Cultivation a fantasy li.., p.14
Cultivation: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 3), page 14
“How many of you understand the adventuring party roles? Front line, support, and damage?”
Seeing everyone nod, John smiled and tapped himself on the chest.
“I’ll join Marcos as front line, with Hugo helping to control the enemy as well. Ellie, you’re our support. Everyone else, kill as many undead as you can without getting hurt.”
With the team roles set, the party continued forward, moving faster now that they knew what they were up against. When they finally arrived at the wider cavern, they saw nearly sixty slumped figures on the floor. Drawing in a quick breath, Hugo lifted his sword, casting flickering blue light over the cavern as the figures started to stir, hissing and moaning with displeasure.
“Careful! They’re only zombies, but even zombies can be trouble at these numbers.”
Gripping his shield and sword tightly, Marcos stood next to John, leaving a gap of about four feet between them. Both carried their shields on their left arm and wielded their swords in their right hands, keeping enough distance that Marcos could swing his weapon properly. Slowly, the enemy began to get to their feet as they reacted to the sounds and smells of the party. Watching their lurching behavior, John did his best to sense any sort of mana connection that would alert him to where their creator was hiding but he couldn’t find anything.
“Ellie, see if you can figure out where they’re being controlled from.”
“On it.”
The closest zombie, a dead bandit with a massive festering wound in his neck, let out a loud moan and shuffled closer to Marcos, causing the zombies behind him to start shifting forward as well. Arms that hung limply at the monster’s side were lifted as the zombie lunged forward, its mouth opening wide for a bite, only to meet the Holy Knight’s swinging sword. With a snick the blade cut through the side of the zombie’s head, carving through its skull and smashing its brain to pulp.
Taking a small step forward as his wrist twisted to clear the gore from it, Marcos let out a breath, his focus narrowing. It had been a long time since John had fought side by side with a true front-line fighter, and it was clear from his title that Marcos was a master. The Holy Knight put everything out of his mind besides his job of protecting the party. It was this single-minded focus that Thomas had noticed in Even, and as John watched Marcos skillfully block another zombie, he decided to talk to the Holy Knight after they were back in the village.
A shambling zombie lunged forward to attack John, but he thrust out with his sword, using it to channel a Dragon’s Breath spell. Crimson flames rolled out, charring the zombie and lighting the three behind it on fire. With unnatural shrieks the monsters writhed, but the magical flames were tenacious and burned through their bodies quickly. Using his shield to throw another zombie aside, John saw Hugo’s broadsword slice through it, gleaming with light as blue as the summer sky. The powerful blow cleaved the zombie in half, and with a flicker Hugo’s blade changed direction, skillfully taking the head off another zombie.
Though John often found Hugo to be both stuck-up and incredibly naive, he had to admit the Holy Knight deserved his position and title. Hugo’s attacks were skillful and showed both the incredible amount of practice he had put in as well as the polish that could only come with use on the battlefield. Realizing that he may have to reevaluate the young Knight, John stepped forward and nodded happily when he saw both Hugo and Marcos keep pace with him.
With the three frontliners taking the brunt of the zombie horde, the Moritoi warriors spread to the sides, chopping up the zombies that rolled off John’s and Marcos’ shields with lethal efficiency. While they lacked the grace of the Holy Knights, their attacks were no less brutal, and rarely did they have to swing more than once to put a zombie down. It wasn’t long before the entire room was cleared and the party realized they had run out of enemies. Katrine, who had barely done a thing, let out a laugh and clapped her hands together.
“Wow, that was awesome. It’s such a pleasure to work with a skilled party.”
“It is,” John nodded, his brow slowly furrowing.
“Something wrong?”
“No, I’m just curious why these zombies were just standing around here. I expected them to put up more resistance, but they were clearly just acting on instinct.”
“They weren’t being controlled,” Ellie said, walking over to stand next to John. “I couldn’t find a connection to a controller like last time. However, I did find more zombies. There’s another cavern nearby with at least twice as many zombies.”
