NOVEL NEXT Chapter 68: Against The Undead
With Silent's help the paladin brigade hadn't gotten overwhelmed yet, even though they had been fighting for an hour straight. They were thrilled to be able to save up their most powerful moves since the elder ghoul hadn't shown up yet.
The group had killed hundreds of ghouls and with the help of the priest, no one had come close to dying. Add in the aura's unleashed by the paladins and everyone was able to maintain a positive mindset and was immune to battle fatigue.
The doors of the church on the opposite side of the graveyard suddenly slammed open. A ghoul standing 7 feet tall sprinted out into the graveyard, knocking over the other ghouls and trampling its own kind as it rushed towards the players.
"Here comes the elder ghoul." Holy Willow warned.
Lucan scowled. It wasn't caused by the arrival of the elder ghoul; it was because he saw a swirl of black mana solidifying inside the church. It wasn't like his shadow mana. No, this mana had evil imbued into it, he could see faint outlines of skulls in the mana along with other symbols of death.
As the Elder ghoul had crossed half the graveyard in its approach, another lumbering sound was heard as a second elder ghoul exited the church.
"What in the nine hells is going?" The mage cursed when he saw the second major threat.
"A necromancer." Lucan mumbled.
"Crap. That would explain why there are more ghouls today compared to yesterday. All the dead souls from the kobolds that were killed yesterday would become a limitless supply of undead for a necromancer." Holy conjectured.
With everyone paying more attention to the church they noticed every couple of seconds, a new ghoul would exit and join the horde in the graveyard.
"How the hell, did we miss this?" The hunter cursed.
"Maybe the necromancer was being sneaky earlier, but now since we are a legitimate threat it has decided to operate in full force." Silent suggested as yet another ghoul ran out of the church.
"We need to push our way towards the church and stop the necromancer if we want to have any hope of clearing out this graveyard today. I don't want to think of what would be waiting for us tomorrow." Holy said.
Lucan put his woodworking kit away. The people of the Willow Organization had made a number of purchase last night and this morning. He didn't mind putting the banked experience points he made off of them to good use.
"I will clear a path."
"Can you do it?" Holy asked with concern, having already seen how Lucan fared against the ghouls.
"These things don't seem to have much health. Worst comes to worst, I can only kill a few, but I will take a look in the church and see what's going on."
"Don't die." The priest warned.
"He, he, he. When I die there will be nothing for them to feast on."
The first elder ghoul arrived and as it was about to ram into the circle of paladins Holy called out. "HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT!"
Three gold swords the size of a man fell from the sky and impaled the ghoul. Golden chains sprouted from the swords and wrapped around the elder ghoul locking it in place a few feet in front of the group.
Lucan activated acrobatics again and with a running start leapt up and placed a foot on the shoulder of Holy Willow before leaping into the air again. He soared over several ghouls with his black dagger in hand.
He started to fall straight towards the second elder ghoul. It reached out with hungry hands as Lucan sliced down its arm. A moment before the undead creature embraced its meal a loud explosion shook the graveyard. The ordinary ghouls within 15 feet of Lucan were vaporized instantly while those further away were sent flying.
The paladin brigade took advantage of the opening in the horde and rushed towards the church while the tides of undead had been parted.
They made it halfway there when they were swarmed from all sides. The elder ghoul that Lucan had landed on survived but both of its arms were blown off, greatly weakening its offensive capabilities.
"WILL OF THE HEAVEN'S!" Another paladin shouted out while throwing a spear forward.
The spear was baptized in gold light and struck the armless elder ghoul in the chest and carried it backwards over 50 feet. The elder ghoul pushed the others aside as it helplessly opened a path for the paladin brigade to follow.
Lucan resurrected in front of the churches open doors but was unable to enter. A formation of blood surrounded the entire perimeter and only let undead pass through. He paid off his debt from using the soul stone and started to study the formation. A few moments later Holy, Silent and the others caught up to him. The paladins were forced back and took damage from the evil formation unlike the non-righteous who were only prevented from entering.
