The graveyard, the cemetery. the burial grounds, whatever it is. I could feel the ominous aura coming out of it from far away. The sun had already set and the last light for the day vanished. My knees are shaking and I could imagine that my pants are already wet. I’m having second thoughts about this.

As we approach nearer to the graveyard, I saw two towers on each side of the gate. The graveyard was surrounded by big walls. Like all the other towers in the village, the two towers at the graveyard are old. Silhouettes roam the towers and look at us. Confirming that we are with Ruke, they gave the signal to open the gates.

I breathe in deeply, trying to make my determination sturdier. Breathe out. The creaking of the gate broke the ghostly-silence. Fog escapes through the opening and I could see the shadows of gravestones.

I use to watch zombie horror movies, finding relief that it is not real. But now that I’m in a world where the dead rises are common, that relief was crashed. Entering ever so slowly, even Karl and Leo are scared. Only Ruke seems brave enough to face the dead or it might be he’s skilled enough to hide his fear.

The gate closes behind us and we are now trap here for the night.

“Keep your magic senses up. We could find the distortion by sensing the disturbance of mana in the area.” Ruke said as he lights up each of our torches.

“Huh? What? Magic senses? What are those?” I never heard anything related to that when I was with my classmates. Damn, maybe I missed it or something. Might be they were going to teach us about it after we finished our first quest. But due to the accident…

Well doesn’t matter now. Ruke might explain it.

“Really? You don’t know? What were you learning when you were with the churchmen then? How to dull your senses?” (Karl)

Quick, I need to think of a comeback.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” (Leo)

“Hey! Shut up!” (Iso) Looks like that took care of it…I hope

“Yes, please do. We don’t want to wake any of the dead, do we?” (Ruke)

“I think it might be too late for that warning. Duck!” (Karl)

“Duck?” (Iso)

Karl pushed me down and thrust his spear behind me. I didn’t got time to catch myself and I fell face first to the ground. When I look back, Karl was fighting to get back his spear from the chest of what looks like a corpse.

It looks just the same in the movies. Decaying skin, fragile bones, tattered clothes, the generic zombie. Though it looks much real this closely. Its eyes shined a creepy shade of green. It might be the sign of the magic that puppets the corpse to move.

Karl got his spear out only to lose his balance. The undead saw this chance and took it to attack. But his head was decapitated by Ruke at the last moment. The body falls to the ground, going back to its original form where it is lifeless.

The faint scent of urine mixes with the unpleasant smell of decay. When I look, I saw that Leo couldn’t hold it in anymore. I ignored it because I’m not much different. I am also scared but by no means did I also peed in my pants.

“We should advance carefully from now on.” The final reminder of Ruke finally made us aware of the danger.

After a few walks, I estimated that the cemetery was about 5 mansions big but it was hard to see due to the darkness. The tombstones are mostly old already but I saw a few that are newly made.

“Hey Ruke, how many are buried here?” I asked trying to fill the silence

“Hmmm. The last count was about ninety-five (95) but it could be wrong.” (Ruke)

“How big is this graveyard anyways?” (Iso)

“Probably less than seven (7) hexes. Thirteen (13) to sixteen (16) buried per hex if I remember correctly.” (Ruke)

“Wait, what are hexes?” (Iso)

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Ruke titled his head. “You don’t know? Maybe you use squares. The cemetery is more than seventenn (17) squares according to Jushar.”

Squares? Hexes? What? I don’t get it. Maybe it is there unit of measure. But I can’t be sure. It looks like Ruke is already satisfied with his explanation. Even if I continue asking, I doubt I’ll get much detail. They might not know my world’s units of measure.

There is still one more thing I want to ask.

“Ruke, what are magical senses again?” (Iso)

“You seriously don’t know? Well, it can’t be help. You’re from another world after all. Magical sense is the sense that is responsible for us to recognize magic and mana. Did you sense something before we enter the graveyard?” (Ruke)

“Yeah. I felt an ominous aura coming out.” (Iso)

“That is the disturbed magic that gathered from the dead. If you focus your sense to find where it came from, we could find the mana distortion within this graveyard. That is what I’m doing right now.”

“Oh, I see.” I was now satisfied with the answer.

We continued walking and along the way the dead keep rising. Because we were expecting them, we were not taken by surprise. It became a lot easier for us to return them back to being lifeless. I didn’t use my scrolls because I don’t want to waste it. Maybe I could keep it at the end after all this.

