We arrived in the Land of Mountains, the region ruled by the Intoner Four. Great ranges of gray, brown and rocky mountains covered the horizon, with white layers of snow on top.
Above us was a blue but overcast sky with dark gray clouds, probably on the verge of snow. Icy air hit me, making me shiver underneath my armor.
I'm used to the heat, I can walk barefoot in a river of lava, but a little bit of cold makes me want to cast Flame Throw on myself.
However, despite the exotic landscape around me, the situation was still one of war. Moreover, from what I could see, this place was doing better than the Land of Seas at fighting the gargoyles and invaders.
Dozens of airships crossed the skies in a V formation, firing their cannon arrays at the swarms of gargoyles that tried to surround them. The cannonballs let out a high-pitched sound as they ripped through the air, followed by a huge explosion and a cloud of smoke as they hit the gargoyles. The gargoyles destroyed, accompanied by the sound of rocks breaking.
Anyway, the stone creatures kept trying to outnumber the airships, but Four's soldiers worked in perfect unison, cannons firing in unison. Other gargoyles tried to use their crossbows to hit the soldiers reloading the cannons.
However, the soldiers protected their companions, either with the support of archers shooting arrows at the gargoyles, or soldiers using large shields to protect them.
I saw small blue orbs coming out of the creatures, souls, souls flying away at great speed. Where are they going? They aren't absorbed by anyone here and they aren't going to the other side.
Unfortunately, because I wasn't connected to the Nexus, I lost my ability to automatically absorb souls. I would have put them to good use. I can do that with Soulsucker, but I'd rather not waste my magic unnecessarily.
I almost dropped my spyglass when Zero's face suddenly appeared in front of me; she and Ditto were flying on Mikhail's back, while I was in my usual place, in the black dragon's claws.
"Hey, about what happened last night…" Zero spoke.
"Forget it."
"But..."
"Dragon put me down! Help the airships!" I screamed.
"Since when are you in charge?" The black dragon demanded, swinging its paws.
If he was trying to scare me, it worked a little, but I didn't show a reaction, just gripped his paw tighter.
"Since the day I realized I'm the only one who knows what I'm doing here!"
"I just won't drop you, because you're the only source of fun I've found in a long time. I was bored to death." The dragon responded as it flapped its wings, stopping its flight and then diving sharply, heading towards the mountains.
"Sure, sure. If boredom doesn't kill you, old age will."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" The dragon screamed, dropping me to the ground and knocking me down violently.
"OUCH!" I groaned as I got up and looked around. I was on a stone trail. Made in the mountain, it looked artificial.
"I WANT YOU TO KNOW I AM AT THE HEIGHT OF MY AGE! I AM ONLY TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS!"
"What an old man!" Mikhail yelled, hovering close to the ground and letting Zero and Ditto down.
"No wonder you complain like an old man! You are one!" Ditto made one of his sarcastic remarks as he landed in a crouched position.
"You were made for each other." Zero spoke, doing a somersault in the air and landing with more grace.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Both are grumpy and complain about everything." Zero said, approaching me with an annoying smile.
"Just like you?" I responded with a small laugh. If she wants to play the insult game, so be it.
Zero grimaced at my answer, and opened her mouth to answer me, but Ditto interrupted her.
"He got you, Z." Ditto teased, flashing his cocky grin.
"Shut up or I'll kill you." Zero said menacingly, pointing her sword at Ditto.
"I'm shutting my mouth... Now!" Ditto, startled, raised both hands in surrender and slowly walked away from Zero.
"Young people nowadays. They don't respect the elders. Come with me Mikhail, we will continue your training!" The black dragon spoke, flying away.
"Yes sir!" Mikhail replied, following the dragon.
Meanwhile, Eupherbia got out of my bag, I noticed that the fairy rubbed her arms because of the cold, her nose was also running. Slowly, she floated beside me. "Looks like we're here. ACHOO! It's cold! In addition, that place doesn't look any better than the Land of the Seas. ACHOO! What is the plan?"