"Crap, now we're are stuck with no way to leave the graveyard." The mage cursed.
They couldn't enter the church and the entire ghoul horde blocked their path to the graveyard's exit.
It wasn't the best situation, but they weren't helpless. Lucan's soul stone was on cooldown for the next hour so he didn't want to self-destruct again, but he had a plan.
"Silent, you just need to destroy one of those red skulls. There should be one in each corner. After that we should be able to enter. It's likely the paladins and priest will take continues damage unless you can destroy all four."
"Got it." She said while acting as the hero once again.
Stepping into the ethereal realm she was able to circumvent the formation with ease. With an arrow already nocked she reentered the shadow realm inside the formation and fired.
*Crack* *Crumble*
The skull split and dissipated, allowing Lucan to follow her in. The others did the same. The paladins and priest immediately stepped back out. They were losing 10% of their health every second. The paladins themselves could heal but they could only heal a certain amount of damage every day. After 20 seconds all the healing would fall onto the priest. It wasn't worth it.
They blocked the entrance while the two knights, mage, and hunter entered with Lucan. The paladins and priest would have to use all their trump cards to hold off the ghouls by themselves but if the others managed to get rid of the necromancers or were able to take down the formation it would be worth it.
One top of an alter was a cloaked figure holding a rod, surrounded by corpses and pools of blood. He was level 120 but wasn't an Elite.
"A warlock and a necromancer." Lucan said to the figure with a smile. "Come give this Lord your life." He said while charging forward, accompanied by the two knights.
Lucan went around the left side of the alter while his illusionary duplicate went right. He had joy in his heart as the necromancer launched a blast of necrotic energy towards the illusion. He started firing shadows bolts with his main hand while conjuring a phantom caster with his other.
Dark globs of mana were flying at and from the necromancer as the battle begun.
The knights hurled javelins while they closed the distance. The knights were similar to paladins but instead of holy power they had more strength and a deeper arsenal of weapons available to them along with more weapon based special moves.
Being attacked from several side, the necromancer stopped launching necrotic bolts and started to chant. The corpses inside the church started to rise. They didn't rise as ghouls but as a lower tier undead, zombies. They shuffled towards their master and surrounded him, acting as meat shield and preventing anyone from getting close.
An eerie and gravely voice emerged from under the necromancer's cloak. "How dare you move against the forces of the Plague Baron. You will all become my puppets."
The necromancer pulled out a second rod and clapped them together. Hundreds of poisonous locusts started to fly out from under his cloak.
The mage stopped casting his current spell, planted his staff and begun to chant the lines to a new spell.
Not wasting a moment Silent called upon her own swarm. A blur of blue began to spread through the room. Butterflies and locusts began to battle it out.
"BEGONE VILE CREATURES!" Shouted the mage. A ring of fire appeared around the mage. The ring grew towards the ceiling until he lifted his staff, causing the fire to roll in every direction like a wave.
Silent's carnivores' friends were immune to magic damage but the locusts sizzled and popped as they were cooked to a crisp.
"NOOO! My babies! Damn you all!" The necromancer cursed while leading his zombies to charge at them.
The first knight lowered his shoulder and knocked several zombies to the side while the second knight pulled out a net and threw it at the necromancer. Getting tripped up the unholy caster crashed to the ground.
The knights with their swords and Lucan with his dagger jumped onto the trapped figure. Silent and the hunter kept firing their arrows at any zombie who neared the mage and took any opportunity they could find to destroy the 3 reaming skulls.
"NOOO! I am sorry my Baron, I have failed you!" The necromancer yelled before he died.
With the last skull destroyed, the paladins and priest were able to enter the corrupted church. Using the entrance to funnel the remaining ghouls would ensure they were only fighting a handful at a time. Things in the graveyard were taking a turn for the better.