– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 43 –

“Should I just continue calling you Thanatos?” asked Megumi.

“Damian,” said the Thanatos squad leader. “We’ll be setting up fortifications down here. Don’t get in our way.”

“Suits me perfectly. My main concern is that none of the undead breaks through the Bulwark. Your lives are secondary.”

Damian smirked. “You would fit in well in Thanatos.”

“I very much doubt that.” Megumi scowled.

“Watch your back.” Damian maintained his smirk and established eye contact. “Our only concern is to get out of here. You or your concerns are worthless to us.”

“Lovely. We’ll keep that in mind.” Megumi turned her back to Damian and intentionally paced her steps as a sign of confidence. She led Devon, Lizzy, and Terry back up to the plateau.

“Alright, listen up!” commanded Damian. “I want smooth hardened walls all the way from there to there. The first wave will be mindless runners. Normally, it’s zombies first, then the ghouls. Can’t do much about the ghouls climbing with their claws, but if I see a zombie scaling the walls, then I will assume you want to aggravate me.” He glared at them.

“Leave an opening and create a funnel for them to run through fire. Set up the earth so that the air can always flow to the fire and smoke always flows away from us. If my eyes get irritated, you will be the ones crying later.

“Let them run into a dead end back here. Save your mana for the ghouls. If the ghouls ignore the funnel and climb over the first wall, then crush them with a second.

“We need to bring down their numbers before the skeletal warriors and any possible evolutions arrive. The skeletons won’t fall for the funnel. They’ll switch from melee mana weapons to ranged ones.

“Once they have arrived, the unaspected mages will focus on maintaining our barrier to defend against the mana arrows. Fire mages, focus on area-of-effect spells from behind the barrier, but keep an eye on your mana. Earth mages, wait for a good time to bring down parts of the ceiling in a controlled manner. Controlled! You will have to eat any rock that falls on this half of the cavern, clear? The more of the low-ranks we can take out quickly, the more room we have to deal with any evolutions.”

Damian clicked his tongue. “It shouldn’t have to be said, but just in case, don’t let yourselves get hit. Any mana attack by a skeletal warrior will absorb life and mana. Any failure of yours will strengthen the enemy. Skeletal warriors gain protective equipment formed from mana with increasing levels. They will gain the death aura ability at the higher levels of the first rank and eventually evolve into undead of the second rank. If a failure of yours to dodge or block increases the number of death knights or similar on the field, then you will be the first to fight them. Clear?”

“““Yes, squad leader.”””

“You heard them?” asked Megumi. The others nodded.

“Good. Our priorities are a bit different. None of the undead are to breach the Bulwark. Whatever creature passes the Thanatos line will be priority one for us.”

Megumi looked at Terry and added explanations for his benefit: “Additionally, any skeleton with a green aura needs to be eliminated quickly. First, the aura is an indicator that their dormant death aura curse has become active and any death they inflict afterwards will cause another skeletal warrior to rise. Second, the aura is evidence that they have entered the high levels of the first rank and this means that they are not far from evolving to the second rank.

“The second rank death aura creatures are death knights, death mages, and death specters. Their evolution depends on the mana and life energies they have absorbed during the first rank. The death knight is merely a significantly more powerful version of a skeletal warrior.

“A death mage spells trouble, because it learns proper spellwork. In particular, it has a Death Spear spell whose casting center can be placed just as freely as a Rock Spear or Fire Spear. It can bypass fortifications.

“A death specter is even more annoying. It’s incorporeal and can’t be hurt by purely physical means. It can summon haunt projectiles that carry intent. The haunts move according to the specter’s will. They pass through physical objects. They absorb mana and life energy on contact. They induce a mild fear effect on living beings.

“Long story short, if you see something green, take it down.” Megumi looked at Devon. “Your first priority is to keep watch over the Wastes. If more creatures are being attracted to the Bulwark, inform me immediately. If you notice anything else out of the ordinary, tell me after things have calmed down.”

Megumi examined the fortifications prepared by the Thanatos soldiers. “For anything else, trust your own judgement.”

“Sure.” Devon agreed happily.

Megumi raised an eyebrow and then squinted at Devon.

“Second thoughts?” joked Lizzy when she saw Megumi’s expression. “Want to retract the last instruction?”

“Nah. We’ll see.”

