McOris and his new party walk to the top of a small hill, and immediately see a singular lone zombie. Its about 15 meters away, shuffling along and apparently entirely oblivious to the group on the hill. Beyond the Zombie are more hills, going off in every direction in front of them. Its going to take awhile to search through all these, especially if its all 1 Zombie at a time. Still though, this is their first enemy. A Level 1 Zombie. None of them are terribly worried about it.
"Alright team, for this first Zombie, we should probably all use our skills. Just to test them out. Support skills first, then damage. Well except for you Westen, hopefully we don't need you to cast yours at all during this. Alright, Caleb, you go first. Try and create a nice wall halfway between us and the Zombie, or as close to it as your range allows. Then Randolf, Flash the thing. I'll Icy Wind it, Elizabeth can Curse it. Amy, I guess just Haste yourself." Maximillian starts, before being interrupted by Amy.
"Its Winds of Haste Maximillian, actually can I call you Max while we're out here, Maximillian takes forever to say." She says with a huff to start, and then a smile at Maximillian as she finishes.
With a sigh he responds, "Yes, Winds of Haste, and I suppose while in this Dungeon you can call me Max. Moving on. Once the support skills have all been used, the rest will use their offensive skills. Firebolts first, see if they do any extra damage to Zombies, or have any impact on the Icy Winds effects. Then the Force Missile. The three of you can just repeat that until it goes down. Which hopefully won't take many shots to do."
The group nods their understanding and agreement, and Max turns towards Caleb and motions for him to start. Caleb steps forward, and reaches out his hand to point towards where he wants the wall to rise. Willing the skill to start, he feels his mana leaving him, and a wall slowly rises from the ground, only half a meter high, 2 meters long, and a tench of a meter thick. Its made of dirt, but keeps its shape fairly well, just a straight rectangle. Caleb stares at the wall, not sure if he should be impressed that he did actual magic creating out of nowhere 100+ kilograms of dirt, or disappointed that its really not exactly the best wall. Still though he turns and nods toward Randolf.
Randolf takes his cue, and points at the Zombie directly, causing a bright burst of light that seems to startle the Zombie. It stops its slow shuffle, and starts clawing at the air in front of it, clearly not able to understand what just happened.
Max then steps forward and waves an Icy Wind towards the Zombie. A light dusting of frost covers it, and its movements slow noticeably, at the same time Amy motions towards herself, and a breeze starts ruffling her clothes and hair, all her movements suddenly becoming a bit faster. With the wind, the Zombie seems to notice something, and turns towards the group. Seeing living things there, it starts hobbling towards them. Its all alone, and slow, leaving the group still fairly confident of their success.
Elizabeth is the next to act. She gestures towards the Zombie, moving her fingers in a witchy way. The Zombie quickly darkens, though no other noticeable change occurs in it. She frowns slightly at the apparent lack of effect, but steps back out of the way, leaving things clear for the damage dealers. All the while the Zombie slowly moves towards them.
Now that all the support casters have finished casting their spells, Sarah and Barney step forward. Barney turns to Sarah and smiles at her, saying "Ladies first!" and gesturing for her to go first. She nods in reply, pulls her arm back, and makes a throwing motion, mid way through, fire appears in her hand and as it reaches the end of the throw, she releases it towards the Zombie. It flies towards it, but lands a little low, hitting it in the legs. There is a small explosion of fire, and the Zombies pants catch fire, which slowly starts spreading out. The Zombie starts smoking, and its flesh seems to obviously burn. Barney nods at her, steps forward and holds his hand out. The Firebolt shoots from his hand towards the Zombie, and hits it in the torso. This knocks the Zombie back a bit, and catches its shirt on fire.
The fires slowly continue spreading as the Zombie keeps up its relentless walk towards the group. At this point, getting close to the wall between them. McOris points his finger at the Zombie, and wills his skill to activate, thinking Force Missile as he wills the skill to fire. A faint green cone shoots towards the Zombie, and aims unerringly at its torso, knocking it back again with the force, though it still continues on. Seeing this the group look at each other.
"Well, I guess we just keep cycling through attacks until it stops. Gotta work eventually, right?" Barney says, shooting another FIrebolt at it. This time when he does so, it hits the Zombie in the head, and it crumples before them. "Oh, well hey that was easy!" As he says this, a screen appears before the group.
Quest Progress 1/100 Zombies Killed
"Alright, that's a start at least, but we're going to take awhile if they are all solo like that. Hopefully, that won't be too much of a problem." Max states, before waving the group forward towards the next set of hills. As the group walks up, the start to crouch lower, trying to reduce their profile on the hill, hoping to make sure they keep surprising the Zombies, and not the other way around. The valley beyond it has nothing though, so they continue on. Continuing their wary progress, they crest another hill, and come upon something significantly scarier. A group of 5 zombies. This group is shuffling slowly away from them, so they have the chance to blindside these Zombies as well. With 5 of them though, this group is significantly more dangerous than the lone one they fought before.
