Cultivation a fantasy li.., p.26
Cultivation: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 3), page 26
“Yes. They’ve begun to move in earnest, heading deep into the winding way toward where the Door to the World resides. Our people are moving to try and stop them, but our skills are of the worst sort when fighting against undead. While our blades can wound them, they are resistant to both our poisons and our enchantments. They have already gained access to the outer court and are starting to push toward the inner court where the door itself resides. There is a true master among them, what you would call a sage level class holder. Though he is but a spirit, he seeks to transform himself into something greater by forging an undying body.”
“Do you need us to head there?” John asked, his eyes narrowing at the mention of Kythov.
“No, you must return to the surface,” Raymenas said, shaking his head. “The corrupted magic he practices requires the sacrifice of as many of the living as possible, and so the undead march on the valley as we speak, seeking to massacre the town and those who have recently come to the valley from across the mountains. The undead will slay everyone, and using the disturbance their mourning spirits will create, the necromancer will twist the mana of the world and the aura of the door into a body that cannot be destroyed. The best way to stop him is to save those in the valley above.”
Nodding, John looked at Ellie and Ben.
“We’ll evacuate everyone to the tower, through the cellar. Once it’s sealed, I’ll return to find the door and kill Kythov. Raymenas, can you have someone ready to show me the way?”
“It would be fortunate if you were to return to assist us,” the spectre priest said, nodding. “But we cannot hide in your shadow, it contains too much mana for us.”
“That’s fine, use mine,” Ellie interjected, ignoring the hard look John gave her.
“That would be sufficient, thank you,” Raymenas said, waving his hand as a shadow darted from under the table toward Ellie and merged with her shadow.
Turning back to John, who was about to protest, Ellie held up her finger to his lips.
“You said you wouldn’t leave me behind.”
Closing his eyes for a moment, John took a deep breath to calm himself, knowing this was one thing Ellie wouldn’t budge on.
“Fine. We’ll rid the world of this evil spirit together.”
CHAPTER 33
Following a flickering light, John, Ellie, and Ben raced through the tunnels that wound under the earth. Rather than tracing their way back the way they came down, the spectres were guiding them through the earth to another exit, closer to the farm, that would cut down on the time it would take to travel back. Both Ellie and Ben ran behind John, their minds completely focused on keeping up. John idly wished he could simply use his powers, carrying both of them and burning his way through the earth to emerge in the valley above.
Doom Points: 83/100
Grimacing as he looked at his Doom Points, he erased the idea from his head. He had seventeen seconds, if that, to use his mana, and until he laid his eyes on Kythov, he couldn’t afford to waste even a single one. On top of that, he had to reserve his power to keep the fight from turning into a world-destroying brawl. John was positive Kythov would have no scruples about destroying everything in sight if it helped him, but John didn’t want to defeat the Necromancer only to find himself in a ruined world.
Seeing the light up ahead turn, John took a step forward and rounded the corner into a long tunnel that sloped up. Reaching back, he grabbed Ellie who was moving too quickly, stopping her right before she slammed into the wall. Ben wasn’t so fortunate and ran straight into it, at the last moment managing to transform his forward momentum into vertical momentum as he darted up over the wall and across the roof, dropping down on the other side.
“Wow, that came up fast,” Ben said, his eyes wide at his close call.
“It did, but you would have been fine, even if you ran right into it. Your body is a lot tougher than you realize. Let’s head up.”
Following the flickering light, they soon came to a small tunnel, where they had to get down on their hands and knees and crawl. After traveling for a few dozen feet, they felt fresh air once again and dropped out from under a bank along the river that ran near the farm. The flickering light transformed into a small figure that bowed her head and then vanished, becoming a shadow that sank into Ben’s. Staring over his shoulder at the perfectly normal shadow that followed him, Ben blinked, still unable to believe there were two tiny people living in his shadow.
“Are we headed back to the farm?”
“You two are,” John said. “Ask Thomas to meet me at Fairford. We need to evacuate everyone.”
