"For Markath!" Karl Franz shouted, as his blade swung towards the Marquis. The Marquis seemed to melt away and appear right beside where he had been. The elderly priest grit his teeth, "Fight me like a god damn man!"
Timothy lunged out, his sword plunging into the cloak of the Marquis. A look of pure bliss and joy, as well as surprise, shot through his face. However, the Marquis grinned, pulling the sword deeper into his cloak and Timothy foolishly followed through. Marquis Donovan gripped the neck of Timothy and where the nails were, it erupted outwards, as if turned to blades and poor Timothy's head--
"Scum!" Karl Franz shouted in anger, swinging his blade again and again, but they were dodged by Marquis Donovan with ease.
"Y-Yargh!" Dunkirk shouted, charging at the Marquis.
"No, back, young man!" Karl shouted but it was too late. With a swipe of his hand against Dunkirk's arm, the young boy suddenly felt tired and collapsed. As he fell to the dirt, Dunkirk blinked wearily, his hands releasing the sword. The last he saw was of a paladin falling to the ground and Father Karl raising his hand, an orange flame--
----------------------------------------
"So that was the battle? Where did you wake up?" Lawrence asked and Dunkirk shrugged.
"It was a large dungeon. It wasn't just me there. The Father was there, some paladins and crusaders... Though I think I was the healthiest one there... They all had injuries. Father Karl was barely holding on when I was sent to talk to you,"
"When the message was told to me, this... Rotting body of a paladin grabbed me and yanked me all the way out of the castle..." Dunkirk sniffed, rubbing his back which was covered in dirt, grime and blood.
"What did you see?" Lawrence asked, seeing whether there were any points of entry they could infiltrate in from. Lawrence also turned to look at Leviathan.
"Look, my information is completely outdated," Leviathan shrugged and the boy scratched his dark red hair.
"Ah... There were a lot of unlives... A lot of them had bows on the walls, they kept shuffling around, I don't think they followed a routine," the boy mumbled and Lawrence's shoulder slumped.
While they were walking, Lawrence had tagged all of his most powerful holy spells. If they weren't going to be worth their weight here, they never will be. However, Lawrence also had to make sure the small party that followed him was going to leave the place unscathed. How could he do that? Automated AI only goes on the offence.
Lawrence quickly glanced at his higher level spells. He wouldn't have the time to draw another magic circle.
There it is...
Lawrence smiled, now formulating a little plan.
As they pushed past the mist, Lawrence and crew came face to face with the fortress of Altis. Lawrence was certain that it had been proud and mighty in the past, but sections of the fortress have already caved in and nature seems to have reclaimed part of the keep, roots clearly visible winding in and out of smashed windows and bricks.
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The gate was a mighty iron forged gate, though certain sections of it have already rusted in.
"I'm going to assume no one is going to open the door for us then," Craig said jokingly.
"I'll go and scout around..." Craig said and Leviathan agreed.
"They can't have changed the entire wall, I'll go with you."
"Uh... Sirs...?" Dunkirk tugged on the sleeve of Craig who turned to look at the kid. Dunkirk pointed at the human-sized hole that Lawrence had cut with his sword. He had cut through the iron gate and simply walked through it.
"Oh..." Leviathan mumbled and hurried after Lawrence with the other two following suit. The courtyard was bloody and several pillars have collapsed and rubble was strewn all over. Alongside the walls are words written in blood that made no sense to Lawrence.
God
God is Dead
God is Alive
God is in me
It seemed much like a mad man's rambling. Maybe Marquis Donovan was suffering from a God's complex? Lawrence shrugged it off.
"Where are... The zombies?" Leviathan mumbled, bending down to pick up a rusted sword that had no doubt belonged to one of the long-dead men who used to guard the castle.
"There, right there," Lawrence said, pointing at a hallway in which they have all begun to pour out from.
"Alright, all of you, just stay where that pillar is, all of you will be fine, got it?" Lawrence said, and a hue of blue light landed on the pillar and radiated around a five metres radius.
"O-Okay...?" Leviathan mumbled, as if only half convinced. Craig shoved Leviathan and Dunkirk over, "Just do as he says if you know what is good for you."
Craig nocked an arrow and leaned against the pillar, keeping aim at the hallway. It was as if a swarm of locusts have begun to descend upon Lawrence, but instead of locusts, it was a wave of human tsunami, undead in all sorts of clothing, armour and dressing.
"Alright... Let's see how useful you are then..." Lawrence said, raising his left arm which held the tower shield, his palm open and facing the zombies.
"Holy Word!" Lawrence shouted, and his voice boomed as if magnified. The skies above which had been dark and sinister suddenly parted, revealing the sun, which shone down on the courtyard. The sound of--
"Bells... Church bells!" Dunkirk cried out, his eyes widening.
The bells tolled, once... Twice...
On the third toll, all of the undead which had been staring at the sky simply crumpled and fell to the ground, unmoving, destroyed. The clouds then once again covered the bright sky, obscuring the sun. Lawrence rubbed his nose. Well that went well?
"W-Wh-Who... Are... You!?"
A loud roar, almost as if it was not human. Marquis Donovan pushed open a door to the right of the hallway, limping, his ears dripping black coloured blood.
"I am Marquis Donovan! God lives on in me! The world is mine! All of it is mine! You, low born peasant! Bow to me now and I will spare your miserable-"
"Divine Judgement!" Lawrence shouted, turning on his combat AI, as his character leapt forward, raising the sword above his head, his shield poised to strike the undead Marquis.
"Greater Inflict Wounds!" Marquis Donovan shouted, raising both his hands to grasp Lawrence. The blade and shield glowed a bright white, as the blade sliced itself into the neck of the Marquis, the shield plunging itself into his forehead. The Marquis' hands stood just short of Lawrence as the undead menace took a few steps back, peeling himself from Lawrence's weapons.
Then, white light emanated from every opening of his head, even from underneath his cloak-
Blue wisps rose from the undead that Lawrence had just killed and all of them had anguished faces, their firsts burning with a white fire as they all rushed towards the Marquis and began pummeling him.
"This is God's judgement!" a man who seemed to be a soldier in his past life shouted, as he punched the Marquis.
"... Dear Gods..." Leviathan mumbled as the Marquis whimpered, lowering himself, begging for mercy. However, the judgement of God was not kind.
As the countless numbers of undead punched and kicked him, his bones cracked and folded... And slowly... He turned into nothing but mounds of meat as the wisps let out a sigh of contentment and disappeared with the wind.