Chapter 321. Finishing the collection process

With the clock ticking and the moon moving across the night sky, the party moved through the Marrowen Shipyard and into the Whiring Brook, finally reaching the small passage leading south toward the Druid bastion.

[The area ahead is called the Ancients' Woods. At the point where this area collides with the Dead Barks Wilderness, we'll be able to find our next Altar.](Neyrelle)

[Anything we should keep track of? Any dangerous elements?](Tia)

[I am not sure, so it's better to keep our guards up. Just treat it like the rest of the Wilderness, and we'll be fine.](Neyrelle)

Nodding in agreement at the trio's cautious behavior, Michael quietly followed behind them, noticing just how much they were enjoying themselves.

Making a mental note about telling all this to their sisters back home, he turned to look at the Altar shining with a bright red glow.

Time moved much faster than he anticipated, especially when considering what he would have to go through tomorrow and the days after.

[Let's move east! Look at the MAP. There seems to be an Event taking place!](Evelyn)

Everyone followed the little Druid's instructions and indeed saw a small golden circle covering an area close to them.

After a majority vote - three votes from the girls, making the Necromancer's opinion irrelevant - the group quickly advanced toward the center of the golden circle, where they found two slightly wounded Wanderers.

It only took a short conversation to figure out the problem.

The area was called Duin Carr and served as a somewhat sacred area. Unfortunately, the undead, demons, and other monsters seemed to think otherwise.

One of the Wanderers could 'repair' the runes keeping this place safe from demonic corruption, but he needed time.

However, the second guy wouldn't be enough to protect him.

[ World Event joined - Hold your Ground

Objective: Survive the enemy waves (0/10)

*Mastery: Protect the Wanderers (0/2). ]

Before the party could gather their bearings, a large swathe of goatmen came rushing at them.

Among the enemies were Impalers, who hastily threw their makeshift 'spears' at their position.

Judging from the number of throwers reaching over 40, Michael took no chances and immediately summoned the tall Golem to have him protect the group.

Seconds later, the poor Quarterback looked like he had a bad encounter with a porcupine.

Some javelins made it past the summon; however, the group had their own means of dealing with them, be it using a low-cooldown protection skill or simply smacking them away.

With the initial onslaught handled and the Marauders and other types of melee goatmen in range, Michael called over his remaining 'forces' and had them engage the enemy. 

Then, following the usual pattern of Decrepify, Corpse Tendrils, and Corpse Explosion, he dealt with the mob quite efficiently.

Not willing to be outdone, the trio also took action, handling the stragglers. 

Among the girls, Tia was the most fearsome. She used her Stealth to sneak behind the Impalers and swiftly dealt with them.

Evelyn used her skills mostly to incapacitate the goatmen, while Neyrelle boldly used both buffing and damaging skills.

The Wanderer with free hands took out a bow and, in an attempt to help the party, began sniping the goatmen on the outskirts of the main group attacking, ensuring that no ambushes would happen.

Just as the first wave was dealt with, Michael heard the Wanderer's panicked voice from behind him.

[They're coming from behind us. Quickly, stop them!](?)

With Tia still, a distance away after having dealt with the backline of the first wave and the Golem needed as a meatshield against ranged attacks, the Necromancer shrugged and ran ahead to meet the new wave of enemies.

The large number of undead marching toward him made for quite an intimidating sight.

His attention was immediately brought back into focus when ten or so Skeleton Captains standing at the front moved aside, revealing their brethren holding crossbows aimed at him.

If that wasn't enough, the disgusting Corpse Bow, standing at almost three meters tall, was also loading a large bone 'arrow' longer than a human body, using him for target practice.

Slightly worried about those behind him, Michael repositioned him more to the right using Evade, now less than twenty meters away from the enemy troops. 

With a deafening sound, the crossbows and the Corpse Bows released their projectiles, flying at the Necromancer with high speed.

Not wanting to push his luck, he immediately used Blood Mist to navigate the 'rough' terrain, crossing another ten meters during the process. 

While his movement speed was significantly reduced during the use of this skill, his invulnerability to any type of damage more than made up for the 'inconvenience.' 

However, by the time his physical body restructured, the second wave of projectiles was already inbound, making him swallow nervously.

'I might've underestimated these bastards a bit...'

Barely having time to draw in a deep breath, he focused all his attention on the incoming bolts. Once he was less than a second away from being turned into Swiss cheese, he used his boots' skill to turn into a cloud of bats, traveling more than five meters in the process.

More than half of the bats were killed, but it didn't seem to impact his Life Points in any way, nor did it apply a debuff on him.

Grinning at the realization that he now had an extra invulnerability skill, Michael assaulted the first Skeleton Captain in his range with Reap, followed by a Decrepify and Corpse Explosion.

The biggest weakness of the undead was how slow they were. So his plan wasn't to deal with the melee opponents, but rather, wait until the cooldown on his Blood Mist reset and then move closer to the ranged enemies.

That way, he could use Corpse Tendrils and a couple of Corpse Explosions to get rid of them swiftly.

His plan didn't work as well as he expected, mostly because his damage increased exponentially compared to before.

The large area of the first Corpse Explosion was enough to clear a small patch of undead, leaving even more Corpses behind.

'In that case, there's no need to be this worked up.'

Retreating while drawing the undead closer to the Corpses, Michael activated his skill multiple times and then patiently watched as the miasma created a barrier none of the monsters could cross.

It took less than two seconds for any undead to perish from the point where they stepped foot into the area affected.

Before the rest of his party could provide reinforcements, the second wave was swiftly dealt with, prompting three pairs of wide, pouty eyes to be aimed at him.

Apologizing for the mishap, the Necromancer returned to the two Wanderers and asked where the third wave was coming from.

