The Forsaken Lands, The Unnamed/Overlord's City.
Sarah sat on the great city wall and stared at the forest in the Unsafe Zones in the distance. The breeze had just the right intensity, not too strong, not too soft, her hair barely stayed in one place because of the seemingly endless wind.
Despite her serene expression, her thoughts were in turmoil. After one week, only Ronan's group had returned from the Dragonstone Kingdom, while Damon's group was nowhere to be found. Henry had also returned home, but he was different, distant. She was also constantly worried about the premonition she had gotten from the Cathedral of Reaching, even though Pascal had assured her many times that the undead couldn't take over the Dragonstone Kingdom.
To stop her fretting, she came to the top of the city walls, hoping the breeze would soothe her mind. All her companions had things to do, Veronica had become a training maniac, she was always looking for someone to fight with so she could improve her skills and magical power. Annie stayed with her parents for the most part, Goerge had a friend who he visited almost every day, and no one knew where David goes. Henry was the person she saw most of the time, but after he came back from wherever he had gone he became unusually quiet.
Something had happened to him, but he wouldn't tell her what. But she could see that he was trying, trying to cheer up and trying to go back to his former self, it just might take some time.
She heard a familiar roar and looked up to see Zahir soaring above. He did a few turns in the air before flying down and landing beside her, then she was able to see Pascal who was on its back. Pascal jumped down from Zahir and patted it, Zahir roared again and took to the skies once more.
Pascal walked up to her and sighed, "I had a feeling I'd find you here. Still worried?"
Sarah nodded, "I won't feel fine until the threat no longer exists."
Pascal nodded and sat down beside her, for a while they didn't say anything. But Sarah soon became unnerved by the silence and decided to initiate some small talk.
"So, where did you come from?"
Pascal chuckled a bit, "I was with Rosalia. She had become quite the plant lady; her home is filled with different plants and flowers. She was just about to go the farm so I bade her farewell and came here."
Sarah knew Rosalia, she was an Earth Mage, she was also the first person to find a Variable in her element and became the first person to be able to use plant magic.
Sarah scrunched her nose at Pascal, "Rosalia's place isn't too far from the castle, yet you flew on Zahir to get here. It's like you've forgotten how to walk."
Pascal giggled sheepishly and rubbed that back of his neck, "Yeah." He said.
They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the view and the breeze. Sarah could see Pascal turn to her from her peripheral, she already knew what he was going to say even before he said it.
"Worrying won't solve anything."
Sarah sighed, "I know that," her voice was a little sharp, "but it's not like I can control my emotions. The best I can do is not let them affect those around me. That's why I'm here, here I can worry as much as I want without anyone telling me I shouldn't."
Pascal raised his hands up, "Okay, sorry I said anything."
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but closed it after realizing she had nothing to say. She couldn't apologize either since she knew she wasn't wrong, even though she knew that he was just looking out for her well-being. She sighed once more then turned her head back to the forest.
She wanted Pascal to leave, his presence made her feel stifled. She had felt like this also when she was younger, the man who adopted her back in the Gangu Forest, didn't let her follow him when he and the other hunters went to hunt a bear that was terrorizing their village. She was still miffed about the fact that she wasn't assigned a group to go to the Dragonstone Kingdom, now that the mission had ended and the existence of the undead made known even though she saw everyone die in the visions.
"When last have you gone to the Cathedral of Reaching?" Pascal's voice brought her out of her thoughts. She looked at him in confusion before answering.
"I haven't used it for weeks now, I stopped using it since I couldn't see the person who would create the undead. Why?"
"I was just pondering about what you once prophesized, you said you saw our deaths," Pascal said, making Sarah's eyes widen, it seemed their thoughts were aligned, "I think, the reason you saw us die was due to how much strength we had that time. If we didn't have that information which encouraged us to quickly strengthen ourselves then that would have been our fates, but now that we are much stronger than we were before our fates might have changed."
Sarah stared at Pascal in a daze. He was absolutely right; the future wasn't set in stone and anything was possible. She had been so scared of the future she completely blocked the Cathedral of Reaching out of her mind, scared that she would witness the death of her loved ones again, she never stopped to see… how they had grown. From the moment their village had been destroyed, and all their family taken from them, she had been a mother hen for Henry, David, Mary and George, then Veronica. Subconsciously, she had been placing herself in front of them to protect them from dangers, and while that wasn't a bad thing it didn't let her see that they could also protect themselves.
Sarah exhaled and looked up, but this time her eyes were filled with clarity. She didn't know what the future held, or how their actions had an impact on it, but she was ready to face anything with her family and friends. But this time, she won't cage them.
