Chapter 244: Undead night attack (8)

Eldrian was actually surprised by this, thus far he had not really felt that magic was all that strong. Sure it was very useful for him, a High Elf. He could actually control his spells, unlike all the other mages he had met. If not for this, he felt that magic was simply too limited, especially at the start. The spells were generally weak and had little adaptability.

Seeing the effects of just a Tier 3 mage against the undead, Eldrian realized that it might ramp up faster than he had expected. Having only felt Tier 5 and above would really be able to use their magic effectively in combat. As had been his experience this far, and was shown with the mage being nearly hopeless if not being defended.

Then again, it might just be due to the enemy. Undead were naturally magic born, and as such, they might be weaker against magic. Something that held true this far.

"Thanks for the save." The mage said as soon as he and Eldrian finished of the last undead.

"No problem, would you mind telling me what spell you used?" Eldrian replied, curious about it as it seemed quite effective. Much more than Thera.

"Ah, of course. It isn't actually a healing spell, such as you are using. While they are effective, they can be easily stopped from working if there is a stronger undead such as The Unwilling nearby. This spell is specialized in speeding up the decay of things, so it would damage living things too. It's called Thora."

"Wait how does that work?" Eldrian asked, not quite understanding how that fitted with nature magic he knew. He only half-understood how nature magic and poison worked, he had no clue how a decay spell would work.

"I'm sorry, but now isn't the time to converse." The mage replied, "We were trying to find our friends who stayed in another inn. Unlike us they aren't as strong, good luck!" The mage replied, quickly jogging off to catch up to the other two who had already started walking away while bandaging their wounds with their clothes.

Right, now isn't the time to ask and question things. Eldrian thought and sighed, quickly continuing on to the walls. He was now quite close and could hear to constant clash of weapons coming from the walls. Turning another corner he saw a large group of around twenty people -centaurs, demi-humans, and normal humans- fighting off thirty undead beasts.

This group seemed to have no problem facing the undead, Eldrian quickly recognized the pure white light floating over the battle. Divine magic, how the hell does that work? Eldrian's mind asked, but he did not pay it any head.

He rushed over and started throwing out heals onto the undead. Even without his help, the group would have easily won the fight as all the undead were weakened under the light. Even skeletons, who were the toughest to kill, were made easy prey under the effect of the light. It would dim all the shadows on its body, leaving the bones that created the shadows as clear targets for all the soldiers.

Upon finishing the fight most in the group turned to Eldrian and nodded at him in acknowledgment. They did not stop and talk to him though, instead quickly pilling up all the undead and setting flame to them. After which they promptly moved on, searching for another batch of undead to kill.

Not really knowing what to do, Eldrian followed along. Keeping distant at first, but helping out each time a fight occurred. Finally, after the third battle, the person responsible for the divine magic approached Eldrian as they moved to the next location. This person was a normal human dressed in light armor, mostly just chainmail but with a few locations covered in plate padded leather to add a bit more protection.

"Thanks for the help, it is good to have another spellcaster." The man said as they ran on, looking for the undead before they could group and become too much to handle.

"No problem, I didn't really know what else I should do," Eldrian replied.

"You're not a soldier?"

"No, I came here for a mission. I'm Haru."

"Ayden." The man replied with a slight smile.

With the introductions done not much more was to be said, so Eldrian asked instead, "What is your plan?"

"What do you mean?" Ayden replied.

"Why are we not going up to help on the walls?" Eldrian asked, believing that would be the place with the most immediate need for reinforcements.

"It's too cramped up there. Our job is to keep them from being attacked from behind. While they have some people watching the stairs, if a large group forms and gets past, it would lead to a great deal of trouble. Better to thin them out before they can group into the hundreds."

I see, so the launching of undead over the walls isn't just to cause chaos, but also to attack from both sides. They even sieged the keep, keeping most clerics from joining the fight. I wonder if Fanon is also stuck in the keep. Eldrian wondered as they ran, if that was the case then the undead's tactics were even better than he had thought. Keeping even the commander of the fort under siege in his own keep, that was simply too astounding.

