Mia had to concentrate to keep the mana wall up as the skeleton bandits kept shooting at them. They were organized. Even though they were using muskets, they shot in groups. While a number of them fired, another number reloaded the guns. This allowed them to keep constant fire on their targets.Each shot cracked the mana wall, demanding that Mia rebuilt it quickly with no time to counter attack.
Faralynn was the one to go on the offensive first. With the wall surrounding them, she had no direct line of fire against their attacker. But Faralynn had Mage skills and was proficient in pure mana spells.
She fired magical missiles upwards, where the wall didn’t protect them, and curved them in mid air aiming at the undead that surrounded them. Her objective was not to defeat them, but to stop their momentum and create an opening for the others to act.
Her barrage of missiles fell unto the undead gang creating holes on the ground and lifting dust in the air.
Matthew took advantage of the dust in the air and, using his Shadow Form skill, he sneaked out of Mia’s protection and attacked the nearest skeleton, taking its head with a precise slash with Belial’s blade.
When the undead noticed him, they shifted their focus to Matthew. He didn’t give them time to attack him. He drew both his guns and started to shoot at the outlaws surrounding them.
His weapons of superior rate of fire forced the undead to seek cover behind rocks and trees.
A pair charged Matthew from behind wielding very long knives, but they were quickly dealt with by Vanessa who jumped over the wall at blinding speed using her daggers to destroy the skulls of the assailants.
Faralynn shot another barrage of magic missiles, giving Eric a chance to also join the fray.
His blade cut stone, breaking it like a sandcastle and cleaving through the undead behind it.
The fight evolved into a free for all. Eric charged the undead with his blade. Matthew and Vanessa put them down with bullets and knives. Mia now had time to use her lasers, illuminating the night and destroying the skeletons with ease. Faralynn, now that Mia’s wall was down, used her bow.
Eric was shot on the back at some point, the bullet making a hole on the plates of his jacket and stopping at his breastplate.
Vanessa was quick to dispose of the skeleton that shot him.
Matthew traded blows with two skeletons at once. Their fighting style with the knives was different from all that he ever saw. They kept the blade moving, sometimes even scrapping them on the floor. At times it looked like a dance.
While his eyes were focused on the knives moving like the tails of a rattlesnake, suddenly one of the skeletons threw a spinning kick towards his head. If it wasn’t for his Sixth Sense skill, it would’ve connected.
But Matthew dodged by ducking and, in the next movement, used Aym’s blade to cleave the attacker in twain with an upwards attack.
With Belial’s sword, he disposed of the other.
Mia created copies of herself made of light to draw enemy fire and protect her at the same time. Being covered by them, she shot lasers with expert aim downing another 4 skeletons.
A trio came close to Faralynn, forcing her to drop the bow and draw her sword. With sharp thrusts of her blade, she kept the undead at bay. And, soon enough, Vanessa swept from behind with her great speed to destroy those with a series of attacks.
The last one was destroyed by Eric who grabbed its skull in his big hand and simply crushed it as if crushing an apple in a strongman show.
In the distance, they saw more of them riding horses. But the sun was rising and the skeletons simply turned on their skeletal rides and galloped away.
Matthew sat down breathing deeply.
"I’m getting tired." He exclaimed.
"All this fighting is making it hard to recover our MP" Mia agreed.
Vanessa collected the mana crystals of the destroyed undead.
"The sun is coming up." Eric said.
"Where to?" Faralynn asked.
Mia opened her map that she drew on her phone and showed them using a tiny projector.
"Here." Vanessa pointed to an empty space.
"Here?" Matthew asked.
"Yes. My Sense Treasure is level S, now. I can feel something precious there." She said.
"2 kilometers (1.25 miles) that way." Mia pointed Northeast.
"Alright. Finally we have a consistent direction." Matthew smiled.
"Wait." Eric said, stopping Mia from turning off the projection. "Look. We passed so close to it 3 days ago." He laughed.
They looked at the point he was referring to. He was right. That almost dropped their morale, but Faralynn noted something else.
"Isn’t that the place we avoid because it was full with Carrancas?"
