Chapter 15
They made their way down the tunnel single file. There was just enough room for them to stand up and maybe to walk side by side. Following the instructions to the letter, they had no trouble reaching the room at the end of the tunnel. They stepped out into a room. The torches on the side were unlit. A bookcase was in the right corner next to a bed with many old books. A table and a makeshift chair were in the far left corner. Melted remains of candles could be seen in the space between the two corners. In the middle of the room, however, stood the next threat flanked by two skeletons and two skeleton warriors.
Clad in worn studded leather, the undead held a choking man in blue robes as he growled out, "After all I've done, you put me in the ground. Today, I will have revenge."
"Mad... man… tried… murder… my… friend..." the half-elf gurgled out as he fought to breathe in the iron grip.
"Let him go!" shouted the cleric angrily.
The undead's head slowly turned to glance at them. "Release my betrayer? I think not. Who are you to tell me what to do, elf?" it spat out as he threw the man against the wall, knocking him out.
"Tch, a wight," muttered Aloe as everyone else got ready for a fight, "Skilled fighters in life, ruthless in undeath. He will be difficult to put down with normal weapons and can drain a person's life if not careful. Too bad we aren't fighting outside, in the sun."
The wight then unsheathed its longsword, pointed at them, and ordered, "Kill them! Kill them all!"
"As if!" retorted Aloe as she ran forward to slash down one of the skeletons.
"By the power of freezing winds, the drums will shatter to a million pieces."
A loud boom erupted in the middle of the group of undead, the skeleton Aloe clawed breaking to pieces. An arrow went through a warrior's skull while Nene stepped forward, strumming her lute.
"Under pressure, walls closing down on me, surrounding my life, looking down on me."
"Stop that infernal singing!" shouted the wight.
Meanwhile, Polka staggered forward to the other skeleton and rammed her shoulder into its chest. With a sudden nudge, she elbowed the skull of its neck and caught it as the rest of the bones fell to the floor.
"Alas, my porridge, I am hungry," she stated aloud as she swayed a few steps back, tossing the skull at the other warrior, who cleaved it in two.
At the same time, the wight and the other warrior converged on the succubus. She yelped in pain as the warrior struck first, cutting through her leathery wing. The wight hemmed her in; she avoided the first swing but the second sliced through her leg, leaving a deep cut. She yelled as the glowing red sword increased in intensity as it sliced through. She tried clawing it in return but she couldn't reach him. The pain was immense as she tried to push the feeling down.
"By the power of freezing winds, I strike with purity and unity."
Magic missiles slammed into the wight and the skeleton warrior, crashing into the former's shoulder and into the latter's skull, disrupting the magic that was animating it.
"Keep it up," shouted Botan as she shot at the remaining warrior, the arrow lodging in its rib cage. Nene kept away her lute and ran forward to attack the same, their blades clashing. Polka then sent rapid strikes to it body, at first not doing much against the chain shirt but eventually hearing a crack as she continued her pummeling. The warrior ground its teeth and swung wide, pushing the bard back while the monk avoided but leaning back under the sword.
The wight tried to continue its attack but a spirit sword suddenly materialized and slammed into its shoulder. It then raised its sword to block the flash of light that Lamy shot at him, stopping his march against Aloe, who still tried to lash out with her claws.
"Rgh, come closer and let me -argh- show you a good time," she growled.
"With every strike, I am empowered. All will die!" he retorted in an enraged voice.
Meanwhile, the other four kept their pressure on the other skeleton warrior, the final blow being the courtesy of Polka. The monk had staggered around, putting herself between the wight and the warrior, then she kicked the skeleton in the leg, breaking the shin just as it was getting struck continuously by the others. It fell to the ground in pieces as she stumbled away, her hands flailing as she crashed into the wight… which unfortunately caused the spirit sword to miss, the blade going over the undead head harmlessly.
"Get off my you buffoon," it roared as it shoved her off. It turned to face her but he roared again as a ray of frost lanced over the back of his head. It turned again and swung with all its might, the glowing red blade slicing up Aloe's other arm. Again, she couldn't attack properly. Frost started to form on his hands but he shook them off. An arrow pierced his chest and he pulled it out.
"You cannot stop my vengeance!" it shouted as its blade clashed with Nene's rapier. He pushed her off easily. Suddenly, the fennec fox girl staggered in front of it. She smirked.
"You dare mock me!?" it yelled as it brought the blade down, aimed at her head.
