A multitude of growling, walking, decomposing corpses, undead, were assaulting the carriage crew in a frenetic way. Not caring about losing a limb or two, which even after being severed, still moved to attempt inflicting damage on the defenders. Standing out in that battle of stewards, whom for the purpose of guarding a noble convoy, were trained in self defense magical arts. Or mercenaries, whom are often demobilized soldiers of a major country that entered a prosperity period without wars. Was an old man that looked so frail he might collapse, he had pale white skin and an unhealthy complexion. His graying hair was stained in black dried blood as he delightfully started to ramble.
"Hehehe, ahaha, you moronic heiress, you and your family of twats robbed me of my life and carrier. You annoying little shits made me your vassal and tied me to your accursed name....hhhe" he went on with his maddened ramble
"You utterly incompetent fools couldn't even manage your own territorial economy, forcing me, who would have been ridiculed by my merchant peers for denying a noble contract to....ahhhh"
During that horrendously long monologue, a familiar white clad blonde girl was unfurling flurries of wind, with each stab of her rapier, some guts of her enemies flew off. She gracefully impaled an undead before unleashing a spell separating it's body in two in a feast of blood and gut. Then she backstepped and unleashed a slash of wind towards two undead flanking her from the right. Resulting in their heads flying without the sword actually connecting. Tainting the ground on which they fell, a reddish brown.
Aria, whose armor wasn't white anymore was thinking about how inconvenient her cape was while dicing up more foes, then she tripped, and in short lapse of time, Bernard, the old man, had closed in and strangled her. The situation turned seemingly hopeless as no one else but these two were technically alive.
While Aria let out muffled shouts as her complexion turned pale, Bernard's excitement peaked, in a motion that is barely physically possible, he tightened his grip and finished her off.
having accomplished his vengeance, he tossed the noble knight's cold, lifeless body onto a large rock approximately 5 meters away from him with such force that it broke. As the body stumbled, face first on the ground, his appearance let out ineligible mutters before regaining a bit of sanity. His body contained the same dark and repulsive energy that the ghoul at the cave possessed, for some reason, it appeared to be entangled to his own mana, if he was here, Jean would probably be able to discern his soul being twisted as well.
Bernard looked back at the carnage he caused, looking somewhat satisfied as his porcelain white skin appeared to be turning into a purpure gradient. he then sat on a log near the campfire and started laughing maniacally.
****
Jean and john, having felt an eerie presence at the camp's emplacement, rushed towards it while being careful not to trip on the myriad of roots in their way.
Jean was concerned by the amount of impure energy that was gaining in intensity by the minute. He asked the knowledgeable john about the monster, the ghoul he faced while arriving in this world.
"Boss, those are what we call undead, demonic entities that are able to move using an obscure form of corrupted mana. they cannot die unless what summoned them died and generally need a summoning ritual forming a contract with a higher being to borrow it's power."
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He then continued
"However, it happens that undead are formed naturally in an area where people or things died. It is said by scholars that it has something to do with the scattered soul or something but I don't really know about that. A legend among us common folks involves The Lich King, a higher being born as a result of a battle between two other ascended that reaped a million lives and scarred a large amount of landscape."
Jean was once again intrigued by the intricate and unnatural wisdom displayed by his subordinate that identified as "common folk".
however, the amount of corrupted pressure submerging him was no joke. He had no idea who exerted it but he knew that it was powerful, powerful enough to form cold sweat on the back of his black shirt.
I hope you're ready for this John, this is going to be fireeeee!!! hahaha
Giving a side glance toward his boss, John frowned, his exact thoughts were "pervert".
Then both of them concealed their presence, knife ready and tense faces. Sneaking through the bushes without emitting any noise and closing in on their preys. Jean had taught his subordinate the way to purge corrupted mana beforehand, allowing them to have a way do deal damage to the undead, that for some reason stopped moving when they had their neck severed.
John gave a light jab to an enemy then severed its neck, which dripped of dark blood while its body crashed to the ground. Then braced to dodge the clawing of a cat eared corpse and stabbed into it's decomposing heart, extinguishing the light purple glow in its eyes. It collapsed to the ground while Jean beheaded two of them in a quick succession using conjured knives in a reverse grip, John then used one of the corpses to block an incoming strike. He counter attacked by tossing the cadaver on it and closed in from behind, in what appeared to be instantaneous motions faster than the thrown corpse and landed a finisher on it's neck. his next move was to dodge the incoming mass of undead and dash toward the enemy that sat, cross-legged, on what appeared to be a log. John followed him by trying to backstab that enemy from behind. however, the enemy suddenly stood up, bent his arm backward and slammed John to the ground while simultaneously intercepting jean with a kick sending him rolling on the bloodstained ground. Then, Bernard stomped his foot on the ground and spikes of earth erupted where Jean previously was. John coughed blood as he got up and dashed towards Bernard to land a killing blow, however, the earth rumbled as skeletal hand grabbed his ankle, causing him to trip face first into the ground. While John was up to his antics, Jean conjured another knife, which he threw at full force at the neck of the corpse looking man. Resulting in Bernard being fatally wounded. The knife had stuck itself inside Bernard's neck and, in normal circumstances, should have killed him. Bernard looked down on the two, Who had quickly regrouped and contemplated himself in delusion.
"I have become Immortal, you moronic fools do not have the intellect to comprehend this, and yet were still able to wound my now unkillable body. Rejoice, as you shall now experience the greatness of undeath!"
Having finished his monologue, Bernard raised one hand, as if he wanted to capture the sky, and brought it down pointing the duo opposing him. As if obeying him, the wondering undead now turned their attention towards Jean and John. A black, gooey like aura surrounded the undead. Jean recalled how he purged the ghoul's poison and applied mana to his hand. This was different from how he had tried it previously, he thought that it would be faster to force out all the corruption and deal with it afterwards. he punched an undead in the face and it went thundering farther away, this strength surprised even jean himself as he looked at his fist bewildered by its power.
[11]
Strangely, when Jean dealt with it this way, the kill count went up. He had no clue as regarding why it did that but he continued putting down undead in various ways. Using kicks, his knife, strikes and other movements, he purged the undead one after another
[11]>[17]
John was holding Bernard back, using hit and run tactics consisting of: concealing his presence, hiding somewhere and striking, he allowed jean to clear the 5 undead who attacked. This quick thinking having paid off, John uncovered his presence, momentarily diverting Bernard's attention, allowing jean to strike, "purifying" him.
[17]>[27]
So stronger enemies are worth more than one, that's a good thing, it makes the whole thing more enjoyable. Jean thought to himself.