TCHAK

The string of a bow was suddenly released, throwing an arrow with great speed toward the first soldier to put a foot in the room. Thinking that he was safe behind the Hero, he noticed too late that the latter was not really focused, shocked by what he was seeing. And by the time, Avirus reacted to the sound, he could only see the meticulously crafted wood deeply inserted in the flesh of the soldier. It was an extremely clean shot, aiming directly at the thin opening between the bottom of the helmet and the chest plate.

TCHOK TCHLAK TCHEK

The three others that were too close to the dead man and were also walking too fast to stop nearly escaped death. Fortunately for them, Avirus was capable of stopping the arrows before they reached their targets, but that was not something he was truly happy with. "RETREAT! DON'T STEP INSIDE THIS ROOM!" The artificial cave was maybe only a hundred meters deep, but it was too vast for him to protect everyone.

From where they were, the foreigners of this world could hear the belligerent man grumbling and cursing them. But since he did not seem to have gain powers capable of turning his words into actual threats, none of them were affected.The only thing that was impacted was, in fact, the morale of the humans, that was seeing once more their Hero come back barely a few minutes after entering the tomb. The improvised council was reunited, again, leading to the Hero being accompanied by another group.

However, contrarily to the precedents that were composed of soldiers, Leilade could only notice their luxurious and rich robes. Not even the third room and they were already using magicians to deal with the undead of Malakov. Compared to what was beyond that, it was a bit overkill, but at the same time, it was possible to breach everything if those humans had a cautious usage of their mana. The only thing they may have forgotten is the fact that the undead should have been the last of their worries.

"Malakov, tell Kardel that he can go to the first point. But he must not use his rifle." Looking at Leilade that nodded her head, the lich began to transmit what he heard from Davion to the duvodiad. Soon, they could see in a remote corner of the room something moving behind a very tight opening. Like the ramparts built inside the very wall that protected the skeleton archers, numerous secret hole were pierced everywhere. Most of the times, Davion had placed liches behind them, but some were reserved to Kardel, like this one.

As for how he was capable of moving so quickly from one point to another, they were not idle those last weeks. Not a single place in the entire base was exempted of a trap, a mechanism or an undead aiming at it. Whether it was the ceiling or the very ground, it could deal with both levitating mages and strong fighters. "They are only at the 5th Circle, at best." Looking at the ten or so hooded men and women that followed Avirus, Leilade could feel their power quite easily.

"What does it means?" They all had received the information that the little girl gained from her little holidays inside the Academy of Magic. But because that classification was prone to only focus on the best spell that could be cast and not necessarily on the number possible, it was not truly reliable. "The lowest recruit of my Death Corps wouldn't even take him as an apprentice." While saying this, Leilade still remembered the fact that her greatest pride had been destroyed in a blink of an eye.

Seeing the slightly angered face of their superior, neither Davion nor Meridiana asked anything else. But, if that was true, that means that if they were still inside the Demonic Empire, those magicians were not strong enough to be exempt from being eaten or sacrificed. Looking at the volley of arrows that was aiming at those humans, reality will prove what they were truly worth.

Not surprisingly, none of the iron arrows managed to pierce the magical shields. At the same time, besides seeing them worried, the observers did not manage to sense any traces of real fear. Most likely, the mages were just apprehensive at being inside the tomb and not outside. After firing two times, the skeleton archers suddenly stopped, creating a stalemate.

Both sides did not move for a few seconds, everyone waiting to react to what their opponent will choose to do. Feeling a small spark in the surrounding mana,lifted her hand, making the lich freeze for a brief instant. And before the old man that was casting his spell could use it, something pierced his throat. Without a sound, his aged body fell backward, his hands desperately trying to grab something while he was falling.

Shouts of panic spread, and many tried to help their peer. A light that seemed warmth and peaceful surrounded the fallen mage, but to their horror, his skin was turning black near the hole in his neck. In less than five seconds, his eyes finally stopped moving, black blood leaking from his entire corpse. Still shocked by this sudden turn of event, they forgot that they were still visible.

THUMP

A woman screamed while holding her chest. The wound was right next to the lungs, slightly above the heart. But instead of being a missed shot, the helpless humans realized it had destroyed the small organ that was linked to the two lungs. As she was gasping for air, the exact same fate awaited her, as the hole in her chest was darkening. "RUN AWAY!" Without waiting any longer, the panicked mages left the two corpses on the ground and dashed toward the tunnel.

Shaking his head, Avirus wasn't able to react to those projectiles. Turning his head toward the wall behind him, he saw two arrows entirely made of metal inserted inside it. Not daring to pick them up,he could only touch with his eyes. They were slightly bigger than the one he could commonly found in his army, but not that large. But as he looked, he did not drop his vigilance, especially after what he had seen since he first entered the tomb.