Eupherbia said as she sniffed repeatedly.
"We're going after Four; she allied with One during the war. She must know what's going on; I want to question her about it. However, more importantly. Are you sure, you can fight in this cold? You can return it to my bag if you like." I replied.
"Don't worry, it's not a little chill that's going to knock me down, I'm stronger than that. ACHOO! But I guess it wouldn't hurt to warm up a little." As soon as Eupherbia finished speaking, she closed her eyes and made an effort face, gradually her body glow intensified until it was difficult for me to look at the fairy.
"Much better." She said.
"That is if I don't cut her head off first." Zero retorted my earlier plan, going up the trail.
"And where is Four?" Eupherbia asked.
"Good question. Hey Zero, where is Four?" I asked the Intoner.
"The hell I know!" Zero shrugged, making us both jump in surprise.
"What?!?" Ditto exclaimed.
"Are we going to repeat what happened in the Land of Seas? Where we will follow you around until we find one of your sisters by sheer luck?"
"What? It worked so far." Zero replied, walking past me and giving me a cocky sideways look.
I resisted the urge to slap myself across the face. This woman is impossible! I'm missing One, we've only talked once and she's already shown herself to be a tolerable person.
Well, we only have one way to go. Up. We climbed the mountain. Up through a rocky passage full of ruins made of light brown stone. Crumbling walls, collapsed pillars and the remains of stairs stood in our way.
And what we saw when we reached the top was an impressive sight, a great fortress in ruins built in the mountain range, made of the same stone as the ruins we passed and in the distance, we saw figures fighting and falling into the abyss below.
Sounds of metal clashing against metal, screams of pain and battle, cannon fire and arrows slicing through the air formed a cacophony that echoed through the mountains. I saw blurs of red and silver falling to their deaths, invaders and soldiers of Four. In addition, blue blurs going to the sky, souls of the dead in this war.
Fortunately, the airships were doing a good job of dealing with the gargoyles, as none had set foot in the mountains, which gave the soldiers freedom to defend their positions against their enemies.
"What are we doing standing here? Let's go!" Zero exclaimed, drawing her sword with a savage grin.
"You heard the boss. Time to go!" Ditto spoke as he drew his spear, smiling too, but with a glint of sadism.
"Can I go a day without wanting to strangle one of these two?" I asked myself as I readied my sword and shield.
"Welcome to my world." Eupherbia said beside me.
Wasting no time, we all charged towards the fight.
From what we could see, Four's soldiers had fortified the entire path in front of us to stop the invaders, rows of archers and cannons positioned on top of the ruins, and barricades resembling large metal shields blocked the way.
Looking up at the sky, I saw the black dragon and Mikhail spitting fireballs and destroying groups of gargoyles.
The invaders, on the other hand, tried to climb the mountain, the terrain was extremely irregular, and the invaders had to go up and down constantly amidst cannonballs and showers of arrows fired by the soldiers. Which was a problem for the invaders, as despite having the same goal, they weren't a cohesive force.
The invaders wore different equipment, fought in different styles, and had different strength levels. The more souls an invader absorbed, the stronger he became, allowing him to use better equipment, which was not the case here.
Invaders using shields of different sizes that left many openings tried to form a wall in front of their companions, behind them, there were rows of Invaders raising their different shields above their heads, trying to protect themselves from the arrows. A good plan, but poor execution.
Other invaders hid behind large rocks and parts of ruins, using bows, crossbows, spells or firebombs to hit soldiers operating cannons or archers, but the strategy used in airships repeated. Archers pressured the invaders and other soldiers protected their comrades with large shields.
Some invaders tried to advance madly towards the soldiers' fortifications, but were driven back by the soldiers' fire, arrows rained down from the sky and the cannons broke up crowds of invaders. It appears that Four is more competent than Five at leading her men.