"Thank you, Pascal. You might not know this but you've help me so much." She smiled at Pascal, who nodded confusedly.
Suddenly, a strange noise sounded above. They looked up to see a huge purple fireball soaring the sky like a falling comet, and watched as it landed straight in the forest up front.
Sarah and Pascal jumped to their feet, they looked at each other and saw the same look of the other's face. The purple fireball was definitely a bad omen, and they both had a good idea of what it would bring.
…
Logan had seen a lot in his life, and he was sure that there was nothing in the Dragonstone Kingdom that could surprise him. But his day seemed to be full of surprises that were big enough to shake the entire kingdom. The first was the existence of Time Magic, that was enough to cause massive ripples in the sorcerer society for years to come. The second was the huge city he found when he flew into the Forsaken Lands.
As a former prince of the Dragonstone Kingdom, Logan knew more about the expeditions to the Forsaken Lands than most. All the mercenaries and hired sorcerers disappeared without a trace upon entering the lands, the few that were lucky to find their way out didn't mention anything about a city, rather they complained that they spent most of their time walking around in circles.
What shocked Logan the most about the city was that it wasn't derelict or dilapidated, he could even see a few figures walking around the city from above.
Logan felt a thrill of excitement when he landed in the forest that was near the city. This was what he needed, a place where he could stay without worrying about attacks from his brother. The Forsaken Lands were a mysterious place, and everyone in the Dragonstone Kingdom knew to steer clear of it.
He dropped from the Skeleton Dragon and touched the earth, he felt a lot of dead creatures in his vicinity, some were even killed recently. With a dark smile, he began to spread his necro-flame as far as he could. He had decided to make the golden city his, and as for the people who lived there, he wouldn't mind adding them to his undead army.
…
Sarah and Pascal watched as green flames spread from when the purple fireball landed and spread throughout the forest, the green flames oddly didn't burn any of the trees but that didn't diminish their concern.
"I'll go summon everyone," Pascal said, as he spoke, he called Zahir through their connection, "if that is what I think it is then they should all be ready to fight." Zahir flew out from the side of the castle, Pascal jumped on him and they both flew into the city. Zahir roared urgently as he flew around, causing people to rush out of their homes. He did this a few more times before flying back to the city walls, facing the forest.
The civilians of the Unnamed City knew that something was wrong, they immediately ran out of the city through the second gate and gathered there. From where they stood, they could see green flames blazing in the forest, but no smoke. The phenomenon was bizarre, so they waited for their Overlord to explain the situation to them.
Pascal flew down and when he jumped down from Zahir's back he immediately walked towards Ronan, "Does this look familiar?" He asked.
Ronan nodded, "Yes, I remember those green flames. We should get ready for an undead attack."
After Ronan spoke someone cried out while pointing at the forest in the distance, from where they stood, they could see numerous skeletons trudging out of the forest. At first there were just a few of them, then little by little more skeletons joined the first batch turning them from a few to a few hundred.
Pascal jolted at the sight, he summoned his armor to draw everyone's attention, "Alright! Despite the suddenness of the undead attack, I will implore everyone to get ready to fight as quickly as possible! Now, hear and heed my orders, the Warriors and Mages with high attack power will be our main attacking force, the Rune Mages will assist from the middle, those with long-range attacks stay at the side while the Clerics assist from behind! As for the children and the elderly, retreat into the city!"
Pascal jumped back on Zahir then flew to the city wall while everyone rushed to follow his commands, although they were clumsy with it they were still able to make a moderate battle formation, which was easy since there were less than a hundred people in the city. Pascal landed Zahir beside Sarah who was watching the undead come calmly, he stared at her for a few seconds before looking away.
"It's different." He heard Sarah say.
"What do you mean?"
"The undead, although they are plenty their quantity is still smaller than what I saw in my vision." She looked at him and smiled, "It seemed you were right; our actions did change the future."
Pascal hummed, "I had always wondered about the quantity of the undead you saw in your visions, it might have been possible that the amount of undead you saw was all the undead that attacked the Dragonstone Kingdom combined, not just the ones that would attack us. But yes, we have changed the future, because none of us will die today." He said with resolution.
The undead had gotten closer, everyone was readying themselves for the battle when a huge figure ascended from the forest floor. It looked like a dragon, but with only its skeleton remaining. Green flames covered its entire body, it looked incredibly menacing.
When he saw the Skeleton Dragon Pascal knew that he was the only one who could engage it in battle, he unhooked his sword from behind him and signaled Zahir through their connection. Zahir dove down from the city walls, it spread its wings to slow its descent when it was near the people on the ground. Everyone looked up to see their Overlord, donned in his golden armor, wielding a golden sword and riding a golden dragon. He pointed his sword forward and yelled bravely;
"Charge!"