Suddenly, he violently turned his body and raised his hand, catching something in the air. It was the same arrow that he was studying, and as he looked, he could not see anything on it. However, the voice in his head told him immediately to drop it and run away. As he was taking large steps to avoid being shot at, he could begin to see his hand reacting weirdly. Thanks to the power of Oslo, he was nonetheless capable of resisting whatever evil was spread of those projectiles.

"Truly bold to catch an arrow thrown by a duvodiad. But it's a shame those gods are willing to help to that extent." Even Leilade herself had no idea what kind of poison was on those things, but she was sure it would be quite deadly. There had been so many deadly and strange creatures send to those duvodiads that it was almost impossible to find a cure against them. After all, only a race rivaling the Demonic Empire in terms of size and number of planets controlled could have known about so many monsters.

They were all watching the Hero walking toward the exit of the underground base, more specifically his hand. If it was nowhere near the terrifying state that the two mages' bodies were in, it was not looking good either. His skin was beginning to peel, continuously, removing all the layers and exposing the flesh and muscles behind it. It did not spread further than the elbow, but the result was still visible from far away.

"Now, they will only have one choice, enter by the hole. And if that fails, they could only pray the gods to have more Heroes." The calm and cold voice of Davion made them turned their sights from the Hero to the almost finished hole. It was almost fifty meters deep and was right above one tunnel. If most of the base had been covered under many spells to hide the layout to the humans, some parts were too far away to be protected. Allowing the enemy magicians to detect those underground passages.

BRRLRLRLRLRLRLR

One magician used a spell to destroy the last meters separating them from the tunnel under their feet. The hole had been dug methodically, with the opening spread on nearly one thousand meters square. Like a whirlpool, a small slope could allow three men to walk side by side and descend. Gazing at the dark place right next to them, one soldier dropped a torch, lightening the stone ground. Sensing nothing, the mage near him raised his hand and called the warriors carrying ladders. Four were deployed, at a distance where no one could bother someone descending at the same time.

As the first began to use those ladders, Malakov snapped its bony fingers. The previously small opening suddenly crumbled and grew bigger, destroying the stable footing many were on. As for those using the ladders, they only fell down from a few meters and suffered mild bruises. As such, nearly thirty men ended up in the tunnel, some trapped under the rocks that surrounded them. The magus that was also present had just the time to levitate before following the soldiers to the ground.

However, instead of being just five meters above the floor of the tunnel, the closest point was now at least the double. And nothing could assure them that this incident won't happen again. Fortunately, they were prepared for the worst, and in a matter of minutes, bigger ladders were coming to save the trapped humans. But for the latter, those short minutes, alone, in the dark, only seeing what the sun rays could touch felt like an eternity.

"Nothing else?" Leilade looked at Davion and Malakov, wondering why those soldiers were not killed. After all, it was obvious the hole had a problem only after the lich made a move. But she had expected something after that, like skeletons attacking them and such. "No, every undead are already placed at strategic locations where they will be far more useful. I did not have a single one to spare at harming whoever would fall there."

Hearing the excuse of the orodil, she turned her sight toward the lich that seemed a bit flustered. "Empress, you know very well that this body was just a replacement. Until true Demonic Energy is created and I can recover my true form, I have some issues concerning the amount of undead I can create. And with the very high requirements of Ymir and the fact that I had created the strongest skeleton warrior at my disposal, I may be short in mana right now."

If Kardel had been present, he would have never missed such an opportunity to complain about Malakov. However, what the lich was seeing was in reality really important, and even dire. "What do you mean by short in mana?" Looking at the shadows that were silently creeping toward him, Malakov had at least the benefit of being undead and having a facial paralysis. Otherwise, his face wouldn't have been pretty to see at this moment.

"Without counting the undead helping Ymir, those carrying the trolls and all the spirits used to scout the enemy. 356 normal liches, 3 high-rank ones, the fake dragon, and 5903 skeleton warriors. But, there are dozens of traps capable of slaying an Ak?l so there is nothing to worry. Also, everything you asked had been prepared." He began to chuckle stressfully at his last words, before stopping right away after seeing the face of Leilade. To be blunt, she only cared whether her orders were executed, not how it was done.

Since she finally knew why Davion was right when he said that he had no skeleton to spare, she began to compare what they had with what the humans had. But, even if for once, the undead had lower numbers than their enemies, it was still a different situation. Those iron skeleton warriors she could see were nothing like those she ordered Malakov to create to attack Archet. And she was no stranger to the concept of quality and quantity. If it had been a fight in a plain, her army would have been swarmed by the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but in such a tight space, it could be fine.

(Creating more undead now would be wasteful, Malakov needs to have some mana to spare in case of an emergency. And even after it will happen, we can't exclude they won't try it again.)

"I know this, especially since what I asked is extremely costly in mana. Just that I was surprised by such a low number of undead." Talking in her mind, she retracted her gaze from the lich and looked once more at the screens. Finally breathing, if an undead could do that, Malakov did not try to apologize any further. Only actions and results could appease the little girl, something he will gladly obtain.