Meera could only stare at the horde of undead and the Warrior of Whispers as they clashed against each other. Out of them all, the undead with the staff was the only one that seemed alive and whole. There was no rot or disfiguration on him, at least none that Meera could see. But she was wrong.

[Undead Summoner – Level 346]

The Wardens roared as they threw themselves into the fray. One of the Mistblades came for them, but Lexa took it down with one bolt. Others were alerted to the newcomers immediately. Two of them untangled themselves from their fights and came for the Wardens.

"We're here to save the queen!" Dirik shouted. "Not to fight you."

The Mistblades faltered, but when the Wardens started their onslaught against the undead, the Mistblades backed off and rejoined the fight. It was such a spectacle that Meera even forgot that she was here to fight as well.

Pallas stood at the boundary of the fighting and watched everyone's backs. Any time an Undead was about to pounce on them, one of his shields appeared and bashed it away. Lexa's thunderbolts decimated the undead, leaving nothing behind for the summoner to put anything back together.

Tekton and Melas fought back-to-back, both trying to outdo each other. Their synergy was a thing of beauty. Meera could only stare as the undead piled up. But the highest kill count so far had to go to Zona. Her arrows flew quick as gunfire and laid the enemy low at astonishing speed. Each arrow was a kill. Nothing missed its mark. Meera was thankful that she was on her side again.

The summoner was less pleased with these newcomers when he couldn't bring back many of his minions. The Heart of Doromar pulsated with a dark red glow as it beat faster and faster. With each undead brought back to life, more black veins popped out on the Heart from exertion. It seemed they were pushing it toward a heart attack.

"Will you continue watching, or will you help your friends?" Brison asked, who had a book and a feathered quill in his hand.

"Uh, yes," Meera said, shaking out of it. "Aren't you? Going to help in the fight?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not much of a fighter. I'm here to record the results of the fight."

Meera frowned. "But couldn't you create a massive world and just throw them all in there."

"A sound strategy, but one problem—how will I hold them there? You see, for me to create a world and keep anyone there, even imprisoning them. I have to stay there with them, or the world will collapse in minutes, and everyone we've captured will be unleashed upon the world again."

"That…sucks."

"It does indeed," Brison said, noting something down. "But you know what would suck even more?"

"What?"

"One of our friends is dying, especially Dirik, who is heading straight for his queen."

Meera snapped her head to him, even though she didn't need to. He was fighting alone in the thick of it and cutting down, one undead after another, as he waded deeper toward the queen and the Heart's summoner.

"Time to get to work."

Meera let go of her regular chakram and spun it around her gently as she pulled off another level 2 chakram. She took off at a run and hurled her level 2 chakrams one after another. Heads rolled as they ripped through the undead. The undead were so clustered together that her chakrams killed even those they did not directly touch, thanks to their Searing effect.

She launched two more, but these she sent spinning diagonally to create more room and kill more enemies. The more she killed, the more Mana and time the summoner would have to waste bringing them back. They needed to ensure the summoner ran out of Mana before the sun rose fully, as the Mistblades were on a timer.

Once the sun arose, the Mistblades were gone.

Meera shot a Mirror Shard Barrage into the last few undead who had encircled Dirik. He had led a mindless charge to get to the queen.

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"Dirik, stop! You're going to get killed this way," Meera yelled as she controlled her chakrams behind her and cut down any undead that came for her, which was a lot.

"I can't stop." Dirik slashed his sword and sent a dark shockwave through the undead, cutting the first few to pieces and blasting the rest back. "I must kill that thing for what it did to my mother."

"I understand you are angry, but—" Meera had to duck the swipe of a rusted sword. She came up and swiped the undead open from belly to throat. She kicked it away. "Remember what I said about revenge. It's not worth it."

"I'm not after revenge," Dirik said through gritted teeth. "It's justice."

Meera opened her mouth to retort, but she could think of nothing with all the mess they were in. "Fine, you stubborn bastard. Let's go carry out justice on this undead."

As she said it, a line of the prophecy fit into place. And Justice unleashed on living Death. This was it. The Wardens were the instruments of the goddess of Justice. This could only mean one thing. The prophecy was true, which meant…Narikas will die to stop the war.

