“We need to get back to the city, fast!” I yell telepathically as I come back outside.
“...” x2
They both stare at me, or at least I think they do, it’s hard to tell what Kosei does with that half mech armor as Shiona called it.
“What?” Asks Shiona while stroking a small brown fur ball which was on her shoulder, Kosei on the other hand seems to hear how urgent it is and gets up from where he was sitting, preparing to start running.
“Is, is that the chimera?” I ask, the surprise of seeing the small platypus causing me to lose my momentum.
“Yup, she hatched after you went inside.”
“Plush, you were saying we needed to hurry to the city?” Reminds Kosei.
“Yes! Thanks Kosei, Shiona, you remember the skill that let me find you back then? Well it happened again, and this time I saw something bad! We have to hurry, I can explain once we get everyone together.”
Shiona’s faces tenses up when she hears how stressed I am and she picks up the chimera with her wings and puts it in her bag, the chimera then sticks her head and front feet and looks at us, its beak shaped in a way which makes it look like it’s constantly smiling.
Shiona grabs me and we take off, before we get too far I tell Kosei that we have to hurry and where the guild is in case we end up going to fast as we can’t afford to stop.
“That’s fine, you guys go ahead and I’ll tell Fallis and Shro when I get there!”
We fly towards the city and hear the sounds of Kosei’s overly loud footsteps going further and further away as we’re flying faster than before.
We land in front of the gates and show our licenses to enter, the last thing we need now is the guards chasing after us, and then take off once we enter and fly directly to the guild since for whatever reason ever since I came back from the Revenant Reconnaissance I haven’t been able to go as fast while phasing.
We land outside the guild, run in and up the stairs and knock frantically on Hugh’s office.
*SLAM*
“What!?!” Shouts Hugh as he slams open the door.
“Necromancer!” I shout back.
“WHAT!?” Respond Both Hugh and Shiona... And Cathy who was walking by.
* * *
A while later I’m sitting at the table in the basement which had been used to verify the goblin ears after having explained it to everyone around.
Sitting around the table were Hugh, Grizz, Cathy and Rico, four of the five staff members, one of them had to stay behind on booth duty so they handed it to the most recent hire, Rupe.
There was also the pickits who had accomplished enough while I was gone t gain the trust of the guild, Hann- Err, Red, who I now found out was apparently a shiny gold ranked adventurer, and the elves who had been allowed into an otherwise private meeting due to my recommendation.
Shiona was right next to me, feeding bits of meat she’d gotten from Rupe to the chimera.
“Those are dire news Plush. And you’re absolutely certain of your skills accuracy and of what you saw?” Asked Hugh while acting like a proper guild master for once.
“Do you have any way to prove it?” Followed Rico up, causing Hugh and the others to nod.
“I am absolutely certain of what I had seen, as well as how accurate what I see is, if anything you can ask Shiona and those three.” I gesture towards Charlie, Diifan and Baom. “They were with me when I left earlier due to one of my previous visions, in fact that vision was what has allowed me to even find Shiona.” I explained.
Red, the pickits, the elves and Cathy nodded their head, signaling that they believed me, however Hugh, Rico and Grizz were still on the fence.
“As for a way to prove it?” Asked Rico again.
“I can try to use it, however I can only use it when I’m asleep, and the only way I’d be able to fall asleep now would be if I exhausted myself to the point of fainting, and I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to use it if I’m out of energy.”
“In that case we can just use some energy jellies on you after you fall asleep.” States Grizz.
I somewhat reluctantly agreed in the end and started creating objects behind my back with Trickster’s Sleight until everything turned black while I was praying for it to work, I then felt something cold wash over my face and I found myself standing on top of the table we were sitting around, everything except for Shiona looking black and white again.
When I appeared some people stared while others gasped, some sat still while others reached for their weapons.
“Is that you Plush?” Asked Hugh cautiously, Shiona looking at him with panic in her eyes, worried he was going to attack me.
‘Yeah.’ I thought, luckily they were able to hear me, much like how Shiona could hear me back then despite me not having the telepathy bangle with me.
I then tried to wake up like when I was on the Island, succeeded, and sat back up (though I had to move the chimera first, little fellow had laid down on my chest while I was out).
The three now trusted the skill, however they were still doubtful of the info, turns out necromancers hadn’t been heard of for a very long time, the last time being when a single necromancer had taken over an entire continent south of the one we’re on, only dying due to having eaten contaminated food which his minions had unknowingly brought him.
“As much as my common sense is telling me to just call you a liar and be done with this whole mess my responsibilities as a guild master forbid me from doing so. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but necromancers are widely known to be a thing of the past, with all knowledge on how to become one gathered and destroyed, but if this is really true that one has arrived then we can spare no effort. Everyone, we need to prepare for departure. Rico, you can stay and keep the guild functioning with Rupert, Grizz and Cathy, you follow Plush, Shiona and me to the lake island. Pickits.” He says and looks at Charlie & Co.
“We’ll come too.” Responds Charlie.