"Alright team, we're going to have to be careful here. With so many of them, our best bet is probably going to be killing them one at a time, keep our distance, slowly back up and just kite them to death. Those of us who can slow them down, or distract them do so. We'll try and make sure that the closest one is left alone, so you damage dealers can get rid of it, and hopefully we can get them into a straight line, and just blast them down. With this many, taking 3 Firebolts and 1 Force Missile for the last one, we probably can't kill them all before you run out of mana for your skills. Should be able to take out 3 of them before you run out. So you'll kill the first 3 as fast as you can. That will leave just 2 of them, and we'll have to just have to stay outside their range while you 3 recharge your mana." Max is quick to form a plan, and tell the group what to do. The previously nervous group is now feeling much more confident.
Barney steps up first, and immediately raises his hand and fires a shot. "I'll get the party started then." He comments as his Firebolt flies towards the Zombie closest to the group. It lands off center, hitting the thing in its right shoulder. Still though, it catches fire and begins to burn. Immediately the group of Zombies stops, and turns back towards the group. They all give out an eerie moan and begin to move towards the party. They aren't in any kind of formation, they're just all moving in the same direction. Sometimes even getting in each other's way.
With the Zombie group heading towards them, Sarah unleashes her own Firebolt, throwing it at the lead Zombie, this time she hits it in left leg just as its taking a step with it, causing it to stumble. As it does so, the Zombies behind it run into it, knocking it further off balance and to the ground, as it continues to burn, now from its shoulder and leg. The other Zombies groan as they step over their fallen but not dead comrade.
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At this point, with the Zombies grouped up on top of each other, Max signals to Randolf, and the two of them use their abilities. Max manages to get the whole group with his Icy Wind, whilst Randolf's Flash skill manages to temporarily daze the new front Zombie.
McOris starts using his skill now, pointing towards the new lead, he unleashes a Force Missile. It zooms towards his target, taking it directly in the chest. Slowing its advance slightly. The Force Missile doesn't seem to have done a lot to the thing, so he unleashes another, just as Barney fires a Firebolt. The missile collides with the Zombie first, but the Firebolt hits it right after, both attacks land on the things torso. The whole front of its shirt is now on fire, burning away, revealing that its ribs appear to be pushed in slightly, likely from the Force Missiles. Sarah comes in with her own Firebolt now, hitting the thing in the waist. Its still standing but still burning nicely. McOris launches another missile, and this one finally takes it down. Sending it falling to the ground, no longer moving. Its quickly stepped over by the others, as the first downed Zombie gets itself back up, still lightly burning.
Meanwhile Amy has herself and Westen buffed with the Winds of Haste. Elizabeth is ignoring the front Zombies, and is placing curses on ones in back. Caleb decides to try something new, and tries to raise an Earthen Wall right in front the newest leader of the Zombie pack. It works like a charm and trips the thing. Causing the whole group to slow down again. Every second they can get these things distracted, or otherwise away from them, is more time for them to recharge their mana, and finish them off. So he's feeling pretty proud of himself.
The attack team keep going with their spells. It seems to take 3 Force Missiles and 2 Firebolts, or 3 Firebolts and 1 Force Missile to kill one of these basic Zombies. The second one to fall does so from the 3 Firebolt set, 1 from Sarah, and 2 from Barney. Both of them are running low now, only 1 shot each, it'll be another 15 seconds before Sarah gets enough to cast again. Barney will take longer. McOris has enough for 4 shots left, so they can take out one more before running dry. Trying to take down a third Zombie, McOris leads them off. Activating a Force Missile towards the next closest Zombie, it still strikes directly at the center of the torso. Sarah and Barney are quick to add their own skills, causing their target to burst into flames from two different areas. McOris starts spamming his next two missiles, as fast as he can. Trying to finish the thing off quickly.
Now there are only two Zombies left. The one in the back, still burning, and one last Zombie, that's still relatively untouched save for a sheen of frost over it, slowing it down slightly, as it keeps the burning one behind it, both dedicated to getting to the Mages. The party quickly start moving back, and giving themselves plenty of room. These Zombies aren't terribly fast, but better to keep their distance, just in case. Still though, as the last two Zombies move in, they suddenly become one. The Zombie that had been burning all this time, finally falls to the ground its flesh burnt far too much to still be viable. Leaving just one Zombie left. Now the group is feeling much better. They'd learned something new about how the Zombies worked, and about how effective Firebolt could really be. Leaving both Sarah and Barney looking quite proud of themselves for their choice. The party easily dispatch the last Zombie as their mana recovers. Once the last Zombie falls with a groan, the group get a new window, telling them how many Zombies they have left.
