“Okay, everyones here. Let’s head out.”[Brian]
It was slightly before sundown, but since everyone was present the leader of the Cemetery Cleanup team decided to head out. The group went into the cemetery with a standard formation to start, but then morphed as Miria, with a heavy load, fell further and further behind. Until they were split into two groups one with Miria, Sephtis, and one of her seniors who stayed behind with her and one group with everyone else. The senior that stayed behind was covered from head to toe in heavy armor. He also held a large shield and a mace. Miria knew that he was the tank of the cleaners.
“Thanks for staying with me.”[Miria]
“It’s fine. What kind of senior would I be if let trouble come to my junior?”[Senior]
“Still thanks. I’m Miria what’s your name?”[Miria]
“Well my name is Baenebridge-Octavanus-Eddwardo.”[Baenebridge-Octavanus-Eddwardo]
“Uhm..”[Miria]
“Yeah I know its long, but at least it’s better than my full name.”[Baenebridge-Octavanus-Eddwardo]
“Do I want to know?”[Miria]
“No, we would be here all night, and you can just call me Boe. Everyone else does. By the way how did you end up in our group?”[Boe]
“Well...”[Miria]
Miria proceeded to tell Boe her situation with the tournament and Randall up until this point. All the while Boe noded at what she said.
“Well that explains a lot. You were the latest victim of Randall.”[Boe]
“The latest victim?”[Miria]
“Yeah, he acts like a goodie two shoes normally, but in reality he is evil...no he is manipulative.”[Boe]
“What!?”[Miria]
“Randal is manipulative. He will do anything to get what he wants. If he was evil he would be doing it just for the laughs or something.”[Boe]
“So he got me in trouble so that he could benefit. Rather than getting me in trouble to laugh.”[Miria]
“Exactly.”[Boe]
“I guess I should avoid him then huh.”[Miria]
“Well thats where it gets complicated. He probably won't set you up again since you’ll be expecting that. At the same time he has nearly half the second years and some of the third years under his thumb for one reason or another.”[Boe]
“So I have to look out for that many people?”[Miria]
“No you’ll be fine if you keep your head down, but make sure to reject anything Randall has you do. Right now you're under his thumb, and he will try to use you to take control of the first years. This is a speculation of course. You know all this is too stressful for you. Don’t worry about it and I’m sure everything will work out.”[Boe]
“Hey Boe, I don’t see the rest of our group anymore are we going to be ok?”[Miria]
“That depends. do you know any magic that can create light?”[Boe]
“Yes.”[Miria]
“Well then we will be just fine.”[Boe]
“But what if we get attacked? I doubt light will beat Undead, and what if the other group gets attacked? I have all of the emergency supplies!”[Miria]
“I said it would be fine. If we get attacked you can use your light magic or a flare to call for help. I’m the main tank in our group, and you can heal us at least a little so we can last until help comes. As for the other group they can handle themselves. We are only expecting one or two undead tonight, and even if they get held up we’re walking on the same path so we’ll catch up to them and be able to help.”[Boe]
“Wow your really planned ahead huh.”[Miria]
“Not really. It just worked out like that.”[Boe]
Miria thought that she souldn’t put too much faith into Boe.
“Why are we expecting one or two Undead? The map I saw had a lot of markings of undead.”[Miria]
“Well everyone of those marks is where we encountered an Undead. We just got over a large wave of Undead, and last cleaning we only saw three. So today we are expecting even less.”[Boe]
Miria and Boe continued walking and after a while the came across an unusually large clump of dark matter.
“Miria, you see that.” Boe said while pointing to the clump of dark matter.
“Yes, why is it like that.”[Miria]
“Dark matter will clump up like that before an Undead spawns. Have your {Familiar} walk into it. If he can absorb all of it then we won't have a problem.”[Boe]
“Randall told me that Dark Mages use dark matter for spells. Don’t you want that clump?”[Miria]
“Thats true, but I can’t absorb dark matter. I’m in the Cemetery Cleanup team to kill Undead to fulfill a class up requirement.”[Boe]
Miria satisfied by the answer ordered Sephtis into the dark matter. The clump of dark matter was up to Sephtis’ knees. As he stepped into the dark matter it rippled before slowly swirling around Sephtis and being absorbed. After several minutes Sephtis had completely absorbed the clump of dark matter. All the while Boe was taking items out of Miria’s bag and loading his own.