Fortunately, this time we had the element of surprise, as we were behind the invaders. None of them had bothered to stay back and on guard for any ambush.
As soon as we got close, we made our attacks; I pierced an Invader in the back, hitting his heart.
Zero kicked an invader, knocking him down and consequently pushing other invaders away. In addition, stomping on his head right after, so she made a big jump and dove into the crowd of invaders.
She danced among her enemies, landing blow after blow. With grace and violence, she cut throats and heads.
Ditto ran towards the surprised invaders, his spear raised in front of himself, with a strong thrust, Ditto impaled a line of invaders on his weapon; three of the red wraiths trapped in it.
With a swing, Ditto hurled the three away towards the other invaders.
"No blood and guts? Fighting these guys is no fun!" Ditto exclaimed, piercing an invader in the stomach, lifting him into the air and hurling him off the mountain.
"And it wasn't meant to be. The invaders are murderers and madmen, you must kill them immediately." I said as I slashed an invader in the stomach and neck right after.
"Exactly my kind of people." Ditto replied with a smile.
We continued advancing, Eupherbia supporting us, flying above the invaders and bombarding them with magic, the invaders further ahead didn't notice us yet.
They raised their shields to block the soldiers' arrows, simultaneously; invading sorcerers prepared their spells to destroy the cannons.
I won't allow that, casting Soul Arrow, I pierced an Invader in the back of the head; the spell ripped a perfect hole and exited through the Invader's forehead. Eupherbia killed the other Invader with a hail of magic, tearing chunks from his body in a series of magical explosions.
The Invaders with the shields turned to see the source of the attacks, but Zero and Dito killed them quickly. Zero a kicked the invader's shield so hard that his arm bent in a strange direction, breaking his defense, and the Intoner sliced off the invader's head shortly thereafter.
Ditto didn't even bother with his opponent's shield, thrusting his spear forward with all his might, piercing the metal shield, piercing the Invader's arm and chest. With an amused laugh, Ditto forced the invader to the ground, driving the spear deeper into his enemy's body until he disappeared.
Crazy people surround me. What is wrong with this land? Slowly we managed to reach the soldiers' fortifications.
"So how are we going to get through this?" Ditto asked, banging his fist on the metal barricades.
"A heavy hit from a piercing weapon should do the trick." Zero replied, crossing her arms and looking the barricade up and down.
"Hm… I think I have the perfect weapon for that." I replied, drawing their attention. I reached my hand into my bag and pulled out a long piercing sword, again getting surprised looks from both of them.
"Well, well. You are full of surprises. Mind saying the name of that weapon?" Zero asked with her hand on her hip and an amused smile.
I placed my shield on my back and held the sword with both hands in front of my face. So picking up speed, I advanced towards the barricade with my sword close to my body.
"That is my Penetrating Sword." I replied as I hurled a powerful thrust forward, piercing the metal barricade, tearing a hole in its center and causing cracks to spread throughout the rest. Shattering it with a loud metallic crack.
When I finished my attack, the dust settled and the remains of the barricade fell to the ground in a hail of debris accompanied by loud thuds. I looked back, and saw Zero and Ditto with tears in their eyes, faces red and trying hard not to laugh.
"What?" I asked, cocking my head in confusion.
"HAHAHA!" Ditto fell to the ground laughing and pointing at me.
"Hehe! I didn't know your dick had a name. How about you show me if it lives up to the name?" Zero asked in a flirtatious tone, that lustful glint in her gaze and her eyebrows waggling suggestively.
"Forget it." I ignored them both and continued advancing through the fortress.
"Hey, come back here! I'm not finished yet!" Zero yelled, running after me.
"This was good. I haven't laughed so hard in a while!" Ditto exclaimed, following us.
We came to a stone staircase with high walls on the sides; in the center of the staircase was a metal barricade.
"It's Intoner Zero, fire the cannons!" A soldier ahead of us shouted. Then all the soldiers in the fortification prepared to fire, aiming in our direction.
