“How is it down there?” The investigator mage shouted at the farmer who went down the cellar first.

After smashing through the wall inside the bedroom, the three found a cellar door with a Magicka lock casted on it. Aside from the wall the farmer destroyed, there doesn’t seem to be any entrance to the confined space, yet a Magicka lock is casted on the cellar door. Although there are a few ways, most of them are high-level Magicka that can only be performed by court-level wizards.

“It’s very hard to see in here… and the stench… it’s really bad!” The farmer shouted, pausing in between answers.

“I see…” The investigator mage uttered.

“Do you have a cloth you can use?” He asked, looking at the young cleric standing behind him.

“Uhmm, I have some I use for emergency bandages…” She answered while rummaging through her pouch.

“Use it to cover your nose and mouth.” The investigator mage instructed. 

The two then went down as soon as the young cleric finished covering the lower half of her face with the cloth.

“It’s really dark, should I cast Illuminate?” She asked with a muffled voice. She was about to start chanting the miracle spell when the farmer stopped her.

“You wouldn’t wanna see what’s down here…”

“What? But aren’t you guys having a hard time seeing–”

Before she can finish her sentence, the horrid stench starts to penetrate through her makeshift mask.

“W-what is that? It smelled like–”

And then it dawned on her, what the farmer was protecting her from. She then steeled her nerves before chanting…

“Holy father, guide us to the light… Bless this cavern with your ever loving grace…”

“Illuminate”

Light starts to flood the entire underground cavern, revealing several mangled bodies chained to the wall while some are fastened to a table with their stomachs turned inside out.

It was a horrific sight, too much for the young cleric to see. Pretty quickly, the light that came from the young cleric’s Illuminate dissipates as the strength on her knees.

“Combine magicka: Light bubble” As if he was expecting it, the investigator mage quickly casts a spell to prevent them from being swallowed by pitch darkness. Though it wasn’t as bright as the young cleric’s Illuminate, his spell was enough to illuminate what needs to be seen.

“There is no need to act strong…” The investigator mage said to the young cleric.

The investigator mage walks a bit further, towards a stack of books and documents on top of a table,  while the farmer approaches the mangled bodies and the young cleric collects herself. Of course she’d still be traumatized from seeing dead bodies; It has only been barely a week since her party members died in front of her at the hands of the Demon king general.

“Hey, do you think that… maybe we should unchain them?” The farmer asked.

“No, don’t touch them…” The investigator mage replied, while reading through the book he’s holding.

“The spellcaster was using them as test subjects for his experiment.” He added.

“Experiment?” The farmer looked confused.

“Yes, human body experiments are considered taboo… That explains this secret lab of his, and I’m guessing those are the missing adventurers.” The investigator mage explained. Trying to distance herself from the bodies, the young cleric made her way towards the pile of books behind the investigator mage. She starts reading the documents, redirecting her attention to it instead of the horrific things around them.

“Huh?” Surprised, she blurted out loud.

“This insignia… it’s the symbol for the Ruler of the dead” She said, referring to an icon she saw in one of the books.

“The ruler of what?” The farmer blurted.

“The Ruler of the dead, the left hand of the holy father and the antithesis for the Ruler of life” The young cleric explained.

“I didn’t know magicka and religion go well together?” The farmer commented.

“No, they don’t…” The investigator mage replied with a serious look on his face.

“Spellcaster… Human body experimentation… the Ruler of the dead… now it all makes sense…” He added.

“What do you mean?” The young cleric replied, her voice trembling in fear.

“There are few reasons why a spellcaster would do human body experimentation… Developing healing magicka for example, or body enhancement magicka…”The investigator mage explained.

“But then, where does the Ruler of the dead fit in there?” He paused for a second before continuing his deductions.

“He is attempting Necromancy.” He said with a grim look on his face.

“Very good…” A man’s gravelly voice came from the direction where the three came from, and from the darkness emerged a man dressed in a spellcaster’s robe; the man they were looking for, the suspect in the missing adventurer’s case, the veteran spellcaster.

“I see, no wonder you’ve managed to track me down to my hidden laboratory…” The veteran spellcaster stood his ground, seemingly assessing his situation.

“If it’s the famous Investigator mage, then it can’t be helped… However, you got one thing wrong…”

“I’m no longer attempting…” A cloaked figure emerges from the shadow behind the veteran spellcaster.

“I’ve already succeeded.” The veteran spellcaster removed the cloak, revealing a pale looking young man clad in light armor with a short sword on his left hip.

“Kill them!” He ordered. The young man unsheathes his sword then proceeds to charge towards the three. The farmer intercepted him, blocking the young man’s sword with his cudgel.

“For a skinny one you sure are strong.” The farmer commented but the young man remained emotionless. 

“Of course he’d be strong, you’re fighting an undead.” The investigator mage said to the farmer.

“Un-dead?” The farmer looked genuinely confused.

“Yes! What do you think Necromancy is?!” The investigator mage shouted.

“Necromancy is the forbidden black magicka practice of raising the dead. Technically, what you’re fighting right now is already dead, hence it can push its body to its limits.” The investigator mage explained.

“Not only that, but it seems that that young man was an adventurer, most likely one of the missing adventurers we’re looking for.” He added.

“Perceptive! But knowing that won’t change your current predicament…” The veteran spellcaster remarked.

“Lightning!” Without chanting, the investigator mage quickly casted a lightning magicka at the veteran spellcaster. The undead swordsman then leapt back to take the magicka in place of it’s master.

