Chapter 1817 1817. Chained Undead
\'Chain quest: The mummified curse
There has been a sudden spike in resurrection ceremonies done by the mummified worshippers trying to bring about their false god. They are cursed by the world for their damage to the natural flow of mana and encouraging the incursion of certain putter elemental forces.
Requirement: disrupt the large scale ceremony to tribute bodies to awaken the mummified wall guards
Reward: 1000 experience ritual rune formation broken, 10 heroic points per ritual rune broken, second link.\'
The errands for the quest looked small but for the amount of heroic points that the party would get and the experience with their multiplier, it was incredible. There was a guarantee that they would level up and be able to grow significantly. However, knowing that the rewards were so large hit them hard.
The fact that the world was pushing a chain quest on them meant that the party was now acting in the world\'s interest. They were certain that the curse here finally had become too bad for the world to allow flow naturally any longer. With the heroes here, it was going to give them the incentive to act on its behalf. That was why the rewards were so good.
As well as that, there was the fact that the angels had been facing this for some time. If the curse here had appeared because of more than the world\'s disapproval because of the actions of the undead, then it meant that the undead had somehow become cursed in another way.
Walker and the others had already learned through si all around appraisal that the false death god they worshiped played a part in this. If he had cursed them in a way to steal their energy or mana then this made sense. They were first cursed by their false god and now were cursed by the world. It wasn\'t that the land was cursed, but them that caused the lands to be cursed.
Furthermore, the hero titles were the perfect way to clean up this place in many ways. The party could work together and use their abilities to destroy the undead trying to rise and cause a worse disaster. This was now more than just protecting the Sigil continent from becoming a massive desert in years of abuse from these undead. It was rising above just the Fel empire angels too.
The system and the world was warning them that the sun had set and that the undead were becoming more active. The fact that the party had already stopped two undead that were being controlled to move through the passageways to check runes just proved things were gearing up to become worse and worse. Not to mention the runes on the stone coffins that were all connected. The party could only slash so many of them while they would be better off stopping the entire act of raising them.
"Stop them all." Midnight\'s growl was enough to make everyone want to put in more speed. She was already forced on the passageway ahead that led to the large room with plenty of undead slumbering in stone coffins. She also knew that there would be an undead soldier of some form there. One that looked different than all the others. Not to mention the body parts and a connection to one of the ritual rooms she had not even bothered going in to because she had felt Mordant reacting to his discoveries.
"Everyone should have this quest, It\'s time for us to get our butts moving. I will see what else I can do to cut these up as we move." Gil did his best to slash faster using the light elf dagger style. His speedy and straightforward dagger attacks on the false death runes were something that many would envy.
This additional action pushed the party to follow behind Midnight\'s speedy guidance. They didn\'t sense or hear another undead ahead of them, further showing that something major was happening. If there was a ritual of any kind, the controlled undead would be there. They weren\'t mindless in the sense that they shambled around looking for things to attack. They were guided. Therefore, they would be brought to the room that needed the most protection.
While this speed would have surprised many, it was Gil\'s movements that shocked the party. He had trained his different elven dagger styles more and more. But what they all saw was his footwork.
Gil had ensured that he had studied the movements from every potential book, elf, and old records he could find from every variation of the elven race. This was just part of his promise to return the high elven dagger style to a whole instead of being divided. It would be a major historical accomplishment that properly brought the elves back together for once and for all.
The reason his footwork stood out was because Gil had begun to move in the dagger styles\' footworks constantly. He wasn\'t just walking like he would when he snuck to scout or when he was in the forest hunting. He had been moving like an elf in battle. The steps wouldn\'t be noticed if he had been making more of a show of it. Now though, the party could see that his movements were larger and held more force. They were the same but with meaning and structure to them throughout his entire body.
The speed of footwork also let Gil more than catch up and pass Midnight while he focused on his slashing of any false death runes he saw. While the party knew they could manage these things as well, they had not been able to use the same efficient motions as Gil. It was a clear show of what his training had done for him and what the dagger styles were beginning to meld in to. The only thing that stopped him was the sudden pressure of a nearby undead.
The pressure was partially darkness mana but not to the strength that would make it a major threat. However, it was enough of one for Gil to hold himself back from attacking and entering the room that Midnight had been leading them to. It was even further warned by Alice that showed the light elemental mana crystals seemingly dimmer because of this.
\'Dark tomb guardian
The dark tomb guardian is an altered mummified guard that was forced to have multiple darkness elemental runes carved on this very bones. this has caused it to absorb and radiate darkness mana that will increase with the time of day. It is able to make it harder for those that attempt to invade the area to do so. This is a moving trap.
Unfortunately, the result weakened the ability to battle and use any form of mana. It was deemed another failure and fixed to certain structures. It will awaken when the proper amount of mana is filtered through the chains on its body. If it is released, the runes cause it to go to the densest area of darkness. It will then absorb darkness mana until its body breaks down. It will be unable to reform because of this mana overload.\'
"Break the chains on it!" Walker gave the order the moment he saw the stretched chains. The reason that Midnight had not noticed it when she had scouted the area was simple. The undead had not gained a single bit of mana while the sun was so powerful outside the ruins. Now that the sun had set, this undead had awakened and was working on the forced instincts it had.
"Just let it leave this palace. It will end its own suffering." Walker knew that this undead was in no way evil. It was a clear victim of what had been done to all of the undead here. There was no way that the undead slumbering here had all been on board with what was done to them. Especially since it was hard to believe that an entire race could fall to a false god from a different, kinder goddess.
Remey and Gil jumped forward. Together, Remey grabbed the chains and stretched them while Gil slashed down with all his might. The older chains shattered under the new stress which was not a weaker undead constantly pulling at them. When the undead was let free, the sounds of metal echoed through the ruins. The echo made the entire party worry about what might be tipped off.
However, they were very glad to free this undead from constant torment. It would have been absorbing and losing mana constantly for years and years. Now it could finally rest forever. "There are more here." Alice\'s whisper brought attention to another sound of chains. Multiple pillars that Midnight had seen before now had undead on them. They had been hidden before but now were very active.
….