The Saga of Eden

Chapter 2, part 11

Lela silently walks up to a room on the left of the tunnel to see what’s inside. She takes a quick peek, as if nothing has happened, and returns to her team. The Undead inside did not notice her presence at all. Normally, some higher Level Undead, especially ones with intelligence, can detect living creatures that even Lela cannot conceal. That’s why bringing a priest for any Undead fight is one of the main rules in combat. A Talented priest can bring many anti-Undead tools to the table, like the spell {Bane Undead Series: Hidden Life} that Nara just cast on her older teammate.

Did you notice how lucky they were to have a Talented priestess right when needed? Yes, because they were.

“What’s inside?” Eden whispers.

“An army of human Undead, all kinds of classes. Knights, warriors, wizards, rogues, archers, you name it. They’re standing motionlessly inside, waiting for a command I think.” Lela whispers back and starts counting on her fingers. “...I’d guess there’s exactly 50 of them based on their rows and columns.”

Eden closes his eyes and thinks for a few seconds, then responds. “We can handle this. Here’s what we will do...”

  The rest of them huddle up and Eden begins whispering his idea, a theoretically sound but practically foolish one.

“It is impossible!” Astraka quietly hisses at Eden after hearing the plan. “There’s no way you can do all that all on your own. And if you can’t, we’ll all die!”

“I have done this dozens of times, I am 100% sure I can do this. The only risk is if more Undead deeper inside hear the commotions and join. If I can’t keep up, we’ll run and collapse the tunnel.”

“Surely there must be some other way...” Harmani scratches his head and tries to think.

“If we’re dealing with a dozen Level 50 Undead or something then I have a few plans.” Astraka shakes his head. “But for this many, Eden’s idea is our only hope.”

“I have to ask this again one more time, Eden. This is everything.” The old man continues. “Are you sure you can keep up?”

Eden doesn’t respond and just nods. Lela silently stares at him, not saying a word. They all nod at each other and begin preparing like how Eden instructed. Eden, Lela, Nara, and Harmani walk up to near the entrance of the room full of high-Level Undead, with Eden standing at the front and Harmani right behind him. Meanwhile, Astraka stands not too far behind, raising his arms and closing his eyes.

{Oh, power of Fire, might of Fire, lend me your strength...} He begins chanting, barely audible.

{Bane Undead Series: Ultimate Protection.} Nara puts her right hand on Eden’s back and also begins chanting.

{Bane Undead Series: Greater Penetration.} The young priestess continues, sweats begin to show on her body.

{Divine Power: Stamina.}

{Divine Power:... Strength.}

After the fourth spell, Nara can now barely stand. She slumps to the ground on one knee, breathing heavily. Eden and Harmani still focus on the entrance, not looking at her. Lela also kneels and hold Nara’s hand with hers, whispering:

“You can do this, sister. I believe in you. Just one more spell.”

“One… more… ” Nara whispers back, also staring at the entrance. Suddenly, Nara stands straight up, points her staff at the opened room, and shouts:

{Bane Undead Series: Annihilation!}

From her staff, a yellow ray is unleashed and shot into the room like a tracking beam. Nara falls to the ground, unconscious. Lela immediately carries her to the back like a princess, kissing her forehead while she runs.

“Good job, my little angel,” Lela whispers.

As expected, painful screams start coming from the room ahead. Within seconds, hordes of Undead rush out of the room like a falling pile of trash, stomping on another. Meanwhile, Astraka has finished his chant and is now holding a floating small ball of fire between his hands, no bigger than 20 centimeters. The small tunnel forces him to adjust his spell, but this ball still holds massive firepower, pun intended.

“Now, Astraka!” Eden shouts, and both he and Harmani begin to hug the right side of the tunnel, giving a clear view for their wizard.

{... And now, I shall unleash the boon you have given me. Fireball.} Astraka opens his eyes and throws the fireball at the Undead horde with his hands. The ball explodes immediately upon impact, killing an Undead or two.

