Not even ten minutes had passed and a large assembly of some thirty folks had gathered outside the Explorers Guild's main gate. Apparently we were going to start moving out in the next minute with the Guildmaster directing orders to various teams. The Knights of the Vale, we were already told, had found the main body of the incoming Wave - a horde of undead creatures spotted near the western gate which they were heading to intercept. The rest of the guilds were tasked in assisting their auxiliary force to help kill any and all stragglers that managed to get past their main body.

One of the few things I overheard was - a good number of undead called Carrions (birds I think) already managed to bypass the walls and sentries. As well as another type that can barely be seen had slipped past the guard.

The Guildmaster was finishing up assignments with six teams of four or five members and leaving only me and the old uncle as a single team of two. I got worried. Mainly because I didn't hear much of anything else as regards to the guild's stratagem due to being lost in my own thoughts this whole while. Knowing there were such things as dungeons in this new world was a bit of a shock. But now facing off against undead creatures? I couldn't help but whisper to the Guildmaster as some of the teams began moving out.

"Gomen'nasai, Guildmaster-sama," speaking in quick breaths. "I missed what we are doing... and why are we a team of just two?"

Andrek looked wary as he answered back, "Are you sure, you are up for this Rikku-sama?" I really wanted to answer him that I wanted to hide back in the guildhall but said-

"Yessir," trying to sound more confident, "but I just missed alot of the ordering going on there. I'm sorry. I guess... I'm a little nervous." Which underplayed my real fear here.

The Guildmaster seemed to understand my waverings here then explained as we were the last to move out from the outer gate. The other six teams were sent out to help relieve the auxiliary patrols so those knights could join the main battle. Seemingly the knight captains just got word but a few minutes ago that the horde besieging the town's western gatehouse is almost twice that what was first detailed out with several powerful undead monsters spotted in those ranks.

And that was where we were heading now. I went to casting my four buffs - [Regen], [Might], [Shell], [Haste] - upon myself as we ran through the streets. Each only had a 3-min span, but I was not going to be caught unaware. I was about to start casting those four upon Andrek but as we hooked the corner, we ran headlong into an encounter.

Two knights were already downed with another two swinging their shining swords in confusion. A third knight looked to be channeling some warding spell (or skill) around the two on the ground. The moment that third knight spotted us, he shouted-

"It's an ambush! Shades all over the place!" The Guildmaster immediately took a defensive stance with a [Instant Counter] command, while saying "[Boost]" and "[Ki Blade]" after it. The latter two looked to be buffs as his body briefly glowed red hot as his greatsword started swirling with a pale energy.

"Rikku, get behind me," came his gruffed voice as I soon passed him. I froze in my movement when I noticed a shadowed figure in a cloak - and clearly not human - appearing for the briefest moment behind one of the knights, who then disappeared just as quick when his shining blade missed in its swing. It also looked like the knight just took that creature's swipe from behind as he stumbled onto a knee before bouncing back up looking again for the target. It was a bit scary to see.

I realized it must be some kind of stealth battle as the other knight standing moved to give cover as his partner righted himself. I quickly got behind the Guildmaster who spoke lowly to me to not move from his adjacent position as-

"-my [stance] will be able to intercept any incoming attack." But then the old uncle said aloud, "How many?!"

The knight defending the two squirming on the ground answered back in as loud a voice, "Atleast four. We managed to get two down though." The thought of three more of those invisible things floating about was an even scarier thought. I tried using [Scan] on them, but that proved to be difficult with a target fading in and out of sight. I caught another glimpse of one higher in the air, but it too vanished just as quick.

Then without warning - Andrek made a wide swing to his blindside, the sword's arc a mere foot from cleaving my own body in half. The invisible spectre came into view with his slash, giving me a clear moment to glimpse its true visage while saying [Scan] in a low voice.

My target was a lv.17 Shade with stat pools over 70 (save its 0 Luck). It had a Stealth skill, a Greater Evasion feat, and a few damage resistance mechanics. Its HP sphere was critically low but had a weird protective bubble around it.

Visually - this Shade had a feral skull-shaped face, long 4-fingered claws, and a thin form wrapped in a cloak of black smoke. It was quite horrifying actually, and I could feel my legs go limp. It vanished soon after I realized what I was looking at, leaving behind only an echo of its wailing scream.

The Guildmaster scored a direct hit, but it wasn't enough to finish it before it stealthed away. Andrek said [Instant Counter] again and adopted the same posture as before with his greatsword perpendicular to his body.

Another minute passed in this defensive battle. The Guildmaster managed to kill one with a slashing [Strike] maneuver that streaked in a crimson bolt in downing the Shade while the one of the knights managed to score a kill on another with a move called [Sword Smite]. There were still two more enemies about though.

I proved to be quite useless on this front as I would freeze up for a second before even thinking of casting a spell on one of those floaty targets. Then they would just vanish away when my mind caught up to do it. Instead after the second was killed, I made a beeline to the knight channeling the barrier spell to atleast heal their downed company. I heard a startled cry from behind as I made my approach, but the knight nodded as I made it to his side.

The two down were still conscious but their faces were gripped in a great deal of pain. Using [Scan], the cause seemed to be a [Wracking Pain] curse affliction. Must be part of these Shades' stealth attack.

