After their tremendous victory over the guardian of the twentieth floor all that stood in the group’s way of clearing the Labyrinth was the twenty-fifth floor’s Zombie King and the thirtieth floor’s floor-guardian, the True Lich. Both the Zombie King and the True Lich would normally be impossible to kill, both being undead immortals. However, with Rel’s light magic they should be as easy as the treant. The only issue was the quick succession of the fighting. Rel had used a bit of her magical power already while shielding Manrin. She would need to use two more powerful light spells soon. When the group had initially discussed their strategy, they weren’t sure if Rel had the magical power to pull it off, but Rel seemed confident. Afterall, she was aiming to become the Pontiff of the Divine Church, a position only held by the most powerful Light user. She couldn’t admit any weakness now.
The group stepped out of the Dark Forest and into their new Labyrinth domain, the Immortal Cemetery. The Immortal Cemetery was a place filled with undead and spirits. It was the bane of most magic users, as there was quite literally nothing that they could do against spirits, and while their spells could reach the undead, it was still difficult to kill them. Destroying spirits required Light, Holy, Divine, Dark, Spirit, or Ritual magic. All of these affinities were, of course, rare. Luckily, Lily’s group contained both a Light user in Rel and a magical swordsman. Magical swordsmen were one of the rare, unique, magic users that could harm spirits, as their swords were infused with spiritual power, the same material which incorporated spirits. This gave the group a natural ability to complete the floor. That didn’t mean it would be easy though.
The first major enemy that the group would face would be the Zombie King. This special type of zombie had the ability to command other undead and was especially adept at recovering injuries. The group had a strategy worked out that involved Lily and her magical sword. Typically, a light user like Rel would be the better choice for a powerful zombie, but Rel needed to save her magic for the True Lich. Rel would still be needed, but the group found a way to lighten her load. Rel would cast a long-lasting light spell on Lily’s sword. Typically, magical swordsmen didn’t like any sort of magic being cast on their sword, as it was an extension of their soul. It wasn’t unheard of throughout history for a magical swordsman to be tricked by a mage and killed or enslaved. When Rel had brought this up to Lily out of concern, Lily simply laughed and told Rel that she trusted her. Rel couldn’t help but be frustrated at Lily’s carelessness.
Lily and Rel both looked uneasy as the miasma of the Immortal Cemetery crept in on them. Manrin seemed to be spaced out and Ardi simply walked ahead. The cemetery was truly an eerie place. In the sky a sun made of black light shone darkness over the land. One could describe it as daytime, but with the darkness of night. Gnarled trees and dead grass scattered the landscape. Shattered tombstones created hazards that the group carefully traversed. Spirits of the dead, tortured in their afterlife, screamed and moaned in the distance. It was a place that would make even the most grizzled veteran uncomfortable. The students were no exception.
“This is only our second time here, but It’s still just as jarring.” Rel said sheepishly while hiding behind Lily.
Ardi turned around to look at Rel, giving her a slight smile.
“Yeah, it’s no fun for me either, but we just have to push through. Just think of how close we are to our goal.”
Manrin simply pushed his glasses up. For some reason this simple gesture seemed to calm the group, after all, if Manrin was calm the rest of them could be too. The group took formation and began their long walk towards the old castle, where the True Lich sat atop his rotten throne.
The team was easily able to take down the lesser zombies. Though durable, they were slow and unintelligent. A few swings of a sword or basic magic was enough to take them down. As the group took their time taking down zombies they talked with each other a bit, only Rel had to occasionally intervene to take down a spirit.
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“So, last time we went against the zombie king we made a few mistakes that forced us to retreat.” Ardi said, bringing up their last failure.
“That won’t happen again.” Manrin said, securing his glasses.
“We didn’t know about the greater undead in the Everlasting Chasm,” Lily chimed in, “we can just avoid that area this time and we will be fine.”
Rel looked uncomfortable. While it wasn’t directly her fault that the team caught the attention of the greater undead, she was the one that had led the group there. A greater undead is a special type of monster formed by hundreds or thousands of undead that fuse together. Scholars still don’t quite understand what triggers the undead to begin fusing, but once complete, the monster it forms is far more powerful than something like a zombie king. It was the equivalent of facing a floor-guardian. The team simply wasn’t ready and was forced to retreat.
This labyrinth dive was going far better than last time. After breezing through the undead and lesser spirits of the graveyard the group finally made their way to the crumbled mausoleum, which housed the Zombie King. The group stopped outside of the mausoleum and began to set up their plan. Lily did a few stretches while the rest of the team sat and rested for a moment, preparing themselves for the battle ahead. Rel nibbled away on some bread, hiding from the rest of the group. Lily was bent over stretching and managed to catch Rel’s eyes mid nibble. Rel immediately blushed and turned away. Lily had to remind herself not to bully Rel too much or Meimei would catch wind of it and come to her upset, so as much as she wanted to say something, she let it go. Although her memory of Rel with cheeks full of bread like some sort of squirrel would be something she would treasure.
“Everyone ready?” Ardi asked, looking around.
Everyone nodded their head in agreement. Ardi nodded his head back at them and the group stepped forward into the mausoleum. A noir tone of reminiscent glory filled the mausoleum. Perhaps once a great civilization settled here. Perhaps a great man was buried here. The answer was simply lost to history, as the remnants of records scattered into dust, like the very lives of those that used to live in the crumbling city. As the group took a few more echoing steps into the main chamber of the mausoleum blue lights suddenly sprang to life, lighting the chamber in a mysterious hue. A groan slowly let out, as a hulking undead figure slowly made its way down a set of stairs. A putrid stench wafted over the group and a broken sovereign came into sight, the Zombie King.
“Let the power of that which shows the truth flow into the shape of this one’s ambitions, LIGHT VEIL!” Rel chanted her spell in order to be precise enough with her magic to keep it active on Lily’s magical weapon.
Lily’s magical sword sprang to life with a slight glow. To prevent the light magic from being dispelled she wouldn’t be able to use her flames. A compromise that was fine for her. Lily wasn’t the type to complain, as long as she killed the enemy. The Zombie King slowly picked up speed as it stomped towards the group. Zombies started slowly entering the mausoleum. The group was now surrounded, as expected. The mausoleum itself was built with thick marble which made it difficult for Manrin to use his plant magic, but the zombies, rotting on the ground, had many different plants growing on and in them.
Manrin raised his staff. The zombies began popping and exploding into a gory mess as he encouraged the growth of the plants within and on them. Rel quickly averted her eyes. Ardi had already made it to the back of the zombie king. It was a tried-and-true tactic, but since it worked there was no reason to change it. Ardi flung daggers at the zombie king, hitting it in multiple places. Purple puss leaked out of its wounds. The zombie king slowly turned its head, looking towards Ardi. At the same time Lily came swinging down from the air, slamming into the ground, her sword following suit through the zombie king. The zombie king recoiled, losing nearly its entire right side. Lily reared her sword back, swinging horizontally, slicing the zombie king in half.
The zombie king, now quartered, still continued to move. It moaned out loudly. It was attempting to induce paranoia; however, the group of veteran labyrinth divers had all prepared for this by receiving a blessing at a local temple. The paranoia failed to take root in any of the group. Lily took one more swing, directly down on the head of the zombie king. The group obtained one more victory.