11 This Isn't Mist...
The frozen air began to melt.
Hordes of Magicians and Warriors made their way to the battle stations.
Enhanced Ballistae, Compiled Cannons, and Mana Dolls.
The price of each of these machineries was sky high but on this day each of them was being deployed like slaves, on this day the men and women of this Territory could not hold anything back.
"Helena!"
She turned her head towards him.
"What is it?"
As he unsheathed his sword, her eyes squinted from the suns reflection from his sword.
His sword pointed towards the skies, "For survival!"
Swoosh---!
A blast of wind blew past them, throwing their hair into the wind.
Turning her eyes back to the army marching towards them she raised her bow.
VOOM!
Dark blue mana coalesced into a glassy arrow, it began to hum beneath her commands.
'Arrow Of Shattering.'
Boom-!
Her face glew up in a dark blue manner, the arrow screeching towards the Undead army.
She turned back to him.
"For survival."
Cr-Cr-Crack!
The battlefield shattered, waves of Undead began to freeze and break into shards of glass.
"KYAAA!"
One of the Squires raised his mace, black Mana spewed out, flooding towards the source of the massacre.
Bit by bit, each of the destroyed Undead reconnected, reforming the Undead army.
It looked up towards Helena, a slight leer hidden beneath its helmet.
"Tch. It's a Shadow Priest.", Helena raised her bow once again.
"Hah!", Mana swirled around her, drawing itself to the bow.
'Let's see how you take this attack.'
Boom-!
The arrow was released once again, it shrieked as it approached the Shadow Priest, blasting apart hordes of Undead in its path.
Thud.
CREEK---!
Waves of Mana spiralled towards the clouds, legs and arms of the Undead detached from their bodies, the flesh and bones peaking outward.
A moment of silence passed as the dust cleared.
"Hm?", her brows furrowed as she watched them stand peacefully within the dust clouds, surrounded by pus and squished up flesh squirming as if they were alive.
In front of the Shadow Priest another Squire stood peacefully, a bright red barrier surrounded them, the Mana was constantly being replenished from the Squire's mace.
"A Barrier Master as well?"
She bit her lips slightly.
"Suet!"
"Got it!"
Walking to the top of the walls he called out his orders.
"Magicians! Prepare your attacks!"
"YES SIR!!!"
The shouts of the Magicians was amplified, rumbling out of the fortress for the Undead to hear.
"KRUK!"
A Squire hidden behind the others gave out an order with a dignified look on his face.
"KYAAA!"
"KURUK!!!"
"GAYAAAA!"
Spittles of pus squeezed out of the Undead army, their morale triggering movements within the natural flow of Mana, altering its fundamental nature around the fortress.
Back in the fortress...
"Suet! They have a Mana Manipulator!"
"Got it."
He raised his sword into the sky.
Each Mage raised their wand towards the Undead army.
Swish!
His sword sliced down through the air.
Voom...
Mana churned around the fortress, blasts of Mana from all elements gracefully soared through the skies.
BOOOOM!!!!!!!!
Screams of the Undead filled the battlefield, blood flooded the field as they fell apart from the attacks.
Craters were formed and the earth spewed around the sky.
The Mages didn't waste time and began preparing another attack, but each of them began to struggle, their Mana began to flow inversely forcing their attacks to blast in their face.
"UGH!!!"
"SIR SUET!"
"Stop your attacks!"
He raised his left hand, forming a V sign with his fingers.
"Vanguard squad!"
Creek...
The doors of the fortress began to open.
Step.
With their footsteps in sync, a man wearing a white t-shirt and loose dark trousers, a lady in a tight yet flexible red skirt and frilly white cardigan and a young boy wearing an oversized hoody stepped out.
Two held a samurai sword of a different colour, the man at the front with a pitch-black blade and the lady a deep blue blade.
But the child remained seemingly unarmed.
"Did you call captain?", the lady's brown eyes swept past the Undead, a scar running down her left cheek clearly visible due to her short dark hair.
"Krista, you and Terril hold off the other 7 Squires."
Terril, the man in the white shirt nodded his head silently.
"Understood captain!"
