The mist (5)

Minutes after taking down the giant mutated murloc warrior, Ourin and Baerys found themselves surrounded by a massive army of skeletons. The skeleton mage leading them had been swiftly destroyed by Baerys, but there was still hundreds of murloc warrior skeletons charging for them.

[Scan Complete! Murloc Skeleton I Strength: 1, Agility: 1, Vitality: 1, Status:

Undead]

Compared to regular murloc warriors, these skeletons were much more fragile

[Scan Complete! Murloc I Strength: 1 to 2, Agility: 1 to 2, Vitality: 1 to 2, Status:

Healthy]

However, they were no less dangerous due to their weird vitality. As undead creatures, as long as their soul fire was not extinguished, usually done by crushing their skull, these skeletons would keep fighting, even if it missed limbs or everything below their neck. This frightening sight, coupled with the ambiant sounds of a swarm of clackering teeth and bones, made it very hard to stay composed. 

Despite that, Ourin stayed calm and tried to run away. With his agility, he could easily outrun these undead creatures and somehow reach a safe place in a couple of minutes. However, the skeletons would chase him independantly, the bone elemental particles that had torn his shield and armour deeply impregnated and acting as a compass for the rest of the undead creatures. Even if their necromancer was dead, they relied on their own soul fire to survive. Their lifespan was especially frightening, as they could survive for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Their multiplication rate and their overall lifespan was one of the many reasons was necromancy was commonly banned in the Southern Continent, at least officially. This is also why the Mercifura Academy's duty was to eradicate the mistakes of the past, and guard these creatures from swarming into the realm of humans. The Island of Bones was also home to many ruins, many laboratories where these skeletons originated from. Never fully explored, the catacombs were a place reserved for level 2 and level 3 acolytes to seek treasures, but every year, dozens would die in such a way. 

In this place, nobody could tell how many skeletons and skeleton mages there were. Rumors had it that there was even an inheritance of a long-lasting necromancer household that used to reign in the Island of Bones, before the Mercifura Academy established itself. This would explain the experiments, and the poor constructs of necromancy on the surface, including the ones chasing Ourin. But inheritances were filled with danger, and the fact that its mystery had yet to be pierced meant that the difficulty was probably sky-high.

*PANT*

"Running away is not a solution", Ourin spoke, "The more ground we cross, the more skeletons we attract. At some point, every skeleton caught in the mist will come back at us. I can't even imagine if there are more skeleton mages"

Baerys nodded in agreement: "Should we fight, then?"

Ourin pointed at a cavern, on the top of the cliff: "Just like warriors have the advantage in fortifications, we will use this cavern at the top of the cliff to get an advantage over the skeletons. I estimate the number of skeletons to be around two or three hundred. It won't be an easy fight, and they might come back after having fallen from the cliff. However, if we continue running away, we will just exhaust what little ressource we have left"

Baerys sighed and started to climb the cliff.

Somehow, their strange companionship had allowed a semblance of trust to form between the two. Baerys had saved Ourin's life twice already with her icicle spell, and without him, she would have died right after encountering the murloc shaman already. They both needed each other at this point. However, they were both aware that the longer they stayed awake, the weaker they became. The traces of exhaustion could be seen on Ourin's trembling eyes, or her own closing eyes.

They just had to hold it a little longer...