Apparitions… So, Ghosts? Am I a necromancer now?

Hold on, I wouldn’t call myself such. Yet. While it was true that Necromancers and Death were related—like two lovers inseparable from each other, I lacked the traditional skeletons aspect of it. Souls were cool, for sure, but I hoped I had access to those in the future.

The only soul I had was the goblin nightblade, Since then, I’d never gotten a chance to acquire another; The battle with the hobgoblin ended up with me losing all of my bones, and I never had the opportunity to suck a lizard up in the next one, since time had run out. I nearly froze toward the end.

Next, the soul quality aspect was detrimental, with my lacking levels in soul extraction. If I followed the spell’s description; The souls I had in store were only half as strong as the original. My goblin stood no chance against the Orcs as it was, even if its stats were at full.

Now, the orcs, on the other hand… I needed to make sure I got at least one of them later.

“What did you get?” Phillip asked, watching my silent fanfare. “You looked happy.”

Of course, after acquiring that spell, how was I supposed to contain my smile? “Yep… It’s… It’s good.”

If I had my hands on one of the orc’s souls, I could, in theory, hold the lines with them on my side. Yes, I knew that individually, they weren’t a match against their original one-on-one; and to be frank, they weren’t half as strong either. Being half as fast and half as strong all at the same time meant that my summoned soldiers would be several times weaker; a wistful product of multiplicative reductions. So outside help would be essential in keeping them alive.

And that also didn’t count the fact that using the summons would use up my mana, which could be reserved for my death bolts instead. I needed to be mindful of the opportunity cost and be productive with the spell.

All in all, it’s amazing, sure, but to say that it would be my saving grace down the line? I doubt that.

Once I finished my line of thought, I turned to Maria, who had given up digging for more info about Sarah. As much as how amiable she was, Sarah’s ice was impenetrable. Perhaps with time, her frigidness would warm up and we’d talk as friends. Equals.

But brooding over the late future bared little meaning. The orcs came first.

The four of us huddled, bracing the cold from Sarah’s misty chill. “Before we go, I think we needed to plan what our positions and roles are,” I said, beginning the discussion. “How about…”

We took turns describing what we preferred. This ended up being a repeat of the explanations we’d shared prior, only Sarah was here with us. New things unfolded during our hushed discussion; the recent classes—Phillip earning a warrior-type class, boosting his physical stats and Willpower, and Maria gaining a rogue/archer-type class, which gave her a boost to speed and strength, leaving Sarah and me to meander about what new things we had.

“Ice… mage.” Sarah spoke, cold mist breezed as a whisper. From the abrupt pauses and the frown on her brows; explaining her thoughts appeared to allude her, “Cold magic. I shoot ice bullets, and-” She took out her staff, pointing it towards me, “I… can’t cast magic here?”

“Yeah.” I said, quivering from her mist. The intensity of her emotions aggravated her coldness. Clear as day was her uniqueness, one of a kind amongst even the rarest of us.

Her eyes, cold as they were, turned icy when she found her way to explain her thoughts, “I can give you an extra layer of defense. An ice armor. It breaks after a few hits.”

Ah, Cool… The best use of her protection would be on Phillip, whose presence would draw the most attention from our adversaries later. “Thanks… That sounded helpful, Sarah.”

Their gaze then pointed towards me. My turn.

“As you know, I’m somewhat of a mage myself,” I remarked, chuckling. “Like what she said before, I shoot death bullets that explode, then corroding the skin of those nearby, so watch out.” Maria frowned, no doubt recalling the things I did to the poor goblins before, “Also, and this is important, I gained a new toy after using the spell book.”

I mentioned my new spell. Their ears twitched.

“Wow. Didn’t know Death had that kind of spell.” Phillip spoke, thick hands rubbing his cheek, contemplating. The sharpness of his eyes glanced at the compendium I conjured, “And that book… What is it?”

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“I got it from the secret mission.” I said, picturing the darkness, the book, the heart-drilling experience, ”You know, the one where you fought the snakes?”

“Secret mission? snakes?” Maria’s voice cracked, betraying her calm gaze. “What are you talking about?”

Our perplexed expression matched hers. Something was amiss. Even Sarah, who wasn’t a part of this conversation, showed interest. Maria’s gaze intensified as she repeated her question. “What secret mission?”

Strange. I thought we all had it. “During the first day, there’s a secret mission with a ton of question marks…” I turned to Sarah, whose nod confirmed that I wasn’t alone. “There are three missions, right? The goblins, the lizards, and then-“

“-The goblin warriors.” Maria interrupted, but what she said differed. “Right? You fought those goblin warriors. There aren’t any other missions after that.”

It dawned on us. The secret mission alluded her, which gave me, Phillip, and Sarah what I assumed to be our Innate skill/spell. While the effectiveness of my compendium rested a wisp below useful, only a fool would refuse something of its nature; even more so now, my summoning skill relied on it.

