Horde of undead

Even though it was hundreds of meters high in the air, the whirring sounds of the engine of the large Beltimian ship that soared above the large army that looked like a wide patch of white on the seemingly endless expanse of black soil and sparse dead trees from up above.

This scenery was caused by the gathering of death aura. It affected everything in the surrounding and for it to have this much influence, it was clear that their suspicions were not wrong.

A large battle was about to happen here.

Helen stood in front of the large unmoving army as they all awaited the horde of undead that would be bursting out of the ground soon.

She was dressed in the standard white and gold armor of the Beltimian army but her's were less bulky to not hinder her agility which was important because of her fighting style.

As the first lieutenant of the third commander of the Beltimian army, Helen had supremacy in the chain of command here on this battlefield. She was here with her captains and reinforcements from the royal capital.

Thankfully, her commander knew her well enough to ask that no one with the position of lieutenant or higher should be sent along with the reinforcements.

Helen was someone who didn't like to be hindered when in battle by countless commands. David knew this and allowed her freedom on the battlefield, but since he wouldn't be here, anyone else being there with her would make her feel constricted.

David had no problem letting her lead the army since she and her captains have proven themselves capable.

"Lieutenant," A soldier moved up to Helen and gave a salute before continuing, "The mages have confirmed that the death aura in the area is reaching a crescendo."

"Even I can feel it," Helen said with her eyes still on the empty expanse in front of their eyes.

'This amount of death aura seems a bit more than the mages informed us of.'

Although most people could use magic and also feel it in the air, death aura was different. It ran on a wavelength that was the exact opposite of normal magic. It took a special kind of technique to be able to feel it.

The only time it could possibly be felt was when the concentration of it had reached its peak.

"Prepare yourselves, it's time for battle," Helen said to the soldier and he nodded in response.

****

[Link: 10%]

"Huh?"

Mikel had gotten a notification that his [link] stat had gone from blank to 1%. He had only blinked and it had increased to 10%!

"What the fuck is happening?"

[It seems you've been summoned earlier than I had thought.]

"So I'll finally be going to the land of the living?" Mikel's panic had turned to excitement.

Even though it may not seem like much time had passed up there, it was different here as time passed differently.

He had already spent three years in purgatory!

The only thing that kept him sane was talking with the system. At some point, he had even given up on leaving this place.

[It would seem so.]

Mikel wasn't even listening to the system but was hooked on watching the progress of the link bar.

According to what he knew, the moment it hit 100% he would be transported out of here and would become a skeleton in the land of the living.

The only issue he had would be that he would not be in control of his actions while the link was at 100%. The only way to circumvent this would be for the conduit, which was usually a high-ranking summon, to be killed.

He knew he couldn't kill the summon himself so he could only rely on their opponents to do that. He hadn't exactly come up with a foolproof plan of action once he regained control, but escaping was definitely on the list.

Staying after the conduit was killed would mean that his chances of survival would plummet. Not that it was high to even begin with.

Coming up with a good plan down here was hard since he didn't have enough information to go about it.

[Link: 89%]

[Do you still remember the plan?]

"The half-baked plan that is most likely doomed to fail? Yeah I do," Mikel scoffed.

[It is your plan, in case you forgot.]

"Yeah, I know," Mikel sighed.

[Link: 100%]

****

'Here they come.'

Hundreds of meters away, Helen and everyone around watched as a dark mist encompassed that area. Permeating into the soil and dwelling there.

"Captain Julius," Helen turned to a soldier behind her who had long white hair tied back in a ponytail and held a wooden bow that gave off an ancient aura and had carvings of plants and vines on it.

"Lieutenant," Julius nodded and stepped forward.

He held up his bow and aimed at the dark mist in the distance while pulling on the string. The surrounding many rushed towards the bow and formed a high concentrated fiery arrow!

****

Mikel had experienced a shift.

He couldn't explain it, but he had felt like his whole being had changed positions without him moving.

It was weird.

Now, he felt like he was constricted. He instinctively started digging and soon enough found himself free.

Mikel climbed out of the hole he had dug and met a darkness different from the one he had become familiar with. He could see through this one and a distance away, he could see a familiar sight of hundreds of white and gold armored people and a large airship overhead.

Hearing the clattering of bones, Mikel looked around to see countless skeletons rising from the grounds wearing damaged armor and rusty swords and having purple flames in their eye sockets. It was then that Mikel realized that he was in a similar getup.

'Where did these come from?'

~OOOUM

An eerie sound made Mikel look behind him and he froze when he saw what made that sound.

Levitating a few inches off the ground was a large skeleton in a tattered hooded black cloak that held a large scythe. The amount of death aura coming from it was immense!

[Name: Grim reaper (elite)

Level: ??

HP: ??/??]

It was a Grim reaper!

Mikel had fought against these a lot back then. They were extremely powerful and unless you were a skilled player, they would make quick work of you.

'That must be the conduit.'

[Obviously.]

*****

"Just say the word," Julius said to Helen as he aimed at the dark mist that was now receding to reveal the army of the undead.

"Fire."

*****

Mikel was still looking at all the different types of skeletons around him when he suddenly heard another sound coming from the grim reaper.

It was as eerie as the last, and even though it was just a sound, Mikel instinctively knew what they meant.

He looked up to see a speck of flame heading their way.

'It's so tiny. Something like that could not do any damage so what does it mean by—'

BOOM!!!!!

[Live(s): 2/2 => 1/2]