Chapter 27

Fog. There was a dense, gray fog everywhere.

In hopes of finding Joanne, I climbed all the way to the roof of a nearby building with my Qi. But the visibility that I obtained was insignificant. The fog was so thick that it was impossible to identify the people walking on the streets below.

It was hard to believe that so much fog could occur naturally. But I did not allow the thought to distract me.

I had to find Joanne before she ran into trouble. She could not be very far. Her athletic skills were lacking. At most, she could be one or two blocks away.

There was a very good chance that she went back to check on the dying man. I crept closer to the edge of the roof. The distance between the two buildings was only marginal. With the right amount of Qi, I could make the jump without risk of plunging to my dead.

I was tempted. ‘Make the jump, Berry. You can do it.’

I began funneling my Qi. But my concentration was broken by the loud clanking of steel. On the street below, a platoon of fifteen heavily armored knights marched in hurried footsteps through the crowded cobblestone streets. Their leader, a woman in luxurious golden armor, did not shy away from violently shoving squatters and beggars aside.

*Clank, Clank, Clank*

Their heavy plate armor made its weight known with every forced step as their steel boots hammered the floor.

If they were in such a hurry. Something important must be happening.

Despite the thickness of the fog. The Golden armored knight was able to sense my presence. I burned through a lot of Qi to quickly prone out of sight. The platoon soon ceased their march.

She pointed at the roof where I was. But before she could inquire further. The town was flooded with the tolling of a huge bell.

The crowded streets soon plunged into chaos. The platoon sprinted forward, continuing their forced march further north.

With the amount of urgency that the knights had, it was clearly worse than what they had imagined.

I did not stand up until the knights vanished into the horizon. But peace did not return to the streets. Instead, as the bell tolled with increasing fury. Groups of adventurers began to populate the street with the warm fires of their torches, and they, too, headed into the north of the city, sword at hand.

‘Crap,’

In the midst of so much chaos, if I was to find Joanne, time was of essence. I ran away from the edge and with enough distance; I ran back, increasing my speed and momentum. As my speed increased, so did the amount of shouts in the background.

With great dexterity, I made the jump and landed on the other roof, but I did not stop. I kept running and soon found myself three buildings away from where I started, when suddenly, Mantis stopped me.

“Master, the undead have made their move. The humans are too weak. Unless we intervene now, the walls will fall. How do you wish to proceed?”

“This, you gathered through your investigation?” I asked.

“No. I can hear it. *Glup Glup Glup* Human blood making its violent descent into the ground. Shouting, screams, soldiers fighting for their life. The humans have not noticed yet, because of the fog and the relentless attacks, but as we speak, the undead are amassing most of their troops for an assault on the poorly defended city’s eastern wall.”

“We must reunite with Allisa and find Joanne as soon as possible,”

“No. There is no time. The human defenders are outnumbered by two hundred to one. If we do not act now. The wall will fall,”

“Oh, now you care about saving human lives? No. Your desire is even more primal. You are itching for a fight. Aren’t you? Fine! But just this one time!”

Nike fully transformed into her Full Mantis form and unsheathed her Pride. The moment I mounted her, she opened her wings and jumped five buildings in a single dash. Nike was dashing so fast that the fog itself was warping around us. We were undetectable to the human eye.

We reached the uttermost eastern gate in a few seconds. The adventurers manning the high walls were so scared for their life that they did not hear Nike crack the cobblestone ground as she landed firmly on her four monster legs.

With a single jump, Mantis leaped over the two-story city walls. As we landed on the sea of the undead, the army of white skeletons and their siege equipment began melting as Mantis scattered their bones with her tail.

[35 EXP x 23 common skeletons slain x 0.20]

*Maaaahhhhhh*

“Mantis, holy crap, slow down!”

The mantis did not stop. The blades that pulverized bones into dust kept sawing down through the army of the dead. Her movements were so sudden, so sharp, that all the food I had digested threatened to pour through my mouth.

[35 EXP x 45 common skeletons slain x 0.20]

“Mantis, stop. I am going to throw up! Mantis!”

[35 EXP x 13 common skeletons slain x 0.20]

[Party Member Nike has gone berserker. She is unresponsive to your commands.]

‘Dammit.’

[35 EXP x 10 common skeletons slain x 0.20]

I jumped out, far away from Mantis. Immediately, a crowd of skeletons surrounded me. I punched one of them and the skeleton literately exploded.

[35 EXP x 1 common skeletons slain]

“Damn, you fuckers are very weak!”

They attacked me with spears, swords, and a great variety of rusted weapons. But their attacks were ineffective, as I easily jumped into the air, away from their reach.

Blessed with great dexterity, I managed to head-kick a few of them before landing on the ground. Their skulls flew away and shattered on the ground.

‘How are human adventurers losing against opponents this weak?’

The only thing that stood out from the undead is that their attacks did not carry any killing intent despite the attacks themselves being deadly. Perhaps common skeletons were just some form of automata. If so, there had to be a summoner nearby.

I scanned the battlefield as EXP notifications flooded part of my field of view. With this much fog, there was no way that an invading lich could control this many undead. They would have no way to effectively control their army as it assaults the walls.

Unless….

In cheer reflex. I jumped out of the way as a blinding flash burned my eyes. It was too late. I was not fast enough and was partially caught my the magic blast that engulfed the battlefield with a scorching inferno. Mantis screeched in violent agony as the scales of her armor melted. She received the direct hit right from behind. The fireball had been thrown right from the wall.

The stupid adventurers had just decided to act.

“No mantis, don’t do it! This is an order!” I yelled.

But Nike did not respond. Enraged, she jumped onto the wall and turned on the defenders with her blade. Her deafening screams of agony as her scales melted overshadow those of the adventures running for their life.

[700 EXP x 1 Rank C adventurers slain x 0.20 x 1.5 Evil Action Performed]

[1200 EXP x 3 Rank D adventurers slain x 0.20 x 1.5 Evil Action Performed]

[Congratulations, you have advanced to level 4]

‘Fuck,’

The notifications just kept coming. I just turned my status screen off and felt bad. Not because Mantis was murdering adventurers, but because I felt no remorse.

Without Mantis and the defenders on the wall, I was the only one holding the entire undead horde, or so I thought. Because after two hours of fighting, the two thousand strong skeleton army began falling to the floor, crumbling into piles of bones.

The battle took an excessive toll on my body. Not because the skeletons were strong. But because, unlike Nike or Allisa, I had zero crowd control. My attacks had almost no reach, and my class was specialized in one-on-one combat.

I maxed my three slot inventory with the heads of a few skeletons that I did not slay, for the ones any skeleton that I punched exploded into dust.

Once I entered the city, I broke into a nearby barn and collapsed from exhaustion onto a pile of soft hay. Surely, tomorrow, the sun would bring a better day.