Blitz & Recoil

It was a big day for everybody, and they were getting ready for departure from early dawn. A small scout party, which came with Louis, was sent ahead yesterday to investigate and find a route that can be ensued. They searched the surroundings unobserved while making a map, and after 5 hours of following a rough path, they reached the southern shore of the lake of Alison.

The reports they brought in delighted the big shots of the group. After an early dinner, they discussed their further plans and did maintenance on their weapons and tools, preparing for a long unforgettable adventure.

With courage and excitement in their heart and a burning passion for exploration in their eyes, they departed at about 8 in the morning, following the same path which was discovered yesterday. But, because of the uneven high terrain and various obstacles like fallen trees and gouged out ground and rocks, their progress was rather slow.

Though they were curious as to what caused the destruction of the forest, a natural explanation required a lengthy investigation. So, the group decided to not spend their precious time there and continue their journey. Moreover, there was the danger that the beasts, which were probably the cause, might return, resulting in an unnecessary confrontation, which they wanted to avoid at all costs.

It was about 4 in the afternoon when they reached their destination. Coming out of the forest, the group was greeted by a high rocky cliff. The rock in the cliff is an excellent building material. And a quarry in this area will definitely yield a high profit. But such thoughts were utterly absent from the mind of the explorers. Instead, they were enthralled by the beautiful scenery of the lake and the southern bank.

Down the cliff, a long sandy beach extended in both directions. Numerous debris were scattered on the beach, brought ashore by the small humming waves, or maybe during storms. Among them were rotting wood, dead fishes, broken wreckage of small ships and boats, floating rocks, and countless valuable little gems and crystals.

On their right, the beach curved about a kilometer ahead, where the Aster mountains meet the lake. Along the shoreline, that part of the beach was very narrow but still wide enough for a small group of people to pass. And finally, after crossing that, they will officially reach the eastern plains of Westeria, which was their last objective.

They immediately set to work as planned. Using all of their ropes, they made several rope ladders. The work took almost an hour. But, after the job, seven rope ladders had been arranged for everybody to get down. The cart was stored away in its case and the horse was carefully lowered using ropes. For convenience, the horse was first knocked out of its consciousness using a spell by Lady Janet.

When everybody had got down, it was almost dusk. And the group had to find shelter soon to protect themselves from the sharp winds blowing from the lake. Fortunately, they spotted a few giant boulders in the distance, which might have broken down from the cliff several years ago. The scouts, who were sent ahead to check, reported that the backside of the boulders could be used as a protection against the winds. And that was where the group set up their tents for the cold and windy night. They quickly collected the stowed away wood and logs from the beach and built small campfires in front of their tents. After a dinner of dried meat, everybody went to bed early after another long day of adventures.

But this night was far from over, and would probably be the longest night for them in this expedition.

----

As they were camping in a dangerous zone, Alfosdor and his party were deployed as night lookouts. Everyone was to keep watch in shifts. They pitched their tents facing the lakeside and then sat around a small fire, staying vigilant of their surroundings.

Sometime before midnight, Alfosdor saw strange lights under the water a few meters into the lake. He stared confusingly at them. But it was Reidrin, who was able to identify them and stood up scared stiff. "Chi...chief! They are underwater Ghost Lights. They always accompany the undead monsters."

"What did ya say??" Alfosdor cried out.

"There is no magic presence, though," said another.

"You will feel their evil mana after they come out of the water," answered Reidrin. Alfosdor, who had gone to inform the Captain, returned equipped with his great shield.

"Boys, I have informed the others. We are to hold the monsters back before everyone gets ready," he said.

""Aye""

With Alfosdor at the front, they marched on the beach.

As the lights approached the shore, they slowly dimmed and vanished. Seconds later, three giant undead crocodiles leaped out of the water with a big splash and shot water bullets at the nearing adventurers.

Alfosdor deployed a magic shield and managed to block all incoming attacks. Reidrin, who was behind him, barraged the undead with fire bullets. But the cunning crocs applied a mana layer on their bodies for magic defense. When the continuous fire of Reidrin stopped, the crocs were dazed for a second. And using that opportunity, Alfosdor swung his giant Warhammer and crashed the head of the croc at the front. The other two, now enraged, charged at them.

Suddenly, Filbert, who appeared to have recovered to a certain extent, jumped out from the back and slashed at one of the crocs at hand. The bony jaw of the croc broke, and it struggled to retreat back for recovery. But Filbert's two-party members defeated them in no time.

He now paid attention to the remaining croc, which was slowly retreating towards the water. And as Filbert was about to leap at it with his yellow bladed sword, Alfosdor quickly approached him and pushed him back. "Stop, Filbert," he said and shouted his next commands to the warriors who have now gathered, "Everybody pulls back. And get into defense formation. More enemies are coming."

After giving out the orders, Alfosdor turned towards the water and stood there with his shield held high and fixed eyes. Seconds later, several dimmer lights appeared under the water. And as they approached the shore, their figures slowly appeared out of the water: rotten flesh and tethered old clothes, bones and weapons, a putrid smell and with a nasty glow in their eye sockets. They looked entirely out of a horror story.

The female mages and warriors who were standing behind the frontlines shrieked at the dreadful Revenants[1]. Louis, who was late, ran to the front. Lady Janet frantically ran here-and-there, trying to get her commands to all of her terrified followers. And the Captain, he unsheathed his long black sword and walked out to the battlefield with determined steps.

