if trying to massage away a headache.
"Rejected. Second proposal."
This time, I turned to Chris and the others, and they didn't disappoint. Chris Redfield scrambled up to me enthusiastically.
"We know an alternative path in," he whispered, his eyes darting fearfully toward the main gates. "Best to take that instead of charging right in."
"Did Miranda cast a thunderblast spell that will attack any intruders with a rain of lightning?" Stella asked. Chris gave her a strange stare.
"No. But there's a trap at the main entrance. Any intruder who walks across the pathway will immediately find themselves sinking into a pit of molten lava."
He was right. My enchanted glasses could detect extreme temperatures bubbling just beneath the floor. The sheer heat was making the thermal sensors go crazy and forced me to shut it off otherwise my lenses would be flooded with nothing but red and orange images.
"There is an underground tunnel a few hundred meters from here," Chris continued and conjured a map. He traced with his fingers. "Okay, we'll have to go through the sewers, but it opens up to a floodgate here. The bitch didn't bother casting any spells there…I think she actually doesn't know about it. Most mages in the garrison don't."
"We don't have any reason to go down to the sewers, after all," Lance explained.
"Yeah. We go in through here, move along the pathway, and then climb up this chute." Chris tapped one of the pipes. "It'll be quite the short climb, but unfortunately this leads straight to the disposal chamber."
"Disposal chamber?" Stella asked. Rose turned pale, but she forced out a reply in a trembling voice.
"Where they disposed the corpses of the failed experiments."
The other mages looked pretty ill. I swallowed a wave of nausea and instead turned to Lindley, who remained impassive as ever. Despite spending a few weeks in his human disguise, he still had yet to learn how to display emotions.
"That's why I brought you," I told the lich lord. He seemed to stare blankly at me, but I could tell that he understood. A rictus smile spread across his emaciated face.
"Huh?" Wilson looked puzzled. I waved dismissively.
"You'll find out later. Just don't get freaked out. Needless to say, Lindley will use the corpses to provide a distraction."
"It had better be one hell of a distraction," Chris muttered. "The bitch has several hordes of monstrous chimeras in her lab."
"I don't know what she's cooking up," Wilson added with a look of revulsion. "It's like she's building her own army or something."
"She was also researching on cursed weapons," Rose said thoughtfully. "Maybe to arm the chimeras with?"
"Don't be absurd. That's not possible. Chimeras can't wield weapons." Lance all but scoffed, but his companions turned to stare at him wryly.
"After all we've witnessed, you should know by now that there's nothing the bitch can't do."
Lance paled at Chris's words and didn't respond. I cleared my throat and brought them back to the mission objective.
"So how do we get to this floodgate? Lead the way."
"I thought you'd never ask." Chris grinned, and then he moved through the forest, using the overgrowth as cover. "Follow me."
As he promised, he led us to the floodgate where treated sewage was pumped out back into the river, or where the river flowed inside. Thankfully the waters were clean. The mage corps had established an enchantment that purified and cleaned the waters coming from the garrison before allowing them back into the river.
As such, we moved into the sewers without throwing up. Chris took point, casting a spell that filled his hand with a fire spell. His flames illuminated the dark interior of the sewer, but even without them Stella and I could see perfectly in the dark. Assuming I didn't have a vampire's ability to switch to night vision, I could still rely on my enchanted glasses to display the scene in front of me in perfect view.
There were rats and other creatures inside the sewer, the vermin scurrying away hurriedly when they saw or heard us. We ignored them for the most part. They posed no threat and weren't Miranda's sentries. The air was damp, and I could hear water dripping in the distance. The human mages found the darkness unnerving, but Stella and I moved stoically behind a nervous Chris.
"The bitch really didn't put any security measures here," he murmured, amazed. "Hah! Her arrogance is going to be her downfall!"
"Don't get too carried away," Rose told him.
"Yeah, there might be a sentry or enchantment in the disposal chamber," Wilson added, a note of caution in his voice. "Don't let your guard down."
"Speaking of which, where is the disposal chamber?" I asked, trying not to sound impatient.
"Not too far away now," Chris replied, swinging his hand about to light up the winding corridors. Something splashed into the water and swam away, leaving a trail of bubbles and ripples in its wake. We ignored it. The redhead fire mage took us around a bend and then paused in front of an opening. He tapped the walls and then glanced up. Grinning, he turned back to me. "We're here!"
"Good." Rose shuddered. "Now let's hurry up and get out of this dreary place!"
