Hilda stood on the hill, gazing down at the city, which was not too far from the top. They look like ants running on the high city walls from this distance.
After weeks of massacring, the hoard of zombies and skeletons soldiers had increased by over a couple of thousands. The soldiers stationed on the city wall were filled with fear as they witnessed the onslaught of these eerie, demonic beings.
*Dong**Dong*
The church bell rang endlessly as the zombie hoard drew closer. More and more soldiers ran on top of the city wall. Some of them wore their armor, but most weren't wearing any protective gear.
"...er. Archers fire." Only after the general on the wall yelled out loud did Hilda make out what he was saying. Arrows began to rain down as soon as the voice was heard. Alas! They were already dead.
The arrows and a few magic spells that rained down on the horde were nowhere near enough to change the momentum of the zombie wave.
"No matter how many there are, there is no way the zombie could breach the city." Looking at the kobolds, goblins, gnolls, and the big orc standing outside the range of the arrow, it was apparent that they could understand that too.
Hilda wasn't sure if the soldiers on the wall had noticed it, but from her position, Hilda could see someone floating in the air, right above the zombie horde.
"Knir! She must be planning something." Hilda was sure, and she was right.
Her aura started spreading behind her, creating green cracks in the fabric of reality itself. Her aura continued to spread, increasing the size of the mana circle that was forming behind her.
The enormous amount of miasma that was sipping out of the earth as the zombie horde moved forward started to get sucked into the magic circle that was slowly growing in size.
"Witch. A witch is here."
"What witch? She is not a witch; she is…" Hilda paused for a moment. Although Knir never said it out loud, Hilda assumed that might be true.
"It is not like a witch would be interested in me. Then again, I didn't know that elf was an omen…" Hilda wasn't sure what to make out of it. But if Knir were a witch, then many things would have made sense.
An intermediate-level core formation magic circle was not something a typical mage would have. "Then again, I don't know how uncommon these phenomena are. Honestly, I have zero knowledge of this world."
Hilda was sure that her ignorance could bring her death despite her time in this world being limited to a few years.
It was especially true when she saw something like this right in front of her eyes. An enormous magic circle had formed behind Knir, with black sparks spreading from it in every direction.
Then the sky shattered.
It wasn't like pieces of glass fell down. But from her position, Hilda felt something was hiding on the other side of the crack. Something so sinister and strange made the fur on her body stand up. Then the hand came out.
[Error!!!]
[Caution!!!]
[Error!!!]
[Caution!!!]
The prompts almost flooded her vision.
Before Hilda could see what type of creature could trigger such a response from the system, a nasty stench assaulted her nose.
The hand that came out of the mana circle was anything but perfect.
The skin had been rolled back on some areas, while golden fur covered others. An exposed red muscle, rotting flesh, and, in one spot, a gaping wound that revealed some white bone were all visible to Hilda.
However, the most prominent feature of that bloodless rotting hand was its size. Hilda couldn't confirm, but its fist-to-elbow length was almost twenty feet, even bigger than the wall. When it pressed on the wall, a part of the wall crumbled like a sand castle.
"There are two of them." It was understandable that the creature hiding on the other side of the magic circle had two hands, but Hilda didn't expect it to pull out both arms and destroy the wall like rice crackers.
"The Witch of Mildew. It's the witch of mildew." That voice was thunderous, even in the middle of crying for help and screaming. "Call the paladins. The saint. Send messages to Shinok."
Knir, on the other hand, didn't care about her identity being exposed. It simply excited her more. From the movement of hands, it looked like the creature was trying to crawl out of the magic circle.
With the help of their enormous hands, it looked like the magical circle crawled across the city and seized the tallest building, much like a child on a playset. It was indifferent to the number of buildings it leveled or the lives it claimed; all it cared about was the bell tower atop the seemingly religious structure.
It took out the giant bell, rang it a few times, and then returned to the magical circle. Just as unexpectedly as the chaos started, it ended without giving any warnings. A suffocating but much-needed silence enveloped the city.
"Demon beast."
Hilda wasn't sure if they didn't know the words, but she noticed that the zombies had infiltrated the city.
However, the situation was too chaotic for others to notice. The miasma started to roll into the city with the horde of zombies. Some soldiers tried to fight, but without proper strategy, they were soon overwhelmed by the enormous number of zombies pouring in.
Some of the civilians also used the broken wall to escape the city. Alas! Something more frightening was awaiting them.
The zombies were relatively slow, but the goblins and kobolds weren't. The poison darts didn't miss the spot. The hyenas and wolves charged in. And behind them came the orc.
"Don't worry, your girlfriend is not there." Hilda looked back to find that a mana circle had started to form behind her. She could even hear Knir's voice before she appeared behind her. "She is safe."
"You never told me that you were a witch."
Knir stared at her, trying to understand what Hilda was trying to say, but there was no way she could. "You are going to use up my human parchment scroll. Why can't you just learn how to speak?"
After tearing off the parchment, Hilda said, "Why don't you learn to understand my language? Wouldn't that be easier? You are a witch, after all."
