Scarlet Howlers

Bone clashing and low guttural howls sounded from within the purple mist.

When the shadows came near, a horde of animated rotten corpses that could make one's stomach churn was revealed.

Some of them had missing eyes, limbs, and other body parts. They were covered in wounds and their flesh was of gray or black color as it was already in the decomposition stage.

A few of them were obviously kids and women. Some other creepy ones were even muttering something with an anguished expression while others just stared ahead and crushed anything it could grab and flail it to others.

It seems chaotic but their tracks were of the same direction—the Crown Prince's convoy.

"Fireball!"

"Red Blast!"

"Explosion!"

The magicians who were around started to take the front line and casted fire magic, each of their own spells.

The earth trembled and loud booms were heard as they attack the undeads heading in their way.

The purple mist was scattered but when the smoke from the spells diminished, the undeads came out unscathed. A small number of them only fell on their backs and stood up in no time. They even seem to be more aggressive than before.

The magicians are taken aback. According to their research, the undeads should be vulnerable to any fire-based kind of spell. However, these undeads were different and that made them puzzled.

"Hey, hey... what is this? Shouldn't they be better than that?" A playful voice that was unsuitable for such a situation caught the magicians' attention. "Were they really qualified to be in this mission?"

They glanced at each other in a subtle way, seeing that the Crown Prince himself was questioning their abilities.

One of the four elite mages spoke, "Your Highness, when facing the undeads, using fire magic was only natural. However, these monsters were different from the usual as they seem to be unaffected by it."

Alexander didn't speak further and only smirked.

In that exact moment, a bright magic circle was cast over the undeads.

"Bless!" a booming voice was heard among the magicians.

It came from someone who was positioned near the barrier's boundary.

To their surprise, the one who cast 'Bless' wasn't a magician or a priest, but a knight.

Although the magic swordsmen were capable of producing healing magic, it wasn't this strong.

This knight's 'Bless' spell affected every single undead inside a hundred-meter diameter and even purified the mist which made it rather thin and the undeads were significantly reduced.

The Prince was taken aback as well. In more than ten years that he's with Cedar, he never knew that his knight had strong healing magic.

Indeed, the magic swordsman who used the spell was Cedar.

At first, when he was looking the monsters in front, Cedar was dumbfounded.

He's not afraid of the undeads that were currently banging themselves up to the barrier cast by Yrhan. Instead, he was surprised that the 'scarlet howlers' which were on one of Gale's movies were also in this fantasy world.

"Awesome..." he whispered as his eyes glinted in excitement.

In the movie, Gale was a priestess who supported the male protagonist. She was always on the frontlines and was the key to defeating the monsters born from darkness.

Her special skill was 'Bless'.

Thinking about her role and the scarlet howlers, she got curious.

With Cedar's memory, she knew that she can conjure a simple blessing. That's why she inhaled deeply before shouting 'Bless!'.

However, she didn't expect that such an elementary spell would actually damage the enemy on a large scale.

She only thought that it would kill two to three undeads at most, but looking in front, she realized that it was actually enough to massacre a horde of zombies.

Even Yrhan who was starting to get bored was astounded that his sleepiness went away. "How is that possible?" he muttered as he looked at the scene with wide eyes. "He was only a magic swordsman... right?"

A magic swordsman with a considerable amount of mana can chant strong magic spells, depending on his affinity. However, when using healing magic, they could only do first aids and heal superficial wounds.

Also, magicians were only a little better than them. That's why using 'Bless' to undeads was useless unless it was a high-ranked healer.

After all, if anyone could use healing magic efficiently, the Clerics, Priests, Paladins, and other Healer class wouldn't be too precious.

Seeing that the undeads were almost wiped out, Cedar was elated and looked back at the Prince with sparkly eyes.

"Your Highness, it seems that they were weak against the blessings!" as soon as these words left his mouth, he felt as if his surroundings are spinning.

"This idiot..." Alexander's brow twitched as he sighed helplessly and went to catch the falling Cedar.

"Who told you to use that much mana?" the Prince pinched both sides of Cedar's cheeks.

"Ewm sowwy..." Although he's dizzy, Cedar still managed to apologize. "but... I did well... didn't... I?..." He was able to ask before his eyes became too heavy and he fell asleep.

Looking at the peacefully sleeping Cedar, Alexander whispered with a soft expression, "Yeah. You did well."

He lifted his knight and then headed towards Yrhan. "Take him from me," he ordered.

"Just toss him inside." Yrhan pointed inside the carriage as he yawned while being seated beside the coachman.

"Take. Him." Alexander smiled in contrast to his sinister tone. "He's your patient."

Yrhan paused for a second before responding, "Fine."

"About the thing earlier, we will have to talk." Alexander told him in a low voice, inaudible to anyone but Yrhan.

The Elven High Priest didn't reply and only stared at Cedar.

"Also, remove the barrier. We'll just fight the undeads head on."

"Sure. And tell your magicians to infuse a little blessing to the knight's swords."

"Just what I intended to do."

"I'm not helping you more than this."

"We can manage." Alexander answered as a strong pressure exuded out from his body.

The barrier was then removed by Yrhan and a few undeads started crawling towards the convoy.

The knights formed a circle, not letting any monster to pass by them.

On the other hand, Alexander just walked a straight path, slashing the undead that was trying to attack him as if he's cutting weeds.

Roki noticed that the Prince was going further away from them and decided to entrust the things to a senior knight before following Alexander.

"Stop." feeling that his butler was following him, he halted.

"Your Highness..."

"Those undeads were controlled by someone."

"I knew that My Prince, but—"

"I can feel the source nearby."

"I think it should be better if you went there with a magician or bring that Elf High Priest with you."

"No. There's no need. I won't be harmed by this puny magic." he laughed. "The truth is… that guy can't harm me."

Roki gawked at the Prince, clearly confused about what he had just said.

Alexander smiled and scratched the back of his head nonchalantly, "No, actually, he wouldn't harm me."

"Your Highness... do you mean..."

"Exactly." he confirmed. "Those undeads aren't really harmful. They were only made to distract the enemies."

"I... I see..." although he still couldn't understand it fully, Roki had the absolute trust in Alexander.

That's why, if these things were part of his plans, then it will only result in one thing—Victory.

"Oh, and by the way, just do everything as planned. Good luck." Alexander said with a wink before continuing his tracks towards the thick purple mist.

As if remembering something repulsive, Roki's face darkened and black lines appeared on his forehead. "Must I?... Really?"