As he flew towards the Skeleton Dragon, everyone gathered their courage and ran to meet their undead enemies.
The inevitable clash happened; the Mages assisted from the side while the Warriors spear-headed the attack. Before Pascal reached the Skeleton Dragon, he glanced downward and could help but tut, the battle formation they had implemented had become disorderly. Although he had already expected their formation to fall apart since none of them had any sort of military training, he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. There was still a trace of the battle formation though, the Rune Mages and the Clerics were still behind the rest but other than that the battle had basically became a brawl.
Sixty against hundreds, Pascal hoped that it would be enough. He focused back on the Skeleton Dragon and saw something that gave him a fright; on the Skeleton Dragon was a man who was staring at him with vicious and envious eyes. Or rather, he was looking at Zahir. Pascal understood that the man was probably the one who made the undead since he couldn't see any other humans around.
The man raised his hands and five green rays shot out of them.
"Zahir!" Pascal yelled. Zahir understood his intent and opened its mouth to let out a stream of flames. Dragon Flame was not to be underestimated, the green rays were burnt away and the flames continued towards the Skeleton Dragon but it quickly dodged it.
Logan's eyes widened as he felt the heatwave from the Dragon Flames, "Such power!" He glared at Pascal with even more jealousy, his eyes as green as his necro-flame. A living dragon was the third surprise that he had gotten today, and it was definitely the biggest surprise of them all. If it was made known that a young dragon existed in the Forsaken Lands it might even cause mutiny.
'I must have it!' He shot a large Rotting Strike at the dragon, what looked like a large, sharp rotting bone flew towards it. He would have the dragon even if it was dead.
Pascal slashed down his sword and sent a [Resplendent Light] to the Rotting Strike. The Rotting Strike tore through the light, but it looked weaker than before, so Pascal sent two more attacks to completely destroy it. When the light abated Pascal vision was filled with a stream of emerald flames that the Skeleton Dragon spat out, Zahir beat its wings to create some space between them before attacking with its [Dragon's Breath].
The two dragons were at a stalemate, their attacks were evenly matched. On top of their dragons, Logan and Pascal continued to send attacks toward each other.
…
Ronan fought beside a Warrior as they both cut down undead with their swords, although he could easily bulldoze through the undead with his strength, he still felt that it was unfortunate that he couldn't use Mamba's poison gas, if they were living beings then he would have been able to kill most of them without doing much.
It was unnerving though, seeing numerous skeletons surrounding him, glaring at him with their eye sockets and gnashing their teeth as they attacked him in any way they could. He had subconsciously closed his eyes in fear one time a human skeleton lunged at him, he had punched out and managed to shatter its skull. He had been frightened, and he was one of the people who had fought the undead before, he wondered how scared and nervous the others might be feeling.
It wasn't because he thought they weren't strong or brave – almost everyone there had fought magical beasts after all – but fear was an innate feeling every living being had, especially towards the unknown.
Ronan turned to another side and was about to rush at the undead there when they suddenly exploded into splinters, he jumped back in shock and covered his face from the pieces of bones that fell onto his body. He looked around to see who had destroyed the undead so violently and saw Henry walking forward with a dark expression.
Although he hadn't had that much interaction with him Ronan could tell that Henry had changed when he reappeared in the city. He watched as Henry sliced the undead around him in half and was sure that he had also encountered the undead, but his experience was even more unpleasant than his own.
After making a mental note to stay out of his way, Ronan continued fighting.
…
Alex finally knew what his shortcomings were as he fought the undead. After he reached level 15 his [Slime Physiology] and perception had become stronger when merged with Globby, but he found out that they were quite useless against the undead. The undead don't die easily, the fastest way to kill them was to either completely destroy them or disperse the Soul Flame in their chest.
After seeing that most of his arsenal was useless against the undead, he unmerged with Globby and merged with Anticus, then he floated up and asked Globby to attack the undead around them. Since Globby was his first tamed pet it leveled up along with him and was also level 15, it had unlocked a skill called [Acid Shot] which enables it to shoot its corrosive liquid at its targets. Add that with [Rush] and Globby was able to kill undead faster than he could.
Alex floated backwards until he was behind the Clerics who were blocking the undead with their barriers, he wasn't too worried about Globby since the undead weren't strong.
'Unlike those ones.' Alex thought apprehensively as he stared at the bulky undead rampaging around. There were five of them, and the energy they emanated was several times stronger than the other undead. Alex couldn't discern who was fighting them but he was sure that they were the strongest among the citizens of the Unnamed City.