"[De-Curse]," I spoke quickly on each then casted [Light Healing] to bring back their HP to full. Atleast I was useful in this department as the knights easily got back up with their swords in hand. The defender's jaw was low as he watched me do all this-

“B-But... I can't believe it... that kind of healing would take a Priest all day!”

“Well, I'm glad I was useful here,” I smiled back. “You guys should be able to fight now, right?”

The two knights I directed the latter to just blinked. One of them said, “That’s right! We can’t spare a moment. Thanks kid."

"Yeah," came the other, "We owe you one there." Then the two left the safety of the warding spell, one running to backup the Guildmaster with the other joining the two still taking calculated swipes in the air. I was about to move out when the knight beside me said to stay with him in his glowing circle.

Another minute passed as the stealth battle continued, however it seemed the Shades were no longer in the area. None of us could get a glimpse of their shadowy movement. I pointed that out loud only for the head knight in charge to state-

"We can't leave this area. Not until we can be certain they are gone." His voice was frantic in explaining that there are people hiding in this little district. I glanced around at the buildings. There weren't many but enough to think if there was but a person or two in each, they would be sitting ducks to an invisible opponent.

The Guildmaster cancelled his stance and walked over to my position to get us to move on to the western gate. The five knights also began to regroup into teams to scout this perimeter. Enough time had passed that the magic of my four buffs started to fade, and that was when I remembered a spell in my build.

"Wait," I shouted to them all. Then I pointed my Curved Rod confidently and said, "[Will-o-wisp]." A pale blue mass in the shape of an orb appeared at my command, hovering a few feet above my backside. It felt pretty dumb with the way it spawned behind me instead of at my weapon's tip.

The orb began to illuminate our dark surroundings in a pulse of light I could hardly describe. Its spread was bright within a 10 yard radius that dimmed for another 20. The light even stretched outward for another couple yards but faded in a pretty sparkling effect. But that last effect revealed another two Shades in the outer distance. The five knights cried out and rushed to surround them in an attack formation, getting the two down rather easily before the Shades could retreat down an alley. It seemed the effect of my [Will-o-wisp] cancelled their stealth maneuver.

"Madoshi-sama," came the Guildmaster's weak voice. He was looking at me with even wider eyes. As the knights came back to our position, one of them noticed a third Shade floating high above us and pointed it out. This light-like radius must also extend above. The problem was it was too high for a sword to reach. The head knight began to speak of ways to lure this one into their attack range.

Thing is - it was far enough away that I didn't feel immediately threatened by this slow moving form. After using [Scan] again in a low voice and seeing no differences in its window, it felt safe to cast another spell, "[Thunderbolt]!" A faint boom sounded out and a yellow streak appeared before my pointed rod and target before the Shade got 'zapped' out of existence. It was a literal OHKO, and I felt my experience bar jump with a 2431 XP gain.

I didn't notice it at my cast time, but the shockwave caused by my [Thunderbolt] spell scared the living daylights out of the knights and the Guildmaster. Two of them had even shrieked and ducked for cover at the sound. I looked about now to see all six jaw-dropped to the effect of my spell. I guess the visual of myself hurling a lightning bolt from the tip of my weapon could be the cause.

"Gomen," I started in a worry, "... it was the first attack spell, I could think of." Truth be told - it was likely a bad choice of spell usage as undead mobs tended to be weaker to Fire and Holy magics, so my [Fireball] or [Smite] spell would have been the more optimal choice but... the only response I got back was more trembling.

"W-Who is-s this wizard?" This came from the head knight. The other four were still speechless for some reason. Unsure of how to act, I was about to stammer out a reply when the Guildmaster stepped in to say-

"This is a colleague from our Quatar branch." The old uncle was giving me a pointed look, even in this situation, but continued to the knights, "Think of him as... an adventurer from Azora." One of the knights sighed in relief while a few began nodding and murmuring to each other about "how that made sense", somewhat.

The head knight then thanked the two of us for our assistance and made to join their patrol to us as their orders were now to rejoin the main offensive at the western gate. However, one of the knights broke away stating-

"We can't, taichou... please." He was waving his sword in a frantic manner while talking about the amount of undead that had managed to breach the outer gate.

"Calm yourself, Philippe," their captain shouted back. "Our orders are to..." He didn't get to finish as screeches from above got us all flinching down. This sound was far worse than nails on a chalkboard, and I felt my own body go dizzy from its effect. Looking up, what looked to be a flock of twentyish skeletal condors were descending onto our position in a swoop.

We seven broke into a run away from the wide road to take cover in side alley. I used [Scan] on them as we ran to see these undead birds were lv.9 Carrions. Their stats were not high, but they had some kind of 'Pack' bonus as a buff. That collective screeching noise from before had some sort of temporary defense lowering mechanic that just now went away as we managed to dodge their pass.

This time I pointed my weapon as they veered up and away to cast a more optimal spell against the undead, "[Fireball]!" A ball of swirling fire erupted and shot like a bazooka towards the fleeing Carrions. I didn't really pick a target here but tried to aim it in their center mass. The [Fireball] in response flew like a homing missile towards one in the undead flock to hit and then explode on impact do deal splash damage to the rest.