A simple sidestep sent to blade into the ground. Suddenly keeping her balance meant crashing her head against its own. As it reeled back, she hopped and slammed both her elbow and her knee into opposite temples, cracking and fragmenting its skull from within. As she landed, the lifeless body fell over backward, its unlife finally broken.
The battle over, Aloe slumped to her knees, trembling.
"Are you alright?" asked Nene as she rushed over to check on the succubus.
"I can still feel the sword digging into me," she groaned out, "This draining of life doesn't feel great at all."
"At least the fight is over," said Artia as she joined them, "Will you alright?"
"I will. I just need a lot of rest," she informed them with a shaky smile.
"Hello, do you need healing?" asked Lamy after kneeling next to the half-elf, who was stirring awake.
"Urgh... gods, where am I..." he groaned. Looking at her, he muttered, "Uh, I don't think so?"
"Then, do you need time to rest for a while?" she asked as she looked him over. He didn't seem to be injured other than the marks around his neck. Still, he looked quite lethargic from lack of sleep.
"Some rest would be welcome," he admitted, "But I don't feel comfortable staying here." Then, his stomach began to growl.
"Ah… Very well. Let us do what we came here to do. Then we can see to getting some food for you," she informed him as she got to her feet.
"Ah, we need to take all the books?" asked Botan as she looked over the bookcase.
"That's what Nene says," confirmed Polka, who then frowned, "All our backpacks are back at the ruins… we need to carry them all the way back? What a pain..."
"Hey, we have many pairs of hands here," rebutted Nene, "Each of us can carry a stack out and we'd be done in one go."
"We also need to get him outside," added Lamy, motioning to the half-elf, "I do not know how long he has been kept here, but he does not look too good despite what he says."
"Let us get started then," spoke up Artia, "The sooner we begin, the better."
It took them the better part of an hour, but they divided the books up among them and then made their way back to the ruins. At the large hole, they split the party; a few went up first and they tied the books to the rope to tbe hauled up. The half-elf was a little time consuming, having to fashion the rope into a harness that could comfortably carry him up, but eventually they made it happen. While they packed up the books, they gave the hungry man some of their rations. While he wolfed them down, they got to know him a little better.
"I'm Camryn. My thanks for the rescue," he said gratefully as he slowed down his feeding.
"What do you do for a living, sir?" asked Artia respectfully.
"Please, Camryn is fine. I am actually a traveling craftsman and enchanter," the half-elf told them, "I had learned how to apply permanent enchantments to items in the Candy Kingdom during the past year. I have yet to ply my trade in that area yet as it is a complicated thing to do."
"Interesting… could you enchant our stuff?" asked Botan curiously.
"Hmm, perhaps… it will be somewhat expensive," he admitted, "These aren't the normal magical enchantments that other enchanters use. And unfortunately, most of what I need are not found here… perhaps if we go to a port that actively trades with the kingdom?"
Getting some strange looks from them, he sighed and replied, "I know, I know, it wasn't the wisest decision to do so, but in my defense, I was in my younger years."
"Hey, what else can you do?" asked Polka.
"Hmm, before I decided to learn my craft, I used to play around with fire," he said after a pause.
"Like a fire eater?" pressed on the monk.
"If you say so."
"Join my circus!" she proposed immediately.
"...I'll get back to you on that..." he said, a bit surprised by her eagerness.
After everyone got out and packed up the books, they started their journey back to the capital. It was evening and they had to go through gnoll-infested territory again. Once again, they took precautions and made their way through the area with wary eyes and ears. After a while, they came upon a curious sight. In the middle of a clearing, there were two pack lords growling and yipping as they faced each other accompanied by three gnolls each. They kept as quiet as they could be, trying to go around the clearing and leaving them to do their thing. Unfortunately…
-snap-
Nene grimaced as she stepped on a dry twig. The gnolls stopped whatever they were doing and started looking around. Then, one of them yipped when they caught the glint of Lamy's armor when the bright evening sun bounced off it. One of the pack lords sounded off something between a growl and a roar and they charged down the party immediately.
"Stay back, Mister Camryn. We got this!" shouted Aloe as she took to the sky while Artia started chanting. A loud ringing noise erupted in the middle of the gnolls, causing them to howl in pain. A second later, an arrow got lodged in a pack leader's leg and then burst apart, a heavy force buffeting the group of enemies. Then, a dagger pierced the nearest gnoll's chest, killing it instantly.
