“Feyland grabbed both of the unlife Venti’s arms and Karl worked his prayers, banishing the unlife leader. And as for the Marquis… No one found him. Some say, he died feeding on the contaminated blood of the unlife. Who knows?” the worker shrugged and Lawrence thought to himself.

Was there ever such a creature? Humanoid in most aspects except the chest? Lawrence could not recall being such a creature. Is it possible that it was in the expansion pack he never played? Lawrence shrugged.

“So the roads are infected with the unde-unlife?” Lawrence asked and the worker shrugged.

“All I know is that small groups of people never leave the forest. Apparently, the magic number is eight.” The worker said and Lawrence nodded slowly. Even if Lawrence were to buy into the superstition, Craig and he were just two people.

“The bridge won’t be done anytime soon, right?” Craig asked anxiously and the worker shook his head.

“Something tore this bridge clean down the centre. We have to practically rebuild the whole bridge. Where are all of you headed?” the worker asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We are both headed to Singing Gardens,” Craig replied and the worker scratched his beard.

“You could hire a small boat to get you there… But you won’t find any more private hire boats in this area.” The worker yawned and Lawrence almost rolled his eyes. What is it this time?

“A small boat came to shore a few days back, apparently the sirens are hunting now. That captain and the merchant right?” the worker asked to a chorus of agreements.

“They were sent to Singing Gardens before the bridge came down.”

Just our bloody luck! No boat, no bridge! Lawrence almost wanted to curse out loud.

As the dinner wound down, Lawrence got into his tent and as he wanted to close his eyes, he heard Craig’s voice.

“I need to save my nephew and niece. I’m strongly considering going through the forest.” Craig said, and Lawrence turned in his bedroll to look at Craig, who was fletching an arrow.

Lawrence kept quiet, weighing his odds. If Craig and himself sat on their asses here, what was going to be the consequence? Well, it was simple enough for the two of them, but what about his niece and nephew?

If Lawrence sat here, knowing that someone was in danger and had pleaded for help, what would his parents think? With that, Lawrence gave a small smile.

“Let’s go through the forest tomorrow, at first dawn.”

Craig looked at Lawrence for a moment before resuming fletching arrows, nodding slowly.

“Thanks, Lawrence.”

As Lawrence fell asleep, the dreams he had was of home, not the cabin, but of his actual home, way back in Singapore.

However, at night, he woke up, his user interfaces sending alarms through his system.

Warning: SURPRISE COMBAT INITIATING IN TWO MINUTES

Lawrence sat up, his eyes widening, as what felt like electricity coursing through him. No, adrenaline. It was the same feeling he felt when they did live ammunition firing when he was serving in the army.

Leaving his tent, Lawrence could see that the guard that was on watch earlier had dozed off, and in the immediate vicinity, there was nothing nearby. However, the interface signalled out about a dozen undead creatures, with ominous titles such as Undead Chef, Undead Commoner (Female), Undead Commoner (Male) among others.

Their level averaged six but made up for it in numbers and the sheer factor of fear.

Lawrence quickly shook Craig awake.

“W-What is it? Bwah…” Craig yawned, looking at Lawrence bleary-eyed, his hair a mess.

“Wake up, the unlife is coming.” Lawrence hissed and it seemed to take Craig a moment before his eyes widened.

“T-The unlife?” Craig said, swallowing his saliva as he sat up.

“Go wake up everyone quietly and quickly, I’ll do what I can to make sure we’re okay against them,” Lawrence said hastily, standing up as he grabbed his tower shield and sword.

Think… Think… What works against undead…

Lawrence quickly scrolled through his spells and cantrips, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead even though it was almost freezing at night.

“Th-There!” Lawrence said quickly, reaching into his bag and grabbing a chalk.

As Craig roused the encampment, the reactions of the workers varied, with only the guard and a few picking up weapons. A few of the workers armed themselves with pickaxes and hammers, while some knelt to the ground, begging and pleading to the Gods silently as Craig asked them to keep their voice down.

Lawrence ran around the encampment, the chalk haphazardly running along the ground. As the chalk was completed, Lawrence knelt down and activated the spell, Magic Barrier.

Spell cast: Magic Barrier

Recite the following lines of your scripture

Lawrence blinked. He had to recite the lines from his character’s religion in order for the magic circle to take effect.

“Ah, God of the Sun and the Wise, heed my prayers!” Lawrence said loudly, the fact that he could now see the zombies being a factor.

The circle of chalk began to glow a bright radiant white.

“Your disciple, calls upon your aid in this dark hour, where the evil creeps towards him and his allies!”

The grass around the chalk stirs as if caressed by the wind.

“Arise, the God of the Sun and the Wise, arise! Be the bane of our foes!” Lawrence roared and the magic circle glows a bright white.

The zombies descended on the workers, Lawrence holding his breath.

As the hand of the first zombie, someone who seemed to be a bar wench when she was alive from her torn, tattered and blood caked dressing, reached the circle, a resounding GONG went off, as a sheet of pure white brilliance seemed to hold her off.