Going back to a few minutes ago…

With his undead swordsman being incapacitated by the farmer and the investigator mage going after him, the veteran spellcaster retreated back to the entrance of the cellar. He then casted a Magicka push spell to his feet to quickly propel himself upwards to the ground floor of the shack. Upon seeing this, the investigator mage quickly starts to prepare some spells as he runs towards the exit.

“Delay magicka, Stone burst”

Stone burst is an earth elemental magicka that gathers earth elemental materials around to a single point designated by the caster to form a stone that will explode when it reaches as certain threshold based on the amount of mana used, while Delay magicka, as the name suggests, delays the effect of a magicka that was used upon. Using Delay magicka on Stone burst delays the explosion after reaching the threshold, while it may seem useless to delay the attacks of an offensive magicka, the investigator mage is using it differently.

The investigator mage knows that the veteran spellcaster wouldn’t just try to escape. He’d definitely try to slow his pursuers by setting up traps, just like how he set up traps in the shack; and just as he predicted, upon exiting the cellar, a Lightning magicka trap triggered but the Stone burst magicka protected the investigator mage from it. It would’ve been a perfect move for the investigator mage but unfortunately, he had a miscalculation. From the corner of his eye, to his left, was a bright light; it was another Lightning magicka trap that got triggered as well.

“Shit!” He uttered. He braced himself for the incoming damage but fortunately the delayed Stone burst activated at the right time, exploding in front of the investigator mage and destroying the wall in front of him. Seeing an opportunity, he forcefully enhanced his legs with mana, dashing forward and evading the Lightning magicka. This startled the veteran spellcaster, who was just a few inches to the front door, before making a mad dash to the forest as soon as the investigator mage fell to the floor after his legs weakened due to the sudden surge of mana from the forceful enhancement he did.

“Lightning!” The investigator mage casted but wasn’t able to hit his target.

“Tch!” He blurted before casting a recovery spell to his legs.

“If he disappears into the forest then we may never be able to catch him.” He said to himself. He quickly went outside, into the forest, desperate to get even a trace of the veteran spellcaster but he was already gone.

“Detect life”

As the name suggests, it is a magicka used to detect any life energy around the caster. Although Detect mana would’ve been better, as it will only search for life forms with mana that aren’t commonly found on animals, it would alert the spellcaster as they are magicians are more attuned to mana energy or magicka than life energy.

“A few meters, north-west” It is the only life energy he could detect that is the size of a man’s; but something was odd about it.

“Why is he not moving?” He wondered.

“Is he resting? Or is he setting up a trap for me?”

In a small glade, deep into the forest, the veteran spellcaster was standing still. The investigator mage circled around, like a tiger circling a prey, trying to be as stealthy as possible so as not to alert the target.

“Aren’t you going to attack?” The veteran spellcaster shouted. Despite the Presence masking magicka the investigator mage casted on himself, the veteran spellcaster knew that his pursuer was close.

“I see…” The investigator mage uttered silently. Thinking that it is pointless to continue hiding, he slowly and cautiously starts to walk towards the veteran spellcaster.

“How about you? Not gonna run anymore?” He asked. The veteran spellcaster turns towards the investigator mage’s direction as he enters the glade, with a spell ready to be casted.

“I think you misunderstood something…” The veteran spellcaster said.

“I’m not running because I’m trying to escape…” Just as he said this, the investigator mage started detecting movements in the forest around him.

“Ambush? But I didn’t detect any life energy aside from his!” The investigator mage looked a tad nervous. It was moving at such a lightning speed that he had a hard time reacting to it, almost taking a chunk from his shoulder, when it leapt through the thicket.

“An undead wolf?!”

It circled around to stare at the investigator mage before dashing again to attack.

The investigator stood his ground, extending the entire right half of his body to further extend his range, and prepared to cast a Fire element magicka; One of the most effective elements against undeads.

“Too easy!” The veteran spellcaster, upon seeing the magicka preparation, casted dispel. Shortly, the undead wolf lunges towards the investigator mage, giving him no time to cast another spell…

It should’ve been the investigator mage’s body on the ground, being eaten by the undead wolf but it was the opposite… Ice element magicka starts to freeze the body of the undead wolf, starting from the its chest where the Ice spear magicka spell pierced through.

“What?! How?!” What the veteran spellcaster didn’t know was that the investigator mage prepared another spell in his left hand, hidden from his view.

Fire element magicka is effective against undeads, aside from necromancers, anyone who has encountered or fought one would know that; this is why the veteran spellcaster knew what magicka the investigator mage would use, and how to dispel it. But using Fire element magicka in the forest is dangerous as it might start a forest fire; for that reason, the investigator mage prepared an Ice element magicka spell on his other hand.

Aside from that, he had taken into consideration the possibility of his Fire element magicka getting dispelled by the veteran spellcaster; and so, used two different element magicka to decrease the chances of the second being dispelled. Had his Fire element magicka didn’t get dispelled, he would’ve used his Ice element magicka to minimize the damage done by fire to the surroundings, stopping any possible forest fire.

