The Cursed Battle

"Please do not shoot, I am coming out" said Arin as he came out of the bush before Milean could finish counting to 'One'

"What cretin we have here" Milean raised his torch to look closely at Arin. Arin looked away at sudden appearance of bright light on his face. He was not sure whether this spontaneous reaction was due to him being an undead now, or it was because his eye had been accustomed to deem light by now. Seeing him unarmed and at a shabby condition, Milean and his companions had dropped their guard it seemed.

Milean tried to look closely at Arin but flinched his nose, "Are you a graverobber? Speak up!"

-"Wh-what?" Arin fumbled.

-"You reek of death, as if you were surrounded with corpses" Milean said with disgust!

-"Or" spoke the man with Sword and Shield, "he is a corpse himself"!

-"Don't spout nonsense you idiot" chastised the one with Greatsword, "when have you seen an undead with ability to speak so fluently, and walking without his master?"

-"As if you have not heard of Vampires before" refuted the Sword and Shield guy, "You Sir-Know-It-All Saunder".

"Shut up Damien" said Vireon, the one with Crossbow, "If he was a Vampire, we would be dead before Milean could even raise his torch"

-"Oh! For the love of Liatha*, cease your prattle you dim-witted knaves" shouted Milean back at his companions, "we need to decide what to do with this dirty scum"

-"Let me go good sir", said Arin with a begging tone, "even a little mouse can come to help to the mighty lion one day, and may be, one day, I too can be of help to you mighty lords!"

-"Yes we let you go and you snitch us to captain Duran!" said Damien nervously, "he already has his eyes on us"

- "Will you stop your blabbering?" Milean shouted back, now he seemed more frustrated.

-"I am a simple graverobber" Arin pleaded, "I avoid you people like deer avoid the tiger. I would never even dare to come near your captain"

-"You shut up dirtbag" shouted the Greatsword guy, "we are talking"

-"If you dimwits shut your mouth for a moment, I could decide!" Milean raged.

-"Who made you our leader anyway?" taunted Damien, "why are you suddenly calling shots?"

Arin observed that the group had started bickering among themselves. "Human!" smirked Arin, "whatever world be it; they would never stop fighting amongst themselves". However, he knew that it was not time to discuss human nature. It was his time to utilize the unexpected opportunity he had been awarded right now in the form of his enemy fighting.

Running away did not appear to Arin as a wise option. Just a shot at the back from the crossbow and he would be dead. And it did not seem that they would fight to the extent that they could kill or even hurt each other. It was too much to hope for. Arin quickly decided the check and utilize the weapons he had in his arsenal. One spell caught his attention, 'Dread Howl'. He wondered what was this about. And as if waiting for his cue, he was presented with the description-

[ Dread Howl – A cry from netherworld that reduces morale of enemies depending on level of Dread Howl as well as target enemy's resistance to Dark Magic. Non-living enemies without Morale are unaffected by this skill ]

"This is cool" Arin was overjoyed and excited with the information, "This is do-or-die for me!". Arin had learnt how to cast a spell from the books. It needed strong focus, and had to be seeped with earnest emotions, and an incantation was required to channel the emotion and focus to perfectly cast the spell. It was now time for his theory to test in real battlefield.

Arin straightened his spine, stretched his hands and started chanting- "By the hallowed name of Dread Father Nerthazir, I command thee, tremble in dread! Let the primordial fear shatter your spirit, as I unleash upon thee the eternal throes of the deceased…."

"What in the name of Lathasa**…" spoke Damien in irritation as he looked at Arin. His partners also had stopped bickering among themselves by now, and was looking at Arin. But it was too late by now. For Arin had finished his Incantation and they suddenly observed the whole forest had suddenly become quiet, too much quiet. It was such a deafening silence that they felt like they could hear each other's heartbeat, which was sounding like drums of Turags***. A sudden unknown fear gripped their heart. Before they could react or do anything, Arin had unleashed an otherworldly shriek. Something which they could not even experience in their nightmares.

[ You have casted 'Dread Howl' successfully. Morale of Living Targets around has been decreased. Each of the Primary Statistics of every Living Beings around has been reduced by 10 ]

[ 'Dread Howl' skill progression 3/150 ]

Arin did not know how much primary stats his enemies had to begin with and how effective was the reduction. But he had to assume it was considerable, judging by their stupefied condition. However, it was not enough for cautious Arin to feel confident. He decided to use all the spells he had in his arsenal.

But now the problem was that all the other spells he had were single target attack, and he had to quickly decide which curse had to be applied on whom.

