Shortly after I read the journey's last entry, I looked back at Hazel.
"We need to get out of here," She warned. I looked back to the journey, contemplating what to do. Then, after what felt like just a few seconds, I looked back at Hazel and smiled.
"Okay, let's go," I nodded. Hazel sighed in relief, her shoulders relaxing as I spoke. I looked back to the journey, then put it in my pack as I brought my hand into the air to cast『 Dungeon Visit 』. However, as I held my hand in the air, I froze. Hazel looked at me, confused.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing, it's just a thought," I muttered. I let my hand fall back to my side before I said, "Do you think the undead you're talking about can communicate? What if we can get them on our side? Their bodies are in pristine condition, so they'd make perfect soldiers."
"You're crazy if you think you'd be able to talk to them," Hazel said, "They won't listen to you, Arthur. You'd just be walking into a trap."
"I can use holy magic, though," I replied, "I just haven't, yet. If the talks don't go well then I'll fight them."
"What?" Hazel sighed. She stared at me for a moment longer before she sighed once again, her eyes down at the ground, "Fine. I'll help you. If you can use holy magic, then why can't I?"
"You use Curse magic, though. Won't that be difficult?" I asked. Hazel looked at me, then shrugged.
"If you're going in, then so am I," Hazel said. She looked down at Icarus, then said, "I'm sure he's thinking the same thing. Let us help, Arthur. You'll stand more of a chance with some backup."
I looked down at Icarus and found him staring at me with his head high in the air. He was confident, even though he couldn't use holy magic. I looked back at Hazel, then nodded.
"Thanks," I said, "But first, we'll have to find them."
Hazel nodded.
We walked around the caves for another two hours as we searched for anything that would look undead. Unfortunately, the only thing we discovered was more deep dwarf corpses. Eventually, once we got tired, we stopped. Hazel found a cave near the path for us to rest in, so we both agreed to set up some defenses using whatever tools we could find.
Down in the caves, though, the only thing we could think of was using rubble as some sort of alarm system. We stacked a few on top of each other and set up a small wall around the campsite. Then, as we prepared to sleep, I took the first watch and kept my eyes trained on the cave.
Hazel and Icarus went to sleep at my side. Both of them were silent, though Hazel looked nervous even in her sleep. The watch was silent. All I could hear were the rumbling of falling rocks in the distance, their sounds echoing through the cave walls until they eventually made our way to the campsite.
About three hours into the watch, I began to hear something else. Several series of footsteps made their way over to us, but they seemed to be coming in different directions. As soon as I heard the footsteps, I woke up Hazel and Icarus.
They looked up at me, mad to have been woken from their sleep, but they both realized where we were and got into fighting stances. We looked to the cave, listening for the footsteps as they made their way closer to us. About a minute later, though, the footsteps turned into running.
Yells echoed through the air, followed by clashes of metal against flesh. There seemed to be a fight in the distance, one larger than any of the aftermaths we had seen from the corpses around the cave. I looked at Hazel, who seemed to look at me with confusion and curiosity. Both of us knew it wasn't safe to go looking for the sound, but both of us wanted to go anyways.
Eventually, after the fight lasted for another thirty seconds, Hazel and I began to leave the cave. Icarus followed close behind us, though he kept his wings stretched out as he prepared himself to take off at any second.
We followed the sounds as we left the cave, eventually turning right as we walked deeper into the cave system. We hadn't yet been this far in, so we knew anything could happen. We walked quickly, to not arrive at the battle after it ended, though we made sure to keep our eyes on our surroundings as we walked.
After about two seconds of walking, the noise of battle became even fiercer. We turned another corner, then stopped once we saw where the noise was coming from. Just twenty meters away from us was another large room, one about the size of where we had slept just a few minutes prior.
In the hall were two groups of dwarves. One group of dwarves was familiar to us, as they wore only loincloths, had ashen skin, and had white hair. These dwarves, the deep dwarves, only fought with their fists. They were too devolved to know how to craft anything other than loincloths, so they used their bodies to fight.
The other group of dwarves looked much more intelligent. They had metal armor on their bodies that looked brand new as if it had been recently purchased from a store and wielded sharp swords. Their helmets were similar in shape to cubes and sat on top of their heads. Their long beards, which varied from blonde to black, hung to their chests.
Their only difference was the black beady color that completely covered their eyes. As soon as I saw the dwarves, I appraised the closest one to the deep dwarves.
﹃
Tharon Firehammer
Race: Lazarus Dwarf
Level: 12
HP: 48
MP: 38
AC: 80
DMG: 50
Rank: C
﹄
"It's one of those Lazarus Dwarves," I whispered to Hazel as we watched the fight from afar. She nodded, her heart beating fast from nervousness, as she looked at the dwarves with fear. I, on the other hand, noticed something strange, "They have levels. Why are they not considered monsters when the deep dwarves are?"
"Those dwarves are as old as Dram, probably," Hazel said, "They're wearing armor, after all. They're probably just using their weapons on instinct."
The next moment, however, threw us both off.
"George!" One of the Lazarus dwarves yelled as he looked behind him. Both Hazel and I looked at the dwarf, confused. The dwarf that yelled was near the front and was fighting off three of the deep dwarves at once.
"Yes, sir?" the other dwarf yelled from the back. George wasn't fighting but was rather looking at his wrist.
"How long?" The lead dwarf yelled.
"It's been five minutes, sir!" George yelled. The lead dwarf groaned, then looked to the other dwarves with an annoyed expression. In the next moment, the lead dwarf suddenly changed tactics. He swung his sword twice, cutting two of the deep dwarves down within a few seconds.
"It's been too long! You're all failures!" The lead dwarf yelled as he looked at the other dwarves. He turned back around, then brought up his hand. The dwarf began to whisper for a moment. A few moments later, I watched as a large black circle appeared in front of his hand. The black circle was covered in complicated runes and shapes.
Suddenly, a black fog began to escape from the circle, covering everything around it. The deep dwarves in front of the lead dwarf began to choke as the black fog entered their lungs. Some of them collapsed in an instant, dead before they hit the floor. The ones that weren't as lucky began to scream in pain as they clutched their throats.
The deep dwarves began to fall one by one. Some of them died from the fog while others had clawed their throats out and died from their injuries. Hazel and I watched the scene with surprise. I, personally, was staring at the lead dwarf with fascination. For something that was supposedly undead, this dwarf seemed completely normal. Hazel, on the other hand, recognized the spell he used.
"That was death fog, a tier three spell!" She whispered to me, "That dwarf is dangerous."
I nodded, though a massive smile was on my face. I turned to the lead dwarf, then appraised him.
﹃
Askalaad Strauss
Race: Lazarus Dwarf
Level: 25
HP: 111
MP: 103
AC: 80
DMG: 70
Rank: B
﹄
Askalaad turned to the other dwarves with a mixture of anger and disappointment on his face. The dwarves looked back at him with disappointment, though George stood apart from them. George walked up to Askalaad, then stood behind him.
"You're all failures," Askalaad said with a stern voice, "Against a simple group of deep dwarves, you should've been able to kill them in two minutes. I brought my strength down to aide you, but that should've at least helped you. Instead, it looks like you all became arrogant. Marcus even died halfway through."
"Yes, I did," A dwarf nodded. His head was lower than all of the other dwarves, almost like he was the only one that felt regretful. Askalaad sighed and shook his head. As I looked at the military-like formation in front of me, I smiled. I looked back at Hazel and Icarus, then said,
"Don't come out until I tell you," I said. Once Hazel nodded, I stood up and began to take my first step toward the group.