Of course the result in this magical world was a massive explosion in the air that briefly lit the sky and instantly wiped out the first Carrion to give me 1287 XP. A second later I gained another 15444 XP from twelve more killed from that splash impact. The remainder six or seven fell from the sky in a blaze, their bodies crumpling to ash before they even hit the ground to net me another 7722 XP. I felt myself gain a level and a half off that kill set.

This was hardly a time to work on my [Class Settings], so I turned back to give a comfortable nod and thumbs up to my party to know all was in the clear. I was happy with the outcome, but the knights were all huddling with each other, their swords trembling and pointed at me. It seemed the group couldn't retreat any further back due to the building's stone wall barring their way. The Guildmaster's own blade hung limp in his hand, its tip scratching the pavement, as his face was worked into a twisted mess and slurring words no one could understand.

Some drool flinged from his open mouth as Andrek shook his head to gain his bearings, "Madoshi-sama... do ignore our shock here. It's just... to see magic casted at such a high level..." and left the rest of the sentence open as the old man continued to shake his head in his amazement.

I guess I overdid it again but pointed out that I would consign myself to Philippe's request to continue clearing these back districts of any undead that might have gone unnoticed-

"-if of course, you will allow it Guildmaster-sama." I then explained that I had a scrying spell called [Arcane Eye] that might allow me to help track any foes.

"[Arcane Eye]," I commanded and felt the brow of my head shine with an inner light as the others before me gasped to the effect. It was like staring at a minimap of the town proper. Nothing really stood out though as it looked like a cleared blueprint with only myself as a black cursor dot in the display.

But that was before I said in a low breath, "Undead." Many little red blips appeared with some fading every now and then. Those must be Shades with the faster moving blips in waves being the flying Carrions. Then I pointed my hand high in the distance to state-

"We should be seeing another flock of Carrions right there, in a couple-" I didn't need to finish as another group of them appeared to circle half the district before turning their flight to the south end of town. I was getting the feel of how this zoomed out window would work and said as much to the Guildmaster and the knights-

"... and there are still a good number of undead in town. Most looked to be Carrions, but I'm seeing atleast five blips that are likely Shades wandering a couple streets over," as I pointed to the locale in the distance. This is likely where we needed to head to next to ensure no other patrols get caught up in their stealth attack.

The Guildmaster sounded like he really did not want to leave me unguarded and spoke more of the need for all able fighters to join the western front, but the head knight agreed to lend me two of his knights to help clear that side area before we joined into the main battle. Philippe from before and the knight who was channeling the warding spell were chosen as my escort.

Andrek then spoke to me rapidly, "Madoshi-sama. Do not leave their care. Understand?" I nodded to his instruction as the old uncle turned to relay for the rest of their number to 'party up' and join with the other brigade.

With the new strategy assigned, two of the knights began a weird incantation. One of which was Philippe whose voice echoed, "『Responding to the faith of companions, I call upon a union of our minds and bodies』[Form Party]."

The knight's hand dimmed with a light as he reached out to the warder who took it briefly as the light joined with his own. I looked to the head knight doing the same with Andrek who was now shaking his hand. Is this how they form 'parties' in this new world?

"Madoshi-sama." I looked back to see Philippe's hand extended to me. This was to odd be sure, but I took it to feel a 'zing' go through me as a window popped in my inner eye. Indeed, I could see the knight here had formed a party with myself and the other knight. I was even able to see their names with their class and levels.

Philippe was in the first of the five positions - guessing that spot is for the party leader - and he was a lv.12 Holy Knight. The second spot had James, a Holy Knight of 28 levels. I was in the third spot with the last two being tabs. My party members even got marked on the [Arcane Eye] minimap. A very useful feature there.

"Uh... madoshi-sama..." I realized I was still holding onto the knight's hand and quickly released it while making it as an excuse of-

"Sorry there. I never... grouped like that before." I had no way else to explain it.

----

"[Smite]," I shouted again, and the fifth Shade vaporized in a smoke of blinding light to give me another 1358 XP. And with that, I saw no more red dots in the district we were in with [Arcane Eye].

I was now lv.23 due to those five Shades coupled with a Carrion pack that had descended onto the area. Overall - the killing went quite easily as the Shade stealth tactic was negated under the zone of light my [Will-o-wisp] spell provided, and the Carrion flight was again taken out with a single [Fireball] that did its 'splash' damages. I just sat in the comfort of James's [Protection Ward] and kept casting spells to hit each of my targets with impunity.

Everything was downed in a single spellcast, my [Smite]s even 'critting' for bonus damages on the Shades. Philippe hadn't need to leave the circle since our plan was for him to intercept any enemy that would advance toward us. One could say, our opposition died too fast. Though I did hear the young knight squeak after every spell I used. Even the warder gasped to how quickly I cleared this side district of a hundred square yards in a three minute span.

In retrospect - I guess seeing a wizard easily down a group of undead mobs that gave a small company of holy knights trouble would be a fearful sight.

