Chapter 654 (2/2)

“It’s one of the main forces in the area… so maybe like 20,000? Randidly has been waiting a long time to get them in a tight spot, could you tell how excited he was?” Herro said, stretching his hamstrings.

Tarik smiled sourly, trying his best not to take the other man’s joke personally. This group of three, stalking an army of 20,000? As if.

But Herro continued to speak. “Although it means that we have been pushed back almost halfway towards the core of the Central Domain, these small mountains make it much easier to do our job. Hehe, I can see in your expression that you don’t really understand, but that’s fine. Randidly is a Spellspear, the most powerful in history. Rumor has it that Captain Platton found him working as a high-end gardener and realized what his plant magic could do if refined properly. And now… Well, you will see.”

With that Herro fell silent, and Tarik didn’t know what to say. Luckily, he was saved from the need to talk as the rumbling started.

It began as a distant thing, but very soon the rock walls around them were trembling and cracking. With fear in his eyes, Tarik backed slowly away from the walls and towards the entrance back into the valley, but Herro’s hand shot out and locked around his arm like a vice grip. “You have your orders, soldier. We stay here. Remain in the root area.”

“But-!” Tarik said, wide-eyed. His gaze was seized by a large stone, about the size of a large dog, that was falling down the sheer cliffs above them on course to crush them to mush. Tarik didn’t care about orders, not when-

But to his surprise, one of the vines on the walls detached itself and caught the stone gingerly. The substance of the vine strained and stretched, but the stone was knocked sideways to land harmlessly further up the passage. More and more rocks rained downwards, but each time the vines moved to turn the debris aside.

“This is why I like the gardener story,” Herro said, almost proudly. “Otherwise, why would he have magic relating to plants?”

“Maybe he was a farmer,” Tarik croaked out. Although the shaking was abating, there were more and more concussive sounds from farther down the passage where Randidly had gone. It seemed that unlike them, the Wights weren’t as lucky, and the passage was collapsing down on top of them. Perhaps it really was possible to kill 20,000 Wights this way.

Herro gave Tarik a long look, then sighed. “Kid, you aren’t as dumb as you look. Alright, up and at ‘em. The dregs will be wandering through soon.”

This time, Tarik didn’t bother to ask. Everything was happening too quickly, and it was too strange. But true to Herro’s word, five minutes later a few bedraggled Wights stumbled forward towards their position. But what Tarik didn’t understand was what happened to them.

Their iconic cloaks were burnt away, revealing broken and weak bodies. The Wights seemed charred and scuffed, as though they had stumbled through a fire on the way here. What exactly…?

Without giving them a chance to really notice them, Herro lashed out and knocked two of them to the ground. Belatedly, Tarik joined him and dispatched the other couple that had appeared.

It was like sorting through trash, Tarik realized halfway through the task. It ended up taking fully six hours. More and more began streaming towards them, but never more than twenty at a time, and putting those numbers would overstate the threat they faced. All those that came seemed to be missing a limb, or unable to move part of their body, or were more fearful than capable at this point.

It seemed that Randidly moved like a walking disaster in such a small space, turning the once-proud army into nothing but dregs. Tarik knew how powerful Wights could be when gathered together and yet this…

One Wight actually flinched when Tarik raised his spear to strike the enemy down. It was like whatever it had just gone through had left it deeply scarred.

All in all, Tarik had killed 238 Wights in that six hours before Randidly appeared. “Time to move; they didn’t send the whole army in. But still a good haul. Do you both have Stamina to spare?”

Instantly, Tarik understood why Herro had taken care of most of the kills early, and then let him take over later. With an easy smile, Herro smiled at Randidly’s question. Not willing to be outdone, Tarik gritted his teeth and nodded as well.

“Good, because I want to flank them. It will take some doing, but it will make the rest of the week’s work go quickly.”