Three days passed quickly. Luckily, the undead did not react much to the fact that Eldrian and the others had made their way into the city from outside. While the undead patrols appeared to have grown in number, this actually worked in the city's aid.
While rudimentary in concept, the city's hope for dealing with the vast number of undead they faced was quite realistic. They would send out the Chosen to lure valued targets into traps.
Certainly, this often ended with said Chosen dying and adding to the undead numbers. But, occasionally, they managed to not be overwhelmed by numbers, and escape death long enough to lead a key target to a trap or ambush.
Eldrian, Ceph, and Vivian had immediately joined in these efforts. Capable of slaying endless lower undead, they always drew a valued target out. However, sometimes they were forced to escape so as to not be trapped themselves. And other times, the undead would flee, or dig in its heals. Refusing to follow them much further than its allocated area.
With how few successes the trio had had thus far, they had to credit the other players for their efforts. While they often died without results, their continued efforts were certainly worthy of praise. Most players would perhaps have given up on the defense mission and sought an easier quest.
Now, three days later, Adriana and her friends were joining such a mission once again. Carefully, they sneaked through the ruined city. Bounding from ruined house to ruined house, killing any lower undead that might stumble upon them.
As the group made it to their target's location, where once stood a small mages guild branch, they paused. Recalling the warning they had received earlier in the day. The same warning every group received when heading out. To value their lives above all else.
While the group's fervor burned great, they had no wish for death. Thus, after scouting the surroundings, they deemed their expedition doomed to fail. The rabble were simply too much. They would slow them down and open opportunities for their target to rob them of their lives.
This was now their fourth failed venture. Yet, none in the group lamented the fact. Without any arguing, they turned around.
While they certainly felt a burning jealousy when looking at the others, their journey had thought them the value of patience and perseverance. Staying alive. That was the most important part of their mission.
Returning the smallest district, the one home to crafters of all sorts, and naturally the unfortunate souls who had failed to evacuate in time. Adriana spotted dozens of Chosen arriving from one of the few remaining temples in the city.
Yet, despite the growing number of cannons, the defense lines were mostly manned by tired soldiers. Of course, the first batch —brought by their group— had been used to relieve the defenders. Later batches, however, were being kept hidden. The hope, to lull the undead into a sense of superiority that they could overthrow with one move.
It was unlikely that it would come to be. Outside of the developments inside the city, the fight outside had also grown. Skirmishes filled the land. Short fights reliant on hit-and-run tactics proved effective. While it was hard to kill the undead in short burst fights, it reduced casualties. Making it more than worth it.
—
Eldrian was visiting one of the smithies in the crafting district. Hoping to get his weapons resharpened. Handing it over to the smith, Eldrian couldn't help but wonder how much easier it would be if their targets were living entities.
The undead were just such a pain. To kill them with physical attacks, you had to destroy the bones or organs hosting their curse. For the higher undead, it became more complicated, but it remained true that it was more complicated than killing something living.
Naturally, knowing this issue, Eldrian had spent countless days experimenting. Sadly, nothing had borne fruit, yet. Eldrian wasn't ready to call it quits. He had a few half successes he wanted to pursue further.
Today, however, he had other plans. With how the situation currently was, he doubted anything would change. Thus, after retrieving his weapons and reminding the guild to contact him if anything changes, he teleported back to Kynigo. Stopping by his estate to collect the items he had asked for in advance before heading to his normal training spot.
Upon arrival, Eldrian felt a small burst of anger at the goddess of magic. Seeing the repaired house, it reminded him of Two's absence. However, he did not let it bother him for long.
Ensuring the area was clear, Eldrian prepared his defenses first. Unsure how long things were going to take, he erected a couple of barriers to keep wanderers out. With each fueled with a medium mana crystal, it should be able to keep him protected long enough to teleport away with the ring of Avyssos.
Ready, Eldrian reviewed his current stats. Thanks to mastering throwing weapons (and cheating with ether manipulation) he had ranked up the range class to Tier 4. Tier 5 would require him to actually pull off a range skill, which was currently beyond Eldrian. Still, it had given him a considerable boost in raw stats.
That, however, had been there for a while now. The thing Eldrian was actually inspecting was his new titles. Naturally, by now he had tested its abilities, or rather, the effects of the ability it had granted him.
Eldrian was now able to think things through more clearly, but that did not mean he always had the right answers. If he used this ability wrong, then the results he was going to get was wrong. Like the classic saying: garbage in, garbage out.
The problem, then, was figuring out what was garbage. What information that he had learned, found, accepted, and adapted were correct and which were wrong?
The simplest answer, test it.
Which was exactly why Eldrian was here. With a calm within the storm of war, he wanted to experiment.
"I don't have any targets here, but I can refine my spells just as well. I already know which were effective against the undead."
With this mindset, Eldrian started practicing. And, naturally, there was a reason why he had come out to his old training grounds. It wasn't simply because he wanted to be alone, or distant from people should things go awry. He also wanted to death mana from the encroaching.
Experimenting with its flow, and trying to guide it through his own body, Eldrian gained some new insights. Instead of blocking it, keeping it out. He now tried to welcome it in.
Naturally, this caused decay. Death mana naturally caused a type of rot on living creatures it comes into contact with. That was nothing a little healing couldn't fix. So Eldrian continued experimenting.
Eight hours later, he had a new spell.
"Not sure if I like what it costs, but it feels like it works. Next step would be to test it out. However..." Eldrian felt it was about time he tried two other things. Tiering up, for one. And casting creation again.
If he could mange the former, then the latter would be far easier. For this, however, Eldrian wanted Pelaros or Myropsis close by. After all, he could still recall the chaos his Tier 5 tier up had caused.
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