A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

The group swiftly arrived at the fort, its appearance a remnant of its previous state. Most of the walls were in a state of disaster, a thick miasma of death hanged over the entire fort and the nearby plants were all withered.

The keep and magic tower no longer towered over the walls, and a deathly silence filled the air. Broken only by the occasional click-clank of the skeletons walking about.

"So, these are undead plants?" Elizabeth mumbled, looking at the queer plants lacking any semblance of color covering the area.

Moving through them made her feel disgusted, like something unholy was trying to invade her body. The others felt a similar unease. However, this did not affect Eldrian, Theas, nor Vivian.

Myropsis had also felt the unease, but it wasn't affecting her nearly as much as the players.

Noticing the players slowing, Vivian summoned her blue flames and covered the group with them. Immediately, they felt much better. She still did not know what her flames were, but she could call upon them as if she had been born with the ability.

When touching someone, it would cover them in a soft warmth. However, when coming into contact with the undead, it would turn them into ash. Truly strange.

Of course, all the plants turned to ash as the group moved closer to the fort.

"I can finally breath again!" Judith shouted after taking a deep breath filled with blue flames. Even that didn't feel strange. It almost felt rejuvenating.

Seeing Judith's carefreeness, the others smiled awkwardly. Luckily, their mission was not one requiring stealth. Her shout just now had caused several patrolling undead to notice them. Vivian took care of them easily enough.

A swing of her sword and they would fall apart. 'Her flames... They must attack the soul binding curse similar to divine spells. I wonder, just what is this power she awakened? A divine flame and the ability to see wandering souls? Somehow it is linked to divinity, likely to the afterlife too.'

"This should be close enough." Eldrian smiled and took out Crystoi, "Myropsis."

Nodding, Myropsis started drawing the runes. The entire process was a bit more complicated than what she had done before. Once she was done, a rune flew to each person in the group. Vanishing into their skin and forming a light tattoo.

"With this you can come and go as you wish." Myropsis explained that what she had done was an identification spell. "I'll start with the barrier now."

"Right, Vivian, Theas, you guys can go ahead. I'll follow and help if needed. Judith, you go and attract as many of the lower undead as you can."

From there, things moved smoothly. Judith rushed in first and shouted something about everyone in the fort having farts for brains. A massive horde of undead chased her as a result.

Elizabeth and the others quickly followed up, doing their best to deal with the undead, who were mindlessly pursuing Judith. However, no matter what they did, the numbers only kept increasing.

Eldrian watched this for a while, noting everyone's abilities. The four of them certainly showed growth, but what he was seeing felt so lacking.

They worked well together and even though they were now facing over a hundred undead; they were still somehow managing.  Though, Judith could no longer defend and was forced to simply run to avoid being overwhelmed.

Theas rushed in next, throwing the undead into the air as he aimed for the revenant. Vivian targeted all the flaming reanimates, following close behind the dwarf. Once she had dealt with them, she would help Theas.

Eldrian simply stayed back and observed the situation, updating his evaluation of everyone and making sure things moved forward smoothly.

Vivian stopped the unwilling from interfering with the players, and after a few minutes, she had dealt with them all and moved to help Theas with the revenant.

Of course, Myropsis stayed behind to maintain the barrier for emergencies. She would, from time to time, offer the players some support.

Around five minutes later, things finally reached a point of exploding. Judith now had well over a thousand undead chasing her. The undead monsters and centaurs gave her a genuine problem. Matching her speed and often getting in a hit or two, no matter how she ran and dodged.

The normally fearless barbarian cosplayer was now running in desperation towards Eldrian and Myropsis.

A mass of skeletons and zombies of various forms chomped at her back. And as she ran, more and more turned towards her and gave chase. The undead completely ignored the other three players. They even jumped from the broken walls of the fort with rage towards the barbarian girl.

Their bodies splattering apart and slowly recollecting as they stared in rage towards Judith.

"The hell did you do?!" Judith shouted as she neared Eldrian. Covered in wounds, but thanks to Eldrian's sneaky help, nowhere near death.

Her shout helped Eldrian remember that he hadn't really added a time limit to the stick. As soon as it was activated, it would work until it ran out of mana. 'Oops... Well, let's take care of this group now.'

'Two, what spell will be best for dealing with this mass of undead?'

'Metatrepontai se stachiti-flóga tis kólasis; it's a fire pillar type spell. Think pillars of hellfire.'

'Ugh, that spell module is truly complicated.' Looking at the images Two was sending Eldrian mentally, Eldrian discarded the idea of using it as is. It would take him more than a few seconds to memorize that. If he tried, Eldrian guess he would need a few hours.

'What's the English of the spell?'

'Turn to ash, hellfire blaze. But will that work? You haven't ever tried to cast this spell before.' Naturally, Eldrian understood roughly what Eldrian wanted to test. If it didn't work, he would simply use Tempest Chase to clear the undead.

'Well, I haven't really tried to cast any Tier 5 spells.' Eldrian felt slightly guilty at his lack of mastering spells. But he had placed his focus on other things. He had almost mastered and improved teleportation. He just needed a final push.

Watching Judith running towards him with teary eyes, Eldrian felt a little bad. 'If she drops the stick, the undead should lose interest. I'll tell her that for next time.' Eldrian didn't want to lose this juicy clump of undead right as they entered his range.

Closing his eyes and stretching his hands forward, Eldrian spread out mageia throughout the area. Focusing on where he felt the undead presence, he spoke in a slow, deep tone. Pushing his will into his words.

"Turn... to... Ash... Hellfire Blaze!"

Immediately upon finishing the sentence, a massive amount of mana flowed through him and collected where he had focused. The surrounding mana stirring as Eldrian's mageia collected into the undead.

The next second, pillars of hellfire erupted from the ground.

This lasted only for a few seconds, and after silence settled in the once noisy surroundings. Not only had Eldrian annihilated the horde chasing Judith, he had also killed all the lower undead between them and the fort.

Only those inside were spared his flames.

'Mmm, about a thousand mana. Expensive... but effective.'

The heat and shock waves had pushed Judith to the ground. Her back was burnt and most of her hair singed. Looking at her state, Eldrian rubbed his head in embarrassment.

She, however, looked at Eldrian while trembling. Eldrian was unsure if this was rage or fear.

"Sorry about that. Never tried that spell before." Eldrian gave Judith a smile, hoping to ease the tension in the air. His words, however, only increased the tension even more.

"You're kidding..." Ilmadia felt her knees weaken. Yet again, he had broken her sense of reality.

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