Found!-Chapter 15

(Down in the labyrinth)

"Rather blatant about it, aren't they?" Drysia whispered as she looked down. Elmerin nodded.

While the red-robed man encountered by the parties earlier and the men seen by the two on their way down could have just been part of some oddly-dressed party, the ones they were looking at now were different. The red robes covered red-enameled armor embossed with the double-dragon badge. The weapons the soldiers bore were of high quality, several bearing the auras of weapons imbued with magic. They clearly belonged to some kind of military or fighting force. And it was clear they were guarding what in the times of Bolat's Visits would be the small audience hall used by the counts of Cothmore until Bolat and its effects passed.

"Twenty… twenty-five… thirty." Drysia finished counting and looked at Elmerin. "How are we going to get through? We can handle them, but there's probably at least that many inside. They could ambush us while we're fighting this batch."

Elmerin had his eyes closed. "More like twenty inside, with the doors locked and barred. Though there's something odd…" He opened his eyes and frowned at the ones below. "They don't just have swords -those lances are trouble, and it looks like a few of them have crossbows."

"Summoned weapons," Drysia snapped.

"Not exactly. Some of the Summoned described the concept. Ekozarian crafters actually made working models." He sat back and ran his hand through the fine sand and dirt on the ledge -then stopped and looked intently at a handful. Smirking: "A few basic spells should handle the ones below us. <Air Shield>. <Silence Sound>."

Drysia bit her lip against her protest that he just hit the soldiers with Wind Blade or something. Elmerin could and had used weaker spells to beat more powerful but less experienced mages, often in training. She knew he could defeat the soldiers.

Although she suspected he was hiding his true power.

"<Spinning Breath Multicast>." Several balls of spiraling air appeared. Elmerin pointed to the pile of dust and dirt. "<Collect Multicast>. <Sort Multicast>." The balls moved to the pile, sucking up the fine particles, placing the mid-sized ones on their surface, and leaving the largest.

Once finished, Elmerin directed them to the ceiling of the chamber, directly above the soldiers' heads. With a sharp motion of his hand, the balls dropped in among the guard.

"<Spark Multicast>."

Drysia covered her ears in spite of Elmerin's sound shield. Then she realized the vibrations bypassing the shield weren't sound, but the stone around them shaking from the explosions.

As the tremors stopped, Drysia moved to the edge to check on the soldiers.

It was carnage. The explosions had torn metal, shredded flesh, and cracked bone. A few groans showed the blasts had not been entirely lethal.

Most importantly, the large metal doors to the audience haul were buckled, with the locks broken and the hinges warped askew. The doors had had a hollow core.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone coming right away," Elmerin said. "Let's finish them off, deal with the ones inside, and find that crystal."

The two of them carefully dropped to the ground, rolling to absorb the impact. On their feet, they moved through the casualties, slitting the throats of those who still breathed and quickly collecting anything obvious and interesting.

Glancing at Elmerin, Drysia gave the doors a mighty kick. They flew open with a crash, the valiant struggling hinges now barely holding on. The left hinges gave up, the door crashing to the ground. 

From the room came a foul smell, one of dank and dying things. Like a butcher's waste left to rot, but a hundred times worse.

Drysia clapped her left hand over her nose and mouth. "What is that!?"

"No." Elmerin's eyes widened. "It can't be." He kicked the right-hand door aside and dashed in, Drysia on his heels.

"<MANA SHIELD>!!!"

She skidded to a stop beside Elmerin lest she run into the shield just erected. Which Elmerin had made large enough to completely block the lower half of the door. Then she saw their opponents and paled.

"Wh-what? What are those!?"

"Undead," Elmerin said grimly. "Someone's using necromancy."

Drysia looked around in shock. Gray, blotchy skin, sunken eyes, teeth exposed by the gums and lips drawing back, thin straggly hair. Their bodies stood in stark contrast to the shining armor and weapons they were equipped with.

And that smell. Drysia coughed.

"That," Elmerin said softly, "is the smell of rotted human flesh."

"I've never smelled anything so…"

"Corrupted magic alone can raise the dead and turn them into monsters, no necromancy needed. That's why we quickly burn the bodies after death, so this doesn't happen." Elmerin studied the undead cautiously approaching. "Although deliberately created undead like these tend to be higher quality than a corpse that soaks in corrupted magic for a few days or decades, especially if Bolat's energy is used. They're harder to beat." He tilted his head. "Shit."

