Zela is in the group. She is the one who had cast the spells, as the others did not seem like mages.

I know for a fact that two people beside her are not.

Of the four people coming toward me, one is Zela. The aquamancer of the stone mercenaries I had hired for my protection. Beside her is a woman, just as tall as her with blond hair, she is Captain Azalea; one of three captains who came with us.

The third person is a short middle-aged man, holding an enchanted long sword is joseph. He is one of the guards, a member of our security.

The fourth person is unfamiliar to me. He seemed to be in his early thirties, with golden brown hair, and a handsome face. He is wearing a classic black business suit, which had been torn in many places.

“Mister Silver,” greeted Zela, as she and the group appeared in front of me. Looking at all the dead zombies.

“Zela, Captain Azalea, Joseph. I couldn’t tell you how relieved I am to finally see people who can talk,” I said and immediately, smiles appeared on their tense faces.

“It is Mister Silver,” Zela replied. I smiled before my expression turned hopeful.

“Do you know how to get out of here?” I asked directly and got the answer, I was fearing to hear the most.

“No,” she answered, crushing all my hopes.

“It seemed like we will need to keep searching for it,” I said and sighed. I am not the only one disappointed. They are feeling the same; like me, they also thought I might know something about getting out of this place.

“I am going to see if they have something useful that will help us survive here longer,” I added, and turned to the zombies.

I am not going to say I am looting the zombies. I am already taking risks by doing this in front of them. If the word spread, my enemies could turn it into something repulsive to tarnish my reputation.

Well, I am too worried about my survival to care about my reputation. If I survive, dealing with such things won’t be a problem.

I tear open the clothes and search for anything important, but I did not find anything interesting than a few coins. There is not even a simple enchanted weapon, much less an iles bag.

I shook my head in disappointment and turned to an unfamiliar person.

“Sir, it would be wise to change your armor. The one you are wearing seemed ill-fitting,” I said to him. He is holding a sword awkwardly and his face looked like it is about to vomit as he looked at all the zombies.

“Thank you,” he said and walked toward the zombies. I had already separated armors from the bodies; he just needs to try it out.

“Do we even know whether we are still in Navr?” I asked, no one in particular. “Yes. We are in the place called Haea Temple; it is a deep underground of Talgek region,” replied the unfamiliar man as he removed his armor.

I turned to him and arched his brow.

“My house had been doing business with Navr for generations. We know a few things,” he said sheepishly.

“Know anything about the exit?” I asked, despite knowing it was futile. “No. Navr, keep a very tight lid on the information related to the temple,”

“Till now, I have been thinking it as a myth, like many other things about Navr,” he said in disappointment.

I had expected the answer before it couldn’t help, but make me sad.

A few minutes later, and one bout of vomiting. He found the armor that fit him perfectly. I could see, despite standing awkwardly, some confidence had appeared in his eyes after wearing the armor.

“So, where should we go?” I asked, and some hesitation appeared on their faces. “We were moving north before we heard the sound of your fight,” said Zela.

“North it is then,” I said, and we begin to walk toward the north. Leaving the bodies of zombies in our wake.

A few minutes passed, and nobody talked about anything. There is nothing to talk about. Everyone looked everywhere, searching for the signs of exit, but did not find any.

“Zela, did you mind changing the weapon with me? The range of this sword is a little short for me,” I asked.

I had noticed a saber at Zela’s waist. She had found the enchanted weapon. She is not the only one who has it. Captain Azalea had three, while Joseph has one, but theirs were from the city.

Count Darrow wouldn’t compromise his son’s security. All the guards who had come with us had enchanted weapons; three captains had full gear.

“It’s no problem. I prefer short swords,” she said with a small smile.

I handed her the dress sword and took the saber from her. It is atanas saber, which looked like a classic europan saber with a curved blade.

It is slightly longer than the rapier, which is not a problem for me, even an advantage here. With its long-curved blade, I would be able to hack the zombies far more efficiently.

The saber is simple but beautiful with a steel-blue blade and black handle. It is also wickedly sharp and has a sharpness of enchantment, like the dress sword. It will not have any problem in cutting through the zombies like butter.

I just thought of zombies when the two appeared.

To my surprise, the people around me did not stop or even looked unfazed. Even an unfamiliar man only had a slight change in his expression.

The zombies came toward us, and when they were just a hundred meters away, Joseph moved.

Pachac Pachac!

A couple of seconds later, a wet cutting sound rang out as Joseph decapitated the zombies in a single move. He also tore their clothes and take the money from one of the zombies who had the wallet.

“I am Remus Silver, by the way,” I introduced myself to the unfamiliar man. He seemed a little surprised, both by my introduction and name. “From House of Silver?” he asked with his eyes becoming serious.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Nice to meet you. I am Ethan Ashav,” he introduced, and a smile appeared on my face hearing his last name.