----

But the one who had accurately perceived the great trouble was Kenny. As he was sleeping, his presence perception abilities were not sharp enough to detect the undead moving underwater. But as they came out of the water, his senses rang bells in his head. And as he woke up, he amplified his perception abilities and discovered the dread of the situation. Realizing that he has to act quick, he quickly got down from his hammock, put on his outdoor gear, and ran towards the battlefield.

----

The battle began soon, and both sides clashed at the sandy lake-beach. The skeleton soldiers at the frontlines were relatively weak, and so they were splendidly blown away by a single bash of Alfosdor's shield. The slow-moving undead of the second wave, let of horrendous cries and charged at the group holding small knives and daggers, rocks and sticks, etc. The Revenants, with the lowest intelligence among all undead monsters, were also quickly dealt with by the strong spells of the mages. The ones which escaped were dealt with by the scouts and rangers. Filbert and his small party joined the extermination too. But it was more like a test of his new-found strength for Filbert.

After a few minutes, they realized that the Revenants were not decreasing in number. More and more of them were coming from the lake, seemingly endlessly. Occasionally, a strong one would also show up, giving a little trouble to the adventurers.

The Captain acted in such cases, and meticulously handled those troublesome fellows. With a swoop of his black sword, the undead monsters were sliced in half, and others who were at some distance were blown away by the resulting pressure wave as if hit by a charging rhino.

Slowly, the battle heated up when stronger skeleton soldiers and mages showed up. The battlefield turned into an all-out war. Fireballs and fire-lances were flung here and there, and mana bullets and ice bullets were aimed at the blind spots. The adventurers who were at a numerical disadvantage teamed up in small groups of two, watching each other's backs. The mages reinforced themselves and others with a protective layer of magic, and the warriors quickly put on metallic armor covering their vital spots. The clash was fierce, but still under the control of the experienced adventurers. Nonetheless, there were few injuries, and they retreated back. Lady Janet and her skilled attendants maintained the rear, preventing any monster from making their way to the camp where the non-combatants were healing the injured.

Louis' butler Balcro joined the fight as well, protecting his master from attacks at his blind spots. Though his prime days were nearly over, he still retained the vitality of an expert combatant. With his full body enhancement technique and splendid kicks, he rained destruction on all the skeleton warriors. He blocked all of the incoming sword attacks with his well-trained skills. Though some of them managed to cut him here and there, he recovered from those injuries with his self-healing magic.

Due to his constant support, Louis managed to push the army-like skeleton soldier troops with his large scale destruction magic. As he flung his wand, the water from the lake coiled around the undead and froze rock solid. Then numerous rocky spikes protruded from under the sandy ground completely annihilating them. The ones who managed to escape were caught ablaze by the flame tornadoes. And, sometime in the midst of all that, he was seen handling two spells at the same time with two wands.

With the last of the skeleton mage cut in half by the Captain, the battle appeared to be over, and everybody rushed in to help their injured friends.

Suddenly, the Captain felt a presence coming from the water, and as he turned to look, he was surprised to see Kenny coming out of the water with a serious face.

He rushed in towards him and asked with an equally concerned voice, "Kenny, are you okay? It looks like you were pulled inside the water by the undead. If you were in trouble, you should have shouted for help."

"No, Captain. Please don't worry as that was not the case," he replied while arranging his wet hair back with his fingers. "More importantly, there is a bigger problem at hand. More undead monsters are coming, and they are stronger and several times in number than before. We shall retreat to the Snowfalls as quickly as possible."

After hearing the terrible news, the Captain's face cramped, and he squinted his eyes while shifting his view to the lake. Although at a distance, he saw faint lights under the water, and they were approaching fast.

He racked his brains and analyzed the situation. And a second later, he had made his decision. Taking in a deep breath, he shouted his orders, "Everybody, listen up. We are retreating to the SnowFalls. We will follow the same path we took today. Now, quickly pack up and get going."

"Wait up, old man. Didn't we just beat them real quick? Why are we the ones to escape like terrified rats?" Filbert flared up.

"You are one to talk," Alfosdor rebutted. "You were writhing in pain on your hammock just a day ago."

"Now now, didn't you all hear the Captain's orders? Quickly wrap up your tent and belongings," said Louis with a serious tone. And although Filbert was reluctant, he grumpily followed the others.

Ryan, who was providing support from the distance, clicked his tongue again after hearing the orders of returning. Mylisant approached him and asked with a low voice, "This might become the end of the expedition. What will you do about the mission, my prince?"

The ex-prince paused for a while to think and answered, "If it happens to be the end of the line for this expedition, I would like to make one last try."

----

Janet was occupied with treating the heavily injured after the battle. She was also shouting out her orders to her fellow healers while handling the problematic cases herself. Of course, her holdings were packed up by her attendants.

Finding out that the Captain was approaching her with brisque steps, she quickly wrapped up what she was doing and reported to him. "Captain, we are almost done. A few more minutes will suffice."

"Good work, Janet," he said while looking at the conditions of the injured. "I am tasking you with another important role. The undead will reach our cliff-climbing-point quickly. And it will take a while for everybody to climb the rope ladders. So, some of us, mainly the old bunch, will stay behind to intercept them, while you will lead the others back to the SnowFalls."

"But, Captain..." she tried to protest.

The Captain interrupted her mid-sentence. "There will be no 'buts' Janet. This is my selfish order. You haven't lived out your human life yet. Being a High Human, you have many more miles to go."

"..."

Realizing that the Captain had already made his decision, she had nothing more to say.

"Now then, time to go."

"Aye, Captain." With determination, she ran towards the camp.

And as she left, the Captain turned his attention towards the lake and said with a refreshed look in his figure, "They are almost here."