Sitting and savouring the last bite of my slightly off-putting meal, I kept my eyes open on the fog that had started to roll in, as I ate my putrid food. My, already battered brain, started to play tricks on me as I could swear that I saw something shifting just on the edge of the fog. I hoped that my eyes were playing tricks on me. The reason why I hoped that I miss saw, was because the fog brings the dead.
This marsh used to be part of the fertile farmland, a few centuries ago. However, the natural balance of the elements was disrupted. Some say that it was because of a witch that was mistreated in the nearby village. Others claim that it was the spirits of the land who grew angry at the humans for not worshipping them.
Whatever the reason, the banks of a river, that used to run through the marshland, burst and created a massive wave that decimated the unsuspecting villagers. Apparently, everyone within a ten-mile radius was killed and buried under the ensuing landslide. And due to the corruption of mana in the area, any who died here will be cursed and turned into an undead, forever hungering after the flesh of the living.
This curse persists even to this day. Many have tried to break it, but to no avail. Some even receiving a curse, which rotted their flesh, racking them in immense pain and making them wish for death.
A sudden chill filled the air, dropping the temperature by a few degrees. And with horrific sense of dread that crept up my spine and tingled the back of my psyche. 'That's not good, that's the aura of death.' I began to scan the fog as I made realisation.
All types of undead gave off this aura that all mortal creatures could feel. It felt as if the reaper was creeping forward and wrapping his cold scythe around your neck.
One or two undead wouldn't be a problem, but they rarely travel alone. Just like any zombie horror film, the fog usually signifies a roaming horde of undead. A single horde of undead was could easily outnumber and overpower a whole platoon of trained soldiers. So, it goes without saying that wasn't something that I could handle.
Thankfully, I was already aware of these hordes that can seemingly appear out of nowhere, and thankfully, I wasn't surrounded. Unfortunately, however, the way back to town was through the fog and whatever was lurking inside.
The hardest part was gauging the size of the fog as it can shift and change over time.
'But that doesn't mean I can stay still and hope that it's just fog.' I slung my backpack over my shoulder and psyched myself up. It was quite the way back to town, but with the added pressure of the fog and potential horde of undead, I had to move now, or I would be truly surrounded.
Minutes pass, as I carefully trudged my way through the bog, careful to keep an eye on the fog as I went. It was difficult going, as I tried to pick the path forward that kept to dry-land as much as possible. I also didn't want to make much sound, even though the undead could sense the living innately, it didn't mean other monsters wouldn't be out hunting.
Thankfully though, the other senses of the undead have either, rotted away, or faded away with time, meaning that if you're careful enough, you can fool them and avoid them completely.
As I was skulking my way home, the worst-case scenario played out. I smelt them before I saw them. The smell of rotting meat and mould tainted this fog which made my stomach churn. However, the urge to vomit was distracted by the sight of them. A rotting, emaciated corpse, covered in leathery skin and tattered rags. Each of them was the same height, the same looks and the same stench, as if they were all carbon copies of each other, which only made them even more unsettling.
They were zombies.
From what I could roughly see, I spotted forty shambling corpses, trampling, and trudging their way from the marshes. Churning up the dead mush that lined the bottom of the stagnant waters that only added to the already horrific smell.
I was keeping a low profile and keeping myself close to the ground, ready to run at the drop of a hat, or fetid gaze, in this case.
To get out of this in one place, I needed to take advantage of the landscape. Slowly wading my way through the pools of fetid water, I made sure not to make any loud noises. But then, as I was slowly creeping my way forward, my foot slipped off something loose and I slipped and fell into a deeper part of the marsh.
Quickly reaching out to grab at the earth mount that sat next to me, I managed to catch myself before I was completely submerged. The water stopped at my chest, however, a little splashed on my face and in my mouth. 'I'm going to need a bath after this.'
Despite my jokey attitude, the situation wasn't so light-hearted as I could hear the unmistakable sound of shambling corpses shifting their way over to me. Thankfully, since I slipped, the lip of the land was around head height, obscuring most of my body. However, the dead were still coming straight towards me.
'Shit.' I only have two options, I run for it, or I try and hide. There is no way I can fight my way through this horde. The only problem was that the undead would be able to sense my life essence, so hiding would be almost impossible if they got close enough.