“Oh ho! It's intelligent enough to protect it’s master from imminent danger!” The veteran spellcaster seemed excited at the capabilities of his creation.

“Hey, what if I dispel that undead or whatever it is with my cudgel?” The farmer quietly asked the investigator mage.

“Bad idea. Although Necromancy raised the dead, it’s not the one making the dead move. Without properly studying the subject, I can only guess that the necromancer used Necromancy to insert a soul inside a corpse and control it. Dispelling it now would only neutralize the spell the necromancer is using to control it, which will make that thing go berserk.” The investigator mage explained.

“So, what do we do?” The farmer asked.

“Well, we’ll need to apprehend the spellcaster and destroy that undead swordsman. I’m sure with your strength, you can easily overpower and destroy it.” The investigator mage explained but the farmer looked a bit troubled.

“What?” He asked.

“Well it’s just…” The farmer couldn’t say it but couldn’t hide it well, taking a glance at the young cleric’s direction behind them who looked extremely horrified at the undead swordsman.

“I see…” Upon looking at what the farmer was looking at, the investigator mage realized as well. It was already too much for the young cleric to see the corpses of adventurers her age in horrific shape; it would deal even more damage on her fragile mental state to see another one get destroyed in front of her, even if it’s already a walking corpse.

“Let’s have her find a way to reverse the Necromancy spell while you handle the undead swordsman. In the meantime, I’ll try to apprehend the spellcaster.” The investigator mage quietly explained to the farmer while preparing to charge ahead.

“Sounds good to me!” The farmer replied. He then retracts the cudgel to the size of a baton, just enough to parry any sword attacks , before charging towards the undead swordsman.

The undead swordsman tries to attack the farmer with the sword but was deflected by the baton-sized cudgel, the farmer then grabs the undead swordsman’s sword wielding arm to stop it’s attacks. Very quickly, he hid his baton-sized cudgel underneath his clothes to free his other hand to grab the other arm of the undead swordsman, immobilizing him completely.

“Now!” The farmer shouted, signaling the investigator mage to go for the spellcaster who, upon realizing his creature was incapacitated, quickly made his retreat to the first floor of the shack. 

“Find a way to reverse the Necromancy!” The investigator mage shouted at the young cleric as he quickly ran past the farmer towards where they came from, with the undead trying to break free from the farmer’s grasp to no avail. The young cleric went to the book she was previously reading to try and find more clues about the black magicka.

Like a machine, the undead swordsman tries to forcibly break away from the farmer’s hold to the point that the right elbow starts to create cracking noises until it eventually gets dislocated.

“I see… Since it can no longer feel pain, it will continue to push its body way to the limit even to the point of damaging itself…”

-Crack, crack, crack-

Now the left elbow starts to create cracking noises. The farmer notices how the joint gets dislocated instead of the bone breaking, which made him realize that the body was strengthened making it durable than when it was alive.

“I see… I see…” 

“A durable and inexhaustible body will work well in hard labor!” He excitedly thought to himself. 

“The orcs are physically strong, they can handle hard and heavy labor, and they can work longer than humans. But they consume resources twice the amount that of humans…”

“Undeads however, not only can they handle hard and heavy labor but they can work tirelessly. They don’t consume resources but they lack the intelligence to make good judgment.”

The farmer starts imagining his farm with undead workers doing the farming while the orcs defend the property and hunt for food.

“I got it!” The young cleric shouted.

“The first thing we need to do is to dispel the necromancer’s grasp on the undead…”

“Okay, on it!” Before the young cleric could further explain the method, the farmer pushed the undead’s other arm to free his hand to get the cudgel; hitting the undead’s head with it, dispelling the necromancer’s grasp in the process.

“Okay, what next?” He then asked but the young cleric looked nervously terrified.

“Why’d you do that?! I still need to prepare the reversal spell!” She shouted.

“What? I thought you’d just wave your staff and magically reverse the spell???”

“That’s not how spell works!”

Just as the two bickers, the undead starts to transform. The right arm starts to twist, fixing the dislocated elbow as the face starts to contort, showing an enraged expression.

“Shit…” The farmer uttered. Just as the undead’s body starts to settle, it lets out an animalistic growl before lunging towards the farmer with the intent to bite him. Out of reflexes, the farmer used the cudgel as a gag to prevent the undead from biting him.

“Are you done with the preparation?” He shouted.

The young cleric was on her knees with her hands clasping together while mumbling some indistinguishable words.

Seeing the journal about Necromancy made by the spellcaster reminded her of her time in the temple; upon being chosen as the cleric for the hero party, her mentors crammed her skull with all sorts of knowledge, including the language of the Celestials.

Fortunately, for his journal to be indecipherable by the average magicians, the veteran spellcaster used Runic language which was based on the language of the Celestials; and that the miracle spell needed to reverse the Necromancy spell must be recited using the language of the Celestials.

As the farmer continues to wrestle with the undead swordsman, light starts to emit from the ground the young cleric was praying. Soon, the undead stopped moving but was trembling; it was as if something was restraining its movements. 

His head was pulled back, his mouth spread wide open as light started to come out. It was like that for a brief moment and then it stopped. His body goes limp, falling to the ground like a ragdoll.

“It’s done…”

Breathing heavily, the young cleric said. The incantation drained her mentally as well as physically.

“Good job…” The farmer said while helping her get to her feet.

“Let’s get you top side, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to rest down here.” He added.

“Thanks…” She said before closing her eyes.