“From Oksall right?” I asked, to which he nodded. I had already recognized him; his iles bag and ring on his finger had an emblem of his house.

House of Ashav is a mercantile house in Oksall City. Powerful, more than even a house of silver. They trade in magical goods, mostly in raw magical materials.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Mister Ashav. Where you were when you got pulled?” I asked.

“Ethan, please. I was just a few miles away from Jalrux city,” he replied. “Has something like this happened before?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” He said with a shake of his head.

An hour passed, and we made a small talk. Most of the things were related to business, anything to keep our mind occupied from the place, we are in.

“Can you hear it?” said Captain Azalea as she stopped suddenly. I concentrated, but a few seconds later shook my head, and so had Ethan and Joseph.

Only Zela seemed to have heard something as turned her head left. “Something is happening there,” said Zela, pointing left. Ethan shuddered at seeing the place where Zela was pointing.

“Untamed garden. These places make all the hair on my body stand up,” he said, and I couldn’t help but nod.

The overgrown gardens are dangerous. I have come across a few of them, sandwiched between the building and every one of them had scared the hell out of me.

There is something dangerous there; something that will swallow me alive, if I dare to enter inside.

“We will not enter, but we will go closer and take a look at what is happening,” said Zela.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh, while Ethan nodded reluctantly. A second later, we are moving toward the overgrown garden.

A few minutes later, we reached close enough that I could hear what they were hearing.

“Someone is fighting inside,” said Ethan with horror in his voice, and I could understand his emotions.

The overgrown garden is extremely dangerous. One look at it is enough to raise all the hair on my body. Now, at least one person is fighting inside it; one would need to be very powerful to do it.

A few minutes passed when suddenly, the sounds of clashing got intense and also louder as if is coming toward us.

“Be careful!” Zela warned. Immediately, I moved my sword forward and adjusted my position, ready to face whatever had come out of it.

Though I know my attempt is futile; whatever it is or who is will be very powerful, and I wouldn’t be able to last in front of them, even for a moment.

Rustle Rustle!

Seconds passed, when suddenly sounds of metal stopped, and for seconds, there was an only silence before the sound of the rustling of trees rang out.

“They are coming!” shouted Zela and her staff lit up, while Captain Azalea took a step forward, as the two bloodied figures came out.

Thud!

The one simply collapsed after few steps, while the other stopped tiredly. They are bloodied from head to toe. There is barely any part of them that is not covered in blood.

Seeing their state; a horror bloomed in my heart.

“Jon!” shouted Zela suddenly, and moved toward bloodied people, while my eyes widened in recognition. It is Jon, my guard. Immediately, I also recognized the person standing beside him.

It is none other than Viscount Atre.

Zela reached them and the crystal on the staff lit up; she is clearly in the process of casting the spell. I hope the spell is good, because, looking at their state, they very much need it.

“Stop!” said Viscount suddenly, to Zela.

A frown appeared on her face, and she was about to say something when Viscount took out a scroll from his bag and, without saying anything, he unfurled it.

Immediately, a holy white light came out of the scroll and formed a holy circle on the ground, covering them both.

“Divine spell,” said Ethan beside me in shock. I am also shocked. It is very hard to store the divine spells in the scroll. This one seemed especially powerful, seeing the speed with which it was healing their injuries.

It shouldn’t be surprising that a person like Count Atre has it. He is a powerful man, the one trusted by the prince.

Such people have these nice things. I wish I became powerful enough to have them, too. The divine spells are lifesavers, hundreds of times better than the healing potions.

“Be careful, everyone. There is nothing like a holy aura that attracts the undead,” warned Zela, while looking at Viscount Atre and Jim, both of them laying on the grass, likely sleeping.

The injuries on them were too heavy. I would have been surprised if they hadn’t slept.

A few minutes passed and the power of the holy spell, lessen. In a minute or two, it will disappear.

It had done an amazing job already. All the wounds have vanished, leaving only faint marks, they would also disappear before the spell ends. There might be some hidden injuries, but they will be in fighting conditions when they woke up.

A few more minutes passed, and the spell disappeared, but the two of them were still sleeping.

It will take them a while to get up, till then. We will need to protect them.

“Phew, for a while I thought we would be swarmed by zombies,” said Elrod wiping the sweat down his face with a relieved smile, but the next second, the smile on his face froze when he saw everybody looking at him.

We only looked at him for a moment before looking ahead, watching everything cautiously.

We will remain cautious every moment we are here. Especially now, when two people are lying defenseless.

One of them is very powerful and could become a key to get out of this ruin.