Casting Flame Throw, I hit one of the cannons and caused it to explode in a shower of wood and metal, shooting flaming shards everywhere.
"About what happened yesterday…" Zero said beside me, dodging a cannonball that sliced through the air. She jumped right and I rolled left. A great explosion appeared in the place where we were. Leaving only a steaming crater.
"Nothing happened yesterday." I responded, dodging another cannon's fire and casting a second Flame Throw, exploding the second cannon. Creating screams of surprise and pain from the soldiers as the explosion threw them away.
"Surely something happened! What is the problem?" Zero persisted in her questions, a teasing tone in her voice.
"Nothing! I have no problem." I replied, advancing towards the barricade in a run.
"And I'm a virgin! Tell me, what was that? Do you like guys? If that's it, you just needed to say it." Zero said, walking up the stairs with me, more irritated this time.
"No. I am interested in women." Trusting my sword forward, I destroyed the barricade. As we reached the top of the stairs, a group of soldiers advanced towards us. Swords and shields ready.
"Good to know! So let me try again. Are you not confident in your size?" Zero asked with a teasing smile, slashing through all the soldiers in front of her, the sound of metal and ripping flesh mixed with the soldiers' screams of pain and blood being sprayed.
"No. I'm confident in my… Size…" I answered hesitantly. I don't feel comfortable having these kinds of conversations. I was gentler in dealing with the soldiers, avoiding hitting vital parts and inflicting deep cuts. The Penetrating Sword easily passed through their shields and armor.
"I am happy to hear! At least you're not compensating for something with those weapons of yours." Zero smiled with satisfaction.
"Hey! What happened last night? I am lost here!" Ditto spoke, removing his spear from a soldier's back and dragging his hand through the blood.
"Last night the virgin knight here had the opportunity to spend some fun time with me, but he panicked and ran away." Zero said with a laugh and pointing at me with her thumb.
I'm seriously considering casting Wrath of the Gods, throw everyone off this mountain, and go on my journey, alone.
"Hahaha! That's hilarious! But I don't blame you; I also wanted to run when the balloon tits decided to try a new fetish on me." Ditto replied.
I'm missing Boletaria, at least I had moments of peace and quiet there.
"So if preference and size aren't the issue, I can only think of two things, you're a shy virgin or you're not confident in your appearance." Zero said with a hand on her chin.
I tripped over what Zero said but managed to regain my balance, looking at Zero I noticed she was giving me a smug smile.
"Looks like I nailed it. If that's the problem, then you shouldn't worry. I don't care much about looks and I can't complain about that. Flower in the eye and everything." She responded by pointing to said flower.
We passed a long, crumbling wall built into the mountains, a bottomless chasm on each side. At the end of the wall, I saw a large stone fortification with a large metal gate, but in our path, there were invaders and soldiers fighting.
Nevertheless, to my dismay, Zero kept talking.
"Let's go. Why don't you take off that armor for a minute? It can't be that bad. A bad scar? A broken tooth?" Zero asked question after question, hurling soldiers and invaders into the abyss with every swing of her sword.
"If you're ugly, you shouldn't worry. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But it's a shame you weren't born naturally beautiful, like me." Ditto teased me, giving me a bright smile.
I removed a firebomb from my bag and threw it at Ditto's feet, creating an explosion and making him jump back in surprise, and this made him approach the edge of the wall and falling to his death.
The disciple screamed upon realizing his fate, but before he could fall, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, leaving him hanging. Ditto looked between me and the abyss below.
"I will keep my mouth shut for the rest of the trip!" Ditto said with a desperate look and sweat running down his face.
I pulled him back to the wall, where he dropped to his knees, breathing heavily.
"Hmm! You made him shut up I didn't know you had it in you. I liked what I saw." Zero made another one of her comments.
"You won't see much of me; after all I'm a much more controlled person. Unlike you."
"Whatever. But I'm yet to find out what's underneath that armor."
