141 Battle of the Wild Mountains : Part 9 (1/2)

While everyone was either peacefully dreaming or having nightmares, only a few living beings were still up and hesitantly walking on the even ground under their feet. After the news that the third room has been emptied by the undead, another unfortunate group of soldiers was tasked to explore the remaining parts of the tomb. Even if they were accompanied by three magicians of the 4th Circle and a few adventurers, the warriors were clearly not calmed by that.

Especially when they heard their orders.When the officer in charge told that to those assembled in front of the ominous underground maze, more than one had his face turning white. Grabbing the hammers nearby, they couldn't help but shudder, knowing very well what they will do in a short time. So, after bypassing another wall of shadows that was dispelled by the mages, no one was looking at the polished stone ground with good feelings. After a few seconds without anyone moving, one either brave or suicidal had the guts to raise his hammer and hit the ground.

THOMP

The metal almost bounced back, not even making a dent at the stone tab. Sighing in relief, more began to methodically do the same after each step. Like that, every single part of the tunnel was slowly shaken by the hammers, using brute force to reveal any traps inside those walls. After the soldiers had accomplished their work, both the mages and the adventurers began to examine the result, searching for any clues.

But, even after reaching the end of the tunnel and seeing the next wall of shadows, nothing was found. The heat had only grown slightly, but it was still bearable. As for the magicians, as much as they wanted to act lofty, their perception was barely able to even sense the walls near them, even less anything beyond that. Because of this, they could only reluctantly dispel that batch of darkness, once again. At least, they were still more useful than the more or less kidnapped adventurers that were acting like mouses, jumping in fright at any sound.

Sensing that the opening was wider than the one they used to enter the tunnel, one soldier threw his torch as far as he could. The dim light that was floating managed to show the reflections of many armors and swords, proving that they had at least found the undead. Not daring to dwindle any longer, everyone began to retreat with great speed. Unfortunately, this time, Malakov was not willing to let them escape that easily.

VRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Multiple openings in the walls of the tunnel appeared, showing the undead that were located within them. Shocked by that, the humans had not the time to even react before receiving countless deadly spells. The screams that could have been heard from even the outside if nothing had been done were silenced by the liches. In a few minutes, the hundreds of explorers had all been erased from this world, and any traces of that short skirmish was slowly being cleaned as well. The few soldiers that stayed in the third room to act as witnesses could only speculate about why the wall of darkness in front of them had reappeared once more.

However, after a dozen of minutes, seeing that no one was coming, the humans that had been barely a few meters away from a carnage decided to leave this place. Letting one torch near the exit, they only threw one additional glance before leaving for good. Getting woke up only to hear the disappearance of those sent to explore, Lord Darkwater only gave an order to make everyone leave at once and prevent anyone from entering before dawn. Before returning back in the comfy bed in his tent.

The next morning, the vision that greeted Ferrod and the army behind was a vast cavern. Previously, the undead legions were numbered in hundreds of skulls, covering a relatively small amount of ground. But now, they could no longer count accurately how many of them were present. Raising his head after hearing the voice in his head, the second prince of Massalia couldn't help but curse those dark gods for being so vicious.

Because the humans were just at the entrance, they were still not attacked yet, but what awaited after just one additional steps would be huge rocks thrown at them. Of course, that won't be the end of it, but Ferrod couldn't see what else was prepared for them. The undead hands he could just notice in the holes in the ceiling were not giving him a lot of clues. Looking around once more, he still did not see one of the two armors he fought yesterday, neither the tall black one or the iron small one.

But when he looked at the very end of the room, he could see the same lich that nearly knocked him out. His blackened claws were doing weird moves, something he couldn't understand. Getting closer to Five, that was the temporary leader of the disciples of the Archmage while Three was still exhausted, he asked her about that, only to see her freezing after she looked more carefully.

”Hero Ferrod, it is not magic. However, he is gesturing the secret code of the Organization.” She tried to speak as quietly as possible, worried that what she said could fall into unwanted ears. ”Are you talking about those things like, knocking something twice with the little finger and one with the middle finger, the call for an ambush? That kind of stuff? How could a lich know that?”

The criminal organization had lasted for thousands of years and was even older than some nations. Its origin could even be tracked not long after the birth of both the Massalia Kingdom and the Synnada Empire. However, not everything was changed, and some of the basic gestures still maintained their original form, like a call for help or warning for an ambush. Besides those few, Ferrod did not know the other signs or even the true sign language created by those outlaws.

”Yes, I had a lot of ... I am afraid you will just have to trust me when I say this.” Only a fool wouldn't understand what she meant when she first stopped talking. The Hero was still a bit worried by hearing that the Archmage was close enough to the Organization for one of his own disciples to know that much. Nodding his head, he saw the female magus murmuring things as she was concentrating on the hands of the lich.