All that damage took a toll on the gnolls and two of them turned tail to flee. The others moved in, the pack lords growling the loudest. They barked, urging on the others while they all attacked in unison.
"Gack!" sounded off Nene as the ramshackle glaive, a sharp piece of metal tied to a stick with roots, pierced her studded leather in the side.
"Argh! Get off!" yelled the wizard as the maddened gnoll clamped down on her forearm. It wasn't able to hold on as it got punched in the throat and kicked away by Polka. It swayed and clutched its gurgling throat, its lucky stars saving it from the spirit blade Lamy prayed for. The following frost ray hit a tree next to it instead.
"Putting it down!" cried out the succubus as it landed, her movement helping her claws cleaving through its armor and cutting its flesh. With a push of her legs, she went airborne again before it could do anything. Three arcane darts materialized and shot at the gnoll and its pack lord, peppering them with frigid blasts.
Seeing that she was slowly being cut off from her party, Botan roared and dove into melee, clawing a gnoll in the face. It yelped in pain. Meanwhile, the bard then moved to help her by taking on the other pack lord, stabbing it in the back. It howled, made a sudden turn, and stabbed her twice in the stomach with its glaive. It howled again as it roughly pulled it out and moved to attack the archer, clamping its jaws on her hand.
"Nene!" yelled the monk. Angrily, she did away with all form of her training and just charged straight after the pack lord. She punched it in the face. It growled back and blocked the follow-up kick with the shaft of its glaive.
Meanwhile, the cleric's spirit weapon was directed to attack the other pack lord while Lamy sent a ray of frost at it.
"Let us handle it! Get to Nene!" Aloe urged the half-snow elf as she swooped down to rake the pack lord's eyes. It howled but they didn't let up, Artia shooting another ray of frost at it, lancing its foot. The lion girl roared again, clawing the same gnoll in the head again. It yipped and ran away. Its leader barked at it but it didn't listen. That left one gnoll still attacking her, and it stabbed her in the shoulder with its spear.
On the other side, the other pack leader decided to run away as well. Polka kept up the pressure on the remaining one, aiming two continuous kicks to its side. A crack could be faintly heard, a rib breaking. The spirit sword floated over to help but was deflected away as the monk ducked under its swinging glaive.
With two enemies remaining and engaged, Lamy hurried over to the bleeding bard and knelt down to lay her hands on her stomach area. Chanting loudly, the deep wounds healing before her very eyes as the wave of green washed over the bard's body. She let out a sigh of relief, glad to have gotten to her in time.
"Nice!" cheered on the succubus as she swooped down for a fly-by on the pack lord while Botan continued to lash out wildly with her claws.
The last two gnolls, finally realizing that they were outnumbered, tried to retreat and run away. Unfortunately for them, the party had no intention of letting them get away scot-free as they relentlessly attacked before they could even take a step away as they turned around.
"Phew, thank the gods for Lamy," exclaimed the bard as she rubbed her stomach.
"Grr… all good now," growled Botan as she came out of the transformation, "Let's hurry up and get out of this place. I don't want to stumble into any more gnolls."
Getting agreements from everyone, they quickly made their way through gnoll territory. Only after they saw the road did they breathe easy.
"By the gods, do you go through that often?" asked the half-elf with concern.
"Some days, it seems that way," stated the bard.
"But other days, we don't see much either, so it's balanced," quipped Polka.
"It would not be an adventurer's life if it was easy," reasoned Lamy.
"What they said," stated Aloe as she shrugged her shoulders.
"I think you need a weapon, Aloe," said Botan, "You flying around the place is nice but there isn't much else."
"Hmph, what do you suggest then?" asked the succubus as she crossed her arms.
"I don't know… throw daggers like Nene sometimes does?" the former suggested, "If you're interested, I can help with accuracy."
"I can help to teach too," offered the bard as well.
"Ah... sure, why not?"
AN: Hello, readers. Welcome to the next chapter. So, it seems the ambient energies that have been there for a long time have enabled some undead to rise up again. Hmm, such is the case sometimes with a former dwelling place of a necromancer/lich. Even if it had passed on. They also rescued someone while retrieving the books. Nice! On the other hand, getting out of gnoll infested territory was not as easy as going in. Thankfully, there are enough people to handle it.
Right, next chapter, we will conclude this and see what Rushia has in store for Holo5. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.