TICK TONK TOK TLUNCK

The sounds of metal against stone was easily heard from a great distance . Surrounding the ten or so men that were panting while visibly scared, many men and women in robes were watching carefully the giant gate nearby . Not a single soul dared to get close to it, and even the excavation ground was a few hundred meters away . Thanks to the reports of the adventurers, they could guess the general direction of the ominous tomb in front of them . And therefore, planned accordingly .

But, even then, no one was truly enjoying the fact that they were close to those demons . Very, very close . Whether it was the magicians and magus or the miners, they tried to act as silently as they could . All feared the moment when the statues will begin to move and come forward . They were not alone, actually, just that the army was a bit behind . The day before, they had finally heard the news of the General Avirus being defeated, making them even more panicked . But they couldn't do as they wished since they had orders .

Looking at the notes nearly incomprehensible, Sarah handed them to the magus near her, Artour . That was the advice of his twin, Arthar Rodil, and it was at that moment she understood why the latter had so many a.s.sistants . Because he couldn't write correctly at all . After a minute where they both read it a few times, they could finally decrypt what was written on it . But when they looked at the gate, they wondered if they were truly understanding the situation in Ronta .

"Do we really need to do that now? Can't we wait a day or even their arrival?" The jovial botanist was no longer smiling anymore, and many wrinkles could be seen on his face . After all, the two brothers were very old, and in recent months, they had been put under a lot of pressure . Even now, he could not help but worry about his two grandchildren, that were supposed to be safe and secure .

"No, Lord Darkwater will not arrive before two three, and the full army before a week . And from what we understood of that paper, the two statues in front of us needs to be destroyed and a.n.a.lyzed before his arrival . " Sarah Meridil was not pleased by that . Especially since she was one of the two living beings that saw the Dark G.o.d with the shape of a little girl . Looking around, at her peers from other nations, she couldn't help but be disappointed . None seemed to be able to match the power of that demon .

"Pull the workers out . Who knows if those ghosts won't be able to pa.s.s through the stone and attack them directly . " The old magus nodded at those words and approached the officer that was nearby . Seeing the face of the soldier getting completely white in a matter of second, she could only shake her head . But soon, a troop of hundreds of veterans stood in formation and began to walk . Not in a straight path at all, but made a circle clearly avoiding the entrance of the tomb .

It could have been a funny sight if it was not such a necessity . From afar, they could see the workers jumping out of the hole the moment the officer spoke to them and immediately seeking shelter in the middle of the squadron . It took a dozen of minutes, but they could see the relieved face of the strong miners, with some even thanking the G.o.ds to be out . No one thought it was overreacting, showing how pessimistic everyone in the vicinity was .

"Magus Meridil, magus Aradil . " A handsome, but visibly worried magus approached the duo, accompanied with a few others magicians . Even as he spoke, he couldn't help but sneak a peek at the impressive gate . Nowhere was found the previous arrogance he had in the desert . "Magus Khala" The two mages from Ma.s.salia returned the greeting to their peer of the Synnada Empire .

"Is it really time? Right now?" He was not thrilled at all by the perspective of bothering those living under the mountains, not happy at all . But from the moment he arrived, a few days ago, he had not seen the now deep hole above the tomb being empty . Even in the middle of the night, workers and soldiers were digging a way to enter the tomb without breaching the front door . After all, if something wanted to exit the tomb, it had to face thirty full-fledged magus and magicians, with the less experienced being of the 4th Circle .

It was apparent by now that even as large and lengthy the gate was, it was only one entrance after all . The coalition could not be overwhelmed by huge numbers of undead, but likewise, could not use all their troops at the same time . In that regard, Lord Darkwater wanted to open another path, from above . And during the process, if something came out to attack them, the important number of mages will take care of that .

After the initial report of the defeat of Avirus that was only describing the outcome for Archet, the White Hand provided a very detailled description of what really happened . A little more than 100 undead, all wearing an armor st.u.r.dier than the very swords of the soldiers from Avenio decimated the humans . But past that point, it did make mention that no mages were present in that battle . After all, the latter could travel far more quickly than the important troop of soldiers, visible by the fact that even near Sarah Meridil, a few could be seen .

