Mercifully, the caravan orders were to cover as much ground as possible, limiting breaks only to allow the horses to rest.
Verityu still talked Aki's ear off whenever these breaks happened. Informative as he seems to be about the current political sphere of the world, Aki couldn't keep the names or relationships straight after the fourth web of connections he explained.
Her opportunities to talk to the adventuring party were also restricted, if not from Verityu and the nobles, then by the adventurers. She hoped the Phoebe girl would have attempted to engage her during that week but it seemed her party had kept a tight leash on the bubbly adventurer.
In the end, aside from the stray danger quickly eliminated through impressive teamwork from the four strange adventurers, the caravan faced no deterrents on its path. Thanks to this speed, the morning of the fifth day heralded their arrival to New Pinacca.
However, unlike the ceremonious appearance that Verityu and the other nobles had bragged about, the caravan rode upon a scene of smoke and flame. A violent scene contrasted by a snowy landscape and a rising cold dawn.
"Hold!" shouts the lead driver, easily commanding the caravan to a dead stop.
Aki hears panicked voices from the first wagon while the sound of weapons being drawn comes from behind her.
Is a peaceful journey so much to ask for?
"It's the Sack of New Pinacca event quest, guys!" Phoebe's excited voice echoes. "Another player must've triggered the necromancer questline!"
"Don't run ahead, Phoebe!" commands a tough voice. A strong-looking woman with dark hair runs past Aki. "We still have the aberrant NPC to investigate! Phoebe!"
"Event quest? NPC? Player?" White noise roars to life in Aki's mind with unrelenting fury. Vague glimpses of Earth pass rapidly through her mind. "I was right. They're Otherworlders! But why aren't they being careful? Don't they know what happens if the Old Guard finds us?"
"Lady Acolyte! Are you alright?" a low voice breaks through the haze.
Aki blinks back the pain, drawing a darkly dressed, masked young man into focus.
One of the adventurers. One of the Otherworlders.
She eyes him warily. There must be some reason he and his allies aren't being careful. Was it a trick to lull Otherworlders into a false sense of security?
It seemed the type of tactic Old Guard would do.
"Yes, thank you," Aki responds briskly. "Why is the city on fire? What does it have to do with a Necromancer?"
"Even the greatest of places can rot from within." He answers. "Come, you can purify the restless dead, can't you? Ride with me. We'll reach the gates faster than the wagons."
Not waiting for a response, the adventurer grabs Aki by the arm and jumps into the air. With a swish of his cloak, the two fly towards the gates.
Halfway there, a ball of ghostly energy strikes them from the sky, sending them crashing toward the waterfront.
To where the fighting is the thickest.
The sudden acceleration and cold wind have Aki shouting in surprise. Her voice trails in the cold morning air, blending with the cries of people and their attackers. They land in a heap, sinking into the snow. A mess of limbs and cloaks.
Snow powders around Aki as the dark-clothed adventurer swings a sword with such incredible force the necrotic enemies surrounding them are blown away.
"These are your forte, are they not?" He asks, not bothering to spare her a look. "It's pretty different when it's real, huh?"
"What?" Aki scrambles for her stone amulet. "How'd you know this is what would be attacking?"
"Questions later, monster-slaying now." The dark-cloaked adventurer jumps into the air and swings his sword again, destroying a chunk of the oncoming threat in one go.
Upon landing, he vanishes into the fray, leaving Aki to fend for herself on an active battlefield.
"What a jerk," Aki grunts. She dodges a swing from a lunging corpse that had gotten close to her. "I can beat these things if I knew exactly what I'm dealing with!"
She punches the amulet toward the reanimated corpse, and a pillar of solidified snow sends it flying.
"Give me a minute to get a look at you!" Aki swings down, and the snow underfoot coalesces into a platform.
To her right, she sees the smoking city walls and the early morning light growing brighter. Condensed balls of mana and spells are flung from the walls onto a waning horde battling with soldiers below. Arrows and debris appear also to be thrown down where magic can't readily reach.
To her left, front and back swarm monsters of all sorts.
Aside from the fact they all share a death status, they're too varied in origin to have one catch-all weakness.
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(Tactician Lv. 1 - Insight granted)
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"Zombies, skeletons, spectres, and a few draugr." She grits her teeth and yells as loud as she can. "The bluish ones in armour are the biggest threat! They'll reanimate anything they can!"
For a moment, she thinks her advice is futile. Suddenly, gushes of air blast forth from a condensed group of zombies and destroy one of the draugr nearby. Another blast of wind and snow clears a path from Aki to the source.
The dark-cloaked adventurer appears from the destruction and beckons Aki to him.
"What a showoff." She runs to him and hops onto his back at his behest. "Get us to the gate. If you and your friends can get those soldiers to retreat, I should be able to buy some time before the sun completely rises."
