Not daring to move forward, Eldrian kept himself hidden in the alley as he observed what was going on inside the square. Using Observe on the nearer undead, trying to figure out why the fort defenders were struggling so much to hold out. Eldrian had thought that with divine magic they would easily push out, not be forced onto the defensive.

Observe didn't tell Eldrian much other than that most of the undead were Tier 3 or 4. He had also spotted a few flaming reanimates, some still weakened and with burning flesh. Others just bones encased in bright orange flames, their movements much faster than those with flesh still on them.

Contrasting these burning skeletons were undead that looked like they were covered in shadows. The light from the balls above seemingly being sucked into these undead. Their figures hidden in these shadows and only an outline really visible to Eldrian.

Observe failed to relay any information on these strange undead due to the distance, but Eldrian kept trying certain that the Flaming Reanimate and the shadow covered undead must be the reason for the defenders' struggles.

Surprisingly all these strange undead seemed to be waiting for something. They were all moving towards the center of the square where the zombies and skeletons would make space for them. Yet they did not rush the formation of the soldiers, something that informed everyone that they had some sort of plan.

Most all these strange undead were humanoid, while beasts were almost the entire weaker undead. In total Eldrian counted around thirty of these strange undead. He also managed to get Observe to work on a closer one.

[Flaming Reanimate (Absede), The Unwilling]

[Tier 4 (Fallen, unwilling undead); Level 31]

[HP: 999/1167]

[Mana: 600/608]

[Attack: 238]

[Agility: 375]

[...]

[Having shed its flesh, the Flaming Reanimate has resolved itself to undeath. Its soul burned into its bones; feeding the flames that will keep it in constant torture. All that remains is a rage to kill, and follow the one who gave it its flames.]

[Status: Immunity to fire damage]

[Passive ability: Attacks will transfer some of its flames, burning the target as long as it remains standing.]

Holy fuck! Eldrian couldn't help but swear after reading the stats. All of its stats were insanely high, and Eldrian assumed him being given its mana meant it was capable of casting spells. None of the skeletons or zombies had mana, and they also never used skills or spells.

Just its attack is insane, not to mention its agility and HP... Then it also has that crazy ability. Eldrian didn't know what to do upon seeing the unweakened state of the Flaming reanimate. While this one was two levels higher than the other one called Corbol, the difference in strength seemed far too high for Eldrian.

Upon looking further Eldrian managed to also get the information of one of the shadow covered undead after around five minutes. During which not much had happened in the square, the defenders were still busy fiddling behind the clerics and the undead busy organizing their lines.

[Revenant (Rasmem), The Unwilling]

[Tier 4 (Fallen, unwilling undead); Level 45]

[HP: 1747/1747]

[Mana: 2012/4784]

[Attack: 202]

[Magic Attack: 560]

[Agility: 628]

[A being reborn for vengeance. In lore they would do anything to kill the one they hated most, even going so far as fighting to be reborn as an undead. Consuming their soul for this singular task. However, sometimes their hate can be manipulated, polluted, and targeted. This is what happens with The Unwilling. Their pure and beautiful hate has been corrupted and turned against those they had died to protect. They see those they have loved as their mortal enemy, and those they hated as their love.]

[Status: Extreme resistance to all damage; high resistance to divine magic]

[Passive ability: Spreads an aura of death, strengthening those around them and weakening the living.]

The actual fuck!? Eldrain's mind stopped functioning for a while after seeing the stats of this revenant. He couldn't help but compare it to his own, only to feel inadequate. He wasn't truly able to comprehend what the stats would mean, especially the magic attack with such a large mana pool. Eldrian's imagination ran wild.

