Chapter 153 Second Tailines
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The morning arrived, and Lily made her way to the gate at the scheduled time for the next mission. The group of fifty elven soldiers escorting her hadn't changed much except for those who had been heavily wounded the previous day. Edelweiss prioritized healing them, knowing we would embark on the next mission immediately. However, she conserved her mana and only provided minimal healing to the severely injured soldiers, enough to keep them alive. As a result, she had enough mana to heal the soldiers with lesser injuries, and now we had another fifty soldiers in good health.
"Edelweiss, are you okay?" Alistar asked, his voice tinged with concern.
"Yes, my mana has fully recovered. Let's proceed to the next breach."
We mounted our horses as we had done the day before. Once we entered the dark lands, Edelweiss retrieved her device and infused it with her mana. However, the firefly didn't move; it simply circled around and disappeared.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"This device can only detect Leyline leakage within a maximum range of twenty-five kilometers. It means there are no breaches in this area," she explained.
"That means we have to go deeper. Let's continue," Alistar sighed. A sense of dread settled over the soldiers as venturing deeper meant our retreat path was getting further away. Nevertheless, we followed him. Twenty minutes later, Edelweiss conducted another search, but once again, it yielded no results. Alistar sighed at the outcome and urged his horse forward. The knights followed suit. However, despite the lack of exertion, the knights were sweating profusely.
Then, Edelweiss summoned her sensor again, and it reacted this time. A small ball of light flew further westward, and we followed its lead.
"Careful! Don't gallop. March slowly. We don't know what awaits us at the next breach!" Alistar cautioned.
"There it is! It must be there!" a soldier pointed toward a group of black wights.
"Great, now there are five of them?" Alistar sighed. However, we feared nothing, for we already knew their weakness. "Lily, summon your fire dragon now! Let's seal it quickly!"
"Okay!"
I tilted my head, despite its nonexistence, and obediently followed his instructions. As I gathered my mana, the undead creatures turned their attention toward us and screamed. A wave of darkness swept across the field, and suddenly, my body felt heavy. My mana was disturbed and dissipated.
"What happened?" Lily asked, noticing that the flame dragon wasn't manifesting as flames dissipated from my tail.
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"That wave stunned me. It disrupted the mana I had gathered for the summoning," I replied. About a third of my mana dissipated into thin air when the wights interrupted my casting.
"Can you try casting it again?"
"I will try, but if the wave occurs again, I might not be able to cast it anymore," I replied. The interruption from the wights had caused a significant loss of mana.
"Give it a try anyway. We won't survive this horde with only fifty soldiers!"
"Okay."
"Alistar! The wave disrupted the mana I gathered for the summoning," Lily shouted, urging him to do something about the interfering wights.
"Edelweiss?" Alistar turned to Edelweiss, passing her the bucket. The wights were still about fifty meters away, and only magic could reach them amidst the flood of skeletons emerging from the ground.
"I will strike them with smaller spells to prevent them from creating that mana disruption!" Edelweiss replied, and various elemental lances were formed around her.
The spells struck the barrier of the wight, causing cracks to form like a spiderweb in the area where Edelweiss had targeted. The wights were raising more undead to join their cause, and with five of them present, we had to contend with an additional five undead creatures. Every minute, hundreds of skeletons and dozens of Vargmuth were being summoned.
"There are too many of them. If they can summon this many every minute, were they holding back during their previous assaults?" some soldiers complained. They continued to slash and strike, their hands never ceasing their movements. However, the number of skeletons kept increasing, and the occasional Vargmuth dealt fatal blows.
"Lain!" a soldier screamed as a Vargmuth sent his friend flying. He landed amidst the sea of skeletons, who promptly impaled him with their spears, filling his body with holes. Ghander rushed to fill the gap the soldiers had left, and with a sweeping motion, he decapitated the Vargmuth's head. His sword glowed, and its blade extended, giving him greater reach. Ghander held the line where other soldiers had struggled to keep up.
The distraction caused by Edelweiss proved fruitful. Flames rose from my tail, and the fire dragon took form. It spewed cone-shaped flames from its mouth, roasting everything in its path.
"Shiro, the flames are too close!" Lily commented when I directed the flame dragon to fire just in front of one of the struggling soldiers. The flames burned the Vargmuth and countless skeletons in their wake, but the soldiers screamed as they suffered first or second-degree burns.
"Sorry! I lacked the mana to properly control it. The skeletons were also too close to our formations."
"Direct it straight at the wight and kill it!" Lily shouted. Her choice of words seemed odd, but no one paid it much attention.
"On it!"
The dragon overwhelmed the numerous undead. Its sweeping flames killed everything in its path, and when I commanded it to attack the wight, it succeeded in shattering its barrier with the first breath. The five wights, rendered helpless, gathered together and let out another scream. A black wave struck us, causing nausea to permeate our brains. Everyone except Ghander, Edelweiss, Lily, and Alistar suddenly knelt, clutching their heads in pain. The flame dragon flickered, and its fiery breath dissipated.
The flame dragon circled around before attempting its fiery breath once again. Meanwhile, the wights gathered, and one of them produced an ominous black sphere. A corrupted black haze spewed forth from it, and screams of despair filled our minds as we gazed upon it.
"That's a curse seed!" Edelweiss shouted. "Be careful! It's going to enhance the wights!" Ghander's shout snapped everyone out of the stupor caused by the seed. However, it was too late—the seed emitted a black light, and the wights were drawn into it.
The black light consumed the skeletons and Vargmuth, and an abomination stood before us.