'Sigh. Let's calm down first, I won't get anywhere by panicking.' I calmed myself down with the help of battle focus, it was the first time I was thankful that I was intimately familiar with the effect of the skill to be able to activate it out of combat.
I needed to come up with a way to redirect the approaching zombies somehow. After, what felt like forever, I came up with a plan and placing both of my hands onto the damp grass, pushed some mana into the ground and guided it to the very limit of my control. However, that wasn't good enough, the zombies were still out of my range. But I knew that it'll have to do. I then sent a ripple of earth shooting out from the ground as far from me as I could, hoping that some zombies would get distracted and shamble away.
A few heads turned and shuffled over, splitting the horde slightly. However, I still had to deal with most of the horde heading over to where I was hunkered down.
Looking around, for any route I could take to escape, I realised how much of a bind I was in. This was a deep pool of water surrounded by land. If I were to leave, it would be like leaving the trenches to go into no man's land and these zombies were definitely the enemies that wouldn't hesitate to cut me down.
'Screw it. I've been trying to think like a mage, and I have gotten this far. But now, magic can't get me out of this, so I'll fight with everything I have.'
At this thought, I released a short breath. I then did something I hadn't done properly since being reborn. I began to circulate my mana throughout my body, building it faster and faster, until it built up into a whirlwind of energy within me, igniting every cell in my body with power.
*Ping*
[Body reinforcement: level 1]
By using internal mana, you can increase the body's overall performance and damage resistance.
I ignored the notification window that popped up and grabbed the lip of the bank and with my lighter body, I pulled myself up out of the bog and landing on solid, semi-dry ground.
Suddenly feeling many hungry eyes falling on me, I retrieved the short sword from my inventory and held it in a comfortable grip. 'Luckily, not relying on force bolt, I could actually fight with a weapon.' I thought to myself as I found a little comfort in holding a familiar weight in my hand.
The unblinking, hungry stares of many foul undead would be enough to make even the most seasoned fighter shake in fear. But from the sheer amount experiences and battles I've fought over the years, and with battle focus, it all helped to quell the building fear in my heart. However, fear was an important part of a battle. It was a necessary feeling and one that should be embraced, not overcome.
A choir of bestial growls filled the area as I held my sword in front of me and closed my eyes. Focusing on the swirling mana inside of me, I slowly expanded its boundaries and pushed it up my hand and into the sword. There was a lot of resistance and if you listened closely, you could hear the metal creaking under the strain of the force. But I was practised, so the resistance didn't last long, and the metal passively accepted my energy.
*Ping*
[Body reinforcement: Level max]
[Spirit: level 1]
The evolved and developed form of body reinforcement. Internal energies have become second nature to you, allowing you to manifest your spiritual energy outside of your body and strengthen and manipulate objects you wish.
Ignoring those annoying notification windows once more, I focused on the monsters that were shambling their way towards me, pushing each other out of the way.
Not planning on waiting for the horde to get to me, I started to run in the direction of town.
There was still a wall of zombies in my way, but if I stayed still, I would die. So, charging is the only thing I can do, but that didn't mean I was going to be so passive.
Throwing my arm out towards the zombies behind me, I switched between spirit to mana and raised the ground a few inches. Luckily, I managed to trip a few of them up, as zombies weren't known for being the most graceful monsters.
Turning back around I saw the horrific maw of multiple rotting corpses rapidly charging at me. Raising my sword up, I sheathed the blade of my sword into the open mouth of the nearest zombie. The blade easily pieced through the rotting flesh, killing it in a simple thrust.
However, my momentum was eaten up with a single attack, which the zombies took advantage of and went in for a bite. But the incoordination of the dead meant that they fumbled with that opportunity and tripped over each other.
Spinning on my heels, I ripped the sword out of the zombie's throat, nearly slicing the head off in the process. I performed a half-circle slash that instantly cut off one head and split the head of another next to it. However, due to the resilience of the dead, it was still alive.
In the gap between my attack, a zombie attacked, trying to bite down on me. On reflex, I summoned a shimmering layer of magical energy, the result of my practise the night before. The face collided with it and bounced off, shattering the shield in the process.
Staggering back a step from the shattering shield, I grunted and took a breath. 'I can't keep killing these ones, or I'll be surrounded.' Sending a kick into the chest of the off-balance zombie, it collapsed onto the ground, and I quickly focused my spirit into my legs.