"Now what?"

"Looks like reinforcements are approaching. About ten of them. They don't seem to have as high-grade armor as the others."

"Drink a mana potion," Drysia snapped. "How many spells are you running at the same time again?" She tapped her cheek thoughtfully, eyeing the monsters shambling toward the shield. "Twenty ahead, ten behind. Do we have enough time to deal with these before the others get here?"

"The best way to finish off this type of undead is fire." Elmerin tossed the empty potion vial back in his bag. "The group approaching don't have a mage with them, and no one with enough mana to give you problems. Can you handle the ten by yourself?"

Drysia finished equipping her shield and checked the edge of her sword. "Easily."

The first of the zombies reached the shield, raising its blade to bring it ringing down on the barrier. The blade bounced away, Elmerin ignoring the small drain on his mana the defense had cost and began casting on Drysia.

"<Enhanced Defense>. <Haste >. <Physical Reinforcement>. <Strength >. <Agility >. <Weapon Reinforcement>." He thinned the back of the shield. "Go get them." 

As she dashed off, Elmerin restored the shield and turned to face the zombies.

Three more had reached the shield and were hitting it. The others would reach it in a moment or two more.

"<Appraise >."

Oh, this was ridiculous. High-level armor and weapons, disguised to look like standard gear. Physical Reinforcement. Accelerate. Haste. Shield, Moving Barrier -well, that was a pain in the ass. Several different kinds of enhancements. The list of high-level buffs on the zombies and their gear was so long Elmerin didn't bother to read it all. There wasn't that kind of time anyway.

For normal undead of this kind, even created undead, a few higher-level Fire Bombs would have finished them off completely. But with the reinforcements they possessed, the armaments they wore, plus the enhancement from Bolat's crystal somewhere in the room, most fire spells wouldn't be enough. 

Elmerin could feel the energy of the crystal seeping from the darkness at the back of the room, bringing bad memories with it. There wasn't much time left before it activated and the dungeon was created.

*******

Characters in this chapter:

Elmerin

Drysia

Red Dragon soldiers

Monsters in this chapter:

Undead soldiers: These are zombies that wear armor, carry weapons, and act roughly according to the military protocol they knew when they were alive. They can be enhanced through a variety of weapons, armors, and spells.

Spells in this chapter:

Air Shield: Uses air molecules to make a shield around the area or object the caster designates. Popular since it can exchange old air from inside the shield with new air outside. Duration, strength, and amount of damage absorbed depend on a combination of spell level, amount of mana, and experience.

Collect: A spell that collects one or more designated objects. Number and shape of the objects that can be collected depend on experience, while weight of the objects depends on the caster's mana level. Skill level increases overall proficiency.

Enhanced Defense: Increases the durability and injury resistance of a person and lays a thin, dense shield over them. Duration and strength depends on skill level and mana available.

Fire Bomb: A ball of fire that is set to explode when it gets near or hits a target. Size of the ball depends on skill level, duration and explosion strength depends on input mana, accuracy depends on experience.

Mana Shield: A shield made of pure mana/magical energy. Duration, strength, and amount of damage absorbed depend on a combination of spell level, amount of mana, and experience. It saps mana faster since it's not using another substance as part of its structure.

Moving Barrier: A barrier that is set to move with the object or person it's protecting. A person can strike through it from their side while remaining protected from counterblows. Duration, strength, and amount of damage absorbed depend on a combination of spell level, amount of mana, and experience. Requires a very large amount of mana to produce in the first place. Can be anchored to an item attached to the object or person. Usually becomes very fragile once it takes 80% or more damage.

Multicast: A spell that allows multiple castings at once of the same spell, usually phrased as <[Spell] Multicast>. How many of the spells are multicast depends on the proficiency of the caster and the level of Multicast. Tends to have bad effects on the caster if used before Undifferentiated Mana Level 5. It is advised for new learners to always be trained on this spell by an experienced multicaster.

Silence Sound: Designates a target area. Prevents all sound from going in, coming out, or both. Maximum size of the area depends on skill level. Duration depends on mana. Effectiveness depends on skill level and experience.

Sort: Takes a bunch of objects and sorts them by type. Requires a high level to sort more than two or three things at a time. Often ignored due to most item bags having autosorting magic installed.

Locations mentioned in this chapter:

Ekozar: A kingdom that existed in the time of the Demon Wars and the mass Summoning. It fell to internal and external forces after the Demon King was sealed.