Razark POV
I carefully approached the red haired woman in front of me, her expression was that of anger, rage, and probably many murderous thoughts running around her mind. I was prepared for a blast or some kind of attack, but she just stood still and I was right in front of her.
Suddenly I saw her move her hand and hold my hand, her eyes seemed to scan the entirety of my hand, probably to see if I had any injuries or not, shaking her hand away and taking a step back.
"I'm not hurt, and I bring good news, so how about we go to the…" Before I could finish a strike to the gut was delivered to me and I fell down on my knees.
"Good to know, alright let's hurry up, the others are waiting for us," She turned around and started to walk away from me, women are such complex beings.
Standing up I followed behind her and it was clear that she had no intention of waiting for me, nor listening to my explanation. Well I'm up for a beat down after this mission.
Once we were all gathered again I started to share my findings to the other, the vast grassland, with a mountain on the west of the castle, the undead lurking around tall grass, and the wolves I encountered. So far there were no signs of any advanced undead summons.
"So how are we going to do this?" She asked for all of our opinions, but the others seemed to be in deep thoughts as their eyebrows frowned and I could say the same for me.
Soon everyone was silent, probably having mental debates in their own minds.
"Well we can always go into a stealthy approach," I suggested and all of them immediately turned their heads towards me.
"What are you suggesting Razark?" Angie asked me and I started to draw a rough map of the area.
"We can enter the barrier using some advance magic to not get caught, but I was planning of using this mountain for support, so there will be 3 groups that would enter first and there would be two groups on standby on the mountains," I explained, but with minimum information this was a risky plan and their expressions all thought the same.
"What will the three groups do inside?" One of them asked and I took out an amber orb from my ring.
"We plant these everywhere inside the castle, in spots that would surely make the castle crumble. Once we manage to do that we go out and activate them, it may sound simple, but I assure you the number of undead we will encounter inside the castle would not be less than the ones outside," I explained, whilst also adding a warning to remind them of what we are up against.
"While the five groups are ready, the rest of us would launch an attack towards the castle in a long range, I want all of you to make sure you are meters away from the tall grass, and if you see any undead exit the tall grass destroy them, but if their numbers start to add up into something you cannot control, fall back," I continued whilst drawing positions our diversion teams could be positioned.
"Each groups would consist of twelve people, leaving around three hundred people to distract them,"
"But if we are going to do that, where will we enter from?" One of them asked and I made an x mark on the mountain.
"Once they begin attacking I want all of us to use stealth magic, high grade ones to sneak through. We will be using some flight magic and land according to their assigned spots, I found that there were not many undead around the outer walls, so we can sneak around and possibly take out a few of them if must,"
"How about positioning?"
"One will enter through the garden which is located in the middle of the castle, one will enter through the west and lastly one will enter through the north," I marked each of the locations that would be breached and they were all still silent.
"It's simple honestly, if we fail we die, if we succeed we win," I simply spoke and all of their faces frowned at my choice of words, but none refuted.
"If anyone wishes to make any suggestion it is welcomed and we would discuss together as a whole," Angie pressed, even though her tone had no authority behind it, all of us know better than to take her lightly.
"When are we gonna enter?" A gruff voice laced with anticipation spoke up, I turned to Patrick whose eyes were glowing bright blue in excitement. His horns, a unique color of gold shun brightly in the room, accompanied by his silver hair making him the most to stand out so I made a mental note to put him in the diversion team, not that he would retort, he would definitely choose fighting over recon any day.
"Two days from now, today and tomorrow we will start preparing," I simply replied to the brute and with a satisfied nod he reached down and pulled up his axe that he placed on the floor, he then stood up and turned around, leaving the meeting room.
"Well if no one else has anything to add, this meeting is adjourned. May we all survive this mission and have some good beer once we return," I ended the meeting and everyone saluted before we all dispersed.