The young boy timidly pointed at his chest, then clenched his fist, his face turning slightly red out of embarrassment.
"Luke, I need you to take out the Mana Manipulator then go after the Shadow Priest, understood?"
He raised both hands and puffed out his cheeks.
"Hmph!", and gave a bright nod.
The footsteps of the warriors reverberated behind them as they flooded out of the fortress, camouflaging the vanguard squad beneath their numbers.
Suet turned to Helena this time.
"Helena, can you take care of the Squire Magicians for me?"
"Understood."
Suet observed the battlefield.
'They have a Shadow Priest, Barrier Master and a Mana Manipulator.'
'As for the other seven, it's just 4 Warriors and 3 Mages. I don't know how high our chances are with just 5 of us against their 10 but we just have to beat them in a battle of endurance. In the end, Undead are exactly that, non-living organisms being manipulated by a master.'
But he hid his worries.
"Men and women of Reynadral!"
Amplifying his voice with Mana, it blasted into every soldier's ear.
"Today we win!"
"WIN!"
"WIN!"
"WIN!"
Their voices thundered through the battlefield.
-----
"The Mana in the air is moving?"
Raising his index finger, he condensed his Mana and investigated its weird movements.
The Mana around him suddenly began to crackle and whip onto his body, bruising his already injured body.
'Shit.'
He instantly cancelled his Mana.
"A Mana Manipulator? Is there a battle ongoing right now?"
"Ugh.", a weird sensation flooded his body.
"My Mana is being pulled forwards? Is the battle directly in front of me?"
Without giving it a second thought, he headed for the battle. But this didn't mean he was being reckless, if he didn't find civilization soon then he would be slaughtered by a high-level Undead sooner rather than later. On top of that, whilst he was moving he constantly assessed his physical condition.
'I'm injured and my Mana is unstable, I shouldn't get into any fights for at least 48 hours unless it's necessary.'
The scenery around him constantly shifted, turning from its original withered outlook with only purple moss to withered grass on the ground and trees with a few leaves on them.
"It's been around 30 minutes since I sensed my Mana being pulled from me, but the sensation hasn't disappeared yet, I wonder which side is winning.", a light amount of sweat began to drift out of his face by this point, he had been jogging for the past 40 minutes or so after all.
5 minutes later...
"I see it."
Down the hill, an old fortress surrounded by the Undead could be seen.
Blood drenched the ground, seeping into the soil forming rivers of blood within hidden crevices, not to mention the stench of the rotting Undead that filled the air.
By this point, the withered trees had become flourishing green trees and some bushes and grass lay across the land around him.
'It seems like the humans are losing, but it feels weird. The Undead army should have been able to take over the fortress with the difference in numbers, yet they can't.'
Grumble...
He lay his hand on his stomach.
"And I'm also hungry."
-----
Letting out a shaky breath she drew her bow once again.
'Fuck, I'm running low on Mana.'
Voom-
A weak arrow entrenched itself deep within the hordes of Undead, killing dozens in one blow.
"I don't have enough anymore.", she recognised that she was basically out of Mana with that shot, at most she could enhance her eyes to see further.
So she did exactly that.
'Suet is barely holding on.", she watched as he struggled against two Squire Warriors at the same time.
"As for the vanguard squad..."
Only one remained at this point, the young boy.
The other two were somewhere in the pile of dead bodies.
The young boy had his back to the Liches Essence Ground at this point, he was completely cut off from the main army, the Mana Manipulator had planned this all along.
"At least we were able to take out the Shadow Priest and Barrier Master."
Just as she was watching the young boy, her eyes shifted upwards to the hill behind him.
'Is that a person?'
Her face of curiosity froze.
Clatter...
The bow she was holding dropped to the ground.
All the Mana she had left shifted to her voice.
"RUN YOUNG MAN!!!"
-----
While he was watching the battle...
"RUN YOUNG MAN!!!"
'Huh?'
He froze for a millisecond, 'Someone saw me? Are they talking to me?'
Shooo...
A wave of dark mist began to wrap around him.
'Mist?'
He slowly turned his head to the right.
'No, this isn't mist...'
A raspy voice hidden beneath a crooked helmet greeted him.
"I found the rat."
