The Ever Silent Graveyard.
A place where noise and sound is forbidden and for a single reason.
Undead. Beings from the other side that roam this world in search of living prey. That is their only purpose in life.
And the one thing that attracts them the most is the common feature of man. Sound.
Not long after the echo subsided, skeletons started crawling out of the gaps in the walls with others directly digging their way out of the ground.
In mere seconds, a swarm of skeletons with forms varying from humanoid to four legged beasts. I think I spotted a three legged one but that was probably my imagination.
"I trust you can handle them." I nodded at Katerina who seemed to be surprised at the sight and took my position behind here.
After all, she never said I should handle the monsters that show up on the way.
"Oh, by the way, can you use light magic? Fire magic consumes too much oxygen even though it's one of the most effective element against the undead except light."
"Asked me that before summoning them." Katarina grumbled and a pure white light shone in her hands illuminating the surroundings, dyeing the place white.
"Sacred light." Katarina said and the light burst forth, disintegrating the skeletons as soon as it came in contact with them.
Unfortunately, the strength behind the attack was a little too much and it crashed into the ground and and a loud noise rang throughout the cavern.
"You've done it now."
Undead are attracted to sound. The smaller the sound, the smaller the number that will approach you. Similarly, the larger the sound, the more undead that will appear. And some may even be high ranking.
"Well, our goal is an undead knight so I guess this works too." I don't have an accurate hold on Katarina's strength but I know she won't be able to handle this horde. At least not by herself.
"Need some help?" I kicked a skeleton that stretched out it's hand to grab Katarina from its position on the ground. On a closer look, the bottom half seemed to have melted away and it was just using pure will to drag itself.
"Yees, I would appreciate it." Katarina accepted and we swapped places with her at my back.
"Be careful not to hit me."
I breathed in and jumped into the horde of undead.
...
Undead creatures, apart from their main magic, can attach a unique form of mana known as death energy to their attacks.
If not taken care of, the energy would slowly convert one into an undead though that requires a large period of exposure to the energy.
The two types of mana best at getting rid of it are healing magic and light magic.
Most healers tend to be weak in combat due to the fact that they focus on raising their healing abilities.
Even those who are able to fight aren't very good at utilising healing magic due to the difficulty in using it.
I on the other hand...
"Another down." I cracked the head of a ghoul that was running at me with a punch and shook my hands to get rid of the blood and flesh that remained on my hands.
At my feet lay the dead bodies of numerous undead, pun intended. Behind me, a complex pattern was being weaves as Katarina focused on constructing her magic. In front of me, numerous undead creatures from skeletons to wights charged froward attracted by the light from the spell.
"Are you ready?" I called out to my partner and received a "Yes!"
Taking that as my signal, I jumped back and and a band of light charged forward and silently reduced the creatures charging at us to dust.
"Is that all?" Katarina said as sweat tricked from her forehead. I guess casting that spell must have taken quite some stamina from her.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning.
"Nope, we're just starting." From the other end of the tunnel, more undead started showing up and marches towards us causing dust to fall from the ceiling.
"Seriously? I guess I underestimated this place." Katarina muttered and stuck out her hand. Her hand up to her elbows disappeared into thin air and I blinked in shock and hurriedly dodged when a tibia whizzed by my face.
"Dimensional magic?" I muttered as that was the only thing that could explain it. When I looked back, I saw her downing the contents of a bottle confirming my suspicions.
That girl, just how many types of magic can she use?
Well, it's not mine so no need getting worked up about it.
No matter how envious I am.
Yep.
"How many types of magic can you use?" I hopped back after destroying a couple more undead and asked Katarina who was preparing her next spell.
"About ten or so. I can use all the seven elements and a couple of others." She replied.
My healing magic affinity is so rare that it is said to be rarely seen even in the past thousands of years but to me, hers were way better than mine. Not that I'll be losing to her any day.
"I have the feeling you're thinking something extremely rude but I'll ignore it for now." I held my breath at her words but as she seemed to have no interest in pursuing it, I heaved a sigh of relief.
Seriously, what's with everyone and their minds reading powers?
"Lifebound arts." I planted my feet into the ground and took a deep breath as I channeled the energy in my body and focused it in my fist.
"Punch." And with that word, my fist shot forward like a pile bunker generating a shockwave that pulverizes the undead in front of us leaving a gaping hole in their ranks.
"Whoa." Even Katarina was impressed as she stood shell shocked at the damage but quickly recovered and completed her spell.
"Sacred light, sevenfold."
The same spell. The same type of magic. But when cast sevenfold, The sacred light turned into a harbinger of death even for the undead.
I estimated there was about three hundred undead left after my attack.
Katarina's attack took down more than seventy percent.
I looked at the undead that halted in their path and stared(I think they did. It's kind of hard to tell when they're dead) and looked at the scorched earth in front of them.
I looked at the caster who puffed out her chest and ignored the fact that her knees were shaking and her face was pale.
No matter how I looked at it, it was clear she was running out of mana.
"Try your best to conserve your mana. We don't know how long this is going to last." I warned her.
"It's okay. This fight has already ended." before I could ask what she meant by that, whitish coloured flames rose from the scorched area and soared at the undead.
Despite it licking the walls and ceiling, there was no damage and it made it's way to the hapless creatures.
And that was when the true nature of the spell unfolded.
"Light magic, Holy flame." Katarina muttered and the remaining undead were silently melted by the flames and soon, there was nothing left of our battle except the occasional bone or two that avoided the damage.
"Monster subjugation, complete."