But I did gain some valuable intel during this little mob clear here. It seems that when in a 'party' setting, my XP is relatively halved as normally gains were 100x the base level of the creature killed. Thing was I could also see my party members getting roughly a third of said amount. So it was not working off of even dividends but more as a fixed ratio on the unfiltered amount earned. Of course, my theory was based on a couple other factors like the one getting the 'killing blow' receiving the higher share over his party members. I would need Philippe to score a kill himself to test it further, but with the last Shade killed-

"My [Arcane Eye] is not picking up any more undead in this area," saying this aloud. The two knights beside me lowered their guard a little, but I told James kept his ward up in the case of an ambush I can't see through my scrying. The truth was I had zoomed out earlier to see most of the undead within the town limits had been greatly diminished in the past five minutes. It wasn't just our team of three, but the reserve forces deployed before had done their job in clearing each area of hostiles. It looked like the only undead still active outside the western gate were those fast moving packs of Carrions, which now only numbered three or four in waves.

"Then we should head to the western front, madoshi-sama," came the warder's voice at my side. The other truth was - I really wanted to avoid going there as I saw it being a mass of red dots through the use of [Arcane Eye]. But I guess we can hardly put it off any longer.

"Can we pause for a bit," I put out. "I want to regain some of my mana." Much of my MP bar had already refilled but with this excuse, I could buy a minute or two to check out my [Class Settings]. The two knights looked at each other to nod as Philippe pulled out a rock (Message Stone) to start talking to whoever was on the other end of his [Message] spell.

I quickly opened my class tabs to see I had gained 12 more Skill Points to raise its counter to 16. I noticed this opened my build up to more spells and spent a point in the Arcane tree to get [Earth Shield]. This is a 3-ranked spell that raises the host's defense values by a set value determined by the caster's Magicka score. However this 'buff' has a couple more benefits over my current [Shell] spell and made it very worthwhile to grab.

First this particular shield had an indefinite time cast, save for it having a 1-use limit. This was good as the shield would last until it was dispelled or recasted on another target. For the second, it had its own auto-block mechanic to negate any attack or spell that would reduce said target's health to a zero value. To me - that last function made [Earth Shield] the perfect defensive barrier, and the two buyable ranks in this spell only improved upon this auto-use by adding a HP restore on top of it.

However I didn't spend the needed points to up [Earth Shield] at this time but did use another Skill Point to get the [Shackle] spell in the Holy Tree. This was a binding magic the typical CC trope to create an 'imprison' effect on a target. Again, this was also a spell that had a 1-use limitation with its two purchasable ranks adding another layer to its crowd control function. I didn't invest points into these ranks and saved my remainder 14 points for later use.

Then I double-checked through my character window:

Name: Rikku

Race: Hume, age: 17

Class List

lv.23 Adept Mage

+ Upcast (14%)

Stats

Strength - 122, Vitality - 122, Agility - 122, Dexterity - 122, Magicka - 133, Spirit - 122, Luck - 10

Skillset

- Holy Magic: 12, - Arcane Magic: 12, Scan +insight, Phoenix Heart, Meditation rank 3/3

Feats

Bonus Roll: 99, Skill Gainer, Reset, XP Division 1/5 1/4 1/3, XP+ 10%, Wizard's Grace, Spell Mastery rank 8/10, High Speed Mana Regen

Titles

n/a

Seeing everything relatively the same as before - not withstanding the three extra levels - I went ahead to cast [Earth Shield] on myself to see my 'Resistance' subfactor jump almost a hundred points. It was like my body was encased in a glowing orange rock before it melted through my skin and faded as an icon in my inner eye.

Philippe and James looked strucked by the effect, to which I replied, "It's a defensive spell. Please, pay it no heed." I forewent casting my other four buffing spells seeing as it would take atleast a couple minutes to reach the western front, and I didn't want the mana to go to waste. Plus, I didn't want to spook the knights any further. I did think to buff my party beforehand but decided against it for that very reason.

"I'm good now, thank you." Hopefully they would take my suggestion as a signal to move out. I told them I still had [Arcane Eye] active, "... so our way there looks clear. And my [Will-o-wisp] here," referring to the blue orb hovering behind me, "should prevent any Shades from ambushing us."

Philippe assumed command and had us move on and through the district we just cleared. It took us more time than I thought for us to reach the sounds of battle. A little over five minutes of running, and it didn't help we got sidetracked into killing another three Shades that blipped on my minimap. But I wasn't going to scoff at getting more easy XP, bringing my bar nearly to level 24.

Eventually we three did come upon the western gate that was barely ten feet in height. It might have kept out some wild beast but for any besieging force, it was hardly a good enough deterrent. Even from our far vantage, I could see the fighting was separated in three levels: one a bit beyond the gate, one under the gate's entrance, and one as a backline.

The fighting looked heaviest at the gate itself, and there were also people fighting on the fortification, archers and I could spot a spellcaster or two in those ranks. And about this undead horde... well it looked to be mostly zombies with a type of skeletal monster mixed in. But they were not the zombies one would imagine, i.e. re-animated humans. Instead these looked more of a typical monster with green rotted skin with a rather bony form of jagged teeth and large claws. My [Scan]s showed each as a lv.7 Zombie with only [Bite] and [Claw] as moves and some sort of 'Disease' passive bonus.

The skeletal beings were scanned alot higher as lv.22 Skeletal 4th mobs and had a more varied moveset. Visually - each wore a hunched bestial structure of bone nearing 7 feet tall and four spider-like arms as their weapons. Their long slender hands were cloaked in a purplish flame, and their bony bodies gleamed in an eerie light. My [Scan] showed this was likely their Bone Armor passive feat and their [Undead Flame] skill.

