"Why exactly are we still here, Trevor?" I ask the man. My words might have come out a bit more aggressively than I expected.
I take a glance and I understand what is happening in the room. Trevor is maintaining vigil on the gate. I can see Jacob and Andrew both catching a nap in one of the corners of the room. A bit unprofessional, but then again, they have been on their feet for a while now.
"The zombies have stopped attacking the door, captain. The necromancer has also fallen completely silent.", he replies. "We assumed that it would be best to remain here to see what exactly the necromancer is doing."
I had just left meditation about five minutes ago, almost half a day over the time I was supposed to be in meditation. (Hey, don't blame me. It is easy to get lost in meditation.) That shouldn't have happened. Well, I am not that skilled in meditation. Well, if I were needed, they could have broken me out of meditation.
"What exactly is happening in the room beyond?" I ask. This should have been the first thing that I should have asked, but I am still recovering from my meditation. I can see the man's point. This is the best place to spy on the necromancer.
"We don't know what is happening in the room beyond. We haven't dared to peek into the room.", he speaks. "The only thing that we can be sure of is that something has happened to the necromancer. He was throwing massive amounts of mana around until a while ago. Even we could feel it. He stopped about half an hour ago."
As he speaks, I finally notice it. The mana in the air shows signs of being drained. I have seen it before on battlefields. When you cast a magic so massive that it pushes away the surrounding mana. I have never seen this occur without a large number of mages working their magic at the same time. Seriously, just how much mana was being pushed around by that necromancer?
"Who do you think he could be fighting? That much mana, the enemy is not anybody weak.", he replies.
"Well, the necromancer could fight against anybody.", he says. "It could be one of the Mayfires, but they don't tend to drag things out this much. Any of their elders would have burnt this necromancer to a crisp already. It could have been one of their young masters."
"It could be the vampires as well.", I ask. Well, I think it is unlikely myself, but you should always consider all possibilities.
"No, the vampires and necromancers would not have trekked this far just to fight each other. They have their own battlefields", Trevor replies. "I would say that they are allies here."
"But that has never happened.", I reply, trying to think of one instance where they have worked together. "They have always been fighting against each other."
"Well, you are asking the wrong person, kid.", he says.. "They have a very complicated relationship, " is all that I will be able to tell you. They have fought each other just as many times as they would have worked together."
"Still, why would the necromancers come here to the Mayfire castle?" I ask.
"Well, I don't know. All I know is that only the mayfires will be able to answer.", he says. "The question I have is a bit different, though. There is an entire city out there that is ripe for the picking. If the necromancers managed to raise even half the city, even the legion would struggle to beat them then. Why are they not trying to get to the outer keep?"
"Well, maybe they wish to be stealthy.", I reply.
As I am speaking, Trevor begins to laugh.
"Only a formation mage can be considered to be less stealthy than a necromancer." The man replies.
"I am capable of being stealthy.", I snap at the man.
"Well, should I speak about how many times you have failed in the mission? There was the grimoire.....
"Well, I get the point. Then why are the people here? I am sure you must have some answer." I speak.
"That is the question of the hour.", he replies. "And something that you don't need to worry about. How is the corpse poison?"
"Poison? You mean the plague?" I reply, confused for a second. Only old folks call it corpse poison. "Well, I have managed to remove almost all of it. There is still a bit left but that won't harm me. I can fight again, though without the bloody fang I can't say just how useful I will be in a fight."
"Good, because I need you to take over the watch for me. I have not slept for two days straight now.", he replies. "I need to take a quick nap."
Looking at the man, it is clear that it is the truth. The man looks like he is about to keel over any second now. Well, the man joins my two underlings in their sleep, leaving me alone again. Knowing him, the man is going to end up asleep in a few moments. I have not seen him sleep more than a couple of times, but the man sleeps like a rock when he does.
I don't think that man will even stir, even if I were to shake him awake. I don't want to be the one to test it, though. The man freaks me out a bit if I am a bit honest.
Still, I feel very awkward standing here. Right now, all of my instincts are screaming that I should not be here. I mean, we are about as safe here as anywhere else. The zombies will not be able to attack us as long as the door is not breached. The necromancer is also clearly occupied with something else. Somebody will have to tell my head that, though. It refuses to calm down. I am expecting some kind of spell to hit us from the next room.
Oh, right, that reminds me. I quickly walk to the corner of the room where we have kept our supplies. Ruffling through my stuff, I find the rock sword kept in my packs.