“I can help too,” Ellie replied, frowning when John shook his head.
“No, I need you and Ben to talk to Rebya, move the animals, and prepare the portal stone. We’re going to have a few hundred people heading through in just a bit. Remember, Raymenas said the undead are targeting everything living. Which means animals too. We need to move as many living creatures out of the valley as possible. People, animals, doesn’t matter, the fewer there are to kill, the less likely it is for Kythov to succeed. From what it sounds like, the attack has already started, so I need you to work fast. I’ll be back soon.”
“Good luck.”
“You too.”
With a flicker of red flame, John vanished, heading toward the village. Taking a deep breath, Ellie looked in the direction he’d gone, her face pale. Feeling a hand grab hers, she looked down and saw that Ben had wrapped his hand around hers.
“It’s just like when we found out that all the women of the village were planning on coming to our house and yelling at you for seducing their sons and husbands,” Ben said, his face earnest. “It seems terrible, but we’ll get through it, isn’t that what you said?”
Smiling at her brother’s childish way of encouraging her, Ellie nodded, surprised to find that she did, in fact, feel encouraged. Compared to all the shrewish housewives in an entire village, what was a sage level Necromancer and some undead?
“Besides,” Ben continued, “we aren’t alone anymore. We have Thomas and Ferdie and Sigvald and Even and Mrs. Clark and her daughter, and…”
“And we have John,” Ellie finished, nodding. “You’re right. There’s nothing to worry about. Come on, we have a job to do.”
Together they ran back to the farm, quickly arriving and finding Thomas standing in the yard with the Moritoi warriors who had accompanied Ferdie back. It only took a moment to fill them in on what was going on, and then Ellie ran to talk to Rebya. She also sent Sigvald to collect his flock of chickens while Ben started gathering the cows with Ferdie. Thomas and the warriors took off as well, heading for the village as fast as they could.
After John had left Ellie and Ben by the river, he sped up to an incredible degree, moving as fast as he could without using his own mana. Moving instinctively, he ended up using a combination of the two movement abilities he was working on, and with each step he left a trail of molten earth behind that flowed in a curving shape. Even before he arrived at the village, he could hear the sounds of battle raging and knew the attack had already begun. Drawing his sword and activating his shield, he didn’t slow down at all, dashing into the thick of the fight.
Slashing right and left, he danced through the crowd of zombies that surrounded the town, carving a wide avenue of blood as his silver blade ripped through the heads of every monster in reach. With one final turn his blade flickered and three zombies fell to the ground, their brains pierced and broken. Breaking through the line of zombies, John heard a click and his shield came up, knocking aside a Wind Blade that had just carved three zombies apart.
“John! Where have you been?” Katrine yelled from where she stood on the roof of the inn.
“Busy figuring out what’s going on,” John said, leaping up onto the two-story building’s roof and landing beside her. “We have to retreat to the farm.”
“Slow down. Why do we have to retreat, and why would we go to the farm?”
“You’re not going anywhere. Well, that’s not true. We need to evacuate the villagers to the farm because we’re about to get buried in undead. According to my sources, we have a wave of undead coming that’s going to cover the valley and attack everyone in it. I would expect some legendary class holders as well. Remember Kythov? He plans on sacrificing every living thing in this valley to ascend to some sort of super lich. The best way to weaken him is to keep him from killing living things and wipe out his undead before he can ascend. While he’s weakened, we’ll kill him.”
“Are you sure we can’t just do it in the reverse order?” Katrine asked, her forehead scrunching together as she stared at John. “I mean, if you just go and kill him, everything will be fine, right? What’s wrong with you? What happened to the old rush-in-first-guns-blazing John that I knew and loved?”
“He ran up against the if-I-use-my-mana-the-world-ends quest,” John replied, grimacing.
“No. You’re not serious,” Katrine said, pointing her finger at John, her mouth hanging open in shock. “You? You’re the culprit of that stupid quest?! It’s been driving me nuts with all the random Doom Point notifications! Oh, you are in so much trouble.”