The Zombies were being downed rather quickly by the combatants - most of them holy knights - although the enemy number was almost 3 to 1. In the backline, I could see many lying injured due to their 'Disease' debuff effect.

The skeletal mobs though had to be isolated by three or four knights to take down. And that made containing the zombies more the troublesome when one breached the gate, let alone four of them. Worse - these undead fought like monks, their arms moving in karate form taking swipes here and there. One of their attacks was called [Gore], which looked quite powerful in ripping clean through the knights' weaponry, shields, or heavy plate. [Scan] showed this move had a 'sunder' effect.

As our party approached the backline, one of these Skeletal 4th managed to break past their entrapment. The support teams began to cry out for one of the knights to intercept its charge, but everyone was bogged with opponents and Philippe and James ahead of me were still too far away to get there in time. So I acted on reflex with my Curved Rod pointing out-

"[Smite]!" The large skeletal creature was blasted in a while light that soon shattered its bony figure in half, reducing the undead to a critical state. It was still alive though, advancing on half a torso while using its long arms to crawl in mindless pursuit. One of the knights who had been trailing it from behind finished its broken form. Each of the knight's hammer blows splintered the undead into a dozen pieces with those many fragments starting to evaporate in a pale smoke. I gained 1258 XP from that but had no idea how that 2200 was calculated among us.

As one, everyone in the reserves turned to gape at us three rushing towards them. They must have heard my spell command, but I immediately waved their astonishment off. Afterall, there was still a giant battle being waged behind their carelessness. We finally made it to the western front, albeit their backmost line, where a couple robed figures in white were gibbering at me as another four were tending to some of the wounded. These must be Priests from the Temple.

"Yo," I told them all in a rather comic fashion. I had already used [Scan] on some of the knights in this section and knew they were being treated for wounds suffered. I was wary of using my Holy magic in front of them, but some of these people were really bad off so I used [Remedy] to remove every diseased condition I found. Then I used [Light Healing] on those with the lowest health.

And by that, almost twenty knights and some twelve civilians no longer had sickly pustules ready to burst. Between the continuous cast of all those spells and the [Smite] before that, I had to channel my [Meditate] skill to restore my dwindling MP bar. It might have been prudent to use so much MP, but this was the backline and I was surrounded by knights. Some of those I had healed were preparing to re-enter the fray.

Doing my best to ignore the priests' crying, I took the time to say to Philippe beside me, "Go ahead and remove me from your group, if you can, to form a full team with those three there." I was still channeling my [Meditate] during this break here and pointed the young knight to remake his party. One of my goals now was to actually enter this battle myself once my mana bar was restored, hoping I could net some unfiltered experience off this little undead army. I felt confident I could gain more levels here.

"Philippe... come on," I reiterated out loud. He was still shaking after the healing show I just put on, but my tone must have snapped him out of his stupor as he rushed off to commandeer the other knights into his party. I could feel a small weight lift off my person, and a window in my inner eye appeared to show I was no longer part of Philippe's party as he began shaking hands with the three.

The four of them circled back to me after they cleared away three Zombies that almost made it past the backline formation. I then told Philippe's group that it was okay for them to advance to the main gate to join their compatriots.

"It's okay," I waved off James's concern as my [Meditate] skill finished up. "I'm going to find my Guildmaster now. Go help your battle line," as it looked like another wave of zombies had managed to squeeze through the defenders and into the backline.

Philippe's new party saluted me with one of them saying, "Thanks for the save, kid." I held my Curved Rod in a salute back as the holy knights rushed past the reserve forces to start clobbering their way towards western gate.

One of the priests started to question me in a shaky voice. I couldn't make out anything he said since his words were so slurred so I just turned to him with a nod and answered, "You're welcome," then bolted off before anyone else could stop me.

During my initial run, I casted [Regen], [Shell], and [Haste] in rapid succession and felt their three effects flood my body. These coupled with [Earth Shield] should give me enough resources to shoulder most blows against mobs my own level. I then used [Arcane Eye] to locate Andrek Mangold and found his marker in the main battle line past the western gate. However I didn't have the courage to make my way through all that.

This siege could only be described as a jumbled mass of bodies, both living and unliving. While each battle line was clear enough to see, thanks to the trained formations of the knights, it was still a mess of a fight with undead everywhere the eye could see. I feared using my [Fireball] spell due to the relative closeness of each side, and I wasn't even going to try using a [Thunderbolt] in these conditions.

So I was stuck with only a few options for offense, [Smite] and maybe [Magic Arrow] which I had yet to use. I figured my best bet was to make my way to the battlement on the gatehouse where all the ranged defenders were as that would give me a higher vantage over the field, but it was a long way to there.

My presence also caused a bit of confusion on the scene as the effects of my [Will-o-wisp] was still in play. Various knights began looking around for the source of this 'light aura' only to be clipped by a zombie attack from behind or their lines faltering to allow a few zombies to break through. Which is what just happened right in front of me.

I pulled my weapon up saying, "[Smite]," on my first target. The closest zombie literally disintegrated into a white dust and netted me 1001 XP. However that left two more rushing me unimpeded. One got clipped at the leg by a knight's spearhead while I slammed the third with my Curved Rod while shouting, "[Magic Arrow]!"