"Don't you get tired of pestering me?"
"No. After all, I have no idea where Four is, and climbing that mountain with these guys in our way is a pain in the ass. I need to have fun somehow."
I let out an angry growl and continued forward with my two unwanted companions at my side.
In the distance on the wall, we saw rows of cannons pointed in our direction. They were preparing to bomb us.
"Mikhail!" Zero screamed.
"I'm coming, Zero!" Mikhail responded, throwing himself against a cloud of gargoyles, using his body as a battering ram and destroying everyone who stood in his way, as he approached the wall, Mikhail released a wave of fire, incinerating the guards and cannons.
"Did you see that, Zero? I'm getting better at this!" The young dragon said with joy in his voice.
"Less talking, more burning up people!" Zero exclaimed at the dragon, causing it to stagger in the air and return to the fight.
With the cannons gone, we reached a high part of the wall where we had a better view of our path, and what we saw were two armies facing each other, hundreds of soldiers and invaders fighting and falling to their deaths.
"I see you are in trouble, allow me to help." The black dragon spoke as it dove towards the wall. Weirdly, I had a feeling of Deja vu.
He took a deep breath and rained a flaming inferno all the way in front of us, the soldiers and invaders didn't even have time to react when they were turned into ashes, the dragon kept its attack until the end of the wall, eliminating everyone in our path and leaving a trail of burnt ruins.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Mikhail told the black dragon.
"Yes! This is what we dragons are capable of; follow me if you wish to learn more!"
"Yes sir! I want to get stronger and become a great dragon!"
Then both dragons flew away, with our path clear, we advanced towards the fortification at the end of the wall.
"Hey! Answer me another question." Zero spoke as we walked through the large metal gate.
I let out a long, heavy, sigh "Ask."
"I still have your gauntlet tucked away. Why didn't you take it back? Is your appearance so bad that you'd rather wear another one instead? On the other hand, are you embarrassed that you haven't cut your nails in a while? Because they were huge."
I raised my left hand, the gauntlet didn't match my set, and I wore the Dark Silver gauntlet. Then she saw my hand.
Just as Zero asked her question, the gate behind us closed and a large creature leaped from the railing behind us and landed in front of us, a gigantic three-headed dog with purple skin and blue fur on its back. If the information the guild gave me is correct, this is a Cerberus.
"Great, a mutt decided to get in our way." Zero growled, readying her sword.
"So boss. What is the plan?" Ditto asked, pointing his spear at the Cerberus.
"We kill this thing." Zero growled.
"What a genius plan!" Ditto replied sarcastically.
"If you two are done acting like children, let's eliminate the monster in our path. Eupherbia! Aim for that thing's eyes!" I yelled at the fairy, casting Cursed Weapon, covering the Penetrating Sword with a dark purple aura and Homing Soul Arrow, making five magic projectiles float above me.
"Leave it to me, Edric!" Eupherbia responded as she fired spells towards the monster, extending her hands, spells came out of the fairy and collided with the big dog, creating small explosions, making the creature growl in rage and burn some of its fur.
"Oh! I'm offended. You talk like you don't like both of us." Zero said with a hand on her heart and fake sadness in her voice. Advancing against Cerberus shortly thereafter.
Cerberus tried to squash Zero with its front left paw, but with great speed, the Intoner threw herself to the ground, slipping under the blow before it hit the ground, delivering several slashes to Cerberus' belly in the process.
"You break my heart, Edric. I thought we were friends." Ditto replied in a similar tone to Zero. Also advancing towards Cerberus. Seeing Dito approaching, Cerberus advanced and tried to bite the disciple, but he was faster.
Leaping back, Ditto stepped out of Cerberus' reach and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he lunged forward with his spear aiming at Cerberus' right head, piercing its left eye. With a wet sound of flesh being pierced and blood being spilled. The spear easily sank into the monster's skull.
