[Island of Bones, Dwarven Mountains Underground Entrance, Crimson Clan Castle (building site)]
Days passed, and while Jorg and Orianna focused on recovering, Lewis focused on training. His wish to get barrels of dragon beer granted, he stopped drinking water and resorted to the dwarven brewage instead. Alcohol and training became part of his everyday life.
Every day, there would be casualties, acolytes getting injured mainly, or golems needing to be repaired due to encountering large beasts. However, the battlefield seemed quite calm after Lewis almost annihilated an entire party of the blue wolf mercenary group.
The longer the war of attrition lasted, the more advantageous it became to the Crimson Clan.
After all, they did not have to worry about food at the surface, and the occasional monsters were easily taken care of by Janna herself.
On the other hand, the blue wolf mercenaries had barely created a settlement of fortune with rocks. Insects, small packs of beasts and even ghosts would often target them and weaken them. Adding to that the lack of sunlight and the limited supply of torches, the fighting conditions of the blue wolf mercenaries were on the decline.
After a couple of days, Jorg had made a complete recovery and Lewis continued the series of escorting mission. One magic crystal a day was more than generous, despite the dangers. Plus, Janna had promised him a 5 liters barrel of dragon beer for every blue wolf mercenary he killed. Double if it was a party leader.
With such capitalist benefits, Lewis could only urge Jorg to get better.
===
[Island of Bones, Dwarven Mountains Underground Level 5]
Five thousand meters below the surface, a group of acolytes were escorting a clay golem. This time around, it was not Raon, but another golem master, more experienced, older. His name was Karridian, and though he did not speak much, the party leader did not care much as long as the job was done.
Tyrius had seen a lot during his life. He did not come from a noble household, or a magus family background. He lived the first thirty years of his life as an orphan and rose to become a merchant. After gaining influence and creating an escort company, he learned of the mysterious entities capable of wielding magic and became obsessed with them.
Paying a fortune, his talent was tested and he found out that he was blessed with grade 2 talent. Had he discovered his talent earlier, he would have become an intermediate rank acolyte by now.
But just as if he was not unlucky enough, his first mission happened to be under Janna, who recruited a dozen acolytes under her wing for the sake of exploring the dwarven mountains after the arcane faction discovered records of the [City of Steel], which was said to house a population of blacksmiths.
However, they lost themselves in the labyrinth of the underground, and some died in the coming weeks. Eventually, keeping to move deeper and deeper underground, they eventually reached an enormous door of steel. After pleading and getting no answer, the group started to lose faith and tried to get up.
Under the unyielding leadership of Janna, they continued to struggle, but times and times again, they would suffer injuries and escape to the seemingly only safe place in the underground, the massive doors of steel. They knew it was the city of steel, yet the lack of answer made them think that there was no one alive anymore.
However, after more than a year of struggle, the doors eventually opened, and they were greeted by a dwarf: Ignis.
Decades later, only a handful of acolytes still remembered this expedition. In the crimson clan, only Godwin, Janna and Tyrius remained. Some stayed in the arcane faction despite having been abandonned by them, others died in the following decades.
Age was starting to catch up to Tyrius, as he was now 65 years old, but he had never been so strong. The fact that he managed to stay alive and become Janna's right hand was proof of his skills.
That's why he was angry.
He was furious that the enemy thought they were easy targets, only sending a couple of new recruits and two elite beginner rank acolytes to deal with him.
[Skeleton Summon (14)]
Just as Gale, the leader of the second party of the Blue Wolf Mercenary group, was spotted by Tyrius' subordinate Snake, the old necromancer did not hesitate and unleashed his most powerful spell. From scrolls he threw on the ground, fourteen armoured and armed skeletons rose. The clicketing of bones reverberated in the eerie silence of the underground, and they began to charge towards the enemy.
"What is this?", a blue wolf mercenary shouted, panicking at the sight of agile skeletons charging
A skirmish had begun.