The physical portion of my attack looked to do some concussion damage to the zombie, but it didn't matter much when it was lifted off the ground by three piercing lights and carried in a little midair flight for ten yards while sizzling away. The knight who killed the other would have been too shocked to say anything to what he just witnessed had not another pack of zombies entered his view.

I gained another 1001 XP and leveled up off that particularly fine kill, but had gave no thought to that 24th level due to thinking of my next move in this midst of battle. Where I was now was still the backline and many yards away from the staircase leading to the upper rampart. Another five zombies broke towards me to which I downed with consecutive [Magic Arrow] casts. I gained 5005 XP through my little volley of triple hitting arrows. This spell felt comfortable to use in a crowded setting as I noticed it had a precise homing effect. Plus its lower mana cost compared to [Smite] made it the more effective option for a lv.7 mob.

The main problem was those remaining Skeletal 4th mobs created impassable wedges leading to my destination. I really wanted to launch a couple [Fireball] spells, but it was too risky with all the knights about. Instead I had to trudge my way to each skeletal monster as to get in range of my [Smite] cast. I also spoke it lower to avoid being overheard and downed each in a similiar manner to the first, their bodies shattering like ice to the effect of my white light.

I suppose the knights would have spent more time trying to look for the source of whatever magic broke their undead opponent, but their attention got sidetracked into killing the zombies that filled the gap left behind. After that third Skeletal 4th was killed - netting me 4719 XP in all - I chain killed another ten zombies in my path for another 10010 XP. I could feel myself gain experience rapidly, but I could hardly pause in the heat of combat to check my [Class Settings]. The back of my mind was screaming, what the hell am I even doing in this situation here. But I continued to move forward.

It took another minute for me to get to the staircase, killing another five zombies, as I made my way up, I took my first hit at my flank from a Zombie [Claw] attack. But between the effects of my [Earth Shield] plus [Shell], the damage suffered barely registered as a numerical value on my screen.

The zombie's sharp claw was still gripped on my leg, holding me from moving on, so I gripped my weapon tight and swung down on its head, shouting, "[Might]," as I did so. I was shocked how easily my attack concaved its skull in to immediately loosen the leg lock as the zombie's slumped backwards in an unmoving state. I got 1001 XP off that smashing kill.

Thankfully, I didn't encounter any more zombies on my way up the battlement and refreshed my three buffs from before to join with [Might]. The scene from atop the wall looked something out of an old fantasy movie. All the undead that made it within the town walls could not compare to the mass out there. It was more of a sea of bodies than a 'Wave' of monsters that extended atleast a football field from the western gate.

I could tell from my new vantage that the knights were engaged in some sort of chokepoint battle with the battle line that extended past the gate employing some sort of magic barrier that effectively split the enemy force in halves. The fighting was heaviest out here with the archers and a couple mages (by the looks of them) launching spells into the enemy flanks without fear of hitting any allies.

The only relief I had was most of the undead I could see were those lv.7 Zombies. I once again used [Arcane Eye] to scout Andrek Mangold's position, and he was in the same spot as before on the map that I could now see firsthand. It was easy to see his burly figure swinging that massive greatsword of his right before the gate. He was swamped by enemy mobs.

I scooted myself past a line of archers to get nearer his position and casted [Might] and [Shell] on his fighting figure. After downing an entire line of zombies in but two swings, the Guildmaster turned back to see who had given him the helping hand. I was waving my rod and screaming his name from my higher position on the rampart.

Andrek waved back to say something I couldn't hear before more zombies entered his little arena. I casted [Regen] on him and began to launch [Magic Arrow]s into the crowded field to make his fight that much easier. To be honest, I kinda lost track at how many zombies I had killed during this long scuffle. All I knew for sure was I kept gaining alot of 1001 XP over and over for the next couple of minutes and leveled up to 25.

But then we had a brief respite of ten seconds when I heard the sounds of an old speaker system enter my ear, "Hello," I was confused to this echo chamber.

"Was that all you, Rikku-sama." It was the Guildmaster's voice in a staticky background.

"Hai, Guildmaster-sama. Rikku here." I answered like being on the other end of an old telephone system. "How is the battle faring down there," I asked quickly after.

"Not too bad now but... I don't know how much longer we can hold out here." I tried to ignore the few plated bodies sprawled out on the ground down there.

"Most of us are low on stamina," the Guildmaster continued after slashing down another two zombies. "And the knights out yonder have to be low on mana. I'm not sure how much longer they can maintain their formation."

I killed another three zombies with [Magic Arrow] then replied back, "I think we got most of the undead that breached the gates, Andrek-sama. But is this the rest of the 'Wave'?"

"Yes," after another slashing arc that cut down another zombie in one hit. "We got most of the undead to converge here. We just have to hold out now." But the Guildmaster just said we can't for much longer. Then I got an idea.

"Andrek-sama... we are talking through a 'Message' spell, right?" It was kind of a dumb question in the middle of combat, but I had to know for sure.

"Correct," his answer came a couple seconds after he cleaved another zombie in half.

"Then listen... can I ask you to get in contact with the knights ahead and get them to fall back to your position?" A plan was forming in my head.