"What are you doing here boy?" Alex heard a voice behind him and turned around to see Old Angus walking up to him, "I distinctively remember the Overlord telling all the children to go back into the city before the fight started."
"I also distinctively remember him saying the same thing about the elderly." Alex shot back. "Besides, I'm not one of those children he was talking about, I can fight."
"Neither am I one of those elderly he mentioned." Old Angus smiled.
Alex shrugged and returned his gaze to the battle, but mostly at Globby's side. Globby was doing quite well, with [Rush] it was able to crack the bones of the undead and its aim with [Acid Shot] was adequate, Alex used their mental connection to tell it to aim for the flames in their chest.
Everywhere around them was filled with undead and different elemental attacks, sometimes there would be explosions of fire, sometimes crackles of lightning or waves of water. The chaotic battle brought out Alex's battle intent, his grip on his pickaxe tightened as his blood boiled.
"Hmm, you really want to fight, don't you?" Old Angus asked him after an inquisitory glance.
"Yes," Alex answered immediately, "which is uncommon for me. I guess, as I got stronger the fear, I felt for everything decreased. I never really had a grasp of my fate; I was living my life according to how other people wanted it and according to whatever situation I found myself in. But as I got stronger, I felt myself get braver."
"I'm not delusional, I don't think I am powerful enough to control my own fate yet. But I am definitely different than I was four months ago, and I want to try to fight for what I want with my own power, now I can pave my own way."
At the end of his speech Alex looked at Old Angus and found him smiling down at him, "Well then, if you want to join the fight then you will need help. Bring your weapon closer."
Alex presented his pickaxe to Old Angus in anticipation, Old Angus's finger glowed as he drew a rune symbol on the head of the pickaxe. After he was done Alex brandished the pickaxe but it didn't feel any different.
"That was the [Rebound] rune. Stay close so I can recharge it anytime the energy runs out."
Alex smiled and nodded his head in thanks, then he floated back to Globby's side. Firstly, he used [Light Beam] on some of the undead, because Anticus's level was too low it only caused slight burns on their bone, but it did knock them backwards. An undead ran towards him crazily, he raised his pickaxe and slammed it against its ribcage, the rune on the pickaxe flashed and the undead was blasted backwards.
Alex stared at his weapon in awe, but his attention was quickly drawn towards the undead charging toward him. Every hit of his pickaxe sent the undead barreling backwards, the more force he used the more damage appears on the undead. He even managed to kill some after repeatedly hitting them, as he fought a smile grew on his face.
All of a sudden, small balls filled with mild golden lights appeared around the battlefield. Alex was under one of those balls, as the light shone on him, he felt his body strengthen, his strikes became more powerful, even Globby became stronger. Cheers resounded around him, some people took a second to look up at their High Priestess who floated above them and cheered her name.
Sarah stared intently at the battlefield, afraid to miss any details. Before the fight started, she had decided that the best way for her to help the residents was to strengthen them, if she were to join them in fighting her help would be limited. She donned her [Valkyrie Dress] and used created five [Strengthening Fields] that only strengthened her allies, she also occasionally used [Magic Circles] to shoot down light beams that vaporized the undead they touched.
As for the five stronger undead creatures, Sarah checked to see who were fighting them, and sure enough the people she saw there were her family and friends. The sight made Sarah worried, but she was also proud. Unlike before, they weren't powerless against the threat. Unlike before, they could fight to protect their home.
…
Every time Morgana thrusted her arms forward a fireball would shoot out of her hands and blast the undead backwards. The ground around her was filled with scorches and soot, everyone around her gave her space because they trusted and admired her strength and also because they didn't want to distract her. But Morgana wished they had stayed and fought beside her, because despite how valiant she looked she was actually terrified inside.
Morgana had never been fond of undead creatures, as someone who had lived in the Forsaken Lands before Pascal came, she still remembered the Wraith that had once inhabited the city. When she was younger, she had walked into the city on a dare and had been given the fright of her life. That memory had resurfaced when she became surrounded by the undead.
Sweat filled Morgana's forehead even though the heat of her flames didn't affect her, if one looked closely, they would see her tremble any time a skeleton lunged at her. Her adrenaline was too high and she was getting fatigued faster than normal, it also didn't help that she couldn't find any human around her anymore.
She felt something gripping her leg tight and almost stumbled, she whipped her head downward and saw a human skeleton with only half its body holding her leg. That destroyed any calmness she had left; with a loud scream she instinctively used the first skill that came to mind.
"[INFERNO]!"