“Alright, let’s go clear it. Everyone, stay on your toes. We don’t know when we’ll face an enemy caster.”
After taking a moment to rest the party set off again, heading for the next cavern. As they were walking through, doing their best to stay quiet, John’s mana-enhanced senses picked up something and he lifted his hand, stopping the entire party.
“Haver?”
“Ghouls,” came the reply even before John had finished speaking.
“Prepare for an ambush! We’re breaking through!”
Collapsing into a tight group, the party rushed forward, trying to get out of the tight, dark passage into a space where they could actually fight. No sooner had they started to move when the clatter of stones alerted them to creatures moving silently overhead. With a horrible scream, three of the eyeless creatures launched themselves from the ceiling of the tunnel where they had been hiding and fell toward the party, their sharp teeth and claws glistening in the blue light.
A soft clicking sounded and the three monsters suddenly fell apart, their bodies separating into a dozen pieces. Blood rained down on the party as the grisly body parts fell to the ground to be trampled under their feet. Despite the swift deaths of the first three ghouls, a dozen more came out of the darkness, throwing themselves at the party with abandon. Lifting his sword, John slashed through a reaching claw and then spun, using the edge of his shield to slam the ghoul’s head into the wall. Barreling forward, with Marcos at his side keeping in lockstep, John pressed through the crowd of ghouls that had appeared.
He could hear the zombies in the cavern ahead starting to stir and he knew they were about to face a serious fight. Behind him Katrine continued to flick her fingers, the soft clicking causing invisible blades of air to fly out at the approaching undead monsters while the Moritoi behind her cheered and struck out with their weapons. Even Haver was swinging his large wolf tooth club, using it to beat the pouncing ghouls back. Only Ellie wasn’t taking part in the fight as she continued directing her spirits to try and catch the traces of whoever had created the undead.
Breaking out into the cavern, John let out a shout and thrust his sword up into the air, causing a gout of crimson flame to boil outward, illuminating the entire room for a moment and lighting two leaping ghouls on fire. With screams the monsters fell back, their blood boiling and skin blistering as they rolled on the ground. All across the cave the zombies who had been standing, completely unmoving, began to stir, turning toward the party and starting to shamble in their direction.
“Keep the formation tight! Hugo, take the south position, Marcos, take the north! Onggur, I’ll leave the west to you!”
Spreading the front-line fighters out to the four points of the compass, John readied himself for the incoming horde. Undead were dangerous, but so long as the team didn’t run out of stamina, it was only a matter of time before they came out on top of the fight. Every single member of their group was a class holder, and apart from Ellie and two of the Moritoi warriors, they were all titled class holders at the very least, meaning that undead of this level were barely a threat. However, John could feel something building in the darkness that caused him to narrow his eyes. Sparing a glance back at Ellie, he saw that she had sensed it too and was scrambling to figure out what new threat they were about to face.
Blocking a zombie’s swing, John cut its legs out from under it and delivered a lightning-fast stab to its eye that pierced through to its brain, killing it instantly. At the same time he cast a quick Fireball spell, sending a crimson orb at a ghoul trying to dash past him. With a shriek the monster dodged to the side, only to find itself on the wrong end of a glowing blue broadsword that stabbed straight through its chest, crushing its ribs and snapping its spine. With a grunt, Hugo kicked the dead ghoul away, ripping his sword free and burying it in another ghoul’s side. At the same moment, the top of the ghoul’s head suddenly floated away, cut cleanly by an invisible wind blade.
Standing in the center of the battling party, Ellie’s fingers trembled as she tried to understand the signals her spirits were sending back to her. Closing her eyes, she tried her best to block out the din of the fight, focusing on interpreting what the air spirits were seeing. A moment later her eyes opened with a snap and she spoke in a shaky voice.
“I… I think I found… no, they found us.”
CHAPTER 18
Dodging under a flailing arm, Onggur spun to the side and slashed with his scimitar, simultaneously blocking a reaching hand from another zombie and cutting through the outstretched arm of the zombie closest to him. Around him the warriors of the Broken Horn tribe cut, hacked, and smashed the zombies into pieces. Occasionally a ghoul would dart forward, grasping claws and gnashing teeth trying to find flesh, but no sooner would they advance then one of the Moritoi would jump forward and slay the monster with a flurry of blows.