It is of a different length compared to the bloody fang. I also won't be able to use its petrifying ability anytime soon. (Especially under the moon.) I can strengthen it using my vital mana, and. it is about as decent a replacement as I can find in this place. However, I have to be careful in making sure that no vampires see me using it. It is considered to be very rare to be given an artifact even in the court. It will be enough to drive them into a frenzy.
I did not want to remove the sword out here, but I had no option anymore. They say that vampires can detect their artifacts. Let's hope that I don't attract any in here. Dealing with vampires along with necromancers would be quite stupid. I have no desire to fight Esmerelda again, either.
I shouldn't have brought it with me. It is just such a precious thing that I simply could not have left it behind with the organization. Trevor was against this, but I managed to satisfy the man by placing a couple of runes to hide the thing's presence.
They do tend to be effective, but they are so fragile that even unsheathing the sword will break these runes. The best option would have been not to use the sword. When the zombies break in, there is no way that I will be fighting them with just my bare fists.
Well, if this mayfire did manage to beat the necromancer, I wouldn't even need to fight. If the necromancer beats the enemy, then we will be cornered completely. We could survive for a bit longer by retreating but I don't see us getting out of this alive on our own.
Well, the only thing that we can do at this moment is to wait. Right now, all of our hopes of survival depend on this mayfire whom we have never seen in our lives.
Well, I will continue this log when the damn necromancer does end up attacking us. If I were to keep recording until then, I would certainly lose my mind in the anxiety.
(After another four hours.)
Finally, somebody is attacking the door. Even right now, they are attacking the door, each attack causing the door to quiver. The air is so full of death mana that I can't even tell if the other side is a mayfire or the necromancer.
I assume it is the mayfire. After all, if it were the necromancer, he would be using a much larger amount of mana. Then again, the necromancer could have left that barrier of his. he would not be able to command the ridiculous amount of mana that he can wield then. Maybe this is what he is capable of wielding without that barrier. If that is the case, it is going to be an easier fight. Not by much, but still.
"Captain, who is attacking us?" Trevor asks behind me. When did the man get up?
"I can't tell.", I admit. "Regardless of who it is, it would be wise to be ready. Get the two to weapon up and get into formation."
Hearing my command, the man quickly goes to wake up the two men. I mean, being in formation might send the wrong message if a mayfire were to enter. We can't risk being in a less threatening state if the necromancer were to enter, though.
I need to remind myself that if there is a necromancer behind the door, I have to assume a hard fight is going to happen. A necromancer is always able to put up more resistance than should be possible. There is a reason that the necromancers have survived even after pissing off all the gods. They are bloody tough enemies to fight.
The door cracks open, leading to a small crack opening up on the door. The two soldiers wake up behind me. Well, they are well-trained at the very least. Otherwise, people would usually panic if they were suddenly woken up like that.
My soldiers are as calm as a block of ice as they take their positions. The crack in the door begins to expand as a flaming eagle punches through the door.
This is not an eagle caught in flames. Every inch of the creature is made up of pure flames, like a fire elemental. Even now, the fires have begun to eat into the door as the creature circles up above us.
I am so caught up with the creature that I almost don't notice the man who is entering through the destroyed door. He is roughly my age, though his mana suggests that the man is in the latter half of the foundation stage. (He wields way more mana than Andrew, who has the most mana among us.) Other than that, the man is the perfect example of what you would think a warrior to be.
He is chiseled in a way that would make even the soldiers of the legion wary of this guy. Well, half the guys in the legion would have a physique like this if they were allowed to have one. (We can't be doing our work if we end up triggering every guard that took a look at us.)
Shit, where was I? Yeah, so it is clear that the one opposite me is a mayfire. Before I can say anything, the man opposite me speaks up.
"Captain Antonio of the guard corps.", he says. "We have been expecting you. I believe that this is your sword."
As the man speaks, he throws the bloody fang at me. I grasp it in my hands, feeling better the instant that I touch it.
"Well, I apologize for not knowing your name, Mayfire.", I speak, trying to sound important.
"I am Alfred Mayfire.", he says. "I am not surprised you don't know anything about me. I don't tend to leave the castle much."
The man in front of me is considered the strongest of the young masters of the Mayfire family. He is also supposed to be the man most likely to succeed the present patriarch if he were to die.
He is also supposed to be a genius who cast his first spell at the age of eight. (I was ten years old myself.) He has also supposedly fought and killed a phoenix at the age of twelve. (I am not a fool to try that. Fighting a phoenix is easy. Killing one, though, is almost impossible.)
Well, this is going to be interesting.