It was similar to when I healed Mike.

Their knuckles had embedded pieces of crystal within them. It looked like someone just punched a wall and had it splinters wedge under their skin.

Unsettling, but working.

A bit inferior version, compared to myself, but still effective against us. Well, you didn’t need that much to be effective against Mike.

Just as if to confirm that, he got punched once more in the face, assaulted by a hive of people, jumping up and down like a swarm of angry fleas.

I think he had enough, because he finally managed to get himself together enough to cast a spell.

How effective, though…

I think he was inspired by me, because he tossed a fireball right in the middle of the bunch.

Honestly, not the best choice, since everything around us was already on fire, including many people. And yet, they didn’t seem to care.

Was that also because of the Crystal…?

Nah, don’t think so.

They weren’t completely turned, so their bodies should be similar to Mike. Meaning, they would be able to feel pain and be burned…

Sure, they could extinguish the flames of the spell before they made contact, or even maybe later if they put their mind to it and used some kind of magic, but it didn’t look like any of them were bothering with that.

On the contrary, they were just taking the fire like it was nothing.

Were they really not affected…?

Well, if not fire, then let’s use something else. It’s not like I am limited to one element, really.

I focused, ending my previous spell and zapped the nearest target with the simplest lightning spell there was.

-Gymnu.

It was supposed to be a simple lightning, but I summoned a rather massive lightning strike from my palm.

I guess being overcharged was showing its effects.

But, overcharged or not, it didn’t seem to have any effect on the person.

It did catch me off guard and made me eat another rather hefty punch to the face.

Despite their tactics being monotonous and seemingly almost automatic, they were surprisingly agile and responsive.

I could tell that it wasn’t that the spell didn’t have any effect. Instad, they just managed to absorb my spell in less than a second.

But, despite the fact that the spell vanished, it still made an impact.

True, the magic was absorbed, but not before it made contact. And that was enough to fry a person alive.

I mean, a regular person. Definitely not those creatures, though.

I guess to repeat until it works, huh?

-They are proficient with the crystal - I barked, annoyed, half to myself, half to Mike.

I am not sure if he heard me over the fire spells he was tossing.

I don’t know why, but he seemed convinced that fire would be the best against them.

-Don’t toss shit so recklessly, it’s not like it’s going to work better that way! - I complained while again zapping a target in front of me.

I mean, it wouldn’t really hurt us…

At least it shouldn’t. I think.

-Hey, are you even listening?!

Didn’t seem so.

Damn.

Instead of listening, he was getting more and more annoyed.

-Stop. Being. So. Persistent!

With every word he was sending yet another save of spells, and with every single one he was getting hit.

Talk about pointless.

Hell, I wasn’t better.

Sure, I switched spells, but it didn’t seem like it had made a significant difference. But at least I wasn’t burning down the forest.

Any more, that is. The remaining fire was still raging.

That, and Mike.

I honestly was starting to get worried.

It was the first time I’ve seen such persistent and resistant enemies.

It seemed like no matter how powerful the spell was, they were just shrugging off the damage and coming after us.

That is until one finally lost a leg.

It was after one significantly brighter fireball that Mike tossed.

I am not sure if he even intended that. Probably only got more annoyed and infused a bit too much mana into it, because it also exploded violently, sending sparks all over the place.

-Fucking finally! - he yelped, but almost instantly had to shut up, because the same person had stood up and, now with one leg, jumped once more at him.

I would laugh, if not for me being in a similar situation.

Up till now I already used other elements as well, to a similar effect. And by that I mean to no effect.

I was thinking that we probably were going to have to straight up outlast them, or overcharge them. Sure, it would be dangerous, at least for Mike, but I probably would be fine on my own. I already proved that my own capacity was completely off the charts, and I couldn’t see them having just stray pieces of Crystal being more powerful than me.

Sure, they did manage to hurt me, but none of those wounds were permanent enough; I could just regenerate almost immediately.

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The only issue was them not using spells against us. That would give us an upper hand, having an infinite battery for the fight..

I could follow his lead… for now.

If that was not going to work, I guess using their own tactics would probably be advisable…

-Eh…

-AH-AH!

Just as I was considering that, he finally managed to deal a bit more serious blow.

And I mean it.

He just decapitated a man.

I am not certain why that happened.

I mean, to chop someone's head off using an exploding ball of fire was something else.

But, I realized he was no longer using fire like that.

I am not certain when, but in between regular fireballs, he started sending towards them beams of heated air.

Or at least that’s what it looked like from what I could see.

-Progress! - he yelled, looking triumphantly at me.

I am not sure if anyone should be happy about something like that.

But, in any case, his triumph was short-lived.

Because the same person he just freed of their head had stood up and punched him in the face.

-WHAT!?

Yeah, what?

That was more than just them being unable to feel pain.

They were straight up walking dead right now.

Wait…

Was that it?

I took a bit closer look at the people attacking.

Would that really be the case…?

