We run back down the icy cavern hoping to flee from the horde of skeletons that were in the main hall, but before we get anywhere near the exit a tremor shakes the ground and causes all of us to lose our balance. We had been barely stable through the whole trip due to how icy the cavern is. The crows have talons they can use to plant themselves down, the generally clumsy Maddy's balance has been greatly enhanced within the game to fit her class, and I am able to manipulate the ice to keep myself from slipping. When the tremor caused us all to miss our footing we all fell, completely unable to stop ourselves.
"Haha, so you kill my apprentice and think you can escape me? Silly children. I will give you a chance to escape, if you can defeat my horde of resurrected servants!" A nasally cackle sounds from the the whole of the cave. Following the sinister cackle a huge number of cracks emerge in the walls. Bursting forth from the cracks are a huge number of undead, if these undead came out from the whole cavern then they would easily number over two times the amount of the undead in the main hall. "Maybe I should warn you, these undead are two times as powerful as the ones that you previously destroyed!"
Maddy is the first one to spring up and she quickly pulls out her two daggers in attempt to partially ward off the undead. Just looking at the sheer number of hostile undead I realize that her actions are futile, but that doesn't mean we should just give up. Maddy and I would respawn after twenty four hours in real life, but our shadowbird minions would be lost forever. Luckily due to Maddy's class as an assassin she can get away with killing one player per day, without this class she would have to spend three times as much for being unlawful.
"Maddy, shadowbirds, please hold them off as long as you can. I need to think of a way to get us out of here." Rather than immediately trying to fend them off I sit down and begin to think. I don't work very well under pressure, so what would usually come to my mind in just a few moments takes much longer.
While I contemplate on our next step the shadowbirds' two lines slowly get pushed back. Unlike the horde of undead, the shadowbirds do not possess metal armor or weapons. The shadowbirds only have a cloth and leather uniform designed for appearance rather than protection. There is also very little Maddy can do against such a massive number of monsters. While the undead are relatively low in level there are just too many of them, so an assassin, who is specialized to fight in small numbers cannot possibly work to the whole of their abilities.
"Jordan, are you almost done?" Maddy's voice seems rather impatient due to me taking my sweet time in coming up with a counter measure.
"Yeah! I've got it!" After what felt like hours, but was only a couple dozen seconds I discover our chance at escape. The answer is the sorcerer's crowd control abilities! While I can't use the actually crowd control skill I can emulate it with my nature manipulation. I grip the staff tightly in my hands. The staff doesn't have any active effects, but it has the passive ability of making my nature manipulation stronger. "Everyone get ready to dash, we will only have a few seconds for this stun."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Instead of focusing all my power entirely into one element I split it up. Similar to what happened to us with the tremors I wish to make all the undead fall over. I focus a quarter of my power into the earth, and the other three quarters into the air. Since the undead are not moving just shaking the ground will not do enough, so I will use the wind to further push them off balance. I hope that using the entirety of my energy will clear a path at least most of the way through the cavern.
With a fierce exertion of power a loud noise erupts through the cavern. The first noise is made by the ground vibrating rather fiercely, while a second noise is caused by the air. Starting from the main hall a massive gust of wind blows all the way to the exit at over fifty miles per hour. The only flaw with this is that many of the skeletons have exposed empty rib cages rather than breast plates or flesh, but the high speed of the wind paired with the tremor knocks all of the skeletons on their butt at the least. The powerful wind also knocks many of the skeletons apart, this massive area of effect spell is the forte of the sorcerer.
Maddy, the shadowbirds, and I were not affected nearly as much by the wind thanks to my diligent training in control. After quickly understanding the situation our small group rushes as fast as we can to the exit. Maddy leads the group followed by the shadowbirds. With my lack of mana I cannot use my previous speed boosting, so one of the shadowbirds picks me up and brings me with them.
"Ughhh this is really embarrassing." Though I understand the situation being carried around is quite embarrassing.
"Quit. Complaining." The typically stoic shadowbird seems a tad irritated at my complaint. I go to make a comment, but refrain due to the situation.
Adding to the pain, Maddy begins snickering ahead of us.
"Put me down! We are almost at the end I can go the rest of the way!" I begin acting rather childishly, but I don't really care anymore. I quickly get off the shadowbird and use my slowly restoring mana to increase my speed a bit.
"We're out!" After running past so many fallen skeletons we emerge from the icy cavern, only to be met by the extreme blizzard. Due to my lack of mana I can't quickly prepare to block the blizzard and obtain the negative freezing status. My stamina and satiety restore twenty five percent slower, but this will stop once I can properly block it once again.
"Oooh? You're quite surprising to be able to get out of such a situation. It's too bad that I still want you dead." As the necromancer's teacher's voice sounds out from seemingly every direction the blizzard quickly stops. A blackish purple haze appears out of thin air and forms into a robed figure. Similar to the figure in the forest, this necromancer is also slightly translucent.