Now that they realize the Zombies can come in groups, they are a bit more worried. The party hunkers down on their hill and wait out the recovery of their attackers mana. It only takes a few minutes, but it gives everyone a chance to calm down, and think about how crazy this whole thing is. They are in a group of people with actual Magic, fighting off against Zombies. Its incredible, and terrifying. They'd done well so far, but with only 3 people that can attack. What are they going to do if they get surrounded by groups, or if they come across a much larger group. Ruko only said that they had to kill 100 of the things, not that there were only 100 in this training dungeon.
Having thought about this issue, Caleb finally speaks up. "Uhh, guys? I think it might be a good idea for us to wait to go attack more Zombies for a bit. I've got a little use in a fight by tripping a Zombie or two, but that's not terribly useful. I think though that if I can take a little while. I can set up some decent walls. If I do that, we may be able to set up a kind of fort or something. Give ourselves a place to fall back to if we run into anything crazy. I should be able to build something useful like that with a bit of time. I think it could really come in handy if we need it." Afterwards he looks around the group, asking with his eyes if anyone else thinks its a good idea.
Amy speaks up next, "If he's going to be fortifying the area, maybe I should take someone with me, and scout around with my Winds of Haste? Get a better idea of the area, and where Zombies are, hopefully with just two people, they won't notice us even if they aren't looking away from us when we spot them... Could get a better idea of what kind of size Zombie groups are in. We'd run away as soon as we get spotted, stuff like that. If we do this right, we could even help tell Caleb where the biggest groups will be coming from, so he can make those sides extra tough right?"
Max is nodding along at these idea. "I think this could work, would have to be very careful with scouting though. Make sure neither of you leave the other behind. I think it would work best if you brought someone with Firebolt. Should be able to shoot it into the air once if you find yourselves in trouble. Kinda like a signal flare. We'll be watching out for it, and know to come to you if you do so. Not really big on the idea of splitting up, but knowledge is power, if you and whoever you bring can find a few different groups, we can all go together and clear out the smaller ones first. Get used to things."
As soon as Max stops speaking Barney speaks up, "Oh! I'll go with her, keep her company, and keep her safe!" He says the last bit with a grin on his face as he looks towards Amy. She just rolls her eyes at his antics, but nods her head in acquiescence.
With the scouts picked out, they head off, moving quickly but staying low, trying not to be spotted early. As they leave, Caleb starts working on fortifying the hilltop they are on. Thinking about it, he decides to just but up a circle of walls to start with. Luckily he finds he can curve the Earthen Wall he makes around the hilltop. It takes quite a bit of sitting around waiting for his mana to regenerate, but he's able to get a single layer wall all around the hill, save for a single wall section's width, back towards the direction Ruko is waiting for them. It seems like the safest direction, and they need some easy way to enter or leave the wall. With that done, he starts working on adding a second Earthen Wall on top of his previous wall. Luckily it works as he'd hoped. He starts slowly adding to the wall.
The rest of the group waiting there, decide to just look over the nearby hills, just to make sure they aren't all about to get attacked by any groups of Zombies nearby. They are slow and careful about it, and only find a single Zombie beyond any of these hills. They quickly take it out, and head back to Caleb's slowly growing fort to wait.
When Caleb is nearly half way done with his second layer of the wall, he jerks to a stop suddenly with a smile on his face. The rest of the group notice this oddity, and get up to walk over to him. "Caleb you OK?" asks Elizabeth.
"OK? HA! More than OK, I just gained a level in Earthen Wall. Now its bigger and stronger than ever. Most expensive skill, but the first of the group to gain a level in it. Hell yeah!" after getting brought out of his inspection of the new effects of the level, he's quite happy with himself and his plan. He still has to wait for his mana to regenerate, but he's no longer sitting around waiting for it, instead he walks up to his wall, and starts inspecting it, looking forward to seeing just how the changes present themselves.
The rest of the group go back to what they were doing. Most of them are chatting softly together, McOris though is sitting with his back to the wall, and practicing the mana gathering technique that first showed he had good potential for being a Mage. Quietly playing with and manipulating the little ball of mana between his hands.
A few minutes after Caleb finishes his wall, the scouts return. They bring news a dozen Zombie groups, of various sizes nearby, most of which are larger than the one they already fought. They gather everyone up, and start heading towards the smallest of them, a group of 3. Something simple and hopefully easy to kill.