Meanwhile, Terry pondered the statements by the Captain.

Glad that the dungeon was filled with Alricks instead of death specters?

From the description, the death specter sounded like the worst possible enemy for Terry to face. He would have to add some more brainstorming topics to his notebook.

Afterwards, Terry examined the one-handed hammer from the Thanatos squad leader. It had a single imprint for the Enlarge Object spell. While useful, Terry was disappointed. He had hoped that the hammer’s movement was an imprint instead of spellwork. He had already started wondering about a combination of his Gravitational Attraction glove and the flying hammer.

Neat, but in all likelihood that would incur an outrageous mana expenditure. You might get an award for the least efficient flying attempt.

***

The vanguard of the small undead horde arrived and Terry was feeling wistful for the enchanted scent mask again. After the smell came the zombies.

The corpses of rotting flesh poured into the cavern by the dozens. The life signatures of the Thanatos soldiers caused the zombies to enter a frenzy. They charged at the only opening in the fortifications.

Roughly half of them filled the prepared funnel.

Two of the Thanatos fire mages ignited their spell structures for Circle of Flames. The area inside the funnel lit up in a crescendo of fire. The two overlapping magic circles incinerated the zombies and they turned into ashes. Their fates did not deter the later zombies from charging into the same trap.

Two dozen ghouls reached the walls. For the ghouls, the attraction towards life signatures was less intense than for the zombies. In addition, the ghouls harbored an instinctual aversion towards fire. They avoided the funnel and rammed their claws into the hardened earth to climb.

Aren’t you glad that Alrick has never been this motivated?

“Alrick,” muttered Terry. Devon looked around to see who that might be.

Terry used one of his roped octavum ring pairs to swing closer to the Thanatos soldiers. He activated the imprints in his boots and retrieved a light-aspected metal rod from his storage bracelet. Terry threw the light-aspected rod to the other side of the fortifications and close to the funnel entrance.

Down below, Damian observed the actions.

Terry had never before tested which of the ghouls’ instincts was stronger – their frenzied hatred for the light aspect or their aversion to fire. His dungeon experience had been missing some mages to provide proper ventilation.

The glowing metal rod passed the fortifications. Without hesitation, the ghouls dropped from the walls and threw themselves at the metal rod.

“Good,” murmured Megumi.

Terry walked through the air and then activated his Gravitational Attraction glove to pull the glowing rod through the funnel to himself.

The ghouls pursued the glowing rod. They ignored the lingering embers and traces of fire-aspected mana in the funnel. Their loathing of the light aspect had won over any other instincts.

Damian signaled the fire mages and another round of flaming circles engulfed the area.

A mana arrow flew at Terry and forced him to dodge. Afterwards, a metal-aspected barrier appeared in front of him and covered his retreat to the plateau.

“Thanks, Lizzy.”

“No problem.”

In the distance, they could see the arrival of the skeletal warriors. Mid-level warriors appeared at the front with swords or axes and shields formed from mana. Some even wore protective armor. Behind them were dozens of other skeletal warriors.

Like a wave, the skeletal warriors switched from melee equipment to bows formed from mana – row by row.

Here and there, a few of the skeletal warriors emitted a green aura.

“Nearly half have entered,” said Devon.

“If the remaining half is similar…” Megumi looked over the area. “Fifty in the lower levels. Thirty-something in the middle levels. Ten or so in the higher levels. Those ten will be our priority targets.”

The skeletal archers combined their mana arrows to attack the barrier of the Thanatos soldiers. The fact that the barrier did not collapse instantly made Terry wonder at how terrifying Devon’s hellfire must be.

The earth quaked.

“Here come the big ones,” said Megumi.

Three tall skeletons with a green aura entered the cavern. The previous warriors were as tall as an average human. These death knights were a head taller than Tiana.

One of the death knights dashed forward with a two-handed mana axe and cleaved a gap into the protective earthen walls.

The second used a tower shield together with a one-handed axe and remained in the back. The last took cover behind the tower shield and used a mana bow to attack the barrier.

“Waste it.” Megumi frowned. “Thanatos won’t be able to wait for the other second ranks.”

Some of the skeletal warriors switched to melee weapons and rushed towards the opening in the defensive fortifications.