The Cerberus roared in pain, rocked its body from side to side, trying to remove its enemy, this served to send Ditto flying, but the disciple reoriented himself midair and landed in a crouch on the ground.
"Seriously? Is this the best answer you can give? I feel like I'm the only adult here." I replied, advancing towards the monster.
"If to be an adult is to be someone grumpy like you, then the world is lost." Ditto provoked me.
Enough! To hell with it! I need to take my anger out on something! These two are getting on my nerves!
I ran towards the Cerberus with my sword raised, the creature was busy with Zero slicing off its back legs and Eupherbia bombarding its back with magic, but as soon as I approached, the Cerberus sniffed the air with its three heads until they all focused on me.
Then with a roar of fear or rage, the Cerberus took a deep breath and spit a wave of flames with its three heads towards me.
Son of a...
Was what I had time to think before the flames reached me.
It wasn't that bad after all, compared to being covered in lava spit out by a giant spider, the Cerberus fire was nice, at least it helped me get rid of the cold I was feeling.
"Holy crap! It got turned into a barbecue!" I heard Ditto squeal with what sounded like joy.
"Edric!" Eupherbia screamed.
"Hey, mutt! I was going to fuck him later!" I heard Zero scream a sound of slashing flesh followed by a roar of pain coming after. Suddenly Cerberus' attack stopped and when the flames subsided, I saw Cerberus without his right head and Zero covered in blood.
Wasting no time, I took advantage of the opening and advanced towards Cerberus, the soul arrows above me shot out piercing Cerberus' left and right head, leaving perfect circular holes in its flesh.
Upon getting close, I thrust my sword forward, but the Cerberus narrowly dodged, tilting its body to the side, I ended up piercing deeply into the neck of the left head. With ease, the cursed weapon pierced the creature's flesh, passing through skin and muscle, a jet of red liquid gushed from the wound, covering my sword and myself in blood.
The creature tried to throw me away, but I planted my feet on the ground, eventually the blood stopped coming out of the wound and the eyes on the Cerberus's left head lost their glow.
Applying more strength, I thrust my sword up into Cerberus's neck and pulled back with all my might.
The Cerberus roared in agony as its flesh torn apart like a sheet of paper. The flesh sagged and Cerberus's head flew from its body in a shower of blood, and it trapped itself in my sword. With a swing, I sent Cerberus's head flying away.
The Cerberus retreated. Two of its three heads ripped off, blood spurting from the stumps where they once were, I took the shield off my back and rested my sword on my shoulder.
Looking back, I saw Zero, Dito and Eupherbia looking at me in surprise.
"He is alive! Damn it!" Ditto exclaimed, stomping the floor.
"Please don't do that again. Who would give you free food if you died?" Eupherbia said with her hand on her heart.
Zero smiled with satisfaction "You are tough. Cool. However, how are you alive?
"What I can say? My fire defense is extremely high." I replied as I readied my sword in response to Cerberus's roar of rage.
"Fire defense?" Zero asked, confused.
"Yes. I just raised my Endurance a lot, raising my stamina, equipment load, fire defense, bleed and poison defense." I replied as I ran towards Cerberus.
"What the hell are you talking about? You can't just become fire resistant!" Zero exclaimed at my side, Ditto following us soon after.
"You are right. Magic rings, spells and good armor help too. And I have them all." I replied as I watched the magic projectiles fired by Eupherbia pass over me and hit Cerberus's eyes, blinding it.
"Armor does not make you more resistant to fire! Iron is iron, no matter the place!" Ditto responded, pushing past me and advancing towards the blinded Cerberus, then he thrust his spear, catching Cerberus's chin and forcing its head up.
"You don't know what you say. If iron is iron no matter the place, then how come I have armor that increases my resistances against poison, plague, and bleed?" I replied as I used my shield to block a swipe, opening the way for Zero to pass.
Cerberus tried to slash at Zero with its other paw, but I threw my sword, pinning Cerberus's paw to the ground.
