Chapter 643 Retreat And Return

"They're not together, but there is a flaming reanimate and a ghoul in the next part." Eldrian wasn't sure if they were indeed there, outside of the undead they had not run into any other monsters. Thus it was relatively safe to assume only undead were in the mines as expected.

The rest were likely in underground tunnels near but not connected to the mines.  Eldrian was not sure if this was the so-called subterrain, he had almost no knowledge of it. Regardless, it made things more confusing as some undead had ended up not being in their path.

Thus they could never be certain of the precise situation, always needing to prepare for the worst possible case. After all, it was not safe to assume that there would be fewer enemies than there could technically be- but likely won't be. This slowed their advance as the group prepared well before every fight. Also waiting to fully recover after every fight.

Luckily, their recovery was not slower than his. Their armor and magical items were well suited to them, gathered through years of effort.

In fact, with the loss of Chelona, his breastplate, Eldrian was the least impressively armed in the group. While his spear was far superior to all, he could not access its abilities and as a result, it was heavily underutilized.

'I hope when I reach Tier 5 that will change.'

"Shall we retreat?" Eldrian asked, after having shared the details of the next opponents with the rest. He would much prefer doing that. It was far more important to make sure they all made it home safely, they could always come back with more help.

The ghoul was after all a Higher Undead, Eldrian had learned his lesson against the Orc Warrior. One should not take lightly the difference in strength that ranks represented. And ghouls were some of the deadliest enemies that Eldrian had ever faced, a single scratch capable of spelling your death.

"What about runic magic?" Myropsis asked, shocked at how afraid Eldrian seemed to be. So unlike the elf that had rushed to the front time and time again.

Eldrian paused, considering the case. "It might be strong, but the Flaming Reanimate is immune to fire. The ghoul on the other hand excels in speed and agility. None of us will be able to hold it down and one scratch will spell our doom."

"It's best if we retreat," Eldrian repeated this sentiment, the others nodding. None of them wanted to face off against a proper higher undead. None of them were even Tier 5, naturally they believed it would be their death if they dared since that was the lowest either undead could be.

"What Tier are they?" Myropsis asked, her question causing the others to despair as it appeared she was adamant to push on.

"Five, regardless, we should fall back. Without divine magic-"

"If you can corner it I-"

"I'm still weakened, Myropsis. Let's just fall back, it isn't worth the risk.

She frowned, not liking that they would have to postpone the clearing of the mines. Eldrian could understand her to wish to secure the mine as soon as possible. The refugees couldn't stay in temporary housing for long. They needed to become productive as quickly as possible. As it currently stood the city would slowly starve.

Vertical farms lessened the amount of land required to feed the people, but they could not be made without materials. The dwarves' delivery of goods could help produce a number more, but Eldrian was sure it would still be a long way from being enough to feed near a million mouths.

They might also be able to make use of wood, but then magic might not applicable as before. This however, Eldrian quickly messaged Erik to ask if it was an option for wider scale farming. A more long-term solution as the current one required too much to be made and maintained.

Besides this, there was also the situation of security and safety, as well the fact that the rest of the kingdom needed support. Stalling was certainly not ideal, but it was better than dying. Eldrian was very clear on this.

"Three days," Eldrian said after some thought.

Myropsis looked at him quizzically. "What happens in three days?"

"My mana network should finally stabilize, and then I should reach Tier 5." Eldrian said, looking at the progress bar which was just shy of 30%.

"Are you sure you want to risk it?" Myropsis asked, confused by his change of heart.

While the difference between Tier 4 and 5 was large, it would not be that impressive until he learned spells of the Tier. After all, the stat growth was not that great, yet. But going forward it would be greater and greater with each Tier progressed.

Of course, Eldrian was an anomaly who had already been using a Tier 5 spell before reaching the Tier himself. But that was not that a big a deal to him, he needed the raw stat boost. With his hidden class his growth was far superior to others.

"If I can also overcome the soul fatigue, then I should be able to stall it." Eldrian said, "But I would still prefer if we asked for Evale's help."