“Are you ready to give up quietly or do I have to drag you to your cell?” The investigator mage threatened but the veteran spellcaster, without even trying to run, just smirked.

“Bind!” He quickly casted a binding magicka spell to stop the veteran spellcaster from trying to escape but, from the veteran spellcaster’s action, seemed useless.

“Instead of worrying about me, I think you should worry about yourself.” The veteran spellcaster said with a grim look on his face. It was then that the investigator mage started to notice the putrid scent in the air getting stronger as four more undead demi-humans emerged from the forest surrounding them.

An orc, a beastman, a lizardman, and a goblin; all were undead creatures created by the veteran spellcaster. Upon seeing the undead orc, the investigator mage recalls the description of the monster the guards gave them.

“I see… so these are… defects?” He uttered. Referring to how the veteran spellcaster called the undead swordsman his “masterpiece”.

“Just because they’re defects doesn’t make them weaker.” The veteran spellcaster warned. The four start to approach the investigator mage, with the goblin being the closest.

“With him being restrained, I can use my Fire element magicka freely…” The investigator mage thought to himself.

The goblin then dashed forward to attack. Though the investigator mage had a spell ready, he couldn’t fire it with the goblin’s fast and erratic movements.

“I need to stop its movements.” He then started to prepare an Ice element magicka on the other hand, planning to freeze the legs of the goblin, but the undead beastman was able to catch up to them and started to throw a barrage of attacks, forcing him to create an Ice barrier instead.

“Shit! Who would’ve thought that fighting four undeads would be this difficult.” Ever since fighting the undead wolf, he felt something was off with his enemies as undead creatures are oftenly slow; though they were undead, it was as if they’re still alive.

“Prolonging this fight would be too dangerous for me, for now I should focus on taking down one.” The investigator mage set his eyes on the undead orc. Aside from being huge, making it an easy target, it is not as agile as the beastman or the goblin. The body itself is made from flesh unlike the lizardman, who’s covered in scales, making it vulnerable.

Preparing to launch an attack, he precasted a Fire magicka and Ice magicka on his hands, before dashing towards the undead orc, evading any attacks he could and using Ice barrier on whatever attacks he couldn’t. A few meters in front of the undead orc and it lifts its ax on the air then bringing it down as soon as the investigator mage reached him, but he evades at the last minute. With the undead orc’s head now lowered, the investigator mage used this opportunity to attack. 

“Take this!” He uttered before firing an Explosion magicka on its face, at point blank range. The explosion sent the investigator mage flying away from the undead orc.

“What?” As soon as the dust clears out, the investigator mage was shocked to find out that the attack he did wasn’t very effective, blowing just half of its face off.

“Hahahaha!” The veteran spellcaster could no longer contain his laughter.

“What makes you think that my undead are the same as the weak ones you normally find in dungeons?” 

“You see, unlike those brittle bone firewoods, my undeads’ flesh were reinforced with necromancy making them very durable.”

“I said this before, they may be defects but that doesn’t make them any weaker. The only reason they’re defects is because, unlike the swordsman, I couldn’t control them.”

“The only way for you to stop them is to destroy them… But can you really do that?” The veteran spellcaster taunted.

The investigator mage started to look pale and sweating profusely, his breathing started to become heavier and heavier, as if the fatigue from all the fighting was starting to set in.

“What’s happening to me?” He looked confused, he couldn’t think clearly.

“My… my…” The veteran spellcaster said.

“To think you’d make a very basic mistake.” He added.

“What?” The investigator mage’s eyes widened as the veteran spellcaster forcefully removed the Binding magicka spell; he didn’t even use dispel on it, so how?

“Mana deficiency.” The veteran spellcaster uttered. Just then, the investigator mage realized his mistake the veteran spellcaster was talking about. Aside from the Bind magicka spell, he was continuously double casting fire and ice magicka spells since the fight with the undead wolf, draining his mana rapidly without him realizing; the constant pressure from four undead creatures gunning for his life was also a factor.

“To think you’ve fought so hard only to die… sad isn’t it?” The veteran spellcaster commented.

“But don’t worry, with your talent I’m sure you’d make a good undead mage.”

The four undead dashed towards the incapacitated investigator mage, with the fastest being the undead goblin. Even in the face of certain death, the investigator mage refused to close his eyes and continued to think of a plan to escape. It was when the goblin lunged forward, that force rapidly came from their side, hitting and eventually destroying the goblin’s skull.

“The cudgel!” It was only a brief moment but the investigator mage recognized the “force” was the Sacred cudgel that extended, then retracted rapidly.

“You look terrible.” The farmer emerges from the forest.

“You! But that would mean…” The veteran spellcaster looked surprised and, at the same time, horrified at the thought that his so-called masterpiece was defeated.

“These creatures are undead right?” Looking at the investigator mage behind him, the farmer asked. The investigator mage, exhausted from all the fighting, could only nod.

“I see…”

“Then let’s make these undeads, dead.”