[Mad Undead Lv.??? x171]
The horde of infected people continued to pile on the dome shield on the top of the Tamelan Rise.
They crashed their bodies on the barrier without a care of injuring themselves. Some even cracked their heads open and killing themselves in the process.
"We're retreating!"
I said as a crack emerged on one part of the shield.
With great haste I formed a dimensional portal at the center of the stage.
The first floor of the storehouse quickly manifested at the other side of the circular haze.
"Jonah, Shanny, Devisha, go through first and make sure the room's secured! Darius, take His Highness and keep him by your side!"
My comrades promptly obeyed my instructions.
Jonah and the women leaped into the portal and examined the area on the other side, making certain the safe zone was truly safe.
"Nobody's in here!"
Shanny finally announced.
At her words, Darius went over to the young prince.
"Pardon me, Your Highness."
The former knight said as he lifted the young prince.
"H-hey!"
The boy reacted embarrassedly as he was carried into the portal in Darius's arms.
As soon as the prince was secured at the other side, I turned my gaze and observed the Tamelan Square.
[Mad Undead Lv.??? x389]
Hundreds of corpse-looking people, struck by the madness disease, were prowling the entire area.
Their number was increasing by the second. Especially since a lot of them were now sprinting through the gates, out of the square.
The entire city would soon be overrun by the crazy infected.
But if we were to be careful, we could escape the city unnoticed by these monsters.
What I was afraid of was the risk of the disease.
I scanned the buildings around the square. Every windows, rooftops, and turrets.
When my headmaster and I were solving the madness disease in the Radeshta region, we learned the infected could be controlled by the one spreading the disease, using a twisted form of magic.
If such capable dark mage was present in the city, we might have to maneuver against an army of undead in this trial, instead of mindless horde of monsters.
Considering the Tamelan Square was where the disease was first spread, the mage should be around here.
But I could not find them.
They could be hiding using a cloaking spell or there was simply no such enemy to be found.
I would not count on the latter, though.
"Fina!"
Jonah suddenly called out from the other side.
I just noticed that my barrier had formed cracks all over, forced by the horde of infected trying to reach me.
[Mad Undead Lv.??? x568]
Ignoring them, I entered the portal, stepped into the safe zone, and quickly closed the portal behind me.
My soundproofing spell should prevented our shouts earlier from being heard outside while letting us still hear what went down beyond the building.
The chaos in the Tamelan Square earlier should not be heard by the crowds outside the safe zone in the Second Wall district.
Even so, I still noticed the screams beyond the storehouse, on the street.
"We're back all the way in the Ladian Street. But the people here seemed to have noticed the chaos in the square."
Shanny said peering by the window.
I nodded to her.
"The erratic people we saw earlier were infected by the madness disease."
I stated to them.
I went on.
"The black liquid and fog which carried the disease drove the infected to harm others. The disease could also spread through bites and simple graze wounds. So the city would soon be overrun by such dangerous infected."
Both my comrades and the young prince gasped in horror upon my reveal.
It might be best to not tell them that the degree of the disease this time was even worse than I remembered.
"We need to quickly escape before the city is completely overrun then!"
Jonah said.
I shook my head.
"The disease spreads really fast. It would only take less than half an hour for all of Tsuchi to be claimed by it. We would only be caught in the chaos as we try to escape."
The spread would be faster given how much worse the disease had become.
Darius nodded to my words.
"There're also the Jherendal soldiers. They were the ones who spread the disease back at the square."
Devisha shared his opinion.
"They were trying to kill the prince. Now that we've taken His Highness, they could be searching for us despite the disease's outbreak. We could be ambushed by them as we're escaping the city."
"So we got both the infected and the soldiers to worry about."
Shanny said troublingly.
Jonah immediately turned to me.
"Fina, what do you suggest we do?"
It was then that the young prince gasped. His Highness was staring terrifiedly at the window.
We all looked to the street outside and saw an infected taking down a fleeing white-robed elderly man.
The poor fellow screamed desperately as the infected mauled through his frail limbs.
Another two infected soon joined in the feast.
In matter of seconds, the elderly man's appearance deteriorated and turning him as hideous as the infected devouring him.
He then pushed the three infected away and rose to his feet.
The newly-turned infected quickly joined the hunt for new prey.
Indeed. The disease was worse than before.
The infection did not spread as slowly in the human mind as the last time I saw it back in the emergency tents in Deshan.
"They're here already?!"
Shanny said with a grunt.
"Let's get upstairs first."
I quickly told my comrades.
I continued.
"We risk being seen by the infected if we stay down here. My shield and our barricades on the doors and windows won't hold if the entire horde notice us and try to break in."
After seeing the old man being infected right in front of their eyes, my comrades and the young prince did not hesitate to follow my order.
I had spread my detection field once more and knew there was no one on the upper floors.
We all climbed the storehouse until we reached the third floor.
I made sure to cast shield runes on the stairways and windows we passed along the way. In case of an infected straying into the building.
Once we reached the top floor of the storehouse, which was more akin to an attic, the entire Ladian Street outside had been swarmed by hordes of infected.
It truly was a frightening quick-spreading disease.
Villages, towns, and cities fell in matters of days when it spread in the Radeshta region.
Millions died because of the madness disease back then.
This city of Tsuchi never stood a chance.
"If we want to survive this outbreak, I need to cast a spell on all of you."
I told my comrades and the young prince as we settled in the attic.
Dredging my memories, I recalled a particular magic formula my headmaster created to fight off the madness disease.
Back home, it would be difficult for me to try this particular field of sorcery.
But thanks to the forged land's power, the leveling up and skill enhancement, I should be able to perform it just barely.
I began the spell with His Highness.
Making my threads of modified mana seep into his mind, filling the gaps of both his consciousness and sub-consciousness, reinforcing the space to disallow any other mana contamination, but also ensuring the mind was not harmed or affected in any other way.
['Serafina (★★★★)' has obtained the skill, 'Compulsion Magic'!]