We stomped on dead wolves as we made our way to the edge of the energy barrier.

My expectations were low. Lower even when I heard someone saying that the undead were not following us.

The only reason not to follow us, is that they needed to. They were corrupted, we were not.

Trapped into a dome that only they could bring down left us with only two options.

To voluntarily come at them.

Or to become corrupted with them.

“How long do we have?” I heard someone I couldn't recognize ask.

“We should have about two da-”

“No!” I interrupted Lebil.

I was too fed up. The situation had derailed far enough already. I had to speak up. Those that had given up already, and those who refused to see the truth, I would not change. But I had to win over the rest.

“Think about it! Does this feel like a FF-rank dungeon? Where do you think the undead came from?”

I spoke slowly, putting deliberate emphasis on every word I thought might trigger them.

“What do you think will happen with all the corpses that we left behind?”

I didn't simply mean the wolves. I meant our own, the former expedition members. Those that had died inside the building. Right next to the undead.

“I'll tell you, either we finish this fast, or we join them.”

My enemy sense was flaring. It could have been one of those instances were you see imaginary dots, but it was not that.

Was I overshadowing him? Sure. Did that deserve to be killed? I didn't think so. But either way, I was planning to leave alive, whatever that took.

It came and went. Never too strong or too bright. Just the bare minimum that made my ability trip. More than a leader should have for someone trying hard to save everyone’s asses.

I ignored it.

“Burn the wolves, their flesh and bones, until only their ashes remain. And any other corpse that you find. Now!”

I needed some time to recover, and so did the rest of the expedition. Normally, it would take me somewhere around 15 minutes to fully restore my energy. But this was not normal. It was at least four times slower.

Did we have a whole hour? Maybe. Maybe not. One overdrive attack had coated me more than half of my pool. I could perhaps control it to be less than a half. And, even then, if I waited an hour, I could only bring two skeletons down.

I doubted anyone else could bring them down. So, all by myself, it would be 3 trips with 1 hours rest before each. I didn't like my odds here.

“Lebil,” I finally addressed him, “what exactly to we have to do to clear the dungeon?”

“We have to destroy the source of corruption, which is all the equipment inside.”

“And then the undead would be gone?”

“Why would they?” He looked as if I was a 2 year old toddler trying his best at speaking. “They are already corrupted, so source or not, they are staying.”

“Ah…” Admittedly, that made sense. “And, say that we destroy that source. Does all corruption just go away with it?”

“No, not really. It will eventually fade, but it takes anything from hours to days, depending on the initial magnitude.”

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So, potentially, even if we kill the undead, undo the mess, and exit, there would still be monsters spawning here. We would have to kill, again, our former allies. And do so in as little time as we could.

The initial magnitude here must have been significant. There was no other way given what we had been fighting against.

Anyhow, I decided to keep all of that for myself. I needed people to feel purpose, to see an exit at the end. Demotivating them wouldn’t get me far.

Some opted to trust me. Their coordinated efforts soon saw a pile of growing bodies being burned by powerful spells. I didn’t know how much substance the system needed to make the corruption work, and I wasn’t about to find out.

Others, decided I was wrong. That we were not trapped and that escaping was easy. I pitied them, but I wouldn’t stop them. From swords to spells, all sorts of attacks were being thrown at the barrier.

Sparks flew when metal hit it. It brightened with spells. But not a single opening was made.

The pyre was burning. My energy reaching past the half-point. It was time to act, to face our enemies and clear this site once and for all. I walked back to the middle of the group, I was ready to give another speech. But then I saw Lebil’s hand.

It was behind his back, clearly meant for me to see. Initially, it was a closed punch, but it rapidly expanded into the universal stop sign.

“Darian is right.” His whole figure appeared on my enemy sight for a fraction of a second. “We must act quickly, so I propose that we storm the place and wipe the floor with those skeletons!”

His voice had raised to a vindictive tone.

“Let’s make them pay for what they did to our friends!”

“Yeah!”

The chorus of exclamations, agreement, and curses was unanimous. Better than I would have done. Unexpected even. It was a simple matter of trust; one I hadn’t really earned. My age was not helping either.

I really didn’t mind that he did that. It got more people on our side, and that would make things easier. It should, at least. The one part I didn’t like, and what made my hair stand on end, was his growing enmity against me.

I didn’t trust him. Not. At. All. There were more threats in the forthcoming battle than I wanted.

Problems, however, are easier to tackle one at a time. And the most immediate one wasn't Lebil.

I shared my recollections of the battle with the undead. Namely, that they are more intelligent that they look like. Their magic is powerful, which must be because they are several levels above us.

There were talks about them being evolved. Serious concerns over it, actually. And it was not the first time heard the term, because the wolves apparently also were.

I asked, and I liked the answer. Kinda. Level 25 was a bit of a stepping stone. If, and there was a big if attached, you reached 25 with the right understanding of your class and where it would bring you, it would change in that direction.

The system chose your attributes based on what you wanted to be. Naturally, the class was not any different in that regards.

I think they saw my sheepish eyes and felt compelled to elaborate. A pure elementless mage who had been practicing non-stop with fire could see his efforts rewarded with a [Fire mage] class.

The attributes would readjust to the new class, as well as get a boost in its numbers. As you drifted more apart of level 25, the differences in power became insurmountable.

I had a theory, thought I could not prove it. I had slayed the only evolved skeleton. The [Acolyte undead]. One that had been busy controlling minds until the system rewarded him for it.

The other skeletons not doing mind magic meant either they were not evolved, or they had other interests—if a bunch of magically tied together bones could have such a thing.

“Aim for their core,” I eventually concluded my speech. “That's their only weak point, and the easier way to kill them.”

Maybe you could reduce each of their bones to nothing, and then it would also die. It just seemed unpractical.

“Any questions?”

Lots of them, I thought as I scanned their faces. Maybe bone-smashing had been their idea?

“The core?” Finally someone barely managed to ask.

“Yes, in their rib cage. It's a bright ball of energy that keeps them in a single piece.”

“I have not seen that.”

“No, neither have I.”

A bunch of whispers, just loud enough for me to hear them, started circulating around.

Likely, it was only my [passive] Area identify that made it visible for me.

“You might need some magic sense ability for it?” I said, hoping magic sense was the not alien way of saying it.

A few heads nodded and others shrugged, which I understood meant I was right.

“Anyway!” I jumped back into the topic. “Just use magic to aim there, right in the center of it, and you'll do damage.”

Not being able to see it wouldn't stop the core from taking damage. And that was enough for me.

We were in formation. Ready for round two.

“Let's go!”