"So, you know that I am a witch? Yet, you still talk to me like that?"
Out of all the responses she was going to give, not a single one came out of her mouth. Till now, she wasn't aware of the hierarchy of strength in this world.
All she heard about was magic this and magic that. However, now that she had seen everything with her own two eyes, she couldn't be careless. If Knir really wanted it, it would be easier to kill her than to breathe.
"Don't be afraid. I don't like to kill something that I can't use."
"Can't use?"
"You don't have to worry about that. Are you ready?"
"Are we going to leave now? Like now?"
"Then what else are you waiting for? Come close."
Hilda walked towards her, asking, "What about that?"
"Tsuth could take care of it. With Skuld coming here, he would have an endless supply of soldiers to fight. It is not like they are trying to start a war."
{Author: Tsuth: The orc elder who works under the omen of conflict, Orth. Currently leading the beast horde.
Skuld: A lich under the omen of conflict, Orth. He gave Hilda her name.}
As she talked, the green aura started leaking out and forming a magic circle beneath their feet. "One more thing you should remember. The guys waiting for us won't be as friendly as me. So, you should be careful. One of them is really blood-happy."
"Blood-happy!? What is that? Is it something similar to trigger-happy?" But her words didn't reach Knir's ears. The dark tentacles shot out of the ground and wrapped them like a cocoon.
It was familiar, but Hilda couldn't get used to feeling squeezed in a juicer. Compared to the place they had teleported from, the place where they appeared lacked any kind of light.
"It can't be that we have traveled to the other side of the globe."
"What is a globe?"
"Nothing, nothing… Why is it so dark here?" Hilda didn't need to answer as her night vision ability kicked in. The earthen walls on the sides made her realize they were underground or in some cave.
"What is that thing doing here?" It wasn't a voice she had heard before. "I didn't know you could bring your pet here."
"She is not a pet. She has a name: Hilda."
"That mutt has a name! Which idiot had given it one."
Even in the darkness, Hilda had already pinpointed the position of the voice's owner. It was a creature almost seven feet tall. Its head was already touching the ceiling of the cave.
Its entire body was covered with orangish brown fur. It has a pair of ears like a lynx and eyebrows that point upwards. Most importantly, it wore proper armor: a shoulder guard, a leather waistband, and wristguards. It was dragging a big club with a spike as it came forward.
"Zahr had given it the inheritance shard, and Skuld had given it a name."
{Author: Zarh: The dark elf. Omen of Pleague.
Skuld: A lich under the omen of conflict, Orth. He gave Hilda her name.}
He halted his stride for a second upon hearing those names.
Even though Knir was casually speaking about them, one of them was an omen—a powerful person, perhaps even more so than Knir.
Another one is a lich. An immortal being with great wisdom, a lich is the stuff of earthen fantasy. Then again, Hilda had no idea what the creature was before her.
"Then it might be very powerful. Why don't I test it a little?"
"No matter how strong it is, it is still a beast. And it is not strong enough to defeat a bugbear like you."
"Then what is it good at? Running away."
"It can use magic." The answer didn't come from Knir, but someone spoke from the darkness.
Or so Hilda thought. The creature that was talking was right in front of her, or should she say right above her.
It was a creature she had never heard of or seen before. It had a spherical, balloon-shaped figure with a single enormous eye and a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth, smiling broadly.
"Cyclops." Hilda wasn't sure why she said those words.
"Ghhaaa…" As the lengthy serpentine tongue wriggled around, it opened its mouth and barked its teeth at Hilda. "How dare you compare me to that brainless, magic-less heap of flesh?"
"It is a beholder," Knir explained. She tried to control the situation, but the damage was done.
"Didn't you say it could use magic? Shouldn't I be more suitable to test it?"
"Do you think she has enough mana to resist you?"
"That doesn't matter. That saint child can influence one's mind. How would it do the job if it couldn't resist my ability?"
Knir wanted to say something but didn't get the chance. From the direction of facial expression, Hilda could understand what Knir was saying, 'I told you to be careful of them.'
Hilda wanted to plead innocence. Before she could, a splitting headache hit her. Her leg buckled, and she almost collapsed.
[Due to the host's inherent ability, the effect of the mind-binding spell has been nullified.]
Hilda stumbled and stood up again. It took some time for her vision to clear up as the pain lingered for a few more moments.
Compared to the effect of the spell, the shocked expression persisted on the faces of onlookers for far longer.
Not just the bugbear; even Knir hadn't expected her to wake up so quickly. However, the most shocking one was the creature called the beholder.
As soon as their eyes met again, Hilda felt that its iris shined for a moment, and the world around her turned upside down.
[Due to the host's inherent ability, the effect of the mind-melting spell has been nullified.]
"Mind-melting!? Are you trying to kill me?" Hilda screamed as soon as she opened her eyes, but she didn't dare look into its eyes again.
"Gavon, control yourself. She is the best bet for us to kill that saint child."
Even if Knir warned, Hilda could still feel the mindnumbing gaze at the back of her neck.