She didn't know why, but that thought made her sad. Of all the people she had met in her short life, if anyone deserved some semblance of peace or a happy ending, it was him. But there was more than one way to stop the war. If Meera delivered the queen, the war could be stopped, and she needed Narikas alive to find Neel.

She pulled off another two level 2 chakrams for a total of six. They were like buzzsaws that cut through any undead that dared step in their path. Pallas roared his approval. The summoner saw them making their way to him and redirected many of the undead towards them. The more powerful foes, like a couple of werewolves, stayed on the Wardens while most of the regular jumbled-together bodies were on Meera and Dirik.

Then, the sun's first light crested over the treetops, and the Mistblades evaporated into nothing.

Nisaya's hand fell in defeat and exhaustion. The queen looked even more worn than when Meera had seen before. The remaining undead converged on Dirik and Meera. Her chakrams did their work beautifully, but she couldn't use her more devastating attacks as her friends were so close.

She created Mirror Phantoms, only for the undead to shirk them. Then, when the undead were almost overwhelming, a dome formed overhead, covering Meera and Dirik. Outside, Meera heard muffled whistling of arrows and ear-deafening thunder.

When the dome receded, the undead around them were lying in pieces or burnt to a crisp. The smell of charred meat, mixed in with the rotten smell of decomposing corpses, almost made Meera throw up.

Tekton laughed. "I told you we didn't need backup, especially not after that brutal training session." He hollered once more and cut down two undead with a single swipe.

Meera couldn't help but laugh along with him. It really did look like they would be able to do it. It did seem like they had over-leveled themselves for this mission. But she would rather be overprepared than under. Dirik didn't participate in their small celebrations and cut his way to the queen.

The summoner blocked his path.

"You think you can hurt my mother!" Dirik roared and threw himself at the summoner. The summoner fought back with his staff, but it was no match for Dirik's onslaught. His dark Shadowsteel blade cut the staff down in no time.

The summoner looked at Dirik with wide eyes. He turned his head to the Heart, which had blackened fully. He laughed. "Soon, you will all join my master."

“No…they will not…” Queen Nisaya rose to her feet with difficulty. A mist dagger formed in her hand. "Your master dies now!"

With every fiber of her being, she stabbed the blackened Heart.

Winds came rushing inwards towards the Heart, and a shockwave blasted everything back. The living and the dead were all blasted back. Meera would be lying if she said the attack hadn't hurt her, but she managed to get to a knee when laughter filled the air.

The queen had failed. The Heart of Doromar was unhurt.

A sinister laugh that chilled Meera to the bone. "You think all this will make a difference…" The voice came from the summoner, but it was not his. It was hoarse and dense. "You are nothing more than flies trying to change the direction of the wind by flapping your tiny wings. You all—"

Dirik cut off the summoner's head.

It rolled to the ground as dark blood spurted from the stump. Just when Meera thought that was the end of it. The head laughed. The summoner bent down, lifted his head, and put it back on his head.

"You cannot kill me…I am Doromar the Immortal. Even your so-called gods ran from me in terror."

Zona shot an arrow between his eyes, but Doromar caught it like it were nothing. All the undead they had killed started putting themselves together.

Dirik moved away from the possessed summoner and helped the faded queen to her feet. They shuffled away from the undead who had surrounded them all.

Meera looked at the shiny circlets on her arms. Maybe…

An idea began to form in her head. She recalled all her chakrams. Using Mirror Wing, she deposited them on her arms and her back, but she caught one of the level 2 chakrams. She activated Druvis Power and hurled it at the blackened Heart. Her chakram was a divine weapon, so there was a chance that she could end this here and now.

Her chakram cut the Heart in two.

Sorry, Narikas' armor, you're not getting this Heart of Darkness.

There was no shockwave or blast like last time, but there was a scream from the summoner. He clutched his head and shrieked so loud that one of Meera's eardrums popped. She activated Vitalize. The others were less so affected by the screeching.

All the undead fell aside from the summoner. His face was wrath incarnate. "You cannot get rid of me so quick. I will follow you to the ends of the earth." But when he saw Dirik guiding the queen away to safety. His laughter was cut short. "That bitch is mine."

The undead people, animals, and monstrosities all rose once again. They moaned and howled as they surrounded Meera and her friends.