Chapter 164: Undead

"Pandora, try extending the range of your mana detection until you sense something."

Regis ordered, to which Pandora hurriedly obeyed.

She planted her staff on the ground with a thud as a wave of mana extended throughout the area.

The wave of mana spread in a semi-circular shape in front of them, forming an outline inside Pandora’s mind as her focus reached its peak.

After a minute, she opened her eyes and shook her head.

The others kept silent, afraid that they would disturb Regis’s thoughts.

’I have a bad feeling about this...’ Hesitation appeared in his face, but it also disappeared in the next second after glancing at his companions.

’No, we can do this.’

Resolution shone in his eyes, "Let’s keep going."

Tap– Tap– Tap–

Their footsteps sounded as they each stepped on the wet grass. The black miasma somewhat obstructed their vision, but they were still able to see the silhouette of the mangrove trees that littered the swamp.

After a few minutes of walking, Regis spoke, "There’s shallow water ahead."

Splash—

Regis was the first to take a step, feeling the water rising until it reached his thighs.

Pandora, Killian, and Aurelia’s faces also followed behind him, each with a look of disgust on their faces.

Alaric noticed this and could not help but smile.

Splash— Splash— Splash— Splash—

The group then continued their journey through the swamp, navigating through the mangrove with difficulty due to the black miasma.

***

About an hour or two later...

The group continued to tread through the water silently, their faces alert.

They didn’t let down their guards at all since earlier.

Still, there were no signs of anything— no insects, wild beasts, snakes. There weren’t even any mushrooms, which normally thrived in this kind of environment.

Up until this point, the only things they saw were the corpses and skeletons of animals.

This was not normal for a swamp, making them tenser in each passing moment.

However, it was at this moment that Pandora suddenly shouted.

Splash——!!!

"Brother!!"

As if by reflex, Regis unsheathed his sword and defended the spear that suddenly emerged from below the water.

In one smooth motion, he held the shaft of the spear and drove his sword below.

Clank!!

Feeling the strange sensation on his sword, Regis furrowed before hurriedly stepping back.

Splash—!

"Ahh!" Aurelia screamed as she saw a skeleton holding an axe suddenly appear below the water beside her.

THUD—

Fortunately, it wasn’t able to cause any damage as Alaric used the brass incense that was chained up to his arm like a morning star and attacked the skeleton’s skull.

This action of his made Killian gulp, "Are priests of light allowed to do that?"

"Well, I wasn’t able to help fight the demonized griffins, so I’ll make up for it..." Alaric awkwardly smiled as he scratched his head.

But before they could all speak...

Splash—! Splash—! Splash—! Splash—! Splash—! Splash—!

Skeletons rose from the water around the group, each with a weapon in hand.

Alaric’s expression became serious, "Undeads— Skeletons’ weakness lay in their skulls as that’s were necromancers engrave their magic spells."

"Got it. So they’ll stop moving if we crush their skulls." Killian replied as he brandished his sword.

"Don’t break the formation. We’ll move slowly and let them come near us. Pandora and Mister Alaric, I’ll leave the skeletons who’ll get past me and Killian to both of you."

Regis didn’t waste any time and relayed his order.

"Leave it to me, Brother!" Pandora nodded while Alaric inserted more of his blessed mana into his brass incense.

Killian smirked, "Don’t worry, not a single piece of bone will get past me."

The white smoke lightly shrouded their group, combating the effects of the black miasma.

This action made Regis glance at the priest, which prompted the latter to speak, "Don’t worry, Regis. I’ll conserve my blessed mana."

"I’ll trust your judgement, Mister Alaric."

Splash— Splash—

Woosh— Woosh—

The sound of splashing water and weapons cutting through the air filled the once dead silent swamp.

"Be careful of your steps, there are sharp rocks everywhere from this point onwards."

Regis, who had already adapted due to stepping on too many sharp rocks, stated as he crushed the skeletons’ skulls on his way.

He then looked at a certain area before stabbing his sword under the water.

Kshhh–!!!

The sound of something breaking sounded, though muffled as it was underwater.