"I don't know and I don't care! I just know that after that, I realized that you suck at talking to girls!" Zero yelled, leaping towards Cerberus and swinging her sword, with a swift and powerful slash, Cerberus' last head flew from its body.
The creature's corpse fell to the ground with a crash, its head landing in a pool of blood. A moment later, I retrieved my sword and stepped away from Cerberus with Ditto.
When Zero landed, she turned to us with her sword resting on her shoulder, one hand on her hip and a cocky smile on her face. However, my attention was diverted to something behind Zero, Cerberus's head was moving.
Ditto seemed to realize the same thing. We both drew our weapons and ran towards Zero, she gave us a confused look at our reaction, but we didn't make it in time.
"Zero!" We both scream.
Too late! Cerberus's head opened its eyes and slid across the ground towards the Intoner, with a final thrust the head leapt up and bit Zero, devouring her left arm before falling to the ground without moving, finally dead.
"AAAHHH!" Zero screamed as she dropped to her knees, clutching her wound, I immediately ran towards the Intoner, my talisman in hand, ready to conjure a healing miracle, but I hesitated as the evil aura Zero was emanating grew stronger.
"AAAHHH!" With a second cry of pain, a huge white flower burst from the stump where Zero's arm used to be.
Zero kept screaming, until a bloody hand came out of the flower, this hand was attached to an arm. What I saw was a thing worthy of being in Boletaria, a second Zero, naked and covered in blood, was emerging from the flower.
Slowly she broke out of her prison as she screamed, the second Zero falling unconscious to the ground as the original disappeared in black smoke, leaving only her clothes and sword behind.
"Hump! So this is how an Intoner regenerates." Ditto muttered in surprise.
Regenerate? No! This was something other than regeneration! She did something that I knew very well, as I had been through it several times! Zero had come back from the dead, just like me!
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to think, as the gate through which we entered opened and an army of soldiers came towards us.
"They killed Miss Four's Cerberus!"
"Kill them all!"
"Fight for our Intoner!"
"It's Intoner Zero! End her while we can!"
Wasting no time, I carried the bloodied Zero like a princess. "You grab her clothes! Eupherbia get back in the bag!" I yelled at everyone. Eupherbia doing as I asked.
"Hey! Why don't you grab the clothes and I'll carry Zero?!?" Ditto asked, disgusted.
"Do you really think I would leave an unconscious woman alone with you?"
Ditto opened and closed his mouth while pointing a finger at me "Good point!" Quickly Dito collected Zero's clothes and sword and together we ran out of there.
-XXXXXX-
On the battlefield that was now the Land of Mountains, the corpses of hundreds of soldiers littered the ground, some dead from battle wounds, others with broken bodies from falling to their deaths.
All was silent, the Invaders were repelled and the gargoyles driven away. The defense had been a success, for the time being. Suddenly, if there was anyone alive there to feel it, an evil pressure took over the place.
Then a scene from the horror books came true, suddenly the eyes of the dead opened and they began to rise. White, eyes stared at the scenery.
Slowly the fallen warriors recovered their weapons, swords, shields, spears, bows. It didn't matter if they were bent or broken, they could still be used.
It wasn't as injuries were a problem, either, with intestines hanging out of the body, open fractures, or missing limbs, the dead did their best to walk. Even if they had to crawl through the snow.
The dead looked around. Maybe they were confused? Who knows? Perhaps there is still something human inside them? Nevertheless, that didn't matter, because something caught the attention of the dead, there was smoke coming out in small wisps in the distance, and light shone through the blizzard that was forming.
Slowly the dead walked towards the light and smoke, with slow, staggering steps, limping and dragging themselves. They walked for hours, halfway through they passed a wooden sign that would serve to say where they were. However, it wasn't as if they cared, was it?
Nevertheless, for those who stopped to read it, the sign read as follows.
"Welcome to the village of Helheim! Intoner Four welcomes you to the Land of Mountains! We hope you have a good stay!"
END OF CHAPTER