I see Blaine valiantly continue to repel the skeletons again and again as time passes and I wonder what we did to deserve to die down here. I clutch my staff as I try to feel the death magic that is counter to mine. Lyon and Sarah have long since been exhausted and only Blaine remains defending us with our unlikely allies. We are all wounded now, and not only light cuts. I feel at a cut on my leg that has stopped bleeding already, one among a few others, but I didn’t hold the front long. The goblins and Blaine got the worst of it but I’ve healed him the most as he is the best at holding the skeletons back. Some of the goblins have started dying and I fear that we won’t hold much longer.

I do notice something happening with Blaine’s blows and I understand what he is trying to do, but doesn’t manage to. It is said that most skills come from adversity so it makes sense, but it takes incredible luck or talent to do it this fast. I just don’t think he has enough energy left in him to truly overcome that hurdle. I use a bit of my magic to heal one of the hobs. Only a little but the strange green creature offers me a smile in return, unused to the kindness of humans.

It feels so strange fighting alongside goblins against the undead. It sounds like the beginning of a joke I don’t know the punch line of. I just hope it doesn’t end with all of us dead, even if that seems to become more likely by the minute. Blaine destroys yet another skeleton that reforms. We are lucky that the majority of them seem to try and use the ramp up to us and not climb the steep inclines instead. A few have, mind you but they were easily pushed back down with so many goblins using spears and what not.

I see Blaine barely dodge a sword by simply leaning his head to one side. He is becoming a lot better at fighting them even if he looks exhausted. I’m not sure how he even has the energy to fight as he has been at it the longest of everyone here. A few of the hobs are surprisingly strong, but no one has the willpower he is showing right now. Even I feel in awe of the tenacity he is showing. I’ve been at my limit for almost thirty minutes and I thought he was too, but he hasn’t stopped despite it.

Something strange happens as I look to where Blaine and a dozen goblins are fighting on the ramp up. I’m not sure what but something feels off somehow and it takes me a moment to realize what it is. My eyes go wide as I stand up. I point at a skeleton but don’t find my voice right away. Some of the goblins look at what I’m pointing at and exclaim in their strange language.

“They’re not getting up…” I manage to whisper and Lyon turns to me from where she was resting while asking what that was.

“It’s not getting up!” I yell more excitedly now and both Sarah and Lyon take in a sharp breath as they look at the skeleton I’m pointing at.

Blaine turns for a second to look and takes a small wound for it but his smile is tired as he sees it. Why isn’t he happier? This means that we can beat them! I look at him and see him shatter more bones of the skeleton in front of him and I notice the same thing he does as he takes a step back. The skeleton slowly reforms and it soon is whole again and attacking.

“Some of them are running out of magic, but the majority of them haven't even been to the front line and will take forever to kill.” He tells us and I hang my head dejected. I thought we were going to live for a second. Stuck in this strange hell where the undead simply won’t stop.

I see another goblin go down next to Blaine and Lyon replaces it as they try to hold out longer. I can’t just let them do all the work. I gather some magic deep inside and cast yet another healing spell on Blaine. He needs it the most. Sadly I know the spell is beyond weak as I barely manage to put anything into it. Blaine smiles tiredly and nods his head in thanks between two swings.

I fear that if he falls, it won’t take long for everything to fall apart, and looking at him I’m afraid he won’t last more than a few minutes. He looks almost like a zombie himself at this point and it’s obvious to anyone looking at him that he is completely on autopilot, swinging and dodging without a thought as his body seems to move almost on its own rather than him actively fighting.

I see another goblin go down and wince as I think that was a fatal blow. He falls a bit to the side but to my surprise I soon see some movement from there and I get closer to maybe heal him or patch him up a bit. To my horror, the goblin swings at me and it takes me a moment to understand what is going on. Other goblins in reserve look in horror at what is happening.

The goblin is an undead zombie and a few of his former friends shove weapons into him, angry at this afront and mockery. They react faster than I can think, tired as I am and start throwing all the dead bodies over the edge. Say what you will about goblins, but they are practical creatures. They know as well as we do that the lingering death energy can do this, but I never expected it to be this fast. It usually takes either a long time or a whole lot of killing for undead to appear. I’ve never heard of it being this fast.

More and more of the dead goblins start to rise and I just sigh before I see what they are doing. The skeletons are big enough that only a few of them can assault us at a time, but the goblin zombies are small enough that they can squeeze past them. One of them tries to surprise Blaine but he casually slashes it in half before he realizes what it was. The attack does leave him open for a second too long and he takes yet another cut for it, this time on his left leg.

I look at him and see that he is about to collapse at any moment now. Has been for a while. It seems he feels it too because I spot some tears in his eyes as he starts muttering something I can’t hear from here. He seems to repeat himself louder and louder as he smashes his poor sword against the magical bones again and again. The sword has been deformed from the hundreds of times it has been smashed against the hard material.

“–die.” I catch the end of his sentence.

“–you die.” He repeats the end louder.

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“Why won’t you die?” He says in an audible voice as he smashes his sword against the undead skeleton again and again, his frustration clear and his emotion thick in his voice.

Tears run down his face as he smashes the skeleton in despair. The skeleton falls apart only to start reforming and I see a glimpse of hatred in his eyes as he looks at it. Instead of using the break to catch a breather for a second like he usually does, he hits the reforming thing again and again in his rage.

“Just die already!” He smashes his sword while tears streak down his face from frustration and fatigue while the goblins recklessly push the other skeletons back to protect him as he leaves himself open in his despair. I know exactly how he feels. It’s just so unfair. It feels so hopeless.

