Clad in pure white armor with sigils emblazoned all over, the skeleton paladin stomped towards them with mace in hand. It took its position in front of the group as their vanguard. Even the ghouls regained a semblance of sanity in its presence. Their steps slowed down to fall in line.

Mark watched them advance like a group of soldiers, frowning as his mind raced to figure a way to win. Paladins were probably a combination of Fighter and Mage. Their holy magic made them impervious to harm, in addition to the healing they provided. But how would such magic work on the undead?

His skeleton mage lobbed a Death Bolt its way. The spell burned away a part of the brightness surrounding the paladin, confirming the existence of a magical shield. Mark aimed a few Magic Missiles at the ghouls to test out their healing. But the paladin raised its left arm and blasted out rays of lights from its fingertips, shooting them down.

"Elise. Can you go back in there and see if there's anything we can use?" he asked. "I need to stay behind to command my minions."

She ran around the battle and into the mausoleum while the undead continued forwards. To win this fight, Mark had to first destroy the paladin's holy shield. He hoped she'd be able to find an artifact to help with that.

Samara wasn't one to back down either. Rejuvenated by her concoctions, she stood back up and sent a flurry of arrows their way. They bounced off the skeleton paladin, but managed to pierce the other undead.

"I'll take care of the ghouls," she said. Then she ran around to their flanks. Though she was harassing them like last time, none of the ghouls separated to attack her. Instead, they continued to march along, occasionally retreating behind the skeleton general or paladin to block her shots.

Mark waited for the opposing undead group to crash into his skeleton mage's minions, before he took control of his own undead. Exploiting the brief opportunity, he blasted apart one of the ghouls with a concentrated attack. But the paladin's strength was immense. Its mace casually crushed both of his ghouls' bodies, and he had to throw them away to buy more time.

Samara's arrow pierced through another ghoul's head and brought it down. While she recharged, Mark directed his minions to retreat, but the paladin followed up with several glowing attacks that melted them away. Only his skeleton general made it out of the melee. Then the paladin turned to face him with a gleam in its eye.

"Not good," he told his skeleton mage. "Run!" Light rays erupted from its hand again, burning away at his mage's body. It was the first time this minion had been damaged.

They scattered away from one another. While the paladin chased after his skeleton mage, the other undead in the group chased after him. But they left his skeleton general alone.

Fortunately, the undead group had finally broken apart. Mark ran to Samara's side, whose skills took down another ghoul, leaving behind one more. She then transitioned to melee, using her dagger to slip past the skeleton general and eliminated the remaining ghoul with Mark.

Just as a mace swung down onto his skeleton mage, Mark's skeleton general ran in to intercept the blow. Its sacrifice brought his mage another few seconds of running. But Mark had no method to provide support for his minion. Though he really didn't want to lose his skeleton mage, he had no choice.

Elise had just run out of the mausoleum when she saw the paladin approaching her location. In a panic, she activated the weapon in her hands. Bright light erupted in the paladin's direction, washing over it and illuminating the entire area.

The skeleton staggered away from the attack with its armor badly singed. Its shield was stronger than ever, though, but the artifact had somehow managed to bypass it.

"Do you have another?" he shouted after running close enough.

Elise shook her head. The skeleton paladin regained its clarity and ran after her, prompting her to flee. But this gave Mark the time to slip into the mausoleum on his own.

He quickly ran around the room and identified the spots where the illusions were at. Then he unlocked them and grabbed the items inside. It took a few more, but he managed to pull out another magical artifact similar to what he saw in Elise's hands: a staff sharpened to a point. Or a javelin with decorated plumage.

Samara sprinted through the door, panting. She was exhausted from using all her strength to kill the remaining skeleton general before coming to help him search. Without even a pause, she ran laps around the room, pointing at where he needed to go to find the hidden places.

"Elise is fine," she said when Mark expressed concern. "She's a fast runner. Your skeleton mage is helping as well."

"Why don't you take this javelin and hand it to Elise? There's bound to be more items in here," he said. Though Samara couldn't activate the magic inside, she could get close enough to the paladin to enable maximum damage.

But Samara shook her head. "The paladin's too close. I don't feel confident doing that."

Mark acknowledged how risky it would be. Though Samara was allied with him, she wasn't exactly beholden to her survival. One Elise wouldn't be too much of a sacrifice to her. "Then can you try drawing the paladin away?" he asked.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She nodded. Then she ran back out. Mark hoped her stamina would last, and continued to break through the illusions in the mausoleum. The items he found were immediately tossed to the floor as he went for more.

Mark's eyes gleamed when he sensed a spot which Samara had missed. Nearby a desolate grave with a simple marking, an illusion took almost three times as long to break. He pulled out the item and grinned. Another javelin.

Then he ran to the deepest part of the mausoleum, where the skeleton paladin had emerged. Inside was a small gemstone embedded into a silvery amulet: a Holy Amulet. It was equipment which bolstered the power and comprehension of the wearer's holy magic - useless to him though perfect for Elise.