Her face sank. Her eyelids fluttered. “I… missed it? You’re all strong, so maybe that’s why you are allowed to get that mission…”

That expression, I knew it all too well. “Maria…”

“Phew…” She gulped in a large breath, stabilizing her emotions. The colors returned, restoring a bit of the usual glow of her face. “Sorry, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Let’s just continue.”

This Trial held more mystery than we’d given it credit for.

The initial confusion passed and we resumed our talk about roles and positions. With Sarah’s help, I was confident that we could at least deal with the normal orcs with good coordination. None of us pronounced predictions about the chief; he was an enigma, a monster of unknown strength. Yet, sure as any man could be; alone, man to man, it would be unmatched.

“Before we go…” I said, halting the team, “I need to get some mana potions.”

Mana usage had skyrocketed with my most recent addition of spells. The orcs’ level was 6, each soul costing 12 mana to cast, and with Death bolt on top of that, my measly 40-ish mana pool scanted against the rising cost of spellcasting. The potions acted as a band-aid solution to my mana problems, however, permanent solutions were preferable.

The absorption effect from my Death bolts helped, but only killing things triggered it. As my enemies grew, now to a point where multiple shots failed to kill, the drain turned into an afterthought.

I purchased 5 more mana potions, equaling the health potions in my inventory. Phillip returned the potions I gave after our second mission.

Satisfied, I returned to the others. They were deep in discussion, heads deep at the moment while they rehashed our plans. For the most part, everyone was happy with their roles, but they lacked confidence.

The mission menu popped up. We shared a glance before accepting, and then…

It began.

I expected the same foggy fields, but the sight and the noises from the packed crowd around me appalled me.

No, this wasn’t the empty dirt field. This was an arena; A circular arena, covered with wooden walls with rows and rows of goblins and Orcs shouting and cheering the spectacle ahead of them.

And in the center of their attention, their spectacle; was our sorry asses. None of us foresaw this change of events — the mission never mentioned anything about an arena — but it didn’t matter; the lone figure who was far taller than others at a distance rose from his seat. It was an orc, of course, but it wasn’t just the typical orcs that we’d battled before, no.

Its green skin was contrasted by the red lining that was drawn on its visage, with its red eyes glowing. It wore a thick layer of steel and fur outfit and on its right hand was a great-axe, rivaling its own body in size. It stood at almost twice the height of the orcs beside it, which they themselves were already twice as big as Phillip was. There was no doubt that this… monster was their chief, and if that thing wasn’t their leader, then I fear for our odds when their true chief made its appearance.

Yeah, it’s fucking terrifying.

The presumed chief roared, silencing the crowd all around the arena. I felt chills running all over my skin from the strange, intangible aura that the monster emanated. A quick scan of my party members showed that they felt the same pressure too, even Phillip, who was always calm and excited, showed signs of fear since the first time that I met him.

It raised its axe high, glaring with a mix of contempt and anticipation. He gestured the orcs beside it to do something, which was made clear after the gate beneath where it stood opened, revealing five heavy-looking orcs with a variety of weaponry making their way inside.

Here they come.

“Get to our positions,” Maria said, breaking the tense silence in our party. “Fuck, I’m scared…”

Her trembling arms confirmed her words. We moved to our desired positions—Me and Phillip in front, and the girls at the back—but it felt like we were just moving according to our plans with our hearts and heads elsewhere.

Priming my spell, I noticed that the orcs were gathered in a coordinated manner as well; Two of them who carried shields acted as their Vanguard, with both archers at the back, and the last one—the one with the spear, acted like their squad leader, relaying orders in their own language.

A set of gongs played to our right. As I turned my head, I saw the figures of smaller goblins smashing a wooden drum three times their size passionately, forming a rhythmic pattern. It harmonized well with the giant trumpet that played opposite where they stood, to our left.

Is this just a game to them?

With primitive music playing in the background, the squad of orcs advanced. The chief planted himself at where it stood, watching the battlefield with expectations, but to whom its expectations were placed, I wasn’t sure. You’d assume that it was counting on its own kind but from its glare…

“Ice armor…” Sarah’s voice ripped me from my thought process, “Phillip… Here.”

A light-teal aura shrouded Phillip, the mist as cold as the air she breathed, which transformed into a layer of transparent armor on top of his white suit. It was quite the sight to see, and not to mention, cold to the senses. It ensured that Phillip could last a few direct hits with that spell. I didn’t know the specifics of the spell she used; She told us that she could only cast it on one person at a single instance, and we decided that our best damage dealer should be the one with it.

“Thanks,” Phillip returned her favor with a grateful smile, regaining some of his previously unbreakable confidence. “I haven’t felt this kind of tension for a long, long time…”

He pointed his axe towards the chief, “That guy… That guy will kill me. That’s what my guts said.”

What an encouraging speech.