The night had ended. The Suns were on the rise and everyone was looking for their gear that was scattered around the Lobby floor. Looking at the Treasures, all of them were a bit taken away by the amount that was usable. There were so many armors that a most of them were piled up, they were all sorted but a lot of them had nothing special, were broken and removed.
"Pick out anything and make sure your movement isn't restrained." Looking at Darkwing, Qu and Wu Hai walked up to help him get more acquainted with putting on clothes and Armor. Darkwing didn't use a weapon, he wasn't even sure how to wield one properly. That could all change in the future, for the time being, he more comfortable with a pair of sharp gauntlets.
"Once we finish clearing out this place out, we can go somewhere that with a smithy. I'll have them make a set of armor. That way you can to spread your wings and not break the armor." Wu Hai helped Darkwing put his gear on before getting dressing himself.
"Qu!" Wu Hai was still a bit worried and asked, "Which of these items have a resistance to the affects of Undead?"
"If you douse everything with holy water, that will work for a time but, it's temporary at best." He pulled something from the upper floors and teleported it down. The Bottle not very big and held a great quantity of Holy Water. "Unfortunately, it's wasn't like the Gourds. This Holy Water was among the items you picked up, I've consolidated them into the vessel."
"There are a few scrolls of 'Turn Undead' but that will only destroy them one at a time." Pondering over what the group could use, Qu walked over to a weapons rack and pulled out a long sword. "This is the only weapon in the Pagoda that offers protection from Undead, its creates a shield around the wielder. It only works in close combat, when used to block. The shield doesn't stop the attack but lessen it, as far as protection goes, I believe it to be mostly useless.
Sure that there was nothing else that could be directly used, Qu walked over to the stack of books. "These books concern magic that match your current set of abilities and those of the group." He sighed, it was hard to obey the orders of his Creator and please his Master at the same time.
"Please, don't die. This would be a horrible place to leave the Pagoda." Qu sat down and waited for the group to finish equipping themselves and leave. 'What a troublesome matter.'
"Hopefully those books can help them in the Future." Qu was trying to make sense of a book concerning Ice Magic, Ice Tomb was a spell that could lock a target into a permanent block of ice. Effectively Sealing the caster for all time, the spell required a hefty blood price. "I cannot understand what makes a mage create such things. To give your life force in order to complete a spell, it is such an atrocious thing."
"Is everyone ready? Chengs, are you guys going to fight empty handed again?" He searched his ring, "Use these!" Wu Hai passed over two clubs, "One with Light Magic and the other has Fire effects." Wu Hai felt the need to take a more direct approach to the battle strategy, "Khan Ni, I'm going to ask you to cover Darkwing's combat more than the rest of us. His new form is going to take some getting use to and I can't let him attack like an animal, he'll be too unguarded." After making his request to Khan Ni, Wu Hai stood by the door.
Yu looked at all of them ready to fight, he cheered inside. The morale of the group was at a peak and so they rushed to the entrance.
Cheng Mu moved the doorway and resealed it after they entered. "Light?" he asked.
"Yes, Light please." Yu replied and Khan Ni send a few glowstone tipped arrows down the passageway. When it stuck into an undead, it marked the front line.
"This should do, lets get moving." As soon as Wu Hai opened his mouth, the sounds of Undead had already filled the hallways. Groans and dripping sounds that were accompanied by splats were all that could be heard in the distance, besides shrieks of horror.
Wu Hai and Darkwing shot off into the lead with great momentum, many of the opponents in front of the group were unable to even stand in their way. What was left of the bodies were constantly being stored to stop the possibility of revival, yet the amount of Undead they encountered did not decrease. In truth, there was no time for treasures, they wanted to eliminate the threat. Undead were a problem that could engulf a continent and it had even happened before. Since they had a bottleneck and endless stream of opponents to test their strength on, the opportunity was impossible to pass up.
Khan Ni was satisfied only when she was wrapped in light. She hung glowstones around her body and scattered them along the path to the exit. Her night vision was great but when turning corridor after corridor underground, getting lost would mean death.
Wu Hai had been practicing his Lightning and Darkness abilities in full swing throughout the night. He could feel a trace of energy that was similar to storage rings and very close to the feeling the Crusher gave off. "If I push myself, I'll definitely find a way, spacial magic.. I have to.. I have to get to that place one day." Wu Hai talked to himself while Darkwing knocked down the enemies in front of him.
Wu Hai's actions were almost obsessive but the group understood that he had a lot that he didn't say. Wu Hai's determination was well known, he would practice everyday, thousands of times, tens of thousands of times if necessary to improve. Whether it was magical activation, dismissal, duration, durability, strength, consumption or scale he would always try to go further than before. Ever since that day with the black blood, he refused to give up on trying.
'C.A.S.T.' Concentration. Accuracy. Speed. Timing. A lesson burned into his mind, he practiced the mantra every day and during most of his battle assessments.
Watching the Twins spreading their wings inside the hallway, was like watching two large, very angry Angels beating back the forces of Hell.
Khan Ni would fire her bow and purify the dead while collecting as much as she could, just removing the debris was enough to keep her busy while the battle ongoing.
Darkwing managed to cover his gauntlets with spacial magic, his attacks were taking bones away from the Undead with every strike. As productive as it was in dismantling and crippling the Undead, unless the brain was destroyed it would eventually adapt and return to attack. Pieces from any Undead could be taken and used for another, it was unwise to leave even a single corpse or body part laying around.
Reanimated Corpses were already disgusting, adding extra arms and legs just piled on the grimace.
"Wu Hai, I am taking too long to kill enemies. I hate these weapons!" Darkwing's opinion mattered very little to the group in the moment, they were already down his fighting power because of his insistence to charge ahead without approval. Originally, they were not relying on Darkwing's power at all. With his new form, it was much better to have him train with a weapon and become accustomed with them.
"You're new to the group, its more important to get familiar. Even if you were just sitting in the Pagoda we still would have come, use the Gauntlets. 'Follow' Khan Ni and Me." Wu Hai laid it all out, they would die if Darkwing grabbed the attention of too many Undead at once. The last time they had come inside, Darkwing was doing a lot of the work without their asking as well but it was also wild and unrestrained, drawing the enemies in from all over. None of them wanted a repeat of events.
Darkwing chose not be rash, Wu Hai had given him the power of flight, strength and now, independence and choice. "Very well." He turned to the Twins and asked, "Can you teach me how to use those... sticks, at another time?"
Yu nodded.
Laughing uncontrollably as he threw lightning bolts at Undead over and over, Wu Hai was wondering how Darkwing perceived the concept of time. Shaking his head and blurring into a corner to take out an Undead Archer, Wu Hai used the power of darkness to crush it.
'Darkwing's personality is changing, is it for the better?' Wu Hai had so many questions but his questions always came that way, when he was busy.
'The Power of darkness, it is the void.. in the absence of Light, all else fades to Nothingness. The vastness of the Void unlocks only to the Light. Darkness is not Evil, it is the manifestation of Zero. The space between a space. Serine. Unique yet, Everywhere.' A phrase from Heart of Darkness struck a cord with Wu Hai.
A Golden Light enveloped him again and immediately he could feel the pulling sensations between voided space. 'Shit.' Wu Hai stared at the rock corner that was in front of him, rubble didn't fall. A large section was missing like it had never been there, no bones, no armor, no dust, everything was just gone.