I look up just in time to see him raise his sword high over himself and wait for a second. It glows from a strange energy above him as he stands still for a moment. I feel strange just seeing the skill in use and wonder if he managed to find a way to kill them. To my horror, a skeleton manages to get past the hard fighting goblins and uses the opening to plunge its sword straight in his belly but Blaine doesn’t even notice. I cover my open mouth in horror as he brings down his sword on the skeleton holding the sword stuck inside of him and as the glowing sword comes down on the skeleton it does absolutely no damage.

The skull doesn’t even get fractured and my hopes are crushed. I look on in horror as they both stand completely still for a moment. Blaine seems to realize a sword is in him and coughs some blood, but after a second I also notice that the skeleton has yet to move. To my surprise it suddenly falls into a pile of inert bones and I can’t tear my eyes away from it. He did it, he managed to form a skill against undead in the middle of battle.

Goblins rush to cover for him as they drag him backwards. It’s clear that everyone noticed what he did and they want him back in fighting condition. A few goblins poke and drag at me to take me out of my stupor. It works and I get over to where Blaine is. I look at the sword and the wound and I know it’s bad. From the looks of things, he knows too. I hear the goblins struggling to hold without him behind us but I don’t care.

I try to explain to the goblins what to do but it doesn’t matter. Lyon and Sarah are soon there to help me. I know I don’t have enough mana to cast a proper [Regrowth] spell and I fear that just dressing the wound won’t be enough. The girls seem to notice my hesitance and it is Lyon who speaks up.

“Can’t you use our mana?” She asks and I perk up at the idea. Of course! It might be hard as they’ve never done it before, but it’s clearly worth a shot.

“Yes, but you have to let me through with as little resistance as possible which can be hard for non-initiated.” I warn them and they nod seriously as I take their hands.

I start muttering my most useful spell as I form a connection with them. It goes a lot smoother than I expect, probably because they are so tired they can’t even subconsciously defend themselves against the intrusion. I continue to mutter as I draw more and more from them. I hear Sarah gasp at the strange sensation but ignore it. I have to concentrate.

It doesn’t take long for the spell to form but I hold it in hand. The sword is still inside of Blaine, stopping him from bleeding out all over. I continue to mutter to hold the spell in my hands while I release the two girls. I try to convey what I want without words as I need to continue the chant for the spell not to disperse, but I also need them to remove the sword or the flesh will knit and heal around it.

Lyon seems to understand what I want and hesitantly wraps her hands around the hilt. I nod while I continue to chant and I hear her count down. Three. Two. One. She violently rips out the sword and Blaine cries out in pain as I release the spell into him and he instantly calms down. His closed eyes open suddenly as the pain jolts him right awake. The regrowth spell leaves me completely empty and out of juice, but it seems Blaine will live.

He smiles tiredly at us and no words are needed. We all know exactly how he feels and mirror it in turn. Resigned smiles all around, happy to still be alive but knowing it probably won’t last. I hear the goblins fight behind us and I slowly turn around with what little strength I have left. Another one of them falls and I notice two other new bodies as ‘rested’ goblins take their place.

Blaine hobbles as he tries to stand up and I want to stop him, but my knees won’t let me even stand right now. I look at him and he seems to understand what I want without words. Strange how connected we all seem to be at this moment. At my behest, he doesn’t join the front just yet as he waits a bit for the slow healing spell to knit him together completely, or as much as my paltry magic will allow.

He rolls his shoulders as his tired body repairs itself with the magic. It’s clearly not enough, and only a week of intense rest will fix any of us after this, if we survive, but he is mobile again at least. He nods at me after a rather long pause and I can see him steel his resolve as he moves forwards. The goblins look at him strangely and with relief as he joins the fray again.

He picks up another sword that is less broken than his and raises it above his head. It takes a moment again, but the goblins protect him fiercely this time. The sword takes on the strange golden glow again and he simply touches a skeleton. It stops moving and it only takes a moment before it crumbles into a pile of bones.

The goblins cheer at the small victory but I’m not so confident. I see how tired he is and I doubt he can pull that off enough times for it to matter. Yes he can kill them, but at what cost? I see it every time he raises his sword. Some energy is expended and it is far from unlimited. There are too many skeletons left, and even goblin zombies now. It doesn’t take long for the goblins to realize the same thing I do.

After about five times Blaine stumbles and almost falls down so tired he is and they all see that he can’t keep doing it. The cheerful mood is replaced by a somber resignation as they fight but with even less hope. I can’t blame them. It seems rather hopeless. Undead aren’t a high-gold rank threat for no reason. Few adventurers are strong enough to clear out a horde of skeletons by themselves. Most of the time it is the army that ends up cleaning up undead because of how persistent they are and how many they tend to be.

But there is no army coming here. In fact there might be no one at all for quite some time. As a new dungeon that isn’t even listed, who might come, if anyone? Sarah bragged about no one knowing about it except the ones who discovered it and the head of the adventurers guild. Another resourceful group came earlier but they simply ended up trapping us here.

And can I blame them? They have effectively saved the area from undead escaping. But it also means that they have abandoned us to death, even if it was unknowingly. I look back to the fight and see the goblins letting Blaine rest behind them. It seems they haven’t given up just yet and I envy them. I look up to the hole towards freedom and wonder how long we will hold out. The beautiful rays of light shine down into this hell hole and my heart constricts at what I take for granted every day. How beautiful and wondrous the world up there seems now.

That’s also when I spot some movement up there. A new rope is soon thrown down and hope surges in my chest as I see an adventurer rappelling down in full plate armor.