Garrick gloomily looked toward the zombies, who were slowly yet steadily staggering toward them, and asked in a heavy voice, "What's our plan?"
Brunhild looked toward Caius, who was currently being attacked by the Rank 1 creature and could only dodge, and bit her lip in anxiety.
She knew they were all in a despairing situation. Caius would have to use a considerable amount of mana and stamina just to avoid taking fatal injuries.
In short, the longer the battle went on, the deadlier their situation would gradually become. What was worse was that she couldn't even kill the controllers due to their invisible barriers. Furthermore, the woman with the warhammer was a massive danger to all of them. Together with the three other mages, if they all joined forces, the Eclipse team would die in no time.
Brunhild sighed. She knew this would be their final battle, but she couldn't demotivate the others. They could only try their best to kill as many zombies as possible, and hopefully at least one necromancer—though for now, they had to focus on reducing the zombie horde to dispel the barrier spell.
She smiled helplessly, and after a brief pause, spoke in a commanding tone, "Deal with the zombies first. We should at least let the villagers rest, and that is what we are going to do." She couldn't speak of her true plans even in a low voice, as the enemies were close enough to overhear everything.
Eilif and Thorne glanced at each other and laughed. They immediately readied themselves to fight their final battle, swearing in their hearts that they would at least kill one of those necromancer bastards before dying!
Elianor was trembling out of pure fear of death. She was no fool and could see that there was no amazing plan; they were all going to die for sure!
She didn't want to die!
She was much younger than the others and hadn't even fallen in love with a man yet. She didn't want to die... There were still too many things she wanted to do in life.
As Elianor spiralled into despair, Garrick patted her shoulder heavily. The force of it snapped her out of her uncontrollable trembling, leaving her gasping for breath.
After patting her, Garrick laughed loudly, raised his massive battle-axe, and dashed toward the nearest zombie.
He roared for everyone to hear, "Let's go out with a bang! And show these skeleton bastards that we, the Eclipse, are not ones without a backbone!"
With that war cry, Garrick slashed at the zombie in front of him with a horizontal sweep of his axe. However, it didn't cut through. The zombie was merely pushed away with some minor injuries, soon continuing its charge toward them as if it were perfectly fine.
Garrick frowned. This meant he had to use his mana just to deal with these basic zombies. If only he had a Tier 1 axe, he could swiftly send these half-dead villagers to the afterlife.
Eilif, Thorne, and Brunhild had also realized this issue, despairing internally.
No matter what, they couldn't stop, or else they would eventually be overwhelmed by numbers. Thus, all of them attacked with mana channeled directly into their weapons and arrows.
Elianor drew her daggers from their sheaths with quivering, sweaty hands.
Though she could move now, she just couldn't get rid of the terror gripping her entire body, even knowing it would only serve as a hindrance in battle. She desperately wished she possessed the same indomitable spirit as her teammates.
At that moment, she noticed that Brunhild, Garrick, Eilif, and even Thorne were shaking slightly, unable to fight like they used to.
Watching this, Elianor realized that she was not the only one afraid of death; they were too.
She chuckled softly in her mind. It seemed she had simply been too overwhelmed by emotions previously. All her teammates were terrified but still giving their all, so she, as the youngest member, shouldn't show such disgrace in front of her seniors.
Elianor's expression turned serious. She dashed toward the zombies trying to swarm Brunhild from behind, and with her mana-imbibed daggers, she stabbed the heads of two zombies. They turned limp and dropped to the ground, dead.
Zombies created from ordinary mortal corpses weren't difficult to kill, and they couldn't regenerate. They were just abnormally sturdy, but otherwise weak overall.
Elianor was amazed that she had been able to kill two zombies so easily. Normally it was nothing incredible, but right now, she desperately needed this motivation.
After killing the two, her quivering hands became a lot more stable, and she finally found her confidence again.
Brunhild glanced over and smiled at Elianor, then continued shooting arrow after arrow toward the horde. As an archer, she possessed plenty of arrows inside her space pouch.
Elianor tightly gripped her daggers and performed another sweep to kill two more zombies. She decided it was better not to think anymore and just kill whatever monster stood in front of her.
Morbus, Gravis, Vellara, and Mortisia wore smiles filled with satisfaction while watching Brunhild and the others struggle.
They were very happy with how all of them were expending their mana without holding back. These zombies were useless to them anyway, as they had a very limited lifespan, and there was no reason to waste extra ingredients and mana to extend their existences further. After leaving the village, they would only dump them. So, seeing these zombies being properly utilized one final time brought them great joy.
Glancing toward the other battlefield, they saw Caius also being forced to expend his strength. Seeing this, they smiled even more happily.
This was a great success! Now they could calmly enjoy the rest of the show.
Unknown to all of them, on the rooftop of a tall building a little away from the ongoing battle, there were three individuals lying flat on their bellies side by side. They were resting over a Tier 2 soft carpet with Tier 1 cushiony pillows under their chests for support, hands interlocked under their chins.
These three also wore happy smiles and were thoroughly enjoying the live show. They were even swaying their feet in mid-air in relaxation, and sometimes, intentionally or not, their feet would interlock with each other, earning two mischievous giggles from the beautiful girls on either side while leaving the handsome man in between completely speechless.
"Brother Eric, it seems the previous six have really found themselves in deep trouble," Lyria said from Eric's left side. Her voice was light and cheerful, clearly indicating she was in a great mood.