3'd POV
"This is Ground unit 1, red group. Checking communication pathways. Over," A man's voice could be heard from a blue orb that was being held by a man with yellow hair and green eyes, with horns coming out of his temple stretching downwards.
"Copy red group, this is Ground unit 3, yellow group replying. Voice and channels are all clear. Over," The man holding the blue orb replied.
"This is Stealth air unit 1, purple group. Do you hear me clearly? Over" A female voice could be heard from the blue orb.
"Stealth air unit 1, purple group. This is Stealth air unit 2, orange group. Audio and sound are all clear. Can even hear the loud wind whistling around you guys," Another female voice replied.
"Alright, this is Ground unit 2, Black group. Everyone in position?" Razark's voice could be heard from all of their orbs.
"Ready"
"Ready"
"Ready"
"Ready"
"Alright Ground unit 1, you have permission to enter the northern side of the castle, Ground unit 3 you guys can now enter the Garden. Stealth unit one and two you guys stand by and wait for further instruction. Over," Razark started to hush out orders silently and once again all four groups confirmed and they were all ready to infiltrate the castle.
""This is ground unit 1, we've entered the inner wall, proceeding to loop around to find the entrance. Over," A man reported.
"This is ground unit 3, we've successfully landed on the garden, proceeding to find any hidden doors or entrances around the area, before heading in the castle. Over," A man reported.
"Affirmative, This is ground unit 2, we're entering through a basement or dungeon we found of. Stay sharp everyone. Coms off for now until special circumstances are met. Over," Razark whispered to the orb, after that final message all of them pocketed their blue communication orbs, before taking out a red one that was the size of their ear hole, they all then proceeded to stuck it to their ears and the red stone seem to fit perfectly without showing any signs of falling out.
3'D POV Razark's Location
"Alright people, we're about to enter the basement. Slowly rummage through things that might be useful, don't do anything stupid and most of all try not to alert the enemy before tomorrow," Razark spoke slowly.
Soon he heard confirmation and twelve people including Razark Were in front of the basement entrance, their ranged weapons ready to use at any given moment.
"On the count of three, cast a silence spell, concealment spell, and an unlocking spell," Razark whispered and three people went ahead of him and took out their wands.
"One"
"Two"
"Three" As soon as the word three came out from his mouth all three people casted the spells instructed and the lock on the door was opened and it fell down without making any sound. After waiting for a while to see if the enemy noticed them or not, they found themselves in the clear as they slowly pushed the door backwards and it slowly opened without making any sounds.
"Night vision is all good?" Razark asked and all of them nodded. Razark, seeing everyone nodding, he took a sharp breath.
Razark's sharp eyes surveyed the scene before him as he huddled with his team. He had led many dangerous missions before, but this one felt different. The stakes were higher, and one mistake could mean the end for all of them.
"Ben and Garry, take point and clear the way," Razark commanded in a hushed tone. "Tam and Jack, you follow closely behind. William Richard, you guys will go with me, and Pat, James Edward, you two cover our backs. Lucas and Jeremy, you'll enter last and keep an eye on our flanks. Make sure to create some distance so you can react quickly if anything goes wrong."
The team nodded in agreement, their expressions serious and focused. They knew the drill and trusted Razark's leadership. With a final glance at his team, Razark gave the signal to begin their mission.
With a nod from Ben he entered together with Gen, both of them pointing their magical crossbows forwards and soon followed suit in order as Razark had instructed.
Once everyone was inside it was clear that the basement was barely ever used in the past as the condition of the basement was as if the place was abandoned hundred of years ago.
"Scatter and clear the area. And remember don't do anything stupid," He pressed his warning again.
Two people head deeper without making any sound whilst the rest of them searched through the basement in close distance, all the members moved stuff without making any sound, walked and sprinted without producing any sound whatsoever.
"Basement clear, waiting beside the door with Garry" Ben spoke through his communication bead and all of the team members started to make their way towards Ben and Garry.
