Chapter 78: Attack of the Undead King(Part 5)

"Hm...maybe the two of us should split up. We're both strong enough to handle ourselves, after all, and we need to cover as much ground as quickly as possible," Suggested Aster, as he and Tacitus finished taking down a group of undead creatures.

"Sounds like a pain...but I suppose you have a point. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so that's the most logical move. Alright, fine, let's split up," Tacitus relented reluctantly.

"I'll head this way, and you go that way. Good luck, man, I'll see you later," Remarked Aster, as he patted Tacitus's shoulder.

"Don't say stuff like that, you're gonna jinx me," Muttered Tacitus dryly, before the pair split up and headed off in opposite directions.

Aster climbed up to the top of a nearby building, getting out of the reach of the Miasma flowing around the area and taking out the Healing and Antidote Spell Cards to negate the effects of the Miasma.

He then headed forward as his strength returned, making his way along the rooftops while keeping a cautious eye out around him.

The concentration of Miasma was thinner around this area, leading him to conclude that not many undead creatures had passed through this part of the city.

He then stopped and closed his eyes, focusing his attention on his hearing, before perking up as his ears picked up on the sound of muffled crashes ringing out in the distance, to the west of his current position.

He turned in that direction before heading forward, leaping across the top of the buildings to minimize his exposure to the Miasma.

"Hm, maybe I should've had Raven go off on his own too...he's more than capable of handling himself, after all, with how strong he's gotten lately," Aster thought to himself, before clearing his mind and preparing himself as he drew closer to the spot where the crashes he'd heard were coming from, noticing the Miasma below was a lot denser around here.

As he reached the area, he peered down from the building he was on, his eyes widening as he spotted a large swarm of undead below, being held off by a single person, with a handful of fresh corpses strewn around the ground, along with a few dozen decapitated undead bodies as well.

A slashing wave of water burst out, decapitating several of the undead creatures, but it was barely even a dent into their overall numbers...

"That's the Vice-Commander of the Knights...what do I do? On the one hand, I don't have time to waste. But on the other hand, he's pretty powerful, he could prove useful in this battle...it'd be a waste to let him die here, especially since he isn't among our targets," Mused Aster, before firing out a powerful blast of telekinesis as the Knight began to get overwhelmed, blowing away the undead creatures that were starting to swarm him from in front.

Siele glanced up in surprise as Aster leapt down from the building, landing beside him with a thud, cracking his neck with a tilt of his head.

"You're...," Siele's eyes widened in recognition.

He was covered in wounds all over, his body battered, bruised and bloodied, but none of his injuries were all that deep.

"I know we're on opposite sides and all, but seeing that we have a common enemy right now, what do you say we set aside our differences and work together?" Aster greeted him with a wry smile, while thinking to himself as he glanced around, "Looking at this area, it's clear he's been fighting for a while...and considering how overwhelmingly outnumbered he is, it's pretty impressive that he hasn't sustained any serious injuries. He's taken a lot of hits, but they're all shallow flesh wounds from what I can see, nothing particularly deep."

"Absolutely not...is what I'd like to say, but given the situation, I have no choice but to swallow my pride. And you did just save my life, it would be disgraceful of me to disregard that," Replied Siele after taking a brief moment to mull it over, as Aster fired off more telekinetic blasts as the undead creatures charged in towards them, knocking them away.

"I just figured that we can't afford to lose any powerful individuals in a battle where the odds are against us, that's all, so don't read too much into it," Responded Aster, before drawing out his blades and swinging them across, firing off slashing waves of telekinesis and decapitating several of the undead creatures.

"I've been holding back to conserve my Mana, but now that I have a bit more breathing room...[Water Vortex]!" Chanted Siele, forming a massive, violently swirling mass of water, before firing it at the undead creatures.

The Spell burst forth while spinning with immense force, crashing onto the undead horde and tearing their bodies to pieces, before turned his gaze to the left as an undead Cereberus came barreling towards them.

"Shit, a Critical Level Thr-...!" Began Siele in alarm, before trailing off as Aster took a step towards the charging, undead Monster, raising his black blade up.

"[Telekinetic Pierce]!" He chanted as he swiftly whipped the blade down, compressing and firing out a piercing telekinetic beam from the tip of the blade, which sliced straight down through the middle of the undead Monster's body.

The middle head split in half as the large creature collapsed onto the ground and skidded forward, before the rest of its body split apart, Miasma gushing out as the two halves of its body slumped against the ground.

"These undead Monsters are stronger and faster than they would be when alive, but it's pretty clear that they're a lot less intelligent now too. They just blindly rush in and attack, making them easy to predict and counter," Remarked Aster, as his swung his blade across.

"No way...he took down a Critical Level Threat with a single attack? Is this how strong The Irregulars are when they aren't holding back?" Siele thought to himself in shock, before turning his gaze forward and firing out a rapid, pressurized blast of water at an undead Monster leaping towards him, destroying its head as his Spell collided against it and smashed it in.

"There's still so many of them...let's cut them down as quickly as possible. Like I said, while they may be stronger and faster, their attacks are a lot more simplistic, they not much of a threat if you keep your composure and don't let their speed distract you. And evidently, they can only use physical attacks, so we don't have to worry about any ranged attacks," Aster informed him, as he peppered the swarm of undead with a volley of telekinetic bullets.