Lyria currently wore a striking crimson hooded ensemble consisting of a form-fitting, dark-metal-accented corset and leggings, and finished with black combat-style boots. She looked like a blood enchantress capable of swaying any man's heart with her beauty and figure.
Eric nodded in agreement and mused:
The six Mana Wielders were dead for sure, unless they possessed some powerful hidden trump cards. In fact, all of them were Warriors, and because of that, they couldn't even use spell scrolls. It was a poor match-up for them against a powerful and experienced enemy group. If they had taken one or two experienced Mages into their party, there might be some tiny sliver of hope. Sadly, it was too late now, as they were already at the end of their ropes.
Eric was wearing a long, black leather coat that reached his ankles. The coat featured studded shoulder pauldrons, giving it a formidable, almost armored look. Across the chest, multiple straps and buckles cinched the garment, creating a layered effect that covered his torso entirely. Matching black leather gauntlets extended as long sleeves. Underneath, he wore black leather pants tucked into tall, sturdy black boots. The entire ensemble was dark and imposing.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy had arrived the exact moment the six were sneaking into the village. They had found it highly intriguing and chose to trail behind them to see what they were up to.
Because the six had been entirely focused on the village ahead, they didn't bother checking their rears. Thus, the trio had no trouble sneaking behind them, being highly capable in the arts of stealth due to Bella Noll's teachings.
The moment they entered the village, Eric had realized that the atmosphere was strangely filled with death and decay. His senses were much sharper than both girls' due to his high Constitution and Intelligence stats. But despite that, he hadn't been able to figure out where exactly the dead were 'hiding' initially; however, he was certain they were being masked by a third party somehow.
And so, the three of them quietly hid atop a tall building with an excellent vantage point, enjoying everything right from the beginning.
Livy, who was on Eric's right side, glanced at Lyria and mocked, "But Ly, you are truly amazing. You even managed to successfully curse the villagers to their deaths." Her tone made it sound as if she were sincerely praising Lyria.
Livy was wearing a breathtaking black outfit. Her attire was a form-fitting bodysuit adorned with ornate silver patterns. The bodysuit hugged her curves perfectly, emphasizing her figure, with high black leather boots completing her look.
Eric also looked toward his left, enjoying Lyria's cute, embarrassed expression.
Lyria blushed, "I-It's not my fault! Besides, these villagers have been dead for over a week or more!"
Eric chuckled, "Well, we at least managed to see some real living humans this time."
In fact, he was quite speechless internally. They had just left their cute Ringwood Town behind to go out on an adventure, and right on the way toward their first city, they had not only encountered a Spirit-type, Elemental-type, Physical-type, and Mystical-type, but now even a brand new unknown Type!
They had no idea which type that six-armed naked lady belonged to. The tall, pale woman was incredibly weird; she could fall right between a Spirit and Physical type, but at the same time, she was neither of those.
In short, just by stepping out of their safe homes, they had encountered all types of Mana Beasts and then some.
Eric felt it was all due to him being in a coma for over ten days and missing his daily rituals of mocking the heavens and gods that such a weird sequence of situations had occurred.
He needed to teach both girls this hidden technique so they could share his burden in managing the universe in the future.
Lyria and Livy had wry smiles and agreed with Eric. It was truly a bizarre situation that throughout nearly three months of journey, they had never encountered a single living human. They were somewhat glad to finally encounter living people and not just ghosts or half-eaten corpses.
Livy turned to watch the heated battle between the warriors and the zombies, speaking after some hesitation, "Brother Eric, I think the six who are fighting should be from Batley City... Shall we rescue them?"
She felt a hint of pity that the six were about to die. They had shown such deep comradeship, which had earned her approval.
Hearing the word 'rescue,' Eric wanted to laugh evilly and reply—Leave them be, we only need one or two of them alive to know what we want to know, Mahaha.
But he was not that foolish. If any of them died, the survivors would be too depressed. Although they would still be grateful for the rescue, they would lose most of their enthusiasm to clearly explain the things the trio wanted to know.
The necromancers were useless. They probably didn't belong to Batley City and wouldn't be cooperative even if spared. So, the winning side among them had to be the one that came from a nearby civilized society. If the necromancers had to blame someone for their cruel fate, they should only blame themselves for being so completely useless to him at this moment. Mahaha.
Eric coughed and answered while watching the battle between normal Mana Wielders for the very first time, "Yes, we need to. There's a ninety percent chance these six belong to Batley City, and a small chance they belong to other towns or cities nearby. Either way, meeting such people at this moment is of great help to us, as we don't need to risk looking foolish when entering a city for the first time. They will happily guide us and explain the things we want to know."
Eric was very concerned about being treated as a country bumpkin upon entering a big city for the first time, and this was an excellent chance to prevent them from becoming a laughing stock.
Lyria and Livy agreed with a nod.
Lyria commented with a soft smile, "I kind of like this team. None of them tried to run away when the odds turned drastically against them. They are also trying to support each other to the absolute best of their abilities."
Eric and Livy completely agreed on that point. From Thorne rescuing Elianor and not abandoning her even when he was in a tight spot, to the others chasing after Thorne despite knowing they were in massive trouble instead of just saving their own skins, all of this demonstrated excellent comradeship and mutual trust.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy continued watching the battle while enjoying the pressure their favorite team was going through, occasionally commenting and ridiculing the six for their pathetic fate and the simple mistakes they made while fighting.