Chapter 134: Out Of The Sarcophagus

The lightning drove into the Undead's glowing power source at point-blank range and pulsed so powerfully that its sickly magical energy went rampant until the power source exploded in its decaying chest.

Henry's eyes were wide in wonder as he witnessed what the spell was capable of in his hands and he would have said something in testament to that had his mind not been pulled into yet another Undead Woe.

[Kill-Reward: 150 Exp]

[Undead Woes: 400 Exp]

When he was back to normalcy, there were more Undead around him. All unleashing Mana surges and whether or not he was the target, he was smacked by them and had to lock his knees to not get slammed away.

It was then that Henry saw the Fighter that Doherty had made him spar against stab a spear through an Undead's abdomen and then yell out a battle cry of sorts as he pushed and speared about three more before he made a powerful upward cleave that cut through them in a gory display of strength that was fully backed by his very own Mana Surge.

Henry blinked at the powerful display and his lips twitched at the idea of how much he might have gotten pommeled by that Fighter had their spar given room to a true battering.

Of course, as he watched, Henry saw the Fighter fall prey to a sword cut through his thigh. A cut so deep and so painful, it forced him to his knees.

"Ahh!" The Fighter yelled out before he used the shaft of his spear to knock the undead aside only to receive a strike across his back because he was too slow to turn around.

Strong as the Fighter was, speed was his weakness and he just might have met a sorry end right there if he didn't have a trick up his sleeve.

"RARRR!!!"

With a yell, sounding like a roar, the Fighter let loose his mana in a thrumming pulse that flowed from him in waves. Smacking into the Undead creatures attacking him and keeping them away so that he had just enough time to smack one fully away with his Spear shaft and make a sort of cleave that cut the other one open.

All this had happened within the space of two minutes or even less before Henry was forced to look away as he dodged a sword swing at him and shot an <Acidic Combustion> shot into the Undead's chest before kicking it far away from him, knowing what was to come.

Sure enough, the Undead's chest swelled with the horrid glow of Acidic Combustion and it exploded into sizzling bits that splattered against Undead and humans alike.

Henry had chosen in which direction to kick the Undead with some care. Mercenaries were fighting close by so it was in their direction he sent the Undead and it was on them and their Undead Opponents that the acidic sizzling bits splattered against.

"ARRGGHHH!!!"

Almost in unison, the Mercenaries all yelled as the acid bore through them. Eating at their flesh with their Mana barely able to numb their pain and completely incapable of healing or stopping the progression of the acidic wounds.

On the other hand, the Undead that had been splashed with the sizzling bits did not suffer the same pain. Dead as they were, they couldn't quite feel anything so they moved and attacked all the same, stabbing their swords through two Mercenaries who were too busy groaning in pain to defend themselves.

The only exception to this were the Undead who were unfortunate enough to have had the acidic bits splatter against their glowing power sources.

The acid ate away at their sickly magical source with a progression rate that caused their movements to become sluggish which made them easy enough targets for the Mercenaries who had either been lucky enough to not get hit by the acid or had been strong-willed and smart enough to numb their pain and stifle their groans as the acid ate away at their flesh and dug into their bones.

[Kill-Reward: 150 Exp] Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

[Undead Woes: 400 Exp]

Henry had just suffered another Undead Woe and as he blinked himself back to reality, and swiped off the notification of his Exp rewards, Henry looked over at Louis who was running his hands across the stony lid of the Sarcophagus.

Undead Fighters were approaching Louis but he didn't seem to be paying them any heed as he focused on opening up the Sarcophagus. Of course, the other reason he didn't pay them any mind was because he had told Henry to cover him specifically so he could give his current task all of his attention.

"Shit!" Henry said as he pointed 'The Hydra's Sting'. With his {Marksmanship} skill as activated as ever, he fired a round of precise shots into the backs of the multiple decaying Undead.

Henry picked his spot to shoot at with meaning.

He couldn't use <Acidic Combustion> because the resulting combustive explosion would have doused Louis in enough bits to kill him in seconds so he had to use <Numbing Shot> which, while weaker, was still a magical shot that could surely harm the Undead even though normal lead bullets would fail.

Now, of course, since <Numbing Shot> had a lower attack power compared to <Acidic Combustion> and Henry also had no idea if the Undead could even be paralyzed, his shot had to be aimed at where their power sources were.

Hence the spots he chose on their backs.

Sure enough, the bullets tore through the backs of the Undead Fighters, puncturing their glowing power sources so that they were quickly keeling over, completely immobile.

Out of their decaying useless carcasses, the green cloud of <Numbing Gas> began to rise, and realizing there was no way Louis was immune to the paralysis, Henry called out…

"Louis, hold your breath!"

… Right before he was gripped by Undead Woes.

[Kill-Reward: 150 Exp]

[Undead Woes: 400 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 150 Exp]

[Undead Woes: 400 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 150 Exp]

[Undead Woes: 400 Exp]

Ignoring the notification and now out of the visions of final woes, Henry started moving forward but he had barely taken five steps toward Louis and the Sarcophagus when he realized the Vines in the floor were twisting around his feet. He didn't stay in one place for long enough for them to twist and hold him in place but they caused him to stumble and also made him slow.

In the meantime, Louis didn't seem to have heard Henry's yell and with his wide eyes twinkling with a pride of accomplishment, he yelled,

"I got it!"

There were Arcane Symbols all over the edges of the Sarcophagus' lid and with his knowledge of Arcane symbols limited as they were, it had taken Louis some time to decipher.

The symbols made up a pass-phrase required to open the Sarcophagus and with his hand unleashing his Mana and pouring it into the stony lid so that it lit up with an eerie violet glow, Louis recited,

"In a Test of Strength, We shall prove our mettle!"

*WHUMM!*

A powerful pulse originating from the Sarcophagus spread all about the room and with a forceful ejection, the lid shot off with a *Bang!*.

The force of the shoot-off as well as the pulse, sent Louis on his ass where he watched —gulping with that twinkle of awe still in his eyes—, as a mummified hand reached out of the Sarcophagus and gripped its edges as a figure rose out of it.

Unlike the decaying undead all over, this Undead looked far more intact. It still had its face even if the skin was dried and stretched across its bones.

With barely the sounds of any creaking or shuffling or creeping, it stood out of the Sarcophagus quite gracefully and addressed them all with pitch-black eyes lacking pupils.

"Ah, more to take the test!" The mummified Undead said in a deep voice thrumming with power and intelligence that had so far been missing from the other Undead Henry and the others had eliminated.

The Mummified Undead nodded and with a clench of his hand, a Spear flew out of the Sarcophagus it just rose out of and into its hand as it said in that deep thrumming voice,

"Very well. Step forward and I shall decide if you have what it takes to move on!"