Chapter 236: Waiting for the return of the others

Around four in the afternoon Eldrian woke again, slowly standing up. He could feel he was really hungry. Not wishing a repeat what had happened earlier, he quickly contacted Gengxin before doing anything himself. In the end, Gengxin told Eldrian to eat a small portion of unsweetened yoghurt.

Just a few tablespoons Gengxin told Eldrian, informing him that he needed to make sure to eat only a little until he got back to normal. Increasing the amount he ate slightly each time, not trying to finish a full bowl in one go as he had done before.

"So are you going to go online now?" Gengxin asked, hoping that Eldrian would decide to take it slow instead, stay in his real body, and truly relaxing.

"I have to, can't just leave my avatar lying in-game as a corpse. Though I'll make sure to take it easy."

Gengxin didn't like it and added that Eldrian really must be careful. Trying to convey just how serious this was. After this Eldrian lied down for a few minutes in silence before logging back on. Finding it strange how much better his avatar's body was compared to his real body.

He entered the game in the early morning with just Thesolis awake, the others having assigned shifts between each other for the night. Eldrian greeted her before starting to look for a book on souls. He had no idea what that weird meditational place was, and he didn't want to try entering it again before learning more. While he didn't fully understand Gengxin's worry, he respected it. His trouble eating enforced this respect slightly more than when Eldrian had just woken the morning.

As such Eldrian stopped his quest of reaching Tier 2 as soon as possible. he felt certain he was close, that he just needed to enter that space again. He did not want to do this before knowing what the results would be though. Not until he was certain he wouldn't be stuck there for days.

In the end, none of the books seemed to go into detail on any subject, they were all rather just books based on spells, not on theories of magic. Realizing this Eldrian continued to read the book on rejuvenation, hoping to understand what it tried to convey about souls. Quickly wishing that Myropsis had added a book on resurrection, as that would certainly have been of more use at this time.

Time passed quickly, the sun rose and everyone set out for the fort. There Eldrain headed to the inn they had been staying at where he continued reading. The others -all but Kydone, who joined Eldrian in going to the inn- headed to the keep to find Fanon, the commander of the fort.

Upon finding him they told him of what they had found, how the higher undead were cooperating. Stating their belief that there was likely a devil, or much stronger undead behind all this. Quickly messengers were sent to Pelaros, along with a request to strengthen all the forts around the forest and to start gathering a force to deal with this. Seeing as it was certainly not something just a few elites could handle.

It was a few hours by the time everyone returned, Evules quite upset when he saw that Evale still had not come back. None of the other groups had returned either, they were the first.

Evules was worried for Evale, but for now, he stayed put. Knowing that if he went out without knowing where to find her then they might just miss each other. Leading to much more trouble.

Eldrian kept reading, wondering if he was still going to be needed for the mission. It seemed that it was quickly going past what their group could handle. Night came with no new arrivals or news. More time passed, Eldrain spending all this time very peacefully.

He focused on the books in his possessions, reading through at least one book each day. IRL he slowly got back to normal, his portion sizes quickly expanding from a few tablespoons to a full meal again. Finally, he even felt ready to start training again.

Around three days later, just as Evules could no longer force himself to stay still, another group arrived. To everyone's surprise, this group had lost two members; Baletus and Hellen, both Tier 5's. The leader of this group, Appina, was quite despondent. Quickly explaining how they had hoped to make some extra money while things were still calm.

They encountered some weaker undead every day, but never more than ten. The group could easily deal with them all. "It all still seemed fine, we were tracking a specific beast with a very good pelt. Upon finding its lair we were not greeted by the beast, but instead a horde of waiting undead."

"It was as if they knew our goal, not just our pattern. They had set up arrays to stop us from using divine magic, with this gone we were no match. We quickly tried to run, and as we split to escape, a ghoul attacked the weaker of us"

"They didn't act like normal undead, but rather as a disciplined army. They were in formations, beasts in front charging to surround us. Humanoid figures behind launching arrows, some even riding the beasts."

"If the ghoul had gone for any other than Baletus or Hellen, it would have been fine. The rest of us would have been able to survive and still escape, but for them. It was either a choice of dying from the back, or being surrounded by the weaker undead." Appina started sobbing softly as she explained, feeling that her greed had killed these two.

She could blame no one else but herself for her carelessness, having given in when the others asked her to put the mission off for a bit in favor of hunting. The others in the group indeed did blame Appina, none of them wishing to have the blame placed on themselves. They would never mention that it had been them wanting to hunt, and Appina agreeing after days of constant nagging.

Evules was furious upon realizing this, scolding everyone for their carelessness. He could easily tell what had actually happened. Upon returning to the inn he quickly started gearing up. Eldrian, having left with Evules, heard this and entered his room.

"What are you doing?" Eldrian asked as he saw Evules climbing into his breastplate.

"I can't just sit and wait. I need to do something." Evules replied as he fastened the breastplate.

"So you are going to endanger your own life? Why don't you ask Kydone to go instead, she should be able to track Evale while also not being discovered."

"I can't place anyone else in danger," Evules replied, feeling useless needing to wait for help and news. He needed to do something, or he would become even more stir-crazy.

"What is your plan then? Go blindly into danger, so that when your sister returns she has to rush out to save you?" Eldrian countered.

Hearing this Evules felt his strength leave him. It was certainly a very likely situation should he rush out without any idea where his sister had gone after the fight. Nor about why she had yet to return.

"I can't just wait here..." Evules said with a sigh, knowing that Eldrian is right but not wishing to follow his advice. "I need to get out."

"Promise you won't go searching for her then. Don't become a problem." Eldrian said, knowing fully how it felt to be useless. He understood the need to vent and certainly couldn't stop Evules. He hoped to use his knowledge to strike at Evules's heart, forcing the other to accept even if he didn't want to.

This worked, Evules headed out but only slightly. Rushing to kill whatever entered his sight as he hoped to find a clue of Evale's location.

Evules wasn't the only one becoming so stir-crazy. Then entire fort had become quite restless. The few civilians here wanted to run. The soldiers wanted to either burn the forest or leave their posts. At this stage, Eldrian did not envy Fanon who needed to keep order and discipline.

Not expecting anything else to come up Eldrian headed to his room where he continued to read. As the darkness of night arrived he was brought out of his little world upon hearing explosions. Shocked Eldrian rushed out of the inn, only to wildly dash to the side as the flaming corpse of some grotesque figure crashed into the street.

What the hell? Eldrian wondered, remembering that Fanon had mentioned night raids. He had really forgotten as it didn't make much sense seeing as how sparse the undead were close to the fort. Where did they come from? Eldrian wondered next as he wanted to rush to the walls. He stopped as he suddenly recognized the figure.

It was not a monster or beast, rather it was a centaur. One he had met before, Eldrian couldn't remember the centaur's name. Going off of the gear that remained on the centaur, Eldrian remembered that the centaur had been in their party. Though he couldn't tell anything more, as the centaur's face and body were mangled and all aflame making looking at it quite difficult.

Realizing that the centaur was in the party Eldrian looked at the quest information in hope of remembering the centaur's name. Shocked Eldrian found that only twelve names were still listed as part of their party.

Fuck, did the others all die? Eldrian thought, wanting to rush towards the walls to offer what help he could. He froze as he heard a sound behind him, turning around he saw the centaur slowly standing up. Flesh melting off and an aura of death invading his lungs.

Dammit! I wanted to take things slow! Eldrian cursed, hoping that the undead in front of him was severely weakened. Else he stood no chance.