"We can't. They need to spread the enemy force," Andrek said after another four kills. "We'll get overwhelmed."

"But I've got a plan to thin their numbers quick..." and described it to the Guildmaster as fire bombing the enemy ranks. However I didn't want, "... any knights to get caught in the crossfire."

Down below, Andrek literally jumped at my suggestion and retreated a few steps back from the battle line. "You don't mean t-that, that spell of yours. D-Do you?" His voice was in a panic.

"Yes, Andrek-sama." I did feel a little guilty in suggesting this but, "My [Fireball] has a bit of a spread radius to it. If enough of these zombies stack, then enough could be downed in a single cast." But I was getting the notion the Guildmaster did not want for me to even attempt this tactic.

Then from out of nowhere, a Skeletal 4th managed to breach the lines with its four arms swaying to send a trio of knights flying backwards to crash into the outer wall, but it was close enough to my position that I could [Smite] it down. My spell critted it in a one-shot and gave me 3146 XP. It was the highest amount I had gotten off a single kill. Andrek who was rushing to engage it almost went limp to the site of it breaking into splinters to my smote of white light.

As its remains began to crumble into ash, this seemed to break the Guildmaster's trance as he replied back, "I'll see what I can do. Do hold off from casting it until I give the signal."

"Roger that," as I chain casted another ten [Magic Arrow] spells into zombies below to get another round of 10010 XP. Soon enough, I felt the [Message] line between us break. In this downtime - with my MP bar barely at 10% and my [Meditate] skill off its cooldown, I began channeling it again to mana up for my [Fireball] volley. I also had to fend off pointed stares shot my way by all the defenders on the wall. The two mages were even looking at their own staves as though their magic was inadequate to the task at hand.

In the next minute as my MP bar was refilled, the knights out front began to slowly retreat backwards to lay their shield wall tactic before the outer gate. One of those particular knights wore a flashy set of heavy plate that reflected a pretty silver. That armor and the shining sword lance swinging about was eye-catching enough that I casted [Scan] without meaning to, to see:

Name: Elisha, Durham (surname)

Race: Half-Elf

Class List

lv.48 Holy Knight

lv.30 Knight

lv.20 Squire

lv.51 Villager

lv.1 Swordsman

Stats

Strength - 98, Vitality - 125, Agility - 141, Dexterity - 142, Magicka - 92, Spirit - 90, Luck - 5

Skillset

Sword Hand: 7 +Sword Oath +Reflex +Genji, Holy Magic: 8 +Holy Might +Holy Spirit, Command: 4, Form Party

Feats

Lightfoot, Darkvision, Keen Eye +Perception, Sense Presence +Perception, Favored Weapon +Weapon Bond, Magic Focus +4, Skill Focus +3, Divine Favor, Iron Will, Leadership +Field Aid +Tactics, Dedication +Rededication

Titles

Knighted

It was the first person I had met in this new world, and the elf babe looked very strong by her character window. I did notice in my brief study that Elisha was half-elven and bore a similar un-meaningful title like Andrek, but with her stat pool combined with those many passive feats and skillset - this elf was likely the strongest fighter class on our side. It even looked like she had 'Commander' abilities, or was that an advancement within the Knight base class... really it wasn't safe to wonder at this point.

By now, the lead knights had formed ranks with the gate line defenders, creating a pseudo barrier before them. Elisha with another five knights were on point downing rows and rows of zombies entering their range, with most of us on the ramparts launching their attacks into those same ranks to help dwindle their numbers. I was still conserving my mana when seconds after watching another undead layer crumble, that old speaker connection hit my ear-

"Rikku-sama!" It was the Guildmaster's voice in a loud panic. "They said to do it now. And hurry," as the connection faded into an echo. I wasted no time as I mentally prepared my sights beforehand. It was tricky without the use of a panned out view - since I had to eyeball distances in the first person - but remembering the visible effect of my [Fireball] spell from before, I judged it had an explosion radius give or take 10 yards.

I pointed my Curved Rod as far as I could from the battlement to the first of my ten predetermined spots and casted in a shout, "[Fireball]!"

The many onlookers gasped as the first flaming sphere sprang from my weapon to spike in the area of the enemy western flank. The explosion that followed caused those same to jump back in horror as what looked like a mini volcano erupted from the earth. Almost every zombie nearest that scorched center got instantly vaporized with the fire nova that followed blasting and burning all others to a crisp.

It looked like a mortar bomb had landed with the heavy smoke rising in the area. I don't know how many zombies fell victim to it, but I gained a huge chunk of XP nearing 40,000. I then picked another spot, roughly twenty yards away, then another and another until my spells covered an entire spread in a 10 yard arc away from the gate line defense. It was enough killing to net me another three level ups.

To the defenders, it looked like a wall of fire and smoke erupted in front of them. But even after the first ten [Fireball]s, I still had the MP to spare for another round of casts. The next ten casts I had placed in the greatest congregations of undead still standing. Most of them landed 30 to 40 yards away - nearing the spell's maximum range - and opened gaping holes into those enemy ranks as well.

While these pack kills weren't nearly as condensed as the previous ones, enough zombies still died to net me another two levels up to 30. After the second [Fireball] barrage, I stopped since my MP bar was nearing a 0 value and let my [High Speed Mana Regen] feat take over, since [Meditate] was still on cooldown. I even felt strained and winded due to the effort.