“Ok, we’re going to kick it into high gear from now on. The other group shouldn’t have missed that clump. So I’m worried that something happened to them. We’re going to take a shortcut to catch up to them. Miria I need you to flash light slowly as we progress. Don’t make it too bright just enough to light our way. Now lets get a move on.”[Boe]
Boe lead the way through the cemetery as Miria followed. He kept looking back to Miria, and adjusted his pace. They were running past tomb stones and random trees. Unlike the road there was much more dark matter around them, but every time Miria’s light flashed it would disperse a little, and light their way. After running through the shortcut the group again arrived at another road. As soon as they arrived Boe was in a bit of a panic looking back and forth down the roads.
“Are we lost?”[Miria]
“No we’re not lost, but the other group might be.”[Boe]
Boe continued to look back and forth down the path.
“Miria, take a mana potion, and start to flash light again this time fast and bright but not too high.”[Boe]
Miria started flashing her light as Boe panickly looked around for any signs of the other group.
“Miria I’m not going to lie we’re in a pretty shit spot right now.”[Boe]
“Well what should we do? If were not lost we can still leave right?”[Miria]
“Yeah we could leave if we need to, but I’m worried about the other group. They missed that clump of dark matter so they may be acting reckless, and got caught off guard. On the other hand we might be attacked, and not get backup from them since they can’t see out distress signal. Either way we’re in a bad spot.”[Boe]
Miria was scared the simple cleaning as turned dangerous in a brief moment. The decision in front of her was hard, but she had already made up her mind.
“We have to help the other group!”[Miria]
“!.. Are you sure want to help them? They may be fine on their own, and we are put at greater danger if we go looking for them.”[Boe]
“I’m sure. So what should we do.”[Miria]
“Humm… We will need to go to the center of the cemetery. If they set off an emergency flare it will be fastest to get to them from there.”[Boe]
Boe lead Miria down the path towards the center of the cemetery. He was hoping to meet up with the other group on the trail, but it was to no avail. They arrived at the center of the cemetery. It was a small paved open space that was slightly elevated. There were four pillars around at the cardinal directions for decoration.
“Miria, try sending some distress flashes again. They may see them now.”[Boe]
Miria started to send out flashes, but after ten minutes no one had come. Boe was ready to call it quits and head for they exit. When Sephtis noticed something.
“...there...”[Sephtis]
Boe turned to look at Sephtis; surprised to hear him talking. He followed Sephtis’ pointed finger to find an Undead hiding in the darkness.
“MIRIA GET BEHIND ME, AND BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!”[Boe]
Miria got behind Boe having Sephtis do the same. As the Undead got closer Miria saw that it looked similar to a zombie, but it had less flesh and an oversized mouth.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Miria, start chugging mana potions, and hitting that thing with any light magic you know.”[Boe]
“Got it. Do you want Sephtis to help?”[Miria]
“No, have him protect you. Burn thy enemies, SUMMON.”[Boe]
Boe summoned his {Familiar} a three tailed Fire Fox. Right after being summoned the Fire Fox jumped onto Boe’s shoulder and covered his mace in fire. The first attack however came from Miria who started the fight by casting a weak healing spell on the Undead’s foot. She wanted to cast a buff spell she had just learned, but she wasn’t sure if it would hurt the Undead. The spell she cast created a small glow around one of the Undead’s feet tearing off some flesh. The Undead became enraged by the attack and charged at Mirai only to be blocked by Boe’s shield.
The Undead started pounding on Boe with both of this arms relentlessly. Normally this would show openings for others to attack, but there was no one there to make use of these openings. Miria kept healing the Undead focussing on joints in the limbs, but it didn’t seem to matter to the Undead. As the fight continued Boe started to get desperate. He was getting tired and his shield and armor was getting damaged. He knew that if this continued he would die.
“Miria, have your {Familiar} charge!”[Boe]
“Sephtis, attack that Undead.”[Miria]
Sephtis replaced Boe in the fight. Boe knew that Sephtis would be killed soon, but he was looking his chance during this to land a fatal hit. The Undead immediately started going after Sephtis after he got in range. Wild swings started coming at Sephtis. Normally Sephtis would try to block these attacks, but seeing the Undead’s power against Boe he started dodging from the get go. While dodging Sephtis eventually found an opening and took it. Stabbing his knife into the Undead’s chest aiming for his heart. Too bad the Undead don’t have working organs. With the blade lodged into the Undead it grabbed Sephtis, and started devouring him.
“{Return}!”[Miria]
Boe jumped at the chance that Sephtis made. Hitting the Undead in the skull. His mace had a light attribute, fire attribute, and an extra boost from Boe’s skill, but the Undead only took minor damage.