Because of that, it was uncertain if the result could have been avoided if someone of the 4th Circle or above was present . After all, each magus was an army by itself . Furthermore, the new Hero Avirus had also said the same thing, albeit in other words . However, after the escape he made, he was so tired and hungry that they haven't heard anything else yet from him . Looking at the sky above, Sarah counted that it was already three days since they received the news, and with the delay, the Hero had probably slept two entire days . Otherwise, Arthar would have spoken about it .

"Magus Meridil?" The voice of the man from the desert broke her thoughts, and she realized that they were still looking at her . Staring at the gate, she nodded, making them visibly scared . "Lord Darkwater wants those two statues and what is hiding inside to be destroyed by the end of the day . " She didn't even have to turn to hear the ma.s.sive sighs of relief behind her . At first, they had imagined something far worst, but if it was only that, it would be fine . They hoped .

Soon, the numerous siege weapons that were already deployed began to turn slowly to aim at the two stone monuments . The unworldly creature displayed and its weapon were still as menacing as the first day they put their eyes on them, maybe even more . However, because the targets were very small, if we could talk about a nearly 5 meters tall statue that way, only some balistas were truly concerned .

The deadly projectiles that were patiently waiting in the complex mechanism were ready in a matter of seconds, but it was the mind of those that will unleash them that was worrisome . The already dead zone where no living being was present was slightly enlarged, with the magicians retreating to a safer distance . A wall of soldiers advanced in front of the balistas, letting only the tip of it visible from afar . Fluctuations of mana could be felt all around, as everyone was getting ready .

"Wait a bit, you, yes you, you fire first . " Sarah approached the closest soldier and only ordered him to fire . Shaking his head left and right while approaching his hand to the lever actioning the siege weapon, he hesitated a bit . But sensing everyone looking at him, he rashly put his hand on it and pulled right away .

By a stroke of luck or not, the beautiful arc in the empty land ended up right in the middle of one eye of the right statue . Because it was only stone in the end, albeit a cursed one that would frighten even the bravest warrior, it goes without saying that it had a ma.s.sive impact . But, contrarily to what some could have expected, seeing the huge chunks of rock falling while leaving a deformed head brought no joy to those seeing it .

They waited like that for a long time . One second, then another one, all looking at the statue far away . But when half of a minute pa.s.sed without anything happening, Sarah pointed at another ballista . "You, go ahead! Aim at the same spot!" Still breathing heavily, the three soldiers around the destructive weapons began to turn it slightly, to aim correctly . A few seconds later, metal cut the left arm of the stone creature .

"You, again!" "Again!" "Again!" Slowly but surely, the once gigantic body was destroyed, leaving only one leg and the chest standing . The mighty axe had fallen to the ground, in a resonating ruckus that made some of the cowards jump in fright . But while some had a hard time distinguis.h.i.+ng something from the distance, it was not the problem of the magus .

They could not say it loudly or even describe it, but they felt something unreal about it . Like, something was slightly disturbing the s.p.a.ce surrounding the stone monument . "Again!" As she ordered another time to fire, what they were waiting for finally appeared . And it was exactly what she could have read from the reports . The giant demon slowly condensed its body inside what should have been the statue . They could see it appearing from one point, the one that was pierced by the last projectile .

Without a word, the ghost began to walk toward them, fully armored and armed . It was not the first time the humans had met a creature like that, but it was not to rea.s.sure them . From the South, beyond the fallen Kingdom of Pankow and even inside the former human kingdom, high ranked monsters in the form of a ghost could be spotted . Capable of inflicting terrifying injuries and killing people just by pa.s.sing through their bodies . And at the same time, immaterial, without shape and without a way to touch them .

"[Burning Hand]" But even something dead can be killed again . The mana that was present everywhere and in nearly everything was a wonderful thing . If swords were not capable of harming something, magic was always the solution . Joining hands with the gorgeous magus, the designated magicians began to cast spells . The soldiers surrounding them had a hard time resisting the intense power that was rampaging when they were not even the target .