Myropsis sulked hearing this, she was Tier 6 after all. Being dismissed so easily naturally wounded her pride as a mage. Sadly, her specialty was theoretical first and non-offensive secondly. The undead were particularly resilient to damage. Making them truly hard opponents for her.

In her life she had been much like Pelaros, her focus on enjoying her passion and following her heart, not on focusing to grow stronger. This was severely limiting her now.

While she had changed since the invasion, focusing on improving, she had only managed to improve so much while also attempting to learn Eldrian's ways. She was still a long way off from being comparable to normal Tier 6 mages whose aim had always been to be strong. And she was still a long way off from emulating Eldrian's control over magic.

Eldrian had also been discourteous and used mana sense to gather information on all those in the group. To get a better understanding of their abilities, along with the previous fights he felt he could more or less understand their limits.

Even at Tier 6, Myropsis's stats did not overshadow Eldrian's by much. If not for his weakened state he would have superior strength and agility, only her intelligence and spirit were very high. The correlation between the attribute and actual intelligence Eldrian still found confusing. Regardless, it made it clear that she could not face a ghoul who excelled at speed and would kill her before she could finish casting a spell.

Unfortunately, while he understood his allies' abilities quite well now, he was clueless about the ghoul's limits. Thus why he was extra careful. Even when he reached Tier 5, he did not think of directly facing it. He would act as bait and have Myropsis wait with her strongest spell that was effective against the undead. Whatever it might be, he would discuss that when the time came.

"Fine, let's retreat." The rest of the group collectively sighed in relief, quickly falling back before she could change her mind. The entire way Eldrian was sweating buckets, hoping that something wouldn't pop up and force them into a deathly scenario. That all the other red dots would stay in their own tunnels.

This had happened far too often, his heart could not rest easy until they left the caves.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the mines under the night sky. The undead not having moved much as they escaped the mines.

"We'll stay in the inn." Myropsis declared, causing a few muffled complaints. Naturally, everyone was worried about what would happen if the ghoul came out of the mines. In the open fields, they might be able to escape but a ghoul was fast. It might be too fast.

They calmed down seeing her add an array to the surroundings and the inn itself. While it could not outright close the difference, it would at least warn them and slow the ghoul for a moment.

'Right, I can use runic magic as traps too. If I return and can bring Two back, we should be able to lay an effective trap that would have Myropsis be overkill.' This thought made Eldrian more accepting of the dangers that he had seemingly accepted.

Taking a seat on one of the beds on the second floor, Eldrian meditated for a bit. Confirming that his mana was indeed much more stable now. It was also much firmer, seemingly solidifying.

'This will be a problem when I try to improve it again. But, it should mean that I can return to my real body now as planned. Hopefully, Two managed to stay out of sight.' In case something happened, Eldrian wrote a message for if someone came looking for him. With that done he focused on the method of returning home.

Envisioning his human body, focusing on its frequency. He took his time, reforming the bridge.

'Your alive!' Came an overjoyed voice as Eldrian found himself slipping to sleep and waking in another body.

'What happened?' Eldrian asked as Two rushed to their mental room. Stretching his limbs and feeling comfortable for the first time since the incident.

'I managed to use the flames to make a distraction and escaped. I'm sure they know that we escaped, but since we are in some mountains we should be safe.'

'You didn't go to a city?' Eldrian asked, already getting the feeling that Two had no idea which mountains they were even in. Only that there were no towns or cities nearby.

'I didn't, saw no benefit in it. Here we are far removed and it should be impossible for them to find us. There are some local wildlife and even wild plants, there's also a fresh stream nearby.'

Eldrian pondered for a bit, this was indeed an ideal location. Removed they could even try some select experiments to better understand the condition of Earth and their own body. However, it would also mean he would be more removed from what was going on.

'I can just ask Erik to keep me up to date.' Realizing this, Eldrian quickly accepted that this was indeed ideal.

'So what exactly happened with that crazy woman?' Two asked, shivering just from the memory.

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