Fwoosh.
Three figures leaped from the ground and ran through the wall like it was the ground. The Army of the Dead in their path was cleared, making everyone who were looking at it gasp in shock.
"Who are those?" one of the Adventurers who were garrisoned at the wall asked.
"That's Glenn!" another one yelled. "Bryan told us that they abandoned us. They're traitors! Shoot them!"
"Fireball!"
"Icicle Shot!"
"Floral Beam!"
…
A series of attacks rained down upon them. Glenn only smirked as they easily dodged every attack that was aimed at them.
"The practice agains the kids are harder than this," Glenn said. "Cover me. I have to deal with Viros."
"What about the kids?" John asked. "Are you sure that they're going to be alright?"
"Of course," Glenn smirked. "I instructed them well and their task shouldn't be that hard.
–
"Guiding Light!" Patrick casted to his friends as they ran across the swamp.
"Crimson Slash!" Felix yelled and slashed his sword right across an undead soldier's chest. "Yes! EXP!"
Gina created solid paths across the swamp just as Glenn instructed. These paths were going to be used by the younger Adventurers as they hunt all of the trapped beasts. This way, they could grind their own levels while they wait for Glenn's next instruction.
"This is rather easy," Cecil sighed. "Wheel of Whispers!"
She fired her magic at a soldier, shooting all the wisps at the beast and killed it. "This is boring, but I know it's safer than going out there."
"I'm still impressed by how much Big Sister Enchanter could alter a huge part of the forest," Don said. "She's very powerful, just like both big brothers."
"They even made sure to keep us safe," Patrick smiled. "They're good people."
Croak. Croak. Croak.
The younger Adventurers turned to the direction of the sound. They saw a small red frog that was sitting on top of a lily pad, staring at them.
"This frog has a very loud and distinct sound," Patrick said. "Felix, what are you doing?"
Felix approached the frog. "Just investigating. What if this frog has a good value to it."
As Felix got closer, the frog suddenly froze. This action caused the boy to stop from his tracks, and watched in horror as the frog along with the lily pad retreated into the water.
The lily pad was actually a giant mouth of a giant undead soldier. It was about twenty meters in length and had a huge muscular yet rotting body.
"That's one of those things!" Patrick yelled. "Felix, run!"
Felix used his immense speed to escape the giant zombie. He ran to his friends as they all watch the giant soldier approach them.
"The zombies must've merged underwater," Don thought out loud. "This is a bigger one than the rest and it's more dangerous because of the penalty. What do we do?"
"Call them," Patrick said in panic. "Call Big Brother Healer."
"No," Felix said. "This is our rights of passage. We already gained two to three levels because of the soldiers that we killed. I'm sure we can handle this one."
"Let's just ask for help," Patrick begged. "We're not ready for this."
"He's right," Don said. "Felix is right. We have to kill this on our own. We don't want to disturb our big siblings with their fight. This one, it's our fight."
Cecil held Patrick's hand. "We're going to protect you while you're protecting everyone, so don't you worry, okay?"
Patrick watched the undead soldier and gulped. "But if any one of you get hurt even just a scratch, we're retreating."
"Alright, let's go! Cecil, cover me!" Don yelled.
"Wheel of Whispers!" Cecil casted. Just like their training with Glenn, she used the wisps to confuse the soldier just so Don could raised his sword and leaped off of the solid path to slashed his sword across the soldier's face.
When he landed on the ground, the undead soldier had used one of its many arms to try and slam a hammer at Don, but Cecil had launched her wisps and crashed them on its face.
The undead soldier roared in pain. It took a couple of steps back to try and relieve itself off of the attacks. It was having a hard time moving due to the mud on its feet, but when it stepped on the solid path, it stopped and grinned. The creature wiped its face off of the pain and roared at them.
Since the swamp was dark and a thin sheet of mist hindered their vision, Felix had to climb to the trees and spy on the creature. He could stealthily move from across the trees without being detected because of his class.
"What?" Felix asked himself when he saw that the giant undead soldier vanished from the swamp. He hopped off the tree and into the solid path, kneeling and eyes widening when he felt the wet soil of the swamp.
"He found us," Felix whispered. It found the path!"
Felix went back to his friends, yelling as he landed on the ground from a tree nearby. "Everyone, be careful. The giant undead soldier now has mobility. It will try and find the path to us and hunt us down."
"What do you mean it found the path?" Don asked. "You mean it used the path? But aren't these undead soldiers mindless or something?"
"There's no other explanation for it vanishing to where it should be," Felix said. "If it was in the mud, its mobility was restricted by a lot. But since it found the soil path, it can now run to us."
Just after Felix said those words, the ground shook and an ominous aura approached them.
"Speaking of it," Felix sighed. "Everyone, prepare yourselves. This is nothing like the practice fights we had with Big Brother Healer before."
Roar!
–
From the wall, the roar of the giant undead soldier was heard. Glenn tried to turn around and ran to the kids, but a hand gripped his shoulder. "They need me."
"I'll go check on them right now," John said. "You go to Viros and defeat her."
"But–"
"Trust him," Gina said. "Most importantly, trust them. You have to trust them to give them the growth they need."
"But they're just kids," Glenn tried to argue. He took a deep breath and held John's shoulders, staring into his eyes. "You must keep them safe no matter what, okay?"
John nodded. "I will. Now let me go and stop looking at my face. It's pretty d*mn awkward."
Glenn immediately released his hands and scrunched his face. "You're thinking of weird things. Stop that."
"Alright," John smirked. "I'll go now."
Glenn and Gina watched John retreat from the wall and into the swamp. It was the best if John was the one who responds first because he was fast and he could catch up quicker than Glenn and Gina could.
"Do you think they're safe?" Glenn asked. "What if–"
"John will take care of them," Gina smiled. She opened her mouth and was about to say something but the dome she created from the wall exploded before she could even utter a single word. "Oh, now we have to take care of this."
"Right," Glenn nodded and raised his hands to show the hololiths on his wrists. "Let's dance, Viros."
Glenn took a deep breath.
"Switch!"