But all in all - a pretty effective outcome for twenty casts in a row, if I were to say so myself. When I looked back around to check how the rest of the defenders were faring... well I was all alone on the rampart. No one had died but how can I say this, they were all huddled together on the very edges of the fortifications and as far from me as possible.

I almost groaned to the sight but ignored it for now. I took a look at the knight's defensive formation, and it still looked as sound as before. Better even due to the massive drop in enemy forces. While many of the knights were frantic due to my spellcasts, it seems my tactic was enough to turn the tide of battle.

Barely a minute later, I could see those holy knights on point start to lead smaller divisions outward to kill the zombies in the more open field. It seems the field being littered with flames and burning corpses broke the collective mind of the undead host and made it easier for our combatants to well... mop up.

In this meantime, I opened up my [Class Settings] to see my Skill Point tally had grown to 50 after the +5 level gain. I could hear a buzzing in my ear and knew I was not going to have the time in gaming this out. So I went into the Holy tree, bought the lv.30 skill [Holy Aura] for its 5 point cost, then purchased four of its nine bonus ranks for another 8 points spent to give me a remainder 37 points for later use.

I didn't even have a chance to read its tooltip before the Guildmaster's voice rang in my ear, "Rikku-sama! T-That was... that was..." I could hear him fake cough to regain his bearings. "Are you okay up there?"

"Yes, Guildmaster. A little winded but fine nonetheless," I replied back, noting to myself that my MP bar was nearly half full again. "How goes the battle now?" It was looking pretty good to me, but I wanted to get another viewpoint on what I'm seeing from this rampart.

"The captains are giving the orders to pursue and cull any undead still remaining." Andrek's voice was low, but I could hear shift in his tone over this voice chamber. "You've won the battle for us, Rikku-sama."

I didn't respond back for a couple reasons. First, I couldn't find the words to make my reply sound more like a humbling acknowledgment. I hardly wanted to take credit here for "winning the battle" since I stood in relative safety for the vast majority of the fighting. Second was due to the stormcloud that caught my eye in the distance.

I may have been the first to notice it since my attentions were above the smoking landscape. What was more ominous was how it corresponded as a flashing red dot on my minimap heading our way. However my [Arcane Eye] could not discern it as anything but an undead foe.

Then several screams sounded out in the distance. Seconds laters, many knights were rushing back with reckless haste towards the western gate, their cries even louder on the ear of an impending doom. A moment later, the Guildmaster's words picked back up-

"Are you seeing that?"

"Aye," I breathed out then explained how there was some type of undead I was picking up in this swirling mass, but that it was still too far out for me to make out 'what' exactly was heading our way.

"I... I think..." I could literally feel the Guildmaster trembling now through our connection. "It is a..." The old uncle's voice stopped because another dim light appeared over the battlefield. Our connection then broke as that magic took form, my [Scan] picking it up as a [Blizzard] spell.

Shards of ice as long as arrows began to fall in a heavy rainstorm. Everyone took cover. The knights employed another defensive barrier with the two mages on the rampart erecting a magic cloak of palest red to shield most of us in the upper walls.

I immediately went to refreshing [Shell] upon myself and found that it along with my [Earth Shield] buff was enough to counterbalance the damages suffered. Though just barely while re-casting [Regen] to heal my HP loss. Each hit felt like being jabbed with a rather long needle though. However, not all the defenders were this lucky. The ice speared those few who did not make it to one of the magical shelters. Death was almost instant as their bodies also began freezing over.

The sound was like ice being chopped in a blender with us in its mixer. During it all - my breath grew cold and my vision was dyed white as I could barely watch this zone effect literally shatter apart the western gate with its icy barrage. It was just enough for me to jump down to safety, falling some twelve feet high, but oddly my body was able to brace this impact. Another ten and hard suffering seconds later, the full ramifications from this one spell could be seen.

Most of the western gate's entry path had been splintered apart. The ramparts was all but gone and the two guard towers had been reduced by half. And the field of battle was a reverse of what it was a minute ago. Nearly all the fires had been extinguished and replaced with a frosted landscape almost fifty yards wide.

"W-Whaa..." I was shocked I could still form words at this turn about. The dots on my minimap were the most disheartening of all. The battle lines had been broken in this single AoE spell. The only good thing to come from this enemy attack was it also wiped out the remaining zombies in the area, leaving only a scant few here and there on the far edges.

Looking around, I could see most of the knights were shivering on the cold ground. Our numbers had been reduced by half and even those still alive were in no condition to fight. The coldness began to abate as the warmth of the night air returned, but the damage was already done. Even I did not have the mana to heal them all up from this.

I was only one of maybe five still in a ready state and compos. The others that made it out were Elisha in her shining armor, Andrek who thankfully survived this somehow, and three other knights with their shields glowing in a warding skill.

But we did not get a moment's repreive. The stormcloud had reached our position and was hovering above us now, an undead poised in its center. To describe it would be a giant-sized floating skull, although nothing about its bone structure was human. It had one large empty eye socket and a two-horned cranium for its crown. And it glowed with a rainbow shine.

I used [Scan] on impulse. My stomach dropped, then my mind went blank.

It came back as a lv.50 Element Skull.