The level of stress that everyone was under clearly made it certain that they were taking extra precaution as well. The groups that had split off from one another to head toward multiple entrances were all led by the healers and light affinity soldiers necessary to get the undead properly purified and would cease their abilities to awaken.
The plan for them would be to keep laying down the same light runes, purification skills, and any other light skill that would disrupt any attempts to be able to awaken the undead that slumbered. When it came to this, Alice had naturally stayed with Walker's group. The royal dragons had also gone their own way since Rise would be able to handle many things on her own.
The fact that this was the case had actually improved morale. The soldiers that knew of the party and the royal dragon's strength had been very invigorated knowing that even if they lost their missions, then they would be able to see two large sections of slumbering undead destroyed. It was a guarantee in their minds that this would be the case.
Naturally, this was a brilliant red flag for fate to mess with them. Therefore, those with some common sense had squashed the foreshadowing and ensured that everyone went over every detail of their gear, skills, and plans. That way, there really would be less worry. That had managed to straighten out any foolish people that were not ready to face a potentially gruesome death or those that were unable to properly focus because of the opposite.
"We are going directly to the area that Midnight scouted, right?" Gil knew that he could not fire arrows in the ruins unless he managed to get them in to the open and long passageways that he been described to them. It would limit his ability when fights happened.
"Yes, Midnight is already checking the forward area right now. I wanted to see what Onyx had found too, but he is leading a small group of the Rize empire angels through the space that the earth mages broke open. Apparently, they are going to be using some of the light elemental crystals to force light mana to flow in to the underground better." Walker had wanted Onyx to stay with them. Yet, when he had tried to argue it, Onyx had stood up to him.
From what Onyx had said, he was certain that he could stand alone here. That he would be showing off the strength he had been gathering. That he was going to be the one that erased these undead from the face of the world. The sudden resolve was nothing unexpected, but it did worry Walker.
There was always extra pressure on Onyx since Midnight had always been right here to show off her higher strength as a dragon. Furthermore, Onyx was always a little self conscious as he didn't have the hero title that the others had. It was even worse when it came to their growth. Onyx had the goal to make the abyssal and heavenly serpents become their own race properly. He wanted to lead that which meant he had to be stronger and stronger.
How could he do that if he wasn't even strong enough to show the world the value they had as a race though. He had been working with the young hatchlings and left them a good base to grow in Genesis. But what had he done lately to make them proud. To follow his path and become strong and upright serpents that protected instead of becoming monsters? What had he done lately that showed every other race that they were able to be put aside from what monsters were?
These things had hit Onyx hard and he decided that he was living in a shadow. Especially when he saw the pain of the dragons and the angels when they found the truth of what these undead had done. This left Onyx with one single question. Would he stay with the party and only act in a small manner? Or, would he separate himself and prove to be a leader among the soldiers? Would he show the undead the true justice of light purification and save this desert? Save many lives?
While Walker had felt these emotions within Onyx, he had trust. He knew that Onyx was able to stand well above others. He cared and was smart enough to learn many things. That eased any worries that Walker naturally had. Especially since Walker knew that Onyx was going to fight for the best of the best and not let himself be blinded by any troubles he had. He knew and understood that Onyx had the resolve to make the righteous decisions.
"Hey, Onyx will be fine. Midnight already said that before too." Su saw right through Walker just as Midnight had when Onyx had split from them. It was too easy for them to catch on to what Walker thought about. Especially since Walker kept reaching up to his shoulder where Onyx would be curled up.
"Just stick to the plan, Midnight already brought us down these stairs and the entire place feels like it wants to jump out and bite us." Remey was the most on edge. When it came to battle instinct, Remey was a natural.
It made sense that a battle instinct from fighting with siblings and fist on face style fights would be different from Walker or Su who had some dragon instinct. For them, they could sense the mana and the general unsettling aura. For Remey, she could feel the drip of what some would call bloodlust. The desire to kill things. That was the difference between those with instincts and those with a battle instinct that developed over a longer time.
"I think there will be traps deeper when we push past these first floor areas. I just wonder what the shape of this palace will be. I wanted to get more all around appraisals since it is hard to tell from the ruined surface area." Walker knew that knowing more about the structures of these runs would only go to help them. But he also understood that it was way too limited. There just wasn't enough uncovered surface area.
"We already know that the sands covered it. You said that this was going to be above the ground if the sands weren't here, right? Then we are probably on some top floor instead of on some bottom floor. That means we managed to come from the roof, right?" Gil felt that this was the best theory. They had to just imagine that this was a massive roof to a large building. A giant mansion roof and they had broken in from the sky.
"Won't that be bad? One big roof covering the entire city?" Alice had been more or less silent. She had been dropping the small light elemental crystals around behind them so that she had a trail to follow and there was more light mana to draw from. It was a good idea she really liked that the Rize angels used. She had gladly joined in using it too.
"Oh… you're right." Su stopped for a half step before she fully understood what Alice had gained from the theory that Gil gave. "Walker, Alice is saying that we aren't actually in the real ruins yet. This is just some protective layer they built up to block the sun more. That this is just a layer of protection. The real city might be deeper…" Everyone felt that this was correct the instant that Su said it.
"Since that's the case, we need to get moving faster. We are all meeting in that large hall that was found. Since that's the case, we can explain it to the other commanders. We are marching in to many more undead then. If these are just some of the forces…" no one needed Walker to finish that though.
The fact that a city had survived in a desert in the first place when they first had believed in a goddess of nature and growth had been odd. But what if they had a source for that? What if they had built a city around that before they had their famine and fell to some insanity? What if before they worshiped a death god they had built something around a place they could naturally live? Then because of their actions the desert tried to bury them?
Everyone had this theory growing in their minds. It was an unwelcome distraction the group pushed down the side passageway and had begun hearing the actions of moving undead. Of creaking bones as they scraped the stones. Nothing was making any of them feel better about where they were or what number of awakened undead may be below their very feet still.
….
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