"Again, silence spell and unlocking spell," Razark ordered quietly and two people stepped forwards, taking out their sapphire wands from behind their black cloaks.
As soon as Razark gave the que both gems from the head of the wands glowed dark blue and the door opened without making any sound, even the lock fell down without making any sound.
"Same formation," Soon Ben and Garry entered first followed by the rest. We were greeted by a cellar room and there were many barrels in the room, some still intact, whilst others were destroyed, with some wine stains all over the floor and walls, all dried up.
"Seems like there was another civilization that settled here before him," I thought, but I could've been wrong entirely so I just shut the thought out and focused on the mission.
"Same thing, and when someone locates another door stay beside the door and wait for the others, only one will stay beside the door, the others clear out the room and make sure you guys don't miss any hidden contrapments or anything,"
Soon they all scattered, all of them within a reasonable distance so one can see another and since the wine cellar wasn't as big as the basement they finished relatively quickly without any findings.
"We have a situation in the basement," One of them reported and Razark immediately shadow stalked to the door that led to the basement, a man was beside the door with his ear on the wall.
Pointing on the wall Razark followed what his member was doing and stuck his ear to the wall, growls and snarls could be heard from the other side of the wall, stepping back slowly Razark made a gesture to the man to go back slowly and both of them slowly walked backwards, Razark scanned the area around them and found a pile of barrels near them, pointing at the barrels the man beside Razark understood and slowly made his way towards the barrels, whilst Razark stood guard in front of the door in case they started to enter the wine cellar.
The man started to lift up the barrels one by one and stacked them in front of the door until dozens of barrels were in front of the door.
Tapping the crystal on Rzark's ear three times he sent an emergency signal to the rest and all of them immediately gathered in front of the door to the next part of the castle.
"No time we have to get to the next area quickly," Razark whispered quickly and just as he finished the door of the basement made banging noises, One of them quickly sliced the lock open and before the metal lock fell to the ground one of them managed to catch it and in a split second all of them were on the other side.
Not letting their guards down they found themselves in a long hallway that had many armored statues along the hallway, each statue holding a javelin and shield. Making sure they weren't traps a mage casted a detection spell accompanied by a cloaking spell to not get caught.
Nodding his head the man who casted the detection spell confirmed that the statues were normal and that there was nothing wrong about them, but even with confirmation all the members still were wary of the statues all over the hallway.
Taking this opportunity they started to plant the explosive crystals all around the hallway, distancing one crystal with another to not waste any. The crystals slipped either inside the cracks of walls or inside the armor. The group were busy to even notice that even though the hallway was clear they were being monitored.
Deep under the castle was a library, a big library with a transparent orb in the middle of it, the tube shaped room had golden walls, whilst the floor and ceiling were pearl white, bronze pillars supporting the room, if one were to come here for the first time they would've mistaken this for the holy library of the Gods.
"Verily, it seemeth that I have guests in my humble abode. Wherefore art my manners? Forsooth, guests ought to be attended to with due diligence.," A dark voice grumbled and the sound of metal clanking could be heard echoing throughout the entire library, beside the transparent orb appeared a golden chair, but no one was there.
"Verily, I shall make haste to greet mine esteemed guests with warm welcome and hospitality," The voice once again grumbled and the room gradually became darker until all light source was completely gone.
"Lo, let the games commence!" The voice slowly faded into the quiet silence that had enveloped the room as soon as it became dark.
Back to Razark's location he was now wary, with the limited time he had to make a haste and unsure call, he was now faced with another decision he needed to make quickly. The hallway was long, with two ways they could traverse, left and right. Splitting up was not an option for them, staying here longer wouldn't be favorable either since the creatures behind them could be heard rummaging the room before them with haste.
"Alright everyone, formation. We'll be going left and make sure you watch the statues if anything moves or seems fishy, you report to me," Razark whispered and they all quickly, but quietly went to formation and started to make their way through the hallway.