Mark turned back and saw Samara and Elise rush in, with the skeleton paladin hot on their heels. He immediately activated one of the javelins in his hand and blasted a large hole in its armor. Then he used up the second javelin right after.

This hidden javelin erupted with a much larger beam of light, completely covering the paladin. Mark and his party watched enraptured as the glow died down. But their hearts sank when the paladin appeared to still be standing, though with many parts of its body broken or even missing. That would've been the end, if it weren't for the holy shield which continued to block Samara's pitiful arrows.

"What is wrong with this thing," Elise cried. She fell down and scooted backwards, trying to make herself look smaller.

Samara's eyes looked sadly at them both before they started scanning the room for a way out. She crouched and readied herself to leave.

But then an idea appeared in his head. To finish the paladin off, taking down its shield was necessary. Though its power had grown even stronger with rays strong enough to blind them, he still had a way to cause massive explosions. Mark scooped out the two fragile mana cores from his pocket and placed them in an inconspicuous spot. Then he hurriedly rushed to Elise and shook her out of her stupor.

"Quick, help me with this staff! Try overloading it with your magic!"

"What?" She sniffed. "I can't. I can't do that," she cried.

He placed the necklace he had just acquired onto her neck. "This will help with your spells," he said. "Trust me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's the loot from the paladin - its grave."

"Got it!" Elise became incredibly confident, placing her hands on the staff of fire. Then they both channeled magic into the artifact. Cracks rapidly appeared on the wood and flames spurted from them, but the artifact held steady.

"Just a little more," he whispered. The flames inside erupted upwards, singing his hair. He looked backwards. The skeleton paladin was coming closer. He let the staff crack for another second before he wrenched the artifact out of Elise's hands and hurled it towards the paladin. The moment the staff touched the holy shield, it exploded.

A nova of sound wrapped the interior of the mausoleum in blue-tinged fire. Mark could no longer hear, but he kept his eyes open, staring at the destruction wrought by the explosion. Coffins melted. The floor evaporated. Items left behind were destroyed instantaneously. Even the ceiling and walls fell down in the wake of the arcane storm, obscuring the skeleton paladin from view.

Yet even with all that damage, the sound of metal stomping made its way across the room. It shook Mark to his very core.

Oh no. He had underestimated the strength of its holy shield. Light dimly flickered while the skeleton paladin pushed its way out of the rubble. It was still active.

Samara had her whole body turned to the hole in the wall. She was about to leave, Mark realized. In a panic, he shouted, "Samara, please! The rest of the loot is yours!"

Her foot lowered. Then, she nodded one last time. Her quiver fell to the floor and she lowered herself onto the ground. She plucked arrow after arrow into her hands and sent them all flying at the monster. They continued to rain down onto the undead paladin until she ran out of projectiles. Samara collapsed afterwards, bow string broken and unable to move.

But the paladin still hadn't fallen. Most of its bones had broken, yet it continued to limp their way. Its white eyes glowed with a baleful light, as if saying, "I win."

"Sorry Mark," Samara croaked. "Couldn't do it." She then closed her eyes and fell unconscious.

With Elise out cold as well, Mark mustered up one last Magic Missile which smashed open the paladin's foot. He noticed light dancing around its injury. Though the paladin couldn't heal itself, it had somehow adapted to using the holy light to keep itself from falling apart. He had no doubt it would die soon, but not before killing them all first.

So he prepared to summon his pocket plane in a last-ditch effort to survive. Then he stopped. Salvation had arrived. A ghoul stumbled into the mausoleum, looking straight at the skeleton paladin.

The ghoul charged. Its claws continued to smash into the paladin's broken body again and again. Mark watched the carnage and a smile slowly grew on his face. Immeasurable joy bloomed in his heart.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 25. Choose a class upgrade.

Necromancer (Uncommon) - A bastion of unholy magic. Wields necromancy, the power to manipulate the dead and deal with darkness. Benefits most from learning necromantic spells and performing acts related to undeath. +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom per level, +3 Free Stat Points

An obvious choice. Mark was going to pick this if no powerful surprises appeared next.

Spell Savant (Uncommon) - An expert in singular spells. Improves current development in one chosen spell and vastly increases its potential. Benefits most through breakthroughs in that particular spell. Focused spell aspects may increase with more levels gained. +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom per level, +3 Free Stat Points

This option probably stemmed from his ever-growing experience in Magic Missile, which he used as a basis for learning many of his spells. He wondered what would happen if he chose Raise Dead as his focus.

Body Restoration Artist (Uncommon) - An adept at controlling the body. Gains mastery over oneself, improving all aspects of form. Can develop powers of healing, transformation, and physique. Benefits most with study over bodies. +1 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +1 Endurance, +1 Vitality, +3 Free Stat Points

Another interesting class upgrade. Mark scratched his head. The choice had become quite difficult.