Like a dream, when the calm reigned once more, the ghost had disappeared . Not relaxing at all, whether they were from Synnada, Ma.s.salia or somewhere else, they all looked around, feeling with their affinity with the mana . But in the end, they could only agree on one thing . That the creature had disappeared . "Did we really destroyed it?" !!! was not convinced by his own words . But the reality still proved him that he was right .

Still a bit unconvinced, the entire process was repeated in the annihilation of the second statue . Sarah made sure that it was done slowly, to gather as much information as possible . And when the place where the heart should have been if it was a human was. .h.i.t once more, the ghost appeared . Followed by its quick demise at the hands of many mages . After a few minutes where they couldn't help but search everywhere, they had to acknowledge the truth .

"Did you got everything?" The beautiful head of the Academy of Magic of Ma.s.salia approached three silhouettes in black that were murmuring and writing . Above them, a small wood tower had been built, where they saw everything thanks to the binoculars . Hiding his small notebook inside his coat, the smallest of the three nodded .

"Yesss, but on-one last thing . Can you tell usss how you fe-feel, scle-scle?" The vicious voice of a ratman did not even bother Sarah at this point . If at first, many frowned when seeing the observers from the Organization, no one could deny they were the best at what they were doing . Pondering a bit, she could only feel inside her disbelief . "It was easy . Too easy . I don't know why, but I feel those we killed were just a test . To see if someone was worthy of heading deeper inside the tomb . No one could convince me that they didn't put the weakest ghosts to guard the entrance . "

"Th-thank you . We alssso share the same thought . " Bowing one last time, the talking ratman grabbed the other notebooks and rushed toward the forest . Even if it was not visible from where she stood, she knew where the foul creature was heading . An improvised stable had been built hastily to provide shelter to two hippogryphs . Without them, they wouldn't be able to communicate with Ronta as easily . As for the orbs of communications, it was too risky to put in such a great danger . After all, the cost to built just one was at least a hundred years of intensive search to find the materials necessary .

Looking at the sky, she saw the majestic flying monster flying upward . The task that was given to her had been accomplished quickly, all things considered . However, as she lowered her gaze, she saw the miners looking fearfully at the gate surrounded by two stone legs . Remembering that they still had something to do, she sighed . "Second team, pick up your tools . Lord Darkwater wants this hole opened as soon as possible . "