"Do you know why the attack came so suddenly?" Eldrian asked after a few seconds, still not understanding how there had been no warning.

"No idea, it is similar to the night raids. They would just appear, probably through some cave system we do not know of. This time though, they had strengthened it to a full-blown attack."

"But why?" Eldrian asked, receiving no answer as this was a common question in all the soldier's minds.

Their group continued to run and kill any undead they came across. Eldrian quickly moved to only casting Anthizo on the soldiers to conserve his mana. Still, he was certainly using it too much and would gain more fatigue levels soon. He couldn't slack off though, as his contribution enabled everyone to fight better for longer.

In their hunt for undead, they had passed by a stable, where everyone had gotten a steed. Greatly enhancing their speed of clearing undead. Three hours passed, Eldrian having gained over a nearly 180K XP from simply helping out the soldiers with Anthizo. He didn't even hurt the undead, his helping the soldiers counted it as participating in the fight, leading to him getting part of the XP as if he had fought against it himself.

Now it was around 1 AM the next morning, their group not having found any more undead for the last ten minutes. Eldrian was stuck at level three magical fatigue and as such had a constant headache plaguing his mind and limiting his max mana to 140, from 204.

"Do you think the launched undead have all been cleared?" One of the soldiers questioned, this group not having a leader. They had all grouped together in the chaos and simply acted in the way they felt they would be most effective. After Eldrian had joined, six more had also jumped in as they ran and fought.

"This area maybe, but the fighting seems to still be going on in other places." Another replied.

"So what now, do we go onto the walls or to the gate?"

"There has been a commotion at one of the gates, going there might be a good idea."

"That or the keep," Eldrian said, surprising most of those present. None of them through ill of Eldrian being Tier 1, they all had to acknowledge that he had great talent in magic. While Ayden could only keep his debuff active and not help out by directly killing the undead; Eldrian had rejuvenated at least half of them in each fight. His mana pool was on par with Tier 4 mages, and his mana regenerated faster too.

"Why the keep?" Ayden asked, having been the one who would normally decide things since his divine magic was what allowed them to fight on the upper hand.

"I was there before coming to the wall. I couldn't help there though, Flaming Reanimated and Revenants, at least thirty, were grouped there. There was also a massive number of weaker undead, the soldiers and clerics had a hard time simply defending."

"So that is why no reinforcements have arrived even until now!" One of the centaurs shouted, shocked to learn that the undead were so cunning. They had thought them defending the wall's steps and ramps had destroyed the undead's plan, it seemed they had not even started to figure it out.

"Even if that is the case, we won't be able to make a difference. You said the clerics and soldiers were struggling, if that is the case us going there will just lead to our deaths. Those at the keep are all elites, part of Fanon's personal squad." Ayden said, his words sobering the others and making them realize how dire their situation is.

"Then what?" Eldrian asked, having simply shared his knowledge, not trying and convince anyone.

"I do not think they will be able to kill those at the keep, especially with Fanfon there. While those at the keep might also not be able to fight through, them keeping the higher undead busy is good for us. The undead likely thought they would be able to push through the gates or over the walls with their overwhelming numbers. All we need to do is hold out until day."

"Why?" A random person in the group asked.

"Simple, once that happens the weak point of the skeletons will be visible to all. The sun has a similar effect to our holy ball of light. The zombies will have their regeneration abilities halved. The Flaming Reanimate and Revenants would still be a problem, but then the entire fort can collapse on them at that point." Ayden explained, knowing full well that he was the only one who really knew about the undead.

Most soldiers were new to fighting them, having normally only defended against the wandering beasts of the forest. If they had not gone on an expedition into The Encroaching or Vrikolas Drylands, then they would not have fought undead before. Other than in the previous shirt raids, that is.