“Damn it! Miria that’s a Devourer. It feeds on other Undead to become stronger. This fight just got harder.”[Boe]
“I’m sorry.”[Miria]
“No its my fault. I should have realized that it was a Devourer, but that’s in the past. We have to beat this thing now.”[Boe]
“Shouldn’t we use the flare now?”[Miria]
“Don’t! It will call for help, but it will also attract more Undead here. So unless we can hold out for a while it’s useless.”[Boe]
“So what should we do then?”[Miria]
“When I say now cast all the buffs you can on me. If that doesn’t work then I want you to run.”[Boe]
“But!”[Miria]
“No buts. I got you in this mess, and I will get you out.”[Boe]
Boe squared off against the Undead. Thoughts ran through his mind. Why didn’t I try to keep up with everyone, why didn’t I try harder to class up, and did I leave the stove on. *Whiss* a lash went right by Boe. He started to dodge the Devourer’s attacks rather than taking them since he learned its patterns while watching Sephtis. After dodging a particularly wide swing Boe used {Shield Bash} to briefly stun the Devourer.
“NOW!”[Boe]
Miria cast all of the buffs she prepared. Using her only skill {Weak Blessing} along with a healing overtime spell and a speed spell both of Light attribute. With the added boost, and his own skills, Boe swung as hard as he could at the Devourer’s body since the head was too far away. Ribs went flying an arm hit the ground. Boe would be able to beat the Devourer now that he was missing an arm. At least he should have been able to. The Devourer let out a high pitched scream when he noticed the missing arm. It was the skill {Call Undead}. Soon weak Undead would come to the aid of the Devourer only to be eaten and make the Devourer even more powerful. And Boe knew this perfectly well
“Miria you can go to the entrance now. That was his death scream it will take a while, but I can easily kill him.”[Boe]
“Are you sure its ok for me to go?”[Miria]
“Of course it is just go.” Boe said as he started to desperately attack the Devourer.
Miria started to go leaving Boe to finish the job. Boe was glad to see Miria escape. So much had gone wrong today, and he didn’t want Miria to have to deal with it any more so he chose to be a mortar. As the new Undead approached Boe steeled his mind to give Miria enough time to escape.
(Author’s note: No peaking)
“MASS HEAL!”[Miria]
Everyone was wrapped in a gentle light Human and Undead alike. Along with several explosions from Light grenades. The weakest among the Undead were immediately killed. The others were limping, and the Devourer had lost all of it’s flesh and was nothing but bones. This was not a happy moment for Boe however. He turned around to see Miria leaning against a pillar before she fell to the ground. She had just used the standard spell mass heal. The problem was that it was far outside what she could handle. This caused a relapse. At best Miria fainted at worst she just died. Either way she was totally defenceless. Whether she lives or dies depends on whether or not Boe can protect her.
“You idiot why didn’t you leave...thanks.”[Boe]
Boe charged at the Devourer not giving it the chance to eat the other Undead. He clashed with the Devourer. He was on the offensive for the first time. He left his back to his {Familiar} which was more than enough to deal with the weakened Undead. *Bash* the Devourer’s head shattered. Its lifeless body fell to the ground. Boe continued to finish off the Undead always making sure that their bodies returned to dark matter. As soon as the last one disappeared he ran over to Miria and checked her pulse.
“Thank god, she just fainted.”[Boe]
Boe took Miria in his arms and made a beeline for the exit. Along the way Miria woke up, and turned bright red from being held in a princess carry by her senior. She wanted to get down and walk herself, but Boe refused to let her down saying that she needed rest. When they arrived at the exit Boe finally let Miria down. They waited there for the other group to return while looking out for any distress signals. After about ten minutes they arrived looking confused at Boe and Miria who had arrived before them.
Boe explained what they had dealt with with after falling behind. Everyone seemed questionable about his story.
“Hey Miria, is that all true?”[Brian]
“Yes, everything that Baenebridge-Octavanus-Eddwardo said was true.” Miria said while trying to be respectable to her senior.
“...HAHAHAHAHAHA”[Everyone ex. Boe & Miria]
“HAhaha...I’m sorry Miria. He does that to everyone when he meets them. His real name is just Boe. That stupidly long name is what he made up as a joke.”[Brian]
Miria looks up to Boe like a child looking up to a parent that lied about her goldfish dying.
“Sorry Miria, but its true my name is just Boe.”[Boe]
Miria started beating Boe with her fists not really doing anything against his armor. Boe jested and acted as if she were hurting him. Miria’s first Cemetery Cleaning ended in just over two hours. As she walked back to the dorms she heard about the other groups tale. They were trying to root out an Undead that was creating a large amount of black smoke. Which was blocking their vision from Miria’s signals.
Another day done Miria starts to go to bed.
“Ah! I forgot to tell Sephtis to absorb the dark matter. Oh well it's too late now.”[Miria]