At the top of the formation, Marcos had fallen into a steady rhythm that forced the zombies into a halting advance. Every time their momentum flagged he would swing his sword, killing another zombie before raising his shield to absorb the inevitable rush forward. Across from him, Hugo was simply cutting apart any monster that got close, causing piles of bloody corpses to accumulate at his feet. Standing next to Ellie, Katrine was keeping up a stream of Wind Blade spells, assisting both of the Holy Knights with the ghouls rushing forward to test their defenses.
While no one was particularly struggling, the one having the easiest time was John, whose Dragon’s Breath and Twisting Flames spells were anathema to the undead. Flames licked all around him as they burned away the approaching zombies with crimson fire. He even had the freedom to send the odd Fireball toward the opposite side of the formation to assist Onggur and the Moritoi. In the center of the formation, Haver was using his flail to great effect, flicking it out to drive back any zombies that got too close. While he wasn’t actually killing any of them, he sent them stumbling into the range of the others who quickly took them down.
Ellie wasn’t fighting at all, instead focusing on the reports her spirits were bringing back to her. Hearing her shout, John’s eyes narrowed and he flicked his sword, sending a twisting spiral of jumping flame into the advancing horde. He was about to ask for clarification when Katrine beat him to it.
“What do you mean, they found us?”
“There are three groups of enemies moving toward us. Two large groups of zombies, and a smaller group with a very dangerous creature. The enemy Mage is with that creature. It’s… it’s not a natural creature.”
“Natural or not, I doubt it will survive being cut into a million pieces,” Katrine said with a smirk. “I’ll deal with it.”
Ignoring the battle-hungry Mage’s confident declaration, John glanced around the room.
There are still at least forty zombies, and easily a dozen ghouls.
“Ellie, can you sense how many zombies are in each group?”
“At least two hundred,” Ellie said, taking a deep breath. “And there are larger monsters with them. At least a dozen.”
“Abominations.”
Both Holy Knights and John spoke at the same time, their voices equally grim as they shared a brief glance.
“This is going to get messy if we add another four or five hundred zombies and thirty abominations,” John said, his eyes scanning for a more defensive location where they wouldn’t be surrounded. “Everyone, follow me!”
Letting out a shout, John charged forward, the entire group surging after him. Cutting his way through the crowding zombies, he quickly reached the wall and slammed it with his shield, sending cracks spiderwebbing out. Seeing Haver’s confused look, Katrine smirked and flicked her finger, beheading a ghoul crawling on the ceiling.
“He’s testing for passages at our back. You only get ambushed by goblins coming through a wall of a tunnel once.”
“Knights to the front! Watch the sides! Katrine, keep the ceiling clear! Ellie, I need a timer on our new friends!”
As if they were granted wings by John’s commands, the party reorganized faster than they thought possible, their bodies reacting even before they registered John’s words. Taking his place next to Hugo, John sent out a gout of flame, scorching a zombie that still had yet to turn around. Behind him Ellie mumbled under her breath, trying to estimate how long they had until the enemy reinforcements arrived.
“Thirty seconds for the big group on the left. Forty seconds for the big creature, and ninety seconds for the other big group. They’re all moving really fast!”
“Katrine, we’re swapping. I want as many of those zombies dead as possible the moment they leave the tunnel, but save some juice for the big guy.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Onggur, did you fight abominations at the forbidden fields?”
“Yes, at least ten times,” Onggur said, his voice low.
“Good. Depending on how many there are, you might need to jump in and keep them busy. Marcos, defend this location. Hugo, you’re hunting abominations. Can you handle them by yourself?”
“All day,” Hugo said, grinning as he sank his blood-covered blade into another zombie and threw it aside.
“Haver, Ellie, help Marcos here. We’ll need somewhere safe to retreat to when we get tired.”