Arin was raised on the streets, among most cutthroat of people. So, one skill he had developed over years, was his quick wit and ability to take and execute decisions quickly. Milean was the makeshift leader of the group and he was the one to call the shots. He pointed his finger towards him, "As the cloud of death shrouds the life, let my curse cloud your mind" and casted 'Haze' on him. Arin, as well as everyone else present there, witnessed their self-proclaimed leader Milean was now standing dumbfounded, holding his gears like a statue and drooling like a dummy.

The other three, who already had lost their morale, as well as their leader's guidance for the time-being, soon discovered themselves being surrounded by four grim looking Revenants. "What was your name; umm, yeah, Saunder?" Arin asked the one with Great Sword, "are they the Undead you were referring a while ago to Damien?"

"Ee…ee…ee…" Saunders fumbled but could not make a cohesive sentence.

"My boys, kill these three, just don't touch the one with Torch right now!" Arin commanded his Revenants.

"Don't act so cocky you vile Necromancer" Vireon mustered all of his remaining courage and aimed at Arin and pulled his trigger.

*shaaa* the bolt was knocked off from the crossbow and gazed Arin's neck.

Vireon was most probably had aimed for his forehead or throat. But, because his hands were shaking and there was a lack of illumination in the area to take a clear shot, as well as he was being pounced upon by the grim looking Revenants, he missed the shot.

Arin suddenly felt a sharp pain. He was surprised as hell. As par his knowledge, Undeads didn't feel any pain. Then how he was feeling pain? This question had aroused in his mind previously as well, when he had realized that he did not fell hunger or sleep but fell mentally fatigued after reading for three days continuously. He put his hand on the neck which was grazed by the crossbow bolt, and he found a liquid oozing out from the cut. He took some liquid in his finger to have a look if it was really blood. He found that it was a bright green viscous liquid which had a feint glow. Suddenly he felt enraged and stretched his hands pointing towards Vireon. "From thee, Life's essence, into me" Arin chanted and started absorbing life force from Vireon and soon he started withering like a husk.

"Gwwggg…gwwa…" a Revenant made noise. Arin stopped the drain and looked at the source. Vireon dropped on the ground as a lifeless husk. Saunder, the Greatsword guy, had swung his greatsword and lopped an arm of a revenant from its shoulder.

"Prowess depart, weakening thy heart" Arin casted weakness spell on Saunder; and Saunder started shaking his hands, as if the greatsword now was feeling too heavy for him to wield. He dropped the sword and the revenant which had lost its hand pounced on him and bite his neck and tear it to his death with a ravenous bite.

Damien was trying his best to hold himself against the onslaught of two revenants who were bashing on his shield continuously. Arin, now getting hang of casting his curses, casted 'Erode' on him, "Upon you mine curse is cast, let thine Armor turns to rust", and his shield broke like rotten pile of wood against next bash of the revenants, and they tore him apart with their bare hands like he was made of paper. Blood and entrails splatter in the whole area.

The splattered blood broke trance state of Milean. However, he woke up to a gruesome scenery to witness. One of his companions was laying on ground like a dried husk. Another was laying dead in pull of blood with his neck nearly torn from his shoulder. When he looked at Damien, who was inside out at this point he dropped on his torch and sword and started puking. This blood and gore were too much for him to stomach.

Arin enjoyed how tables had turned and how the enemy he was afraid of only a few minutes ago had now dropped his defense and was just vomiting his inside out. He looked at the revenant which had lost its arm and commanded it to come to him with its severed arm. He had witnessed that when he was draining life from Vireon his wound was getting healed. He wondered if he could do the same for this revenant as well. Arin pressed the severed hand on its shoulder and tried to envision that the excess life-force he had sucked from Vireon, which was remaining inside him after closing his own wound, was being channeled to the revenants wound from Arin's hand and the revenant was being healed. And to his surprise it actually worked.

*ding* a notification window appeared,

[ Congratulations on unlocking new spell 'Necromantic Healing'. Level 'Novice'.]

And suddenly he started being flooded with notification windows-

[You have killed three enemies. You have been awarded +30 exp]

[You have killed three enemies of level higher than you. You have been awarded bonus +15exp]

[You have killed three Humans. Kill forty-three more to unlock title ??????????]

[You have killed two enemies with your minions. Kill forty-three more to unlock title ??????????]

[You have obtained enough experience for a level up. Open up your status window to allocate free stat points]

Arin was escalated with joy, but it was not time for him to get overjoyed, as Milean was appearing to be regaining himself in that time period. Arin shifted his attention to Milean.

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*, ** : Lathasa, and Liatha are Twin Goddesses who are popular among people of Western Cities; especially among the guards, soldiers and mercenaries. They would be discussed in details in later Chapters

*** : Turags are a faction which would be introduced later Chapters