[Directly south. The number is smaller than the previous two waves. I sense two Elites, though.](?)

Hearing the screeching, Michael immediately recognized them as Fallen.

Since the group would mostly consist of melee attackers, he made a 'be my guest' gesture to the trio, who instantly went into action.

Nevertheless, he still had his Reapers act as the front-liners, ordering them to engage the fake Balrogs, enabling Tia to bypass them and focus on the five Succubus at the back.

Since those were the only ranged attackers in this wave, she quickly disposed of the four Minion-level ones and then confronted the Elite.

Neyrelle and Evelyn screamed injustice upon seeing the little Assasin greedily take on one of the Elites by herself and quickly nodded to each other.

First, Neyrelle used a buff, increasing the damage and Life Points of the little Druid, after which the latter turned into a giant bear and began rampaging on the front lines.

With each wave of her massive paws, the weak mobs were squashed, but the fake Balrog Elite seemed upset with such discrimination and requested equal treatment with a mighty roar.

In the end, in less than four minutes, the wave was defeated.

Fortunately, everyone was satisfied with the results, especially Tia and Evelyn, who, more or less, soloed an Elite each.

Neyrelle was more mature and wouldn't care for such small matters, but was also pleased with their overall improvement.

Half an hour later, the final wave fell, and the druidic runes were repaired.

[I think we're in the clear now.](?)

"Any clue what drew the monsters here?"

[We're not sure. I've heard stories from my elders, but none directly confirmed what was going on with this place. The common consensus is that there is a grave of ancient Druids under our feet, and the demons seek to use them.](?)

Waving goodbye to the departing Wanderers, the party turned their eyes to the large Resplendent Chest they were rewarded with.

After splitting the goodies, Michael ended up with the usual 2 Rare item boxes, one Legendary amulet, 5 Angelbreaths, 35 Murmuring Obols, 7 Bundled Herbs, Iron Chuunks, and Rawhides each, as well as 25 Gem Fragments each. 

Completing the Event also granted them 18,000+ experience points, which unfortunately weren't a lot given their levels.

Michael was already hoping for a second Mother's Blessing, dreaming about leveling up five more times in the following couple of days.

'If I do get one, I'll raid the Dungeons in Scosglen after I am done with the Class Awakening. Hehe!'

Dreaming about his future experience points soaring at a rapid pace, he opened his inventory to check the details of his new amulet.

He didn't have high hopes for it but, nevertheless, inspected it.

[ Choker of Explosive Mist

Legendary Amulet

577 Item Power

-----------------

* +14.9% Resistance to All Elements

------------------

* +80 Maximum Life

* +4.5% Critical Strike Chance

* +4.5% Lucky Hit Chance

Legendary Aspect: Blood Mist triggers Corpse Explosion on surrounding Corpses. When Blood Mist detonates a Corpse, its cooldown is reduced by 0.6 seconds (Necromancer Only). ]

Smiling at the item, Michael felt happy. While the item itself wasn't that great, compared to his old helm that had only a 0.2-second cooldown reduction, a plan was already forming in his mind.

'I can salvage this new choker to get the high roll on the Aspect saved in my Codex of Power and then imprint it on the Legendary helm I found before.'

While the old amulet might last a while longer, the new helm would undoubtedly improve his life slightly in the near future.

Half an hour later, the group found their next Altar of Lilith and activated it while also exploring some old Druid sites. 

The dilapidated architecture made for an eery sight at night, prompting the trio to move closer to the Necromancer.

Unbeknownst to the girls, Michael was also unnerved by the creepy location, so he quickly suggested they leave for the next target for the group's mental sanity.

Another hour later, the party collected Altar number 28th in the Deep Forest area called The Ancients' Woods and then had to backtrack further west for the 29th.

To everyone's surprise, the 29th Altar also had a Silent Chest, which Neyrelle had the honor of opening.

She 'donated' it to Michael as it was a Necromancer dagger, but the man shrugged and said he would salvage it and pay the girls back since it wasn't incredibly useful to him.

Leaving the underground cave called Vasily's Reach behind, the group continued east to an area covered by fog on everyone's MAP, further increasing their Renown points.

Moving through the Southern Briars and then into Issalia's Rise, the party continued exploring the new lands, and they were quite impressed by the beauty of nature.

Luckily for them, the moon shone brightly throughout the night, unbothered by clouds. 

Next, from the Path of Learning and onto the Outlaws Grove, after traversing the Carraig Oir Ford, they skipped some Altars and grabbed number 33 first in the Laglend Fen.

Everyone already realized they might've missed an Altar as the numbers weren't adding up, but nobody was too worried about it, as they could just ride back to the location.

Which they did. They returned to the Witan Wolds and collected number 30, then found number 31 in the Old Forest Clearing, followed by number 32 in an area called Shadow Wood.

Then, backtracking to the Outlaws Grove, the group retrieved number 34 and instantly used their teleportation to return to Marowen.

Checking his Region Progress, Michael saw a glaring 33/34 for the Altars of Lilith.

Exiting the portal while dawn was already on the horizon, Neyrelle quickly pointed out the one objective they missed near the city.

[It's south of Marowen. Less than half an hour away on horseback. Michael, how late is it?](Neyrelle)

"It's not late anymore, it's already 'early.' 5:53 a.m."

[Then, we can go grab it, return to Marowen, and take the Waypoint back to Kyovashad. By the point when we're home, we'll be in time for breakfast.](Neyrelle)

Hearing the word 'home' from the girl made the Necromancer smile. She spent her whole life traveling the continent and searching for knowledge with her mother. 

Now that she was alone, he was worried about how lonely she might feel. Fortunately, having girls close to her age proved to be the right call.