Due to their high Levels, the rest of the Undead caught in the fire survive, but they’re certainly injured. Eden and Harmani still stare at them and hold their position. The Undead horde slowly begins to compose themselves and stand up straight. They look at Eden in front of them with rage in their eyes and begin to charge.

Due to the narrow nature of the tunnel, the Undead horde can only approach Eden one, or maybe two, at a time. The frontmost one tries to pounce at him like a hungry tiger, while Eden confidently raises his heater shield, ready to block its attack. 

At the final possible moment, Eden suddenly pulls his shield backward, then strikes it forward as if he’s trying to make a punch.

{Shield bash.} Eden uses the skill but doesn’t say it out loud.

This attack surprises the frenzied Undead, it was hit in the face hard by Eden’s new and improved steel shield. Eden’s shield bash, in combination with its charging attack, make the counterstrike so much more devastating. It just falls lifelessly, its flesh crumbling to dust like the Undead wolf back then. 

Eden wastes no time, his right hand holding the shield quickly moves it away, leaving room for his left hand to make a penetrating strike with his sword at the second Undead. He manages to pierce through its head, and this Undead also turns to dust. To kill an Undead, one must sever its connection to curse magic. The best way to do so, other than burning them to dust or anti-undead spells, is to cut off its head, stab it in the head, or smash its head, those kinds of stuff. Undead must always keep their HEAD in the game, haha. Okay, I’ll stop. 

Right behind Eden, Harmani is fully in combat mode, with his fists raised, but he doesn’t join the fight yet. Meanwhile, Lela has carried Nara back to their backpacks. She gently puts the young priestess on the ground and opens Harmani’s bag. Lela pulls out of it a bag of water and a sack full of food. 

And that’s not just any kind of food, the greatest food invention that has ever been created for travelers: SANDWICHES! Really though, you can eat wheat, meat, and vegetables, all in one go within seconds, not leaving behind much to clean up, and very easy to contain. The one who created this sandwich food is a genius.

Lela holds Nara’s upper body up, the younger girl’s eyes slowly begin to open, but she still seems dazed. Lela then puts the bag of water in front of Nara’s mouth and slowly pours the water into her. 

“Drink up, sis. You are important to us, and I’ll take care of you.” Lela says, trying to smile kindly, but makes her look creepy instead.

After thinking Nara has drunk enough, Lela stops and puts the bag down. She then opens the sack of sandwiches and takes out five. Lela puts one sandwich near Nara’s mouth, trying to spoon-feed her the food; the priestess’s eyes are half-opened, she still looks kinda hazy, not fully conscious yet. Surprisingly though, Nara slowly takes the sandwich from Lela’s hands and nods at her. Nara then slowly chews the food, assuring her older teammate that she’s fine. Lela nods at her, takes another sandwich, and runs towards Astraka.

Right after casting the Fireball spell, sweats begin to appear all over the old wizard’s body. Nevertheless, he begins to chant the same spell again. His eyes are closed but he can hear Lela is coming.

Despite their differences, the Rogue waits patiently until Astraka just finishes a verse of the chant, and his mouth opens wide. She puts the sandwich in between his mouth without hesitation and quickly runs back to the sack of food. Astraka quickly chews on the food and swallows it, spending less than 2 seconds the whole time; his chant continues, and Astraka is now more energetic than just before. That is the power of sandwiches, the priceless invention. 

Eden’s plan involves a game of endurance. They certainly cannot kill dozens of Level 50, 60 Undead at once, but they can certainly do so given enough time, and the Undead cannot work together. Eden plays the key role himself, being at the front and holding them off. If he falls, the plan will crumble like a dead Undead. Harmani is the secondary line of defense when Eden needs to rest, providing secondary attacks towards the charging Undead. Astraka and Nara will play the main role of destroying the Undead en masse, but they will need lots of recovery time. As for Lela, her skills are ineffective against Undead, so she plays a supportive role, running around and providing support wherever needed to hasten their recovery time. Selfish as she is, Lela is surprisingly doing a fine job.

The whole plan relies entirely on Eden holding his position for possibly hours, without rest, a true test of endurance.