“I’m sorry Charlie, but we’re dealing with a necromancer, they can drain the very ground below them of energy to fuel their creation. Quite frankly, not even your expert earth magic would work on that island until several years after the necromancers been defeated and the soil has recovered. I won’t sugarcoat it, you three only work so well due to all three of you putting in equal effort, even if it’s only one of you who becomes unable to put in their full effort it’s enough to take you down to a rusty bronze ranked party, you’d only get in the way so I can not bring you along.”
The three in question look very unwilling but accepted it without refuting him.
“And Hann… No, Red was it? You’re a shiny gold ranked adventurer on par with several of the guild branch masters, if you could come along we’d be grateful.”
“Of course, if that necromancer comes over here all hell would break loose, we have to stop him while we can. I can even put in word back home and ask Anna to come help Rico and Rupert.”
“Thanks, as for elves-”
However he’s quickly interrupted by Kosei.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“I will come along whether you want me to or not, as for these two they can help around at the guild or Red’s inn, wherever they’re needed. If there’s one thing us elves are good at it’s monotonous work.”
Kosei would have probably been immediately rejected if it weren’t for the fact that he was currently wearing his armor.
“Thank you, you all have until tomorrow to prepare, we leave on a boat midday. Rico, follow Red to their inn, take the two elves with you and make sure you have things planned out with Anna so that nothing goes wrong, put people where they will be the best and don’t just prioritize the guild. Dismissed.”
We all rise from our seats and leave, Grizz, Hugh and Cathy walk upstairs to prepare everything while everyone else (Except Rupe) went to the inn.
Once we got to the inn we had dinner, Rico, Fallis and Shro joined us, they talked to Anna about what we’d discussed and they then left for the guild once again, the pickits followed them to do some late night quests since they were feeling restless while Shiona and I went to get some early sleep.
* * *
I open my eyes and see that I am once again back on the gray island, I immediately look around to try and determine whether the necromancer is around however he doesn’t appear to be so I keep exploring the island and try to remember as much as I can, such as the shortest route to the books page as well as a few other things.
While walking around the island I spot large groups of undead, be it zombies, skeletons or ghosts they seemed to be unexpectedly well grouped together for beings without brains as they marched around the island, whenever they got close I submerged myself in the ground to avoid being detected and hopefully whatever let the necromancer know I was here before doesn’t work long range.
I phase around the island, like the last time I did it I was somehow able to see through the ground, I tried counting the number of undead per group as well as how many groups there were, but there were too many for me to keep track of.
I keep moving around the island, searching for the best place for the boat to arrive at, the best places to hide and-
Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted as I travel through the roots of a tree.
“I… found you!” Sounded the wheezing voice before letting out a true cackle of a laughter and black all the ghosts from above ground suddenly traveled under the surface and started homing in on me.
Not willing to take any chances with this guy I immediately undo my projection and go back to a proper sleep.
* * *
I wake up in the morning, luckily it seems that tiring myself out with Revenant Reconnaissance works just as well as doing it with my skills since I woke up feeling swell even though I’d forgotten to practice yesterday.
*SLAM*
The door to our room is opened with so much force I swear I could see one of the hinges bend in an unnatural way as I see Hugh in the doorway.
“Get up! Fast! Fuck!” He shouts at the both of us.
“I thought you said we had until midday?” Asks Shiona groggily.
He then shouts something and we both open our eyes wide. We quickly get out of the bed, get our stuff and hurry towards the eastern exit of the town, we then come to a small port and see that Hugh, Cathy, Grizz, Kosei and Red were already gathered, behind them was the eastern lake.
It was completely frozen over.
“Took you long enough!” Shouts Hugh who had somehow gotten there earlier despite us flying.
“Well excuse us for being woken up so suddenly!” Shouts Lizz who had just flown out the pouch back at him. “And why is it so fucking cold!? It should be at least one more cunting month until the first shitty snowflake falls!”
“Honestly we haven’t a clue.” Says Grizz, now sounding more tired than ever.
“Are you sure you’re okay Grizz? We know you can’t handle winter very well and we weren’t expecting it to come this quickly when we were planning yesterday, if you decide to stay behind no one would blame you.” Responds Hugh, now sounding more humane than he’d ever done before, more than I thought was possible for this guy.
‘Guess he DOES care about his companions then, couldn’t tell from the way he acts around Cathy.’
“Now you listen here, I won’t let you lot go there alone and get yourself killed, I would have to search for a new job then and you know no one would hire if they know I abandoned you guys, ‘Because I was tired’.” He says, they then both slime toothy grins at each other, Hugh asks if we’re ready and we start walking across the ice.
Well Shiona, I and Lizz are flying while Cathy is sitting on one of Kosei’s amour’s oversized shoulders, so only three of us are walking.
The road to the island was completely white and blue, no one was in our path which meant the necromancer hadn’t departed yet, maybe he didn’t understand I wasn’t there and was still looking for me? Either way this gave us more time.