[Haru's Statistics:]

[Level: 17 (55.5K / 1152K)]

[Hidden Class: Protector Tier 1]

[Sub-class: Magic, Mellee]

[Avatar Affinity: 98.11%]

[Attributes:]

(He had gained some bonus attributes from reaching rank 2 with two-handed swords, similar to the case with spears. For spears Rank 2: Co-3,St-2,Ag-4,Sp-1,In-0 ; for two-handed swords Rank 2: Co-3,St-4,Ag-2,Sp-1,In-0 )

[Constitution: 121]

[Strength: 131]

[Agility: 161]

[Spirit: 117]

[Intelligence: 155]

{0 free attributes}

[Stats:]

[HP: 139]

[Mana: 194 (204)]

[Stamina: 123]

[Armor: 0.5]

[Magic Armor: 0.75]

[Attack (With Aoidos): 47]

I am nothing compared to that... Eldrian couldn't accept that this undead was just Tier 4, quickly he thought, Maybe becoming an undead is similar to gaining a hidden class. But it isn't hidden, instead, it will hide their other Tiers, that they had accomplished when alive. And for some reason, the stats don't become lost. Right, wasn't this Rasmem part of the party? Eldrian questions, quickly finding that indeed he was one of the NPC's whose name had been grayed out, and so was Absede

This means he was at least above Tier 5, and seeing his mana and magic attack he must have been a mage of sorts. Upon realizing this Eldrian also realized that the undead was indeed wearing a robe of some kind. This wasn't clear to see, seeing as it was all covered in the darkness of shadows. But compared to the other revenants, or at least most of the others, its shadow was much looser.

Is this why they are struggling in just defending? How the hell did the undead launch the attack without warning? Eldrian wondered, knowing for certain that if he was discovered then he would die. He also realized that the mission was most likely a failure, they certainly won't be able to continue. If he would fail the quest he didn't know, but he also didn't care much.

Eldrian was too shocked by the strength of the undead. Having thought all the undead would, at most, be as strong as the first Flaming Reanimate he had run into. Now he found that even that one was seemingly but a cub compared to this Rasmem the revenant.

Hiding in the darkness of the alley Eldrian hoped that things would turn for the best. He could see that those behind the clerics were working on something, he believed it to be an array and hoped that it would be effective. He also realized for the first time that the magic tower was actually being used.

He had only realized this when wondering why they hadn't used it on the gathering undead. Sure collateral damage would happen, but that would be much better than letting this group roam free through the fort. Eldrian felt certain that they would likely be able to kill almost everyone, at least everyone not in the keep.

Is there a reason they don't do that? What the hell is the aim of this attack? And what is the magic tower attacking, is the threat outside the walls so much more than that inside? Eldrian wondered as he saw an occasional undead still being launched over the walls while looking at the magic tower. His last thought sending shivers down his spine as he started feeling that things were looking really bleek.

In any case, I can't do anything here. So now the question is, do I log out... Or do I try and help somewhere else? Eldrian was quite stuck on this question. He didn't want to push and risk his real body, but he also didn't feel right abandoning everyone in a battle.

In the end, he decided to retreat from here and help others kill weaker undead. As he retreated he wondered why the soldiers he had helped before never used nature magic. Certainly, at least one of the must-have known of its effectiveness. Do most soldiers just never learn magic? Eldrian wondered as he called back through the alley.

Coming out from it and onto one of the main streets, Eldrian decided to head to the wall. Hopefully there he could actually offer some help. He quickly started running over, Aoidos in hand to keep his mana full. Finding people fighting almost every minute in his journey on the main road.

All of these were against weaker undead and as such Eldrian could easily help out with a simple Thera. On his way to the walls, he ran into a group of three fighting against five undead. Two of them seemed to be normal soldiers, while one was a mage. Due to them being outnumbered the mage was forced to defend himself against one undead alone.

He was clearly struggling in just surviving and had no chance to use spells. His two friends were not much better off as they each had to fight two undead, just one would have already been a tall task.

Eldrian had started by helping the mage, freeing him up to use his spells. Unlike Eldrian it took him a couple of seconds to cast a healing spell. Eldrian didn't know what spell it was but it was much more effective, likely a higher Tier spell as the mage was Tier 3. While Eldrian did around 70 damage to these weaker undead, the mage had done 190. Killing off one of the other undead right away as it had already sustained some damage.

It was at that moment that Eldrian realized that two corpses were actually lying nearby. The mage likely having taken them out before they could reach the party.

Seems magic is truly useful. Eldrian thought upon seeing the mage oneshot an undead. His speed wasn't much more than Eldrian's as he could only cast his spell two or three times and he had a casting time. However Eldrian believed he wouldn't be so limited, and hence he was motivated to try and Tier up again.