“O… okay.”
“Sure.”
With all of the commands issued, John flicked the blood from his blade and took a deep breath.
“Get ready! Here they come!”
From the northern side of the room, growls and shrieks began to echo out of a small tunnel. A horde of running zombies, their eyes glowing red, boiled out of the tunnel, rushing into the cavern where the team was waiting. Unlike the slow, lethargic zombies they had been fighting up until this point, these zombies were clearly being controlled as they charged forward. The pound of their feet beat a terrifying tattoo on the ground, sounding like a horrible song as it mixed with the guttural bellows of the abominations that squeezed out of the tunnel after them.
“Katrine!”
“I told you, I’ve got it!
Strange words spilled from Katrine’s lips as her eyes glowed with a pale blue light. Wind began to whip around the party, throwing dirt, stones, and the mangled bodies of the undead they had already killed into the air. Feeling an intense pressure build up around them, John ducked his head to avoid a flying ghoul claw and shouted over the din.
“Without killing us, please!”
“Shut it! I said I got it!”
With a loud yell, Katrine thrust both hands forward and the swirling winds ripped forward, slamming into the charging zombies with the force of a cyclone. A rapid-fire clicking, like the sound of something rattling along the spokes of a wheel, echoed through the cave a moment later as dozens of Wind Blades joined the Gale Force spell, slicing their way through the zombies. Limbs flew as the Wind Blades circled and the charging zombies were thrown back again and again by the swirling wall of wind that had manifested between them and the party. Looking over at John triumphantly, Katrine dusted her hands off.
“I told you I got it.”
“You did,” John nodded, his eyes narrowed as he stared past her at the other side of the cave. “And you also said you would deal with that.”
Following John’s pointing finger, Katrine’s face paled as she saw a massive, four-legged beast with two scorpion tails rising from its back. Thick plates of bone armor covered its head and shoulders, and its head had clearly been patched together from a giant bird and a giant spider. The top of its snout was a long hard beak with a sharp point that curved like a blade over the mandibles that opened and closed to reveal hundreds of needle-like teeth. Shaking her head vehemently, Katrine backed up, putting herself behind John.
“Yeah, no. You got that. I’ll take care of the Mage, but I’m not getting anywhere near that thing.”
“What is it?”
Hearing Ellie’s hushed question, John shrugged, his eyes never leaving it.
“A chimera of some sort. It’s like an advanced-stage abomination. It looks like we’re dealing with a full-blown Necromancer here. Katrine, are you sure you can deal with them?”
“If they’re not a legendary class holder, absolutely. If they are, I’ll at least be able to keep them busy.”
“Good. It’s time to pull out all the stops, people. Get ready.”
With a mental command, John shrank his magical shield down until it was little more than a buckler on his arm and drew one of the long daggers he carried on his back. The larger shield was good for defense, but defense wouldn’t help him against a monster of this size. Looking around to make sure everyone was ready, he was about to charge when he heard a crackling voice.
“Look what crept into my tunnels. It looks like a poor group of lost souls. Do not fear, I, Lethor the Bone Carver, will guide you to salvation.”
Walking out from under the shadow of the chimera with a clatter came a wizened old man leaning on a walking stick with a glowing skull clutched in his other hand. Bones from a variety of creatures and blades of various sizes rattled around on his belt as he came to a stop. On the side of his face was the tattoo of a skull and a figure eight, marking him as part of the group under the Master of the Skull. Sensing Katrine tense up, John stretched out his dagger in front of her to keep her from jumping forward.
Unsure why he had stopped her, Katrine looked at him with anger in her eyes. Considering that the old man had introduced himself as a titled class holder, it was clear he hadn’t yet entered the legendary stage, and Katrine was confident she would be able to kill him quickly. Yet John had stopped her at the perfect moment to attack. Ignoring her angry look, John jerked his head at the zombies who had all stopped attacking. It was clear the old man must have wanted to talk to them, and John was just as interested in getting as much information as he could. Taking a small step forward, John lowered his weapons and nodded to Lethor the Bone Carver.