Earlier, the reason why Regis was almost ambushed by a skeleton was that the black miasma seemed to be interfering with his senses, as well as masking the presence of the undead.

Fortunately, even with the interference of the black miasma, the trace of mana that Pandora had spread out seemed to still be quite effective.

’I don’t know why, but this demonic power seemed to be a little different.’

Thankfully, Regis had already adapted to it through his gift.

However, the same could not be said for Pandora, Killian, and Aurelia, as even with the smoke from Alaric’s incense, they felt more and more sluggish as they proceeded onto the center of the swamp.

What was worse was the fact that the water seemed to be getting deeper.

If it was only thigh-height for Regis earlier, it now reached his waist. This became another problem to worry about as they went on.

’If the water gets any deeper, we might have to go back...’

Regis thought silently. He was not willing to risk their lives just to cross the swamp.

After all, the seemingly endless undead that rose from the water, coupled with the sickening atmosphere, would surely take its toll on them.

However, whether it was fortunate or not, the water stopped getting deeper even as they were already walking for half an hour while defending themselves from the undead.

"Regis..."

At this moment, Alaric called out, which prompted him to glance.

"What is it, Mister?"

The priest had a hesitant expression on his face, "I think there’s something wrong with the undead..."

Before he could continue speaking, Regis’s head suddenly snapped in a certain direction as he suddenly dashed towards Alaric’s position.

The priest had a shocked expression on his face as he looked at the arrow that was spinning in mid-air after being intercepted by Regis with a strange hand movement before kicking it towards the direction from which it came.

Crack—

A soft cracking sound could be heard some distance away.

"Pandora, switch with Alaric so he can be near me. They seemed to be targeting him."

’If only I erected a barrier, then Brother wouldn’t have to break the formation...’ Pandora silently obeyed as she switched position with the priest.

Now, the order of their lineup was Regis, Alaric, Aurelia, Pandora, and Killian.

Upon witnessing what happened, Killian bit his lip, ’I couldn’t even detect it...’

However, they all knew that now wasn’t the time to be blaming themselves as their priority was to get through the swamp safe and sound.

"What were you going to say earlier?" Regis asked while paving the way.

Alaric spoke cautiously, "It has something to do with the strangeness of these undead."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, undead that normal necromancers use only tackle their opponents blindly. Some that are more skilled can make their undead use weapons, albeit only using simple movements. However..."

Regis had an inkling as to what Alarics was about to say, "These undead knew how to use weapons to some degree of proficiency. I wasn’t that sure earlier because of how strong you all are, but even that arrow earlier..."

"Yes!" the priest agreed, "Unlike other weapons, bows require dexterity, which should have been difficult for skeletons."

"So either our opponent is a very skilled necromancer or something worse..."

Regis pondered out loud as he used the handle of his sword to crush the skeletons’ skulls to smithereens.

"Anyways, we’ll be in your hands, Mister Alari—"

SCHUICK—!!!

Hearing the strange sound at the front, Killian, Aurelia, and Pandora, who were all fighting the skeletons that attacked them from the side, all looked towards the cause of the sound.

"Shit." Killian cursed under his breath.

Aurelia wasn’t able to react as she covered her mouth with her hands.

Pandora’s ruby red eyes shook, "Brother!!"

At this moment, a giant spike made of bones suddenly emerged from under the water.

It struck towards Alaric’s heart, but Regis was able to intercept it with his arm. However, Alaric’s chest was still pierced, albeit shallowly.

"Oho?"

A grating voice suddenly reverberated in the area as the group saw a figure floating in the distance.

The figure wore a black robe, but the skeletal hand that was holding its withered wooden staff, as well as the bright blue flames that burned intensely in its eye sockets, made Alaric shout in shock,

"A-A lich!?!?"

"What the hell!?" Regis cursed as he used all of his strength to pull the bone spike out of Alaric’s chest and his arm.

The blue flames that served as the lich’s eyes flickered, "To think that you will be able to save that priest... Interesting. I now have an idea of how you’re able to anger my master."