Damian clicked his tongue and signaled the two remaining earth mages. They and Damian ignited their spell structures. Parts of the ceiling collapsed onto the horde of skeletons. One of the death knights and many of the first rank skeletal warriors were crushed.

“Earth mages, fire at will,” ordered Damian. “Unaspected, focus on the barrier and preserve mana. Fire mages, make the death knights move.”

The frontrow of the remaining skeletal warriors switched to melee weapons and aimed for the opening in the wall again.

Flames engulfed the two death knights in the back and they quickly jumped to the sides.

“Five priority targets remaining,” muttered Megumi. “I’ll be right back.”

Air currents enveloped the Captain and she jumped from the plateau. Instead of falling down, the air currents turned into a whirlwind and propelled her forward with amazing speed.

In her flight, Megumi dodged some mana arrows with minimal changes to her own movement.

Three of the first-rank skeletal warriors imbued with death aura reached the Thanatos fortifications.

Megumi ignited her spell structure and a vast Wind Guillotine descended from the sky. Two green auras vanished. A third skeletal warrior was cut in half, but remained active. The spell had cut off its legs, but the head remained intact. A rock spear from one of the Thanatos mages finished the job.

A moment later, a Wind Blade split the head of another high-level skeletal warrior in the back. Unfortunately, a second Wind Blade was blocked by the tower shield of a death knight that had just entered the cavern. This last skeletal warrior imbued with death aura was still using a ranged mana weapon.

Megumi floated in the air and narrowed her eyes.

The skeletal archer with the green glow was lifted up and pulled towards her direction. Megumi glanced around to discover Terry standing in the air while being protected by a metal-aspected barrier.

The Captain followed up with another Wind Blade that eliminated the last among their current priority targets.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* The sounds of collisions reverberated through the area.

The Thanatos squad leader and the other two earth mages propelled a number of rock walls into the skeletal warriors that had managed to breach the first defensive line.

There were now four death knights in the cavern. One of them had cleaved another opening into the fortifications. Two of them had used mana bows the whole time. Now, however, all four of them switched to shields and protected the entrance into the cavern.

“AHHH.” The scream of a Thanatos fire mage resounded through the cavern.

His neck had been pierced from behind by a Death Spear. His eyes burned away in a green fire. Then, his whole body ignited. His uniform turned to ash. His flesh evaporated. It did not take long for a green glow to settle on the man’s bones. After the glow had worn off, all that was left was a new low-level skeletal warrior of the first rank.

The newly formed undead immediately summoned a mana sword. Before the skeleton got a chance to attack, its head was pulverized by Damian’s one-handed war hammer.

“Death mages,” cursed Damian. “Don’t just blindly rely on the barrier! Eyes open for casting centers! Use your shields to block!”

Megumi and the others observed from the plateau again.

“Two death mages,” said Megumi. “Luckily, they’re still in the lower levels of the second rank. Otherwise, they would be flying through the air instead of hovering over the ground.”

Circles of flames ignited under the feet of the death knights and death mages. The mana-cursed creatures scattered.

The Thanatos barrier disappeared for a second and then reappeared. An enlarged one-handed hammer darted through the air and crushed the head of a death mage.

A Death Spear targeted Damian beneath the Thanatos barrier but was blocked by his tower shield.

Rock and fire spears attacked the remaining death mage. Unfortunately, they were blocked by the death knights.

One of the death knights switched to a mana bow and attacked the barrier.

Another death knight switched to melee equipment and dashed towards the nearest opening in the fortifications.

The two remaining death knights stayed behind to protect the death mage and archer.

“Curses,” spat Megumi. She scowled when she saw the green translucent creature flying into the cavern. “Devon, get ready to jump in.”

The melee death knight had reached the barrier and swung its two-handed axe. The axe was blocked by a small metal-aspected barrier placed by Damian. Simultaneously, earthen walls surrounded the death knight and two overlapping Circle of Flames spells incinerated the undead.

An earth mage blocked another Death Spear.

The last death mage was caught in the crossfire of several spear spells and perished. As soon as the death mage disappeared, all death knights switched to melee equipment and ran towards the Thanatos soldiers.

A green shadow overtook all the death knights and rushed towards the barrier. The death specter moved through the fortifications unimpeded. Several small green translucent skulls left the creature’s body and flew at the Thanatos soldiers.

“Fire mages, moving shields to block the haunts!”