The statues as they traversed further noticeably became older and older, rust started to appear, then holes on the armor, until it got to the point that some of the armor parts were now missing and inside them were skeletons.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," One of them whispered and Razark seemed to also agree, but they couldn't go anywhere now. In front of them it seemed like the path was split into three. But before Razark could think loud thumping could be heard and then figures could be seen in front of them.
"Fire!!" Razarl shouted and the mages got in front of the formation and started to fire spells. Screw the stealth mission, They were surrounded. The creatures behind them could be heard faintly and the figures in front of them were now down, but it didn't stay that way for long.
"What are those things?" One of the members asked, black energy flowing towards the ten figures, pumping them with more power. All of the members readied their weapons as the previously presumed dead enemies rose up, their armor a mixture of metal gray and black, Silver white plums on their helmets, behind those very helmets were azure blue eyes, their irises reptile-like, as if looking at prey.
"Fire," One of them screamed and the mages shot some spells at the ten, the magic came to contact with the ten figures, but all of them were standing after the dust cleared out, their red shields made out of pure energy were raised and their sabers, a saber with a mixture of black and red were ready to charge at us.
"Fo.. formation everyone," Razark stuttered a bit as they seemed like nothing the previous undead had shown, but this was no time to hesitate, it's either do or die at this point.
"Arghh," A loud painful scream could be heard from behind and a few members turned around to see one of their archers being bitten, and devoured by an undead hound. Their clothes torn, their chainmail broken. Their flesh could be visibly seen as the man was losing blood at a fast phase.
"Split the group into two, half deal with the ones behind us, while the other half deal with the one in front of us," Razark Yelled and they all went into formation as instructed. The ones watching their backs helplessly watched as their comrade was being devoured right before their very eyes.
Slow claps resounded throughout the hallway as faint footsteps soon accompanied the sound of the soft claps. Behind the ten figures a figure stood tall, his appearance hidden behind a cloak and hood. His left hand held a staff that was made out of some kind of wood.
"Greetings, esteemed guests! I bid you welcome to my lowly dwelling. Pray tell, what brings you to grace me with your presence?" A deep masculine yet at the same time soft voice spoke, the new figure slowly made its way in front of the ten abnormal undead and stopped, waiting for us to answer his question.
"Your head, you have terrorized the citizens of this world enough. No longer do people have to suffer because of your existence," One of my men spoke up, his voice mighty and stern, but deep down I knew, we all knew that even if we all worked together with the other teams, this man in front of us he would be near impossible to beat.
"Verily, it doth appear that thy kin hath a penchant for ungratefulness. I bestowed upon them tranquility, yet they bring forth belligerents unto mine abode. I offered them safeguard, and lo! They dispatch assassins to execute mine own person." He sighed in disappointment, but soon he looked up, revealing emerald gem-like eyes shining. The feeling of dread and nausea I felt just by looking at those pair of emerald eyes was noticeable and impactful, although it only served as a mean of intimidation it sure did just as its purpose.
"I am Valdar. Valdar The Lich," He announced proudly, raising his staff and soon we all raised our protection magic and barriers, the space around us slowly reconstructed as if the law of space didn't apply. The hallway we were previously in expanded into an arena.
"Razark?" I heard a female voice calling out for me, I turned around to see the other teams in the arena with us, they were confused, disarrayed, and most importantly wounded although not to the point of death, but I did notice the dwindle in their numbers.
"Thou appeareth as the sole mortal that doth stir mine curiosity, whilst the others may fend for themselves in their strife. But thou, ah! I doth long to revel in the delight of claiming thee as mine own.," Valdar said in a maniacal voice, his smile sinister.
Before I realized it I was in a separate space with him in front of me.
Taking out my sword I took a stance to get ready to fight him.
"Pray, I beseech thee, do not fail to meet mine expectations," He said before disappearing and reappearing in front of me, his staff coated in black aura that shaped the tip of the spear, his stance was a thrusting stance used in spear arts.