"It is." Mia said, opening a note she had pinned to the place where they made a 90º turn.
"This means that the Carrancas are guarding the sword?" Matthew asked.
"Most likely." Vanessa said.
They all looked at each other, understanding what needed to be done.
"Then let’s go." Mia said, turning off the projection.
The walk was quiet. Each one of them were devising their own plans on how to fight those giants. Upon approaching the area Vanessa showed them, they were soon met by Catherine, her husband and the rest of her party.
"Look who it is." She smiled.
"Hey." Matthew greeted them approaching.
"Tell me you noticed this is not a dungeon." Catherine teased the newcomers.
"Of course." Vanessa stared daggers at her.
"This is so good. The value of this place keeps getting higher." The leader of the adventuring section of the Tower of Ryvylin smiled widely.
"What are you doing camping here?" Faralynn asked.
Catherine said and pointed at the hill behind her.
"Be careful."
They went uphill slowly and saw a huge structure. A star fortress made of red stone bricks. Its walls were designed to hold cannons and endure bombard shots, but were now empty and crumbling. Surrounding the fortress, scores of Carrancas roamed slowly. Some leaned onto the fortress walls and rested.
"It’s in there." Vanessa said.
"I’m counting 33 of them." Eric said.
"They’re level 65." Catherine shouted at them. "You don’t need to hide or whisper. If you don’t attack them, they won’t attack you. Unless you get too near the fortress."
"That’s why you’re camping here." Vanessa concluded. "You’re waiting for other parties."
"But that’s 33 level 65 monsters. I don’t think we have the manpower to face that." Matthew exclaimed.
"I know." Catherine sighed. "I already sent someone to call reinforcements from the tower. We just need to wait now."
"You said 33?" Kleb, Catherine’s husband, asked. "There were 27 yesterday."
"Well, you can count them yourself." Eric said. "I saw 33, there might be more."
"They are increasing." Kleb shook his head.
"More people are coming." Vanessa warned them.
They then saw Kaoru and her party walking towards them.
"Guess everyone will get here eventually." Catherine shrugged.
"Hello." Kaoru greeted them. "Did you find the sword?" She asked.
"No." Matthew shook his head. "Might be in there."
"That fortress?" She looked in the direction Matthew pointed, but the hill between them and the structure obstructed her view. "I’ve seen it." The samurai added.
"The question is how we can get in." Charles noted.
"Not even we are strong enough to fight those things." Miroslav said, his voice dripping with arrogance.
Vanessa knew the answer. They’d have to sneak inside, but she kept quiet to not alert the others of her plan.
Catherine invited them all to camp together. A bigger party would make the night safer. Between the undead, the goat men and the Quibungos, sleeping was getting harder for all of them.
"So. If the tower reinforcements come, what will you do, Matthew?" Kaoru asked him while he was setting up his tent. "Will you allow them to keep the sword?" She teased him.
Matthew kept working in silence.
"You were ready to fight us for it. And now you’re letting them have it?" She kept teasing him.
"No." Matthew finally said.
"Then what will you do? Fight the whole tower?" Kaoru asked with a smile.
"I will get it before them." Matthew said.
"How?" Her eyes shone with that declaration.
"However it’s needed." He said somberly.
"I knew it." Kaoru’s face contorted into a huge creepy smile that she tried to hide behind her hand. Her usual semblance was that of a cool headed person. But now her real self was showing. "I want to fight you." She declared.
Matthew looked at her, puzzled by that declaration.
"I will fight you soon enough." She turned to leave while her hands caressed her swords on her hips. "I’m looking forward to it."
"Wow." Vanessa exclaimed, approaching Matthew while the samurai walked away. "She’s creepy. She didn’t look like it back in the hotel."
"She didn’t." Matthew also had a smile on his face. Even though he didn’t like to admit it, he also liked fighting. A trace that wasn’t given to him by demonic mana, only strengthened it when he had the curse mana poisoning his emotions.
"Matt." Vanessa called him in a whisper. "I have a plan for tonight." She knelt beside him and whispered in his ear the plan she had.