The mixed-aspect barrier was insufficient to stop the green skulls. The haunts zipped around the soldiers in little circles. The fire mages did their best to block them with small fire-aspected barriers. However, there were simply too many haunts for them to block.

An earth mage groaned in pain and his eyes grew wide. One of the haunts had passed through his body and it took some of his mana and life energy with it. The haunt circled around for a second serving. The earth mage forcefully shook his head to shake off the fear effect.

The three death knights reached the barrier and frenziedly hacked at it.

Damian cast Metal Hammer and a heavy block of condensed metal-aspected mana fell upon one of the death knights. Simultaneously, he cast Move Metal Object to direct the one-handed war hammer he had thrown outside the barrier earlier. The hammer had returned to its original size and collided with the head of another death knight.

“ATTACK!” roared Damian.

The unaspected mages dispelled the barrier. All the Thanatos soldiers scattered in order to dodge and distance themselves from the haunts.

Damian’s moving hammer was blocked by the death knight’s defensive equipment. Damian charged the death knight with two more hammers in hand. He pelted the death knight with blows and broke the cursed creature bone by bone.

The two remaining Thanatos earth mages raised short earthen walls behind the last death knight. Damian followed the progress in his peripheral vision. When the moment was right, he enlarged a hammer and threw it out with another Move Metal Object spell. The hammer collided with the death knight and made it stumble over the earthen walls. Once the knight had fallen to the ground, the two earth mages threw away their shields. They enlarged their own war hammers and crushed the death knight’s head.

The two unaspected mages joined the three fire mages in attacking the death specter. Their efforts showed less results than they would have hoped for. Even though light-aspected and fire-aspected spells could hurt the creature, the fact that the specter could fly through the air limited their options. To make it worse, the haunts were still darting around and every contact replenished the death specter’s health and mana.

*FOooooooo* A wind tunnel propelled Devon right in front of the death specter. His eyes glowed intensely from mana use and then he struck out his palm. A giant blast of hellfire engulfed the death specter.

The haunts disappeared.

Damian saw the hellfire from the corner of his eye while he smote the head of the last death knight.

The battle was over.

***

“Now, if you would be so kind as to get your asses out of the Bulwark, that would be great.” Megumi glared at the Thanatos soldiers.

Damian and the other two earth mages had already cleared the tunnels.

The mana-corrupted spiders and centipedes did their part to clear the rubble, too. This was one of the reasons why the Bulwark could never be closed off permanently.

“We aim to please,” sneered Damian. “It has been a pleasure, Captain. I am sure we will meet again.”

“Lovely. I would say it was a pleasure, too.” Megumi clicked her tongue. “But I don’t want to. Please, don’t wait around on my account. I’m sure you have somewhere else to be and someone else to bother.”

Damian led the soldiers out of the Bulwark and into the Black Desert.

***

“Devon?”

“Thanatos has left the Bulwark. No creatures are approaching from the Wastes.”

“Good.” Megumi nodded.

“However, there is something abnormal in the Wastes.”

That statement caught everyone’s attention.

“Isn’t that kind of the defining characteristic of the Wastes?” quipped Lizzy. “The Wastes being abnormal seems normal, doesn’t it?”

“Explain,” said Megumi.

“There is an area without any life or death signatures.”

“What’s unusual about that?” asked Terry. “Only strong signatures can be sensed, right?”

“Correct in theory,” said Megumi. “However, general rules don’t apply if we’re talking about Devon’s senses. Even wasted areas harbor life and there are not many life signatures too weak for Devon to sense. From outside the Bulwark, it would be one thing – the Bulwark’s interference could serve as an explanation. From inside, however, it is unusual.”

“Hostile unlife?” speculated Terry. “Or cloaking?”

Lizzy grimaced.

“Life and death signatures can be cloaked, too, yes.” Megumi pondered out loud.

“But that would imply highly intelligent creatures,” interjected Lizzy. “High-rank undead or folk.”

“How large is the area?” asked Megumi.

“Slightly bigger than the Chara Settlement,” replied Devon.

Lizzy sighed. “Do we have to check it out? A stroll through the Wastes with a chance of liches is—”

“Necessary,” interrupted Megumi. “Unusual activity in the Wastes has the highest priority. It supersedes our investigation.” She raised her chin at Devon. “Lead the way and keep an eye out for trouble.”

***