TICK TONK TOK TLUNCK The sounds of metal against stone was easily heard from a great distance . Surrounding the ten or so men that were panting while visibly scared, many men and women in robes were watching carefully the giant gate nearby . Not a single soul dared to get close to it, and even the excavation ground was a few hundred meters away . Thanks to the reports of the adventurers, they could guess the general direction of the ominous tomb in front of them . And therefore, planned accordingly . But, even then, no one was truly enjoying the fact that they were close to those demons . Very, very close . Whether it was the magicians and magus or the miners, they tried to act as silently as they could . All feared the moment when the statues will begin to move and come forward . They were not alone, actually, just that the army was a bit behind . The day before, they had finally heard the news of the General Avirus being defeated, making them even more panicked . But they couldnt do as they wished since they had orders . Looking at the notes nearly incomprehensible, Sarah handed them to the magus near her, Artour . That was the advice of his twin, Arthar Rodil, and it was at that moment she understood why the latter had so many a.s.sistants . Because he couldnt write correctly at all . After a minute where they both read it a few times, they could finally decrypt what was written on it . But when they looked at the gate, they wondered if they were truly understanding the situation in Ronta . Do we really need to do that now? Cant we wait a day or even their arrival? The jovial botanist was no longer smiling anymore, and many wrinkles could be seen on his face . After all, the two brothers were very old, and in recent months, they had been put under a lot of pressure . Even now, he could not help but worry about his two grandchildren, that were supposed to be safe and secure . No, Lord Darkwater will not arrive before two three, and the full army before a week . And from what we understood of that paper, the two statues in front of us needs to be destroyed and a.n.a.lyzed before his arrival . Sarah Meridil was not pleased by that . Especially since she was one of the two living beings that saw the Dark G.o.d with the shape of a little girl . Looking around, at her peers from other nations, she couldnt help but be disappointed . None seemed to be able to match the power of that demon . Pull the workers out . Who knows if those ghosts wont be able to pa.s.s through the stone and attack them directly . The old magus nodded at those words and approached the officer that was nearby . Seeing the face of the soldier getting completely white in a matter of second, she could only shake her head . But soon, a troop of hundreds of veterans stood in formation and began to walk . Not in a straight path at all, but made a circle clearly avoiding the entrance of the tomb . It could have been a funny sight if it was not such a necessity . From afar, they could see the workers jumping out of the hole the moment the officer spoke to them and immediately seeking shelter in the middle of the squadron . It took a dozen of minutes, but they could see the relieved face of the strong miners, with some even thanking the G.o.ds to be out . No one thought it was overreacting, showing how pessimistic everyone in the vicinity was Magus Meridil, magus Aradil . A handsome, but visibly worried magus approached the duo, accompanied with a few others magicians . Even as he spoke, he couldnt help but sneak a peek at the impressive gate . Nowhere was found the previous arrogance he had in the desert . Magus Khala The two mages from Ma.s.salia returned the greeting to their peer of the Synnada Empire . Is it really time? Right now? He was not thrilled at all by the perspective of bothering those living under the mountains, not happy at all . But from the moment he arrived, a few days ago, he had not seen the now deep hole above the tomb being empty . Even in the middle of the night, workers and soldiers were digging a way to enter the tomb without breaching the front door . After all, if something wanted to exit the tomb, it had to face thirty full-fledged magus and magicians, with the less experienced being of the 4th Circle . It was apparent by now that even as large and lengthy the gate was, it was only one entrance after all . The coalition could not be overwhelmed by huge numbers of undead, but likewise, could not use all their troops at the same time . In that regard, Lord Darkwater wanted to open another path, from above . And during the process, if something came out to attack them, the important number of mages will take care of that . After the initial report of the defeat of Avirus that was only describing the outcome for Archet, the White Hand provided a very detailled description of what really happened . A little more than 100 undead, all wearing an armor st.u.r.dier than the very swords of the soldiers from Avenio decimated the humans . But past that point, it did make mention that no mages were present in that battle . After all, the latter could travel far more quickly than the important troop of soldiers, visible by the fact that even near Sarah Meridil, a few could be seen . Because of that, it was uncertain if the result could have been avoided if someone of the 4th Circle or above was present . After all, each magus was an army by itself . Furthermore, the new Hero Avirus had also said the same thing, albeit in other words . However, after the escape he made, he was so tired and hungry that they havent heard anything else yet from him . Looking at the sky above, Sarah counted that it was already three days since they received the news, and with the delay, the Hero had probably slept two entire days . Otherwise, Arthar would have spoken about it . Magus Meridil? The voice of the man from the desert broke her thoughts, and she realized that they were still looking at her . Staring at the gate, she nodded, making them visibly scared . Lord Darkwater wants those two statues and what is hiding inside to be destroyed by the end of the day . She didnt even have to turn to hear the ma.s.sive sighs of relief behind her . At first, they had imagined something far worst, but if it was only that, it would be fine . They hoped . Soon, the numerous siege weapons that were already deployed began to turn slowly to aim at the two stone monuments . The unworldly creature displayed and its weapon were still as menacing as the first day they put their eyes on