Chapter 23 [Day 3: Shenei, Land of the Dead]

I woke up when I felt the sun hits my face through the gap of our tent. I slowly open my eyes and was about to get up but Can't. I felt a weight in both my arms enabling me to move. I look to see the peaceful face of two cute girls. Fiona was using my right arm as her pillow while embracing me and Mayumi hug my left arm and intertwined her hands in mine.

I was going to wake them but decided against it since they look so peaceful. I close my eyes waiting for them to get up.

8 minutes later…

Minutes later I felt someone move beside me. I open my eyes and see Fiona up rubbing her left eye.

「Good Morning. You go first while I woke Mayumi up」[Koharu]

Fiona nodded. After that, she got out of the tent to prepare for breakfast. I am very sure that Fumiko isn't up yet nor Akane.

Out of 5 of them. Only Koharu and Fiona can cook. So, it doesn't make a change if Fumiko is up. She doesn't know how to make breakfast.

——

We are now at the entrance of Shenei also known as The Land of the Dead.

The Land was like some kind of hunted land. There is no sign of life. No human, no monsters, no beast. There is even no sound. It's just quiet, eerily quiet.

We step into this creepy land. I look around and I saw dead trees everywhere. A stone that looks like a gravestone. The river was dry. No beast nor monster in sight. I also can't feel the magical energy of this place.

We continue our trip in this dead land, not daring to stop and want to get out as soon as possible. There is no conversation between us as we are all in alert mode. It is already noon around 12:23? We can get out of this land by 3:00 if we don't encounter any trouble and we won't stop to rest and 5:30 if we do.

As we continue walking, something moves from the ground 5 meters away from us. I stop the girls and wait for whatever it is.

Seconds later, a skeleton hand emerges from the soil following its head, body until they fully got out. It's just like your typical skeleton, it is made of bones but one thing that stands out is their glowing red eyes.

[Skeleton (D-Rank Monster) - Its name is already explanatory but the skeleton is an undead monster]

The skeleton is an undead monster. They are weak but it is a troublesome opponent.

And—

Here we are now, surrounded by this troublesome opponent.

「Hyaaa」[Fumiko]

Fumiko decapitated the head of the skeleton but it only picks its head back up with its body.

「No way!!!」

「Seriously?」

I was observing from the sidelines and thinking of a way to deal with these troublesome opponents. We can immobilize them but it is hard to do so when their joints have some kind of magnet that will pull them together when they were disconnected.

「Ughh, so annoying then how about this [Eruption]」[Akane]

A series of fires erupted at the bottom of the 3 skeletons burning them into ashes. Eruption deals heavy damage to the nearby enemy and can burn the enemy to ashes when hit directly. However, great power comes with a price. This spell cost decent mana. Thankfully, Akane's mana capacity is larger even in the field of mage geniuses or she might pass out after using such a spell once at the land with no magical energy.

In the Land of the Dead, there is no mana/magical energy therefore if you run out of your mana reserve then you will not be able to take the magical energy from your surrounding since there's none.

The bodies of the world Arcadia are made to suck up the magical energy of its surroundings naturally. It's just a matter of mana reserve that people can cast a spell. Normal People have mana but can't use it because of low mana reserve and that their body cannot suck the mana for more than 1 meter away from them.

Let me make one thing clear. Koharu's body was sucking the mana of its surrounding like a black hole. Her body is like a black hole that keeps sucking mana nonstop causing to seem it like unlimited. She uses mana but it instantly refills. As long as there is mana even if it is a little. Koharu's mana reserve is Unlimited. Koharu's body can suck magical energy from 500 meters away while normal people can only suck mana from 1 meter away. The people who are qualified to be a mage can suck mana 10 meters away from them while the talented magician can suck mana 30 meters away from them while geniuses such as Akane can suck mana 50 meters away from them.

The girls have walk in the Shenei about 389 meters so Koharu can still suck the mana even in this distance however we cannot say the same for Akane.

In theory, living beings will die if their head is decapitated or their heart is crush but we are fighting an undead enemy that has no heart and cannot die with its head decapitated. So, what should we do? Simple. Destroy the core. The core is like their heart.

This is one thing I've learned these past months in the Academy. Monsters have the core. EVERY monster has one. They just varied at where they located at what type of monsters they are. Sometimes they are located in the abdomen, heart, chest, etc. They are mostly located at the most durable part of the monster.

Now, in this enemy with nothing but bones. Which is the most durable part? Yes, there skull.

I tested my findings at the closest enemy. I ready my sword and pierce the skull of the skeleton.

The skeleton went limp and the glow in its eyes vanish.

「I knew it」

I muttered

「Know what?!」

Ask Fumiko, frustrated at the opponent before them. It is well known that the undead cannot die but we can stop them if they were immobilized. That's what the girls did. They immobilized them. Mayumi was piercing through the shoulder shoulder blade of the skeleton, pinning them into the nearby tree.

We have 26 Skeleton enemies in total with 3 of them being burnt to ashes, 2 of them were being pinned down in the tree. With 5 enemies down. 21 left.

I quickly told them about my findings and from thereon the battle has been one-sided. Fiona uses [Piercing Vine]to mercilessly penetrate the skull of the skeleton using vines. Fumiko and I using our swords. Akane was using [Earth Spike] that pierce through their body and skull then lastly Mayumi was taking the skeleton down one after another with an accurate headshot.

The girls continue with that strategy and finally, they got out of the hellish land with Akane on Fumiko's back and Fiona in Koharu. They were both tired of using their mana without being replenished.

When they got out of the land. What greeted them was the scenery of the setting sun. From here they can get a whole view of the Astaeseon Kingdom. The yellowish light of the sun highlighted the entire kingdom giving it an ethereal vibe of fantasy.

They were almost at the top of Mt. Alvis and they will most likely reach the top tomorrow afternoon.