"I agree that we need to take them down as quickly as possible...I need to clear this area of them so that I can go help my sister," Replied Siele with a grimace, as he unleashed another slashing wave of water, severing the heads of several of the undead creatures.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

"Get out of my way," Frowned Tacitus, as he whipped his sword across, slicing off the right arm of an undead Manticore, a High Level Threat.

The undead Monster roared as Tacitus severed it's arm, before it sent its scorpion stinger-like tail shooting out towards him.

Tacitus swiftly blocked the thrust of the stinger with the face of his blade, his feet skidding back slightly upon impact before he quickly ducked as the Manticore leapt towards him and swiped at his head with the claws on its left arm.

"Too predictable," Remarked Tacitus as the claws whizzed past the top of his head, before he swiftly drove his blade up with a powerful thrust, striking the front of the Manticore's neck and tearing through, ripping the undead beast's head right off its shoulders.

He then backed away as Miasma poured out of the stump that was left of the creature's neck, as it fell over and collapsed onto the ground.

He moved away from it and towards a nearby building, dozens of decapitated undead littered across the ground in his wake.

He then climbed up the side of the building, getting away from the Miasma before detoxifying its effects with the Healing and Antidote Spell Cards, wiping his sleeve across his brow as beads of sweat ran down his face.

"That took too long...I need to cover more ground," He muttered to himself, putting the Spell Cards back in his Storage Ring before continuing to make his way across the city.

As he raced across the rooftops, looking around as he searched for the Undead King, he turned his head across to his left as a loud crash rang out a short distance away, as several, towering earth spikes rose up above the buildings, with undead creatures skewered on them.

Tacitus paused for a moment, before heading that way, noting the possibility that someone was fighting the Undead King over there.

As he reached that spot and glanced down, he let out a quiet sigh, as he spotted a couple of familiar faces, surrounded by dozens of undead creatures.

"It's those two, Tilda Malachite and Jorel Amethyst, the First-Class Knights directly under the Commander...looks like they've taken down a few Critical Level Threats. Except for one undead Dragon, most the remaining undead around them are all Mid Level Threats at most, but there are a lot of them, and the two of them have taken a fair bit of damage. I can't really waste any time, but since they aren't targets, I probably shouldn't let them die," Tacitus thought to himself reluctantly.

As the undead Dragon climbed over the large earth spikes and approached the Knights, Tacitus raised his sword and leapt off the building, plummeting down towards it and landing on its back as he expanded the sword to double its size.

He then tightened his grip on the handle and plunged the large blade in before swiftly yanking it out with a violent twist and racing forward along the Dragon's back as it snarled viciously.

He then leapt forward, whipping his blade across and striking the back of its neck, the blade bursting through the scales around that spot before slicing in and tearing through its neck, slashing its head off before he leapt off its body as it began to collapse, a loud crash ringing out behind him as he landed in front of the Knights, his feet thudding against the ground as puffs of dust wafted out around his feet.

He then swiftly swung his sword across to the left as a couple of undead creatures sprang up towards him from that direction, tearing them in half before they could reach him.

"I remember you...you're one of The Irregulars, the one who broke the Vice-Commander's arm," Frowned Tilda warily, as Jorel raised earth walls all around them as the undead creatures squeezed through the gaps in the earth spikes he'd raised.

"Hm? Oh, right, I did do that."

Tilda eyed him warily, her shoulders tensed as she tightened her grip on her scythe, before Jorel placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down...

"Tell me, why are you here? Based on the fact that you cut down that Dragon, am I correct in assuming you're here to fight this undead army too?" Inquired Jorel, as Tilda eased up slightly.

"Yeah, something like that. We're not here to take advantage of the chaos, if that's what you were wondering...the Undead King and his forces are just as much as threat to us as they are to you," Replied Tacitus with a shrug.

"I see...as a Knight, I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm glad to hear that," Jorel sighed in relief.

"Yeah, well, I'm not convinced," Huffed Tilda suspiciously.

"Whatever, I don't care. I'm sure you've already figured this out, but we only target corrupt Nobles and the church. The last thing we want is to see innocent people die, which will definitely happen if the nation falls to the Undead King. That's why we're here, to prevent that from happening. And that's all I'm going to bother saying about this matter, I really don't care if you believe me or not," Remarked Tacitus dryly.

"In that case, what do you say to a temporary truce and we work together to deal with this threat? We're both after the same thing here, and it'll be a lot more effective if we join forces," Pointed out Jorel.

"Wha-...!?" Tilda began to protect indignantly.

"Yeah, sure, fine by me."

"Oh, uh...you agreed to that a lot more easily that I'd have expected."

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures or whatever."

"For the record, I'm opposed to this...for Knights like us to join forces with a criminal is a huge disgrace," Frowned Tilda apprehensively.

"I get where you're coming from, but like he said, desperate times call for desperate measures. And if we've been struggling this much, our subordinates are almost definitely in even more dire straits...we can't let this battle keep dragging on. And we'll be able to cut down the undead forces a lot faster if we cooperate with him, so-..."

"Alright, alright, I get it! Fine, I suppose we have no choice, I'll swallow my pride...," Relented Tilda with a conflicted look on her face.

"If you're done talking...," Tacitus alerted them, as cracks spread out across the earth wall to his left...