Releasing the built-up energy, I had an explosive start to my sprint and threaded my way through the gaps in between the wall of corpses that had collided with each other. I managed to skip a few dozen husks in a single burst of energy, but on my current trajectory, I was heading directly at a waiting zombie who opened its mouth wide, ready to bite into me.
However, I conjured a new shield and used it as a battering ram and slammed directly into the meat wall. I quickly planted my feet onto the ground and managed to regain my footing with the zombie below me. It was still alive but momentarily stunned, which would give me enough time to escape from it before it realised, I was there.
Still surrounded by hungry beasts, I couldn't stop and needed to keep moving. However, the horde of hungry undead wouldn't let me off to easily as the once again swarmed me. I had no choice but to swing my sword with what space I had, and with what space I didn't have, I filled in with flashes of air magic to push them away.
One slash after another, my sword was sending rotten, black blood splashing in every direction. I was slowly becoming overrun, and I couldn't see any signs of escape.
Then, a sharp pain radiated out from my right forearm, a zombie had sunken its teeth into my arm, I could already feel my strength starting to fade. I used my enhanced body to lift the attached zombie and used it as a weapon to widen the distance.
The zombie was still attached to my arm after the sweep and very much wanted to take a chunk of my flesh. So, I ran my sword across its neck and separated its head from its body. Sure, I had a head attached to my arm, like some macabre shield, but it was better than dragging a full body around.
Crouching down and bracing my legs, I once more focused energy into my legs to increase my jump, and at the same time I jumped, I cast a burst of air magic for an added boost. With said boost, I was able to jump fifteen feet into the air and could finally see the extent of the horde. If I hadn't decided to make a break for it, there is no two ways about it, I would have been dead by now.
To maximise the distance, I can gain from this empowered jump, I used air magic once more behind me as an air jet to give me a push forward. I would like to say that I had complete control and soared like a bird, but I was more like a thrown pebble, carving through the air, slowly reaching the point that I'll began to drop like a brick.
The ground was rapidly approaching and this time, I didn't have a human-shaped crash mat. The only solution that I could think of was to create an explosion of air just before I hit to lessen the blow.
Putting my plan into action, I felt a rush of air battered my face and ears as I was getting closer to the ground, but I felt my speed slow down. I say felt, the wind was too much for my eyes to handle and I had to close them. However, the ground soon greeted my body and sent me tumbling across the ground. Luckily, it wasn't at a height where it would inflict a lot of damage, but it still hurt.
Quickly lifting my head up, I scanned my surroundings. I had broken free of the siege but there were still a few stragglers between me and town.
Staggering to my feet, I felt my sore body complain to me. 'Just a little longer and I could have a hot soak in the bath' I promised myself, hoping that my body would accept and give me the last of my strength I needed to escape.
I took the opportunity to make a break for it between the few zombies. And luckily, they weren't fast enough to catch me.
Ten minutes later, I had successfully cleared the fog and horde. I found the main road and collapsed onto it, breathing heavily from exhaustion. Feeling a pang of pain coming from my arm, I looked down to see a bloody bite mark, where a head used to be. Black tendrils had started to appear from the wound and spread out up my arm.
'Crap, just as I thought things couldn't get any worse.' It was blight. A disease that is contracted from undead, mostly zombies and their bite.
Taking out a tonic of regeneration, I quaffed the herby, woody tonic. 'It looks like I'll need to visit a church to get this cured.' While I could buy a potion to cure blight. It was less expensive and quicker to visit a church. Plus, it meant I could also witness holy magic being cast up close and personal.
As I took a short rest, I opened the notification windows from when I had fought my way through the zombies.
[Battle focus: level 2]
[Spirit mana unity: level max]
Having a body that houses both spirit and mana, you have mastered the ability to freely which between them without any negative effects.
{Inflicted with blight}
A disease that will eat away at your vitality until you die, or it's cured.
'Well, that is a mixed bag.' Spirit mana unity was a skill that I had never heard of and seemed to be overpowered. But I wasn't complaining, it meant that I could combine martial arts and magic, which meant that I wouldn't have any weak points
But for the moment, I was more concerned with the blight as it can quickly spread if you aren't careful. So, with that in mind, I got up from my rest and started to head back to town.