them, maybe even more . However, because the targets were very small, if we could talk about a nearly 5 meters tall statue that way, only some balistas were truly concerned . The deadly projectiles that were patiently waiting in the complex mechanism were ready in a matter of seconds, but it was the mind of those that will unleash them that was worrisome . The already dead zone where no living being was present was slightly enlarged, with the magicians retreating to a safer distance . A wall of soldiers advanced in front of the balistas, letting only the tip of it visible from afar . Fluctuations of mana could be felt all around, as everyone was getting ready . Wait a bit, you, yes you, you fire first . Sarah approached the closest soldier and only ordered him to fire . Shaking his head left and right while approaching his hand to the lever actioning the siege weapon, he hesitated a bit . But sensing everyone looking at him, he rashly put his hand on it and pulled right away . By a stroke of luck or not, the beautiful arc in the empty land ended up right in the middle of one eye of the right statue . Because it was only stone in the end, albeit a cursed one that would frighten even the bravest warrior, it goes without saying that it had a ma.s.sive impact . But, contrarily to what some could have expected, seeing the huge chunks of rock falling while leaving a deformed head brought no joy to those seeing it . They waited like that for a long time . One second, then another one, all looking at the statue far away . But when half of a minute pa.s.sed without anything happening, Sarah pointed at another ballista . You, go ahead! Aim at the same spot! Still breathing heavily, the three soldiers around the destructive weapons began to turn it slightly, to aim correctly . A few seconds later, metal cut the left arm of the stone creature . You, again! Again! Again! Slowly but surely, the once gigantic body was destroyed, leaving only one leg and the chest standing . The mighty axe had fallen to the ground, in a resonating ruckus that made some of the cowards jump in fright . But while some had a hard time distinguis.h.i.+ng something from the distance, it was not the problem of the magus . They could not say it loudly or even describe it, but they felt something unreal about it . Like, something was slightly disturbing the s.p.a.ce surrounding the stone monument . Again! As she ordered another time to fire, what they were waiting for finally appeared . And it was exactly what she could have read from the reports . The giant demon slowly condensed its body inside what should have been the statue . They could see it appearing from one point, the one that was pierced by the last projectile . Without a word, the ghost began to walk toward them, fully armored and armed . It was not the first time the humans had met a creature like that, but it was not to rea.s.sure them . From the South, beyond the fallen Kingdom of Pankow and even inside the former human kingdom, high ranked monsters in the form of a ghost could be spotted . Capable of inflicting terrifying injuries and killing people just by pa.s.sing through their bodies . And at the same time, immaterial, without shape and without a way to touch them . [Burning Hand] But even something dead can be killed again . The mana that was present everywhere and in nearly everything was a wonderful thing . If swords were not capable of harming something, magic was always the solution . Joining hands with the gorgeous magus, the designated magicians began to cast spells . The soldiers surrounding them had a hard time resisting the intense power that was rampaging when they were not even the target . Like a dream, when the calm reigned once more, the ghost had disappeared . Not relaxing at all, whether they were from Synnada, Ma.s.salia or somewhere else, they all looked around, feeling with their affinity with the mana . But in the end, they could only agree on one thing . That the creature had disappeared . Did we really destroyed it? !!! was not convinced by his own words . But the reality still proved him that he was right . Still a bit unconvinced, the entire process was repeated in the annihilation of the second statue . Sarah made sure that it was done slowly, to gather as much information as possible . And when the place where the heart should have been if it was a human was. .h.i.t once more, the ghost appeared . Followed by its quick demise at the hands of many mages . After a few minutes where they couldnt help but search everywhere, they had to acknowledge the truth . Did you got everything? The beautiful head of the Academy of Magic of Ma.s.salia approached three silhouettes in black that were murmuring and writing . Above them, a small wood tower had been built, where they saw everything thanks to the binoculars . Hiding his small notebook inside his coat, the smallest of the three nodded . Yesss, but on-one last thing . Can you tell usss how you fe-feel, scle-scle? The vicious voice of a ratman did not even bother Sarah at this point . If at first, many frowned when seeing the observers from the Organization, no one could deny they were the best at what they were doing . Pondering a bit, she could only feel inside her disbelief . It was easy . Too easy . I dont know why, but I feel those we killed were just a test . To see if someone was worthy of heading deeper inside the tomb . No one could convince me that they didnt put the weakest ghosts to guard the entrance . Th-thank you . We alssso share the same thought . Bowing one last time, the talking ratman grabbed the other notebooks and rushed toward the forest . Even if it was not visible from where she stood, she knew where the foul creature was heading . An improvised stable had been built hastily to provide shelter to two hippogryphs . Without them, they wouldnt be able to communicate with Ronta as easily . As for the orbs of communications, it was too risky to put in such a great danger . After all, the cost to built just one was at least a hundred years of intensive search to find the materials necessary . Looking at the sky, she saw the majestic flying monster flying upward . The task that was given to her had been accomplished quickly, all things considered . However, as she lowered her gaze, she saw the miners looking fearfully at the gate surrounded by two stone legs . Remembering that they still had something to do, she sighed . Second team, pick up your tools . Lord Darkwater wants this hole opened as soon as possible .