“Sure, but before that, let’s deal with the problem in front of us,” John said, holding up his hands defensively. “Namely, the Necromancer and the giant wave of undead we have to fight off. Start getting everyone in the village organized to move. Only what they can carry easily, we don’t have time to wait for people. I’m going to go see Eva.”
Muttering angrily under her breath as she watched him jump down from the roof, Katrine swore and shook her head, beheading a few zombies with a snap of her fingers. John sprinted down the town’s main road, dodging past groups of worried townsfolk as he headed for the Ecclesia office on the other end of town. He could see both Marcos and Hugo fighting against the undead at the edge of the village and Eva standing at the door of the office, applying a potion to an injured villager.
“Your Exc… John!” Eva shouted, relief plain in her voice. “The village is completely surrounded by undead, and George says there are thousands and thousands still coming.”
“Where is he?”
“Inside—he was wounded by a class holder in a cloak as he was racing back to the village.”
“I’m going to talk to him. We’re evacuating the village and heading for the farm. Thomas should be here soon, but coordinate with Katrine to gather the villagers,” John said over his shoulder as he walked into the office.
He saw George lying on the table, his hands clutching his side where a deep wound with festering edges was visible under his blood-soaked shirt. Taking a look at the wound and then at the old Ranger, John raised his eyebrows.
“Heard you were ambushed. What happened to him?”
Grimacing through the pain, George leveraged himself up onto his elbow and grinned savagely at John.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Hah, that’s right, though barely, by the looks of it.”
“Heh, I’ve survived worse.”
“Sure, but we need your eyes out there, not your back on this table. Hold still.”
Opening up a vial of healing potion he pulled out of his pouch, John poured it on the wound, causing the skin to knit together rapidly. With a gasp, George sat up and then jumped down from the table, shooting a wide-eyed glance at the half full vial in John’s hand.
“Wow, that’s good stuff. I feel like I could wrestle an abomination.”
“Please don’t. I don’t have an unlimited number of potions. Just shoot it in the eye or something.”
Letting out a loud laugh, George strode over to the door, scooping up his crossbow and quiver that were lying on a chair as he left the room. Watching him go, John found himself smiling broadly. It may have been the years he spent with other veterans, but John had a special appreciation for the incredible grit and determination that hard bitten old timers like George showed. Walking out of the building after him, he saw that the defense line was already shrinking as more and more of the villagers backed up, many of them fending off the shambling dead as best they could.
“John! Do you have a way to keep our flanks safe?” Katrine asked, her expression still cross.
“I do,” John nodded, pointing at himself. “I’ll get one side, you get the other. Marcos and any other class holders in town guard our rear, while Hugo and the Moritoi will open up the way to the farm with George to support them.”
“Moritoi? Didn’t they all leave?”
“No, there are still six of them, coming with Thomas. Speaking of which, there they are.”
Following John’s pointing finger, Katrine saw Thomas and six powerfully built warriors killing their way through the undead as they entered the town. They made swift work of the slow zombies and a moment later came striding down the street, cleaning the blood from their blades.
“Your Majesty,” Thomas said, stopping and bowing to Katrine.
“Hello, Sir Little.”
“Just Thomas now, Your Majesty.”
“Then call me Katrine.”
“He won’t,” John said with a smirk. “Thomas, what’s it look like?”
“There are two legendary class holders hiding in the shadows, sir. But it’s very likely a third is out there as well. I spotted two of them closer to the mountains, but something about the air doesn’t seem right, which means there’s at least one more.”
“The Master of the Blade is a legendary Rogue,” Katrine said, her face growing serious. “If he doesn’t want to be spotted, you’ll never see him coming. But this is bad. There are only three of us, but there are four of them. I knew I should have made a bigger deal about Helbright sticking around here.”
“Where is he?” John asked, glancing back at the Ecclesia office.