"What happens when the sun rises?" He launches them to the gate, sending a gale of wind outward as he does so.
"Let's not find out."
The pair land in the middle of the road, blasting enemy and ally alike to the snowy ground from the pressurised air. Only the three adventurers that rushed into battle were unaffected by the landing. Since they're almost certainly otherworlders, Aki didn't expect anything less.
"Caor, help me get these men to retreat!" The dark adventurer calls out to the blond swordsman. "The Acolyte has a plan."
Aki stops paying attention to everyone as she condenses all the remaining lunar mana and her own mana into the stone amulet.
"Hopefully, it's still dark enough out for this to work." She closes her eyes and focuses her power.
"Lunar Sanctuary!" She says.
A vibrant, massive magic circle spreads out around her, stretching far and wide. A warm blue light embraces the living within it while the living dead are forcibly ejected westward. A glowing barrier a few metres tall forms at the ends of the spell, blocking any living dead from passing through. Any living being outside of it easily crosses the barrier and glows as well.
Small injuries and fatigue fade.
Soldiers on the wall and the bridge cheer victoriously, and the long-ranged attacks from the walls slow.
"Amazing!" Phoebe's bubbly voice appears behind Aki. She pulls Aki into a hug and gushes about the spell. "I didn't know you could do that!"
"Thanks," Aki pushes the energetic girl away carefully. "But it won't last long, so let's get to safety."
As if on cue, the barrier cracks and breaks. The boldest of the dead step through the breaks and try to rush the stragglers.
However, only the barrier had been broken and not its repelling effects, so the weakest of the bunch quickly succumbed and were ejected again.
"Run!" Phoebe grabs Aki's hand, and the pair run to the gate.
Soon enough, even with the attacks of the wall defence, the sheer number of dead rushing the sanctuary was too much to handle, and the spell broke.
"Close the gates!" Phoebe shouts frantically. "I think we were the last ones!"
"Are you kidding me," The blond adventurer, Caor, shouts. "What kind of unfair event is this? They'll bust the gate if we close it now, Phoebe!"
"Then what else are we gonna do? Let the NPCs handle it?" The dark-haired tall adventurer cuts in, shoving her way through several spearmen to where her party stands.
The otherworlder adventurers are arguing among themselves. The magic attacks from the walls aren't doing any direct damage against the dead. The foot soldiers are terrified, and the Sanctuary spell failed faster than expected.
Nothing is going well, and there are too many questions without answers.
Frantic, Aki shoves the stone amulet in her mouth and taps free the Briarwood axe from the dimension pouch.
"No other choice." She runs out from behind the closing gate and raises the axe high. "I sacrifice half my life essence. Thorn Frenzy!"
Thorns stab out from the axe handle, piercing through her hand. The thorns drip red as the holes they've made bleed. Pain shoots through her as she struggles to grasp it tightly. With the price paid, the axe turns a bloody red.
She suppresses a cry of pain and grits her teeth.
Drops of the crimson liquid arc through the air as she slams the blade into the ground.
A moment later, one massive vine rockets out of the ground, destroying anything and everything in its path.
Not halting there, hundreds of smaller, thorny vines shoot out from the main body, piercing everything nearby.
Not even the ghostly spectres are safe and get readily destroyed by the magical briars.
The sun has fully risen now, illuminating the devastation a single person unleashed upon the snowy landscape. If the dead could bleed like the living, surely the snow would no longer have been white.
Still, the power Aki demonstrated wasn't enough to destroy everything. Remnants crawl from the gaps, and more still stand in the far distance, just at the edge of the spell's destructive zone.
However, whatever was in control of the attacking dead seemed to have rescinded the order because they began to retreat. They quickly disappear into the forest, leaving no trace of their direction, thanks to the devastation of Aki's spell.
The thorns slowly and painfully retreat back into the axe while the massive briar dries and crumbles away. With the thorns no longer holding her hand in place, she drops it. Blood flows freely and messily as she raises her hand to her face.
Since the stone amulet is still in her mouth, she moves her hand close, too tired to spit it out. Healing magic washes over her hand and knits the holes closed, and the pain alleviates slightly.
Life essence, however, can't be magically recovered. At least not with any spells she knows or can do herself. She stares at the multitude of divots left in her hand from the unfocused spell.
She hears voices behind her. Loud and surprised. Excited?
Cheers from the bubbly Phoebe, certainly.
Aki is too drained to properly distinguish anything being said.
Instead, she raises her arm to emphasise the symbol on her cloak.
"My name is Aki and I am an Acolyte of Mune! I pledged to give sanctuary and protection to all good souls from the great evils of this world. I will not fall so easily!"
The world starts to spin. She feels her knees about to buckle, and her vision fades.
"Timber…"