Shiona had been given winter clothes from Anna before we departed so she wore a thick armless jacket and down leggings with the copper belt going outside off all her clothes.
Both Hugh and Grizz wore winter jackets and boots, they seemed to be the same size other than Grizz’s clothes being more puffed up due to his fur.
Hugh wore his full arm gauntlet shield on one arm on top of his jacket while his sword was in its scabbard on his waist, Grizz on the other hand was carrying two large forearm gauntlets with giant claws, one strapped to each side of his waist.
Cathy was also wearing clothing now, baggy robes, proving that even she who goes in nothing but her fur most of the time can’t handle this winter, apparently its color than it has been in tens of years.
On top of her winter robes she wore her two shoulder bags, magic wands tied to their straps, and one her waist she had a leather belt with pouches filled with various magic jellies, the belt also served to keep her robes from flowing too much in the wind.
We arrive at the island without problem, we keep our guard up and our eyes peeled, prepared for an ambush at any time as we walked around the island, meeting only a few lone undead every so often, but nothing compared to what I had seen yesterday.
“The necromancer is most likely waiting for us further in on the island, do we take up his challenge?” Asks Cathy.
“I’m not sure.” Responds Hugh. “If we go in there we’ll be much more susceptible to ambushes.”
*GASP* “Guys, look!” Screams Lizz.
We turn around and look where she’s pointing, almost the entire field was filled with black frostbitten bodies.
“That Shit! He must have been on the ice and waited for us to pass! But how the hell did he hide!? How did he know we were here!? And how the fuck did he keep all those undead on the island!? They’re cover more than three islands worth!” Shouts Grizz, his tiredness definitely getting to him now.
“We don’t have time to complain! Undead are slow so we’ll probably catch up to them but we still need to hurry! Shiona, you’re our fastest please fly over there with Plush and Cathy and try to keep them occupied until we get there!” Responds Hugh to everyone.
“Roger!” Answers all three of us at once and take off.
‘Cy, do you have any of those robots suited for battles?’ I ask in my mind.
We arrive above the undead horde, Shiona drops me and I cover myself in an orange solidified shell, I then create spikes on it as well as I can while I’m falling.
*CRASH*
‘Okay, something is definitely up with this ice, it didn’t even get a scratch from that.’
I Undo my shell and create a pair of orange claws instead, I then swing hem around haphazardly at whatever’s closest to me while Shiona, Cathy and Lizz are raining magic from above, Shiona having eaten the fire seed (again, the ice doesn’t melt at all) while Cathy was being hanging onto her back by having attached her leather belt to Shiona copper tree one and Liz was flying right next to them, they were changing their spells depending on the situation, but they soon had to focus on protecting themselves as ghosts rose towards them.
I kept slashing at everything around me even though I didn’t even know whether it was actually taking them out, however since the ghosts were focusing on the sky group I didn’t have to worry as much as it seemed neither zombie nor skeleton was able to touch me when I phased myself, so I kept going while being on the lookout for the necromancer until I heard Cy’s voice.
A blue hand then stretched out from behind me and gave me what looked like a small ball the size of an orange.
‘Cy, everywhere is a large group of them!’ I responded as I grabbed the ball with my orange claw covered hand and threw it forwards.
It didn’t travel very far since this body isn’t exactly the most muscular one, however with the sheer amount of undead around it didn’t have to.
The orb started giving off smoke as it disappeared beyond a number of undead but I soon started seeinga number of the udead which wrere standing taller than the rest fall over
From behind us I heard the sounds of more battles, most likely the others had arrived now and started making their way towards us through the horde, and since they were four working together it didn’t take too long to get to us.
“We’re here! But they don’t stop! We have to ignore as many undead as we can and focus on trying to find the necromancer!” Shouted Hugh as we mowed our way forwards, taking out tens of undead with every attack.
I hadn’t played very many video game in my past life, but one of the few that I did was one which Shiona had introduced me to, it was the Dynasty Warriors franchise, and this battle definitely reminded me of it as we tore large opening in the undead ranks only for them to soon be filled back up as though we were shoveling sand in a desert.
Both me and Grizz were slashing with claws, mine made from my solidification skill while his were a pair of gauntlets as we made various parts of the undead fall off of the rest of their bodies.
Red was swinging around a large sword with both hands, letting go with one of them every so often to grab wands and cast various spells
Hugh was swinging around a broadsword, not caring whether he cut of limbs, decapitated or straight up cut the undead in half with one hand while using the other and some skill to create shockwaves with his shield gauntlet when he swung it, the shock wave traveling about two meters before dissipating.
Much like Hugh, Kosei was swinging around his war axe and shredding everything around him, every so often he would stop swinging and shoot out a large crossbow bolt from a crossbow which had been built into his armor’s left arm, the crossbow being large enough to be called a great bow, this only working due to the sheer size of the upper half of his armor, the bolts piercing at large numbers of undead every shot.
We kept going forwards and into the undead army, cutting up anything everything ahead of us while looking for the one being that was the cause of all this.