“We’re close to the mana distortion.” Ruke said as he takes out his sword from a corpse. “There is usually a stronger monster or being that guards it so we should be more careful.”

Ruke was right. I could feel the dangerous aura much heavier here. Much denser. It sends signal to my body that I should run away, that I shouldn’t be here at all. It concerns my survival and it made my fear rise up again.

In one of the tombstones, a hand broke through the soil. A wave of magical pressure erupted and a body came out of the ground. With robes that is deeply purple, eyes that are red as blood, and in its chest a blue orb was shining.

“I can’t believe it. The mana distortion fused with the guardian.” Ruke face became pale. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was agape. He keeps staring at the scene before us that I have to break him out of it.

“Ruke!! Get a hold of yourself!” I shake his body violently. His eyes broke off and he then stared at me.

“It just that, the situation was much more hazardous than I expected.” (Ruke)

The others were much like Ruke. Karl shaking making his hold of his spear unstable. Leo having peed a second time. Those suggest that the weren’t expecting it to be this bad.

“It doesn’t matter now. We’re here already. We still need to continue to fight. Otherwise, the village will be the one in danger.” (Iso)

“Yes, you’re right.” Ruke readied his sword. His will was back now.

“Then I’ll use the scrolls this time. I’ll cast spells from the distance.” (Iso)

“Karl! Leo! Stop staring at the goddamn half lich! Show me your resolve that you’ve told me about!”

Wait, half lich? Arg. No time to ask. The three of them moved forward to attack while I quickly scanned my magic scrolls, picking the one I think will be suitable.

The half lich casts some lightning spell, that I don’t know off, which was barely block by the shield of Leo. The scream of him didn’t help my concentration.

“Burn my enemies to ash, shower fire to those who blocks my way, make them fear the flail of your wrath, Fireball!”

The scroll shined when I was chanting the spell. It floated above my hand as I recite the lines. When I said the final words, the trigger, it was light by fire and burned. It turned into a ball and shot itself towards the half lich.

Only to hit the gravestone behind.

“You fudging miss!! Next time fix your aim!!” Karl said in between attacks

“Sorry!!” I shouted back. Damn, I wasted one scroll

It was my first-time casting a spell. It still felt good to be like in a RPG. I quickly tried to find a spell that could help them.

Leo seems to be in charge of the defenses and distraction while Karl and Ruke attack it simultaneously. The half lich continues to shoot them with lightning and a variety of other spells.

“Lend your power to the weak, support them with your hands, help them keep standing up, guide their swords to victory, Strengthening Aura!”

I casted a support magic that won’t miss this time. The speed of the three significantly increased. They could now easily dodge the attacks of the half lich. The being still didn’t register me as a threat to his existence. I used this opportunity to cast more spells.

“Shake their foundation, make the grounds unstable, brake their balance, their building shall fall and nothing should be left behind, Broken Pillar!!”

As I used that spell, the half lich looks at me with eyes of fury. His attacks all became weaker and slower. Not much of a threat but could still be fatal.

I grinned back at him. He screamed a deafening shout. I could sense it was pack with magic power. My hearing was dulled, my sight became blurry, my movement became sluggish. I only notice that I was in the grip of the half lich.

I can’t breathe. I struggle to get out of his hand. My sight slowly dimmed. Is this the end? With one final will, I strike the chest of half lich. He let go of me.

I quickly tried to regain my breathing. The ringing in my ears vanishing. My sight slowly cleared only to see that half lich about to attack me.

I covered myself with my arms, expecting a painful blow. But it didn’t come. I saw that Ruke and the others got out of the stun. They are now dealing with the half lich. But their attacks seem to have no effect at all.

I tried to think. What do undead usual weakness is? In Fantasy games where the hero has to deal with skeleton armies or something. What is the weakness?

“Heal yourself Iso!” Ruke shouted so he could be heard.

Then it hit me. Let’s see if it works.”

“Take away the pain, give back their relief, return back what was, Gift of Healing!”

Yes, I casted a healing spell but not on me, not on Ruke, not on my allies. Instead, I casted it to the half lich. The agonized scream of the half lich filled me with satisfaction.

The generic weakness of the undead. I didn’t think it would work. Maybe I could use my gaming knowledge in this world.

Those were my last words before I passed out.