My memories raced to the time when I was attacked by something that would be similar to a zombie… A long time ago, when some people were manipulated by a bunch of strange vines…

Which were very similar to what just moments ago had sprung from the ground…

-They are already dead! - I yelled towards Mike.

-And so what?!

-Means that someone is controlling them from outside!

-No wonder they weren’t obedient!

While “talking” we were definitely not being left alone.

About every half sentence one of us was getting hit with an enhanced fist to the various extremities. I didn’t care much. Even though getting cracked, I was healing myself pretty quickly and didn’t have much trouble keeping up with the assault.

Mike had more problems, but even though bleeding and swollen, he still was standing firm and didn’t seem to care either.

-But what do you expect me to do with that information?! - he yelled, tossing yet another spell at our adversaries.

-I think you had a good idea before - I replied and prepared myself.

Sure, the best way to get rid of them would be to sever the connection. But how?

I wasn’t sure about that.

If not that, though, the best way to pacify them would be dismemberment…

Not very clean.

But, corpse or not, effective.

I focused on my hands.

It’s not the first time I changed my body to a blade… but it would be the first time I’ve tried purposefully… disarming.

I didn’t have time to doubt myself or even were in the mood to do so, I just started swinging.

I expected blood and gore…

But got that only in minor amounts.

It was surprising. Apparently, since they were corpses already, there was not much blood to be spilled from them.

Also, I expected a lot more resistance.

I mean, they weren’t even trying to dodge or shield themselves.

Was the one controlling them thinking that the Origin Crystal would shield them from harm?

It definitely didn’t. Especially because it seemed like they only had minor traces of it inside their bodies. And even those were mostly in their fists that they were using to attack us.

It felt like cutting through ribbon.

Mike also changed his approach.

He didn’t modify his body, though. He slammed his hands into the ground, grabbing two solid chunks of earth that immediately hardened into rocks. Then, swiping both fists in a long motion he sharpened both of them into long blades.

Neat. But I wonder why didn’t he use his plant-halberd thing?

I mean, it would be, pretty much, the same effect.

I wanted to ask, but another attack from those mercs made me reconsider.

You can say many things about those guys, no matter if they were controlled or not: they were tough.

Sure, most of it probably was just because they were just puppets being manipulated from the safety of a warm room, but even then, their bodies were something else.

At first, cutting them down was as easy as it gets: one swipe and the unlucky extremity was promptly detached.

But, they learned immediately after. And that’s saying something.

I am not sure if between the two of us we managed to cut four people down, when we started having trouble actually dealing damage.

And no, they didn’t start moving faster or something that simple, no. It was their bodies that answered.

Or, to be precise, the pieces of Origin Crystal that were inside them.

Even though few and far inbetween, they started moving from just their palms to their joints. Hell, I am not sure if they moved or just started multiplying on the spot.

Most likely both.

But, despite that, it wasn’t giving them much room to breathe.

Sure, we had to swipe once or twice more to actually disarm a person, but so what? We still were doing fine.

It was just a matter of time.

Time that they didn’t have.

-Damn… - I sighed after I successfully confirmed that that was indeed the last of the soldiers. - This was… grim.

-Eh, could be worse - said Mike, shrugging. - At least we aren’t covered in blood right now.

True. Just as I noticed before, they weren’t bleeding much. And after the later “hardening”, not even a drop of blood was spilled.

-Yeah… but still…

-Don’t be such a wuss.

-Sorry for not being acclimated to the sight of a pile of wiggling dismembered corpses.

Yeah. Right in front of us, there was a rather large pile of body parts.

But that wasn’t the weirdest thing.

That was the fact that the pile in question was moving like it was a living creature…

Well, it wasn’t that far off.

-Even now they are still alive… - commented Mike with something reminding awe in his voice. - Can’t believe it…

-I told you, they weren’t alive… but I agree. This is unbelievable.

-The hell are we supposed to do with this? - he asked, stepping closer to the pile and poking one of the hands.

It did react.

It wanted to grab him, but since it was just a piece, there was no way for it to reach him, and it just started wiggling, like it was a fish, freshly removed from the water.

-You ask me?

-Yes. If that was up to me, I would’ve burned them a long time ago, and…

-And you’d be fucked. Your mana would only be absorbed.

-There are other, more manual ways to set something on fire - he pointed out.

-And would you ever use such a method? - I asked, not hiding my annoyance. - Let’s be frank for a second.

-Eh… probably not.

-Doesn’t matter. Still need to burn them…

-I mean, we can always bury them and be done with it.

-Bury? And the next day, or the next hour, deal with walking dead? No thank you.

-Like they were any better. Besides, in the next hour we would be on the other side of the world.

-Fair… But escaping…

-What, not your style?

-Eh… I’d rather not. But if survival is at stake, I…

-Don’t worry. I won’t let you die.

I looked at him with irritation.

What, he thought of himself as some kind of babysitter? That my powers were inferior?

I’ll show him!

-Fuck it. Go for it. Let’s burn those and we’re gone from here.

-Good decision

Both of us started gathering dry wood before we even realized.