"Actually, Rose…this is where you shine." Wilson pointed toward the chute that Chris was illuminating with his flames. "Please conjure a bunch of vines so that we can climb up."
"Oh, right." Rose didn't hesitate to cast a spell that manifested in long, snaking vines that streaked all the way up the chute. We had discussed this on the way here, so she knew her job well.
Chris went first, followed by me, Stella, Rose, Wilson, Lance and finally Lindley. I didn't so much as climb as I allowed the vine to haul me up. Magic was so convenient.
Before we knew it, we were all crawling out of the chute and into a colossal chamber. I gagged on the stench and was forced to swat away a swarm of flies the moment I emerged.
"Ugh!"
Behind me, Chris was retching. Stella looked pale and nauseous when she came out and I had to help her when she staggered. Wilson, Rose and Lance threw up. Only Lindley was unaffected.
"Fascinating," he remarked as he studied the mound of corpses that had piled up all over the place, their bodies thrown about and heaped upon each other like garbage. Many were humans, but I could see that a good number of them had been experimented upon, with surgically grafted appendages and forced mutations.
The failed experimental subjects…those who did not survive Miranda's cruel and inhuman experiments. They didn't even receive the dignity of a proper burial and were disposed of as if they were nothing more than rubbish. My heart felt a wrench and I closed my eyes to mouth a prayer for the tormented, deceased souls.
"I…I heard rumors…" Chris rubbed his mouth, sounding hoarse. "But I never imagine it would be this bad…"
"How cruel…" Rose was sobbing and burying her face in Wilson's shoulder. He patted her grimly before growling.
"That monster…we can't let the chairwoman get away with this!"
"All of these people…they must have suffered so much." Stella's voice was soft. She had thought she and her sister had experienced hell under the hands of Bradley, but she never thought there would be others who received much worse fates.
"So what now?" Lance asked, glancing at the gate above. "Do we charge in and fight?"
"We couldn't even beat a single squadron of the bitch's chimeras," Chris reminded him. "I don't think going in guns blazing will work."
"You said you have a plan?" Wilson turned to me. "Something about a distraction?"
"That's right." I nodded at Lindley. "Do your work."
"As you command, my lord." Lindley smiled, and for the first time his expression was genuine and not a rictus grin. Clasping his hands, he got to work.
"You…what are you doing?" Lance demanded, horrified when he saw the dark magic spread from Lindley's hands to suffuse the corpses.
"I'm helping these tortured souls get their revenge," I replied as I pushed my glasses up my nose, my lenses gleaming in the darkness. "They, more than any of us, will surely want to tear Miranda apart with their own hands, for meting out such suffering upon them. I am giving them that chance…and once she is dead, I'll let them rest."
"You have my word on that," Lindley said. "Be grateful that my lord is a sentimental person. I personally wouldn't have bothered, but he has commanded me to lift the spells and leave them to an eternal rest the moment our objective is completed."
"Spell? What spell?" Chris demanded, even though he had already guessed what was happening. Even if he hadn't, his question was answered by a moan.
One by one, the corpses around us came back to un-life, reanimated by Lindley's unholy magic and turned into zombies.
"You…what are you doing?" Rose screamed.
"Given us a fighting chance," I replied. "If we want to beat Miranda, we need an army of our own. At least to distract her chimeras and subordinate mages until we assassinate them. I promise, they won't be reanimated for any longer than that. Once Miranda is defeated, we will allow them their eternal rest. You have my word."
"Reanimate…?" Lance repeated, staring at me, then at Lindley with wide eyes. "This…this is necromancy, isn't it?!"
"Yeah."
"Who…who the hell are you guys?!" Chris growled, fire bursting to life in his hands. Stella stepped between us, her hand on her sword, but I waved her back.
"I am an avenger come back from the dead to take revenge on Miranda." I paused for a moment. "I don't know if you'll believe me if I tell you that I was formerly from the same Hero party as she was."
"You…Klein Pearson…no wonder the name was so familiar!" Wilson blinked. "I thought it was a coincidence…but you really are that Klein Pearson!"
"Huh?" Rose looked at him, confused. Wilson shook his head.
"But…but that Klein Pearson was supposed to be dead! He died in the first siege of the Demonic Emperor's castle almost a year ago!"
"Oh, yeah…I almost died. That's why I told you, I'm an avenger come back from the dead." I gestured toward the slowly reviving corpses around me. "I know exactly how they feel and the vengeance they desire. That's why I'm helping them. Lindley, set them loose."
"At once, my lord."
As one, the zombies in the disposal chamber turned and shuffled out of the vast space, flooding the mage corps' garrison.