“He said he’d be back by now, but you know how he is with time.”
“I do. We’ll have to make do with who we have. What about other class holders? Do we have a count on enemy numbers?”
“No, sir. Only that there are a lot of them,” Thomas replied, shaking his head.
“Okay, then we move for the farm as quickly as possible. Thomas, you’re the first to engage if the enemy legends come for us. Katrine, you’re the second. I’ll be the third. Eva!”
“Yes?”
Pale-faced but determined, the Priestess hurried over.
“You’ll be in charge of keeping the townsfolk together and moving. Remember, nothing but what they can easily carry to the farm. Losing their lives for stuff that can be recovered is not allowed. We’re going to plan for the trip to take forty minutes, and all children under six should be carried. We’re leaving in five minutes.”
As Eva rushed off to organize the villagers, John saw that Katrine was still glaring at him.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what? You’re the reason for that quest and you didn’t think it was worth telling me? I feel like I’ve been living a lie.”
“Oh, come on. What would you have done about it anyway? You’re just mad you missed all those opportunities to complain about me.”
“Years! Years during which I could have blamed you for everything! I’m so mad!”
Rolling his eyes, John ignored her, pulling out his sword and checking his shield. There was a lightness to his actions, the same lightness Ellie had noticed whenever the situation got dangerous. Katrine could feel it too, and it brought her back to the old days. Any anger she felt melted away, and she couldn’t help but smile. Seeing John looking at her strangely, she quickly erased her smile.
“What?”
“Nothing,” John replied, not wanting to start anything. “Thomas, I’m going to go scout. Lead them forward in three and a half minutes, whether I am back or not, but get ready to intercept the enemy as soon as they appear.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sheathing his sword and looking around at the villagers, John smiled, his teeth glistening frighteningly in the light of the torches the villagers held. Turning, he vanished into the darkness, his words lingering in the air.
“It’s going to be a long night, folks, so get ready.”
CHAPTER 34
Slipping through the dark night, John kept his shield off, relying on the mana he drew in from the outside and infused into his eyes to find his way. The sweet night air carried the faintest sourness, a mark of the festering corpses that surrounded the village, and worse, beyond the village boundary. Crouching, John peeked his head around the corner of a house on the edge of the village, calmly observing the moaning horde. As he watched, he saw a robed figure hurrying over, a staff clenched in one hand and a glowing skull in the other.
Even from a distance, John could tell the skull had been poorly made, but the weak glow in its empty eye sockets still cast an eerie light over the undead, bringing them under the cultist’s control. Just as John, whose presence was still hidden, was about to move, another cultist emerged from the darkness to join the first. This cultist was dressed in a nicer robe and the skull she gripped was much nicer than the first’s.
“Pasco! You’re not supposed to be attacking yet! We were told to wait for the ghouls. They’re coming with the master.”
“I’m not attacking!” Pasco protested, lifting up the weak-looking skull. “My totem doesn’t work at range like yours, so I have to get close to every single one of these blasted zombies. If you want to trade, I’d be happy to stay back.”
“As if!” the female cultist sneered, her voice shrill as she drew back. “The master gave this to me himself.”
Seeing the female cultist holding her skull protectively in her hand, Pasco spat on the ground and gave her a murderous glare.
“Then stop ordering me around. See to yourself and don’t worry about the rest of us, lest you fail in your task and lose that precious favor you’re so proud of.”
“Hmph! I was just warning you, since messing this up means getting punished.”
Turning away, Pasco ignored her, continuing to walk through the crowd of zombies, occasionally touching one on the shoulder. With each touch, the skull in his hand flared, its glowing eyes brightening for a moment. Behind him, the female cultist watched him for a moment, anger and hate in her eyes. Snorting, she turned to leave, unaware of the shadowy figure that slipped after her. Hurrying through the darkened village, she suddenly stopped and spun around, but before she could react at all, the skull she held had been snatched away from her and a hand was darting toward her throat.
