Waiting in the dark, the group watched as Eldrian faded into the dark of night. Using the ability of his cloak to distort the surrounding air and then covering this distortion with a darkness spell.


    While his skill was not enough to hide his presence from mana sense, no light would find him. Of course, the light from a torch or spell being absorbed by a shadowy blob would be strange. But if someone only looked quickly, they would fail to notice the persistent shadow next to them.


    With a little more practice, Eldrian could y with it to not give his location away. He might even one day learn how to hide the flow of mana as hemanded his weapons.


    A few minutes after he left, the sounds of battle echoed in the air. In the flickering light of torches carried by the undead, the group made out a crude, massive, flying sword massacring the lower undead.


    It was a chilling sight.


    Each attack from the flying sword ended the undead life of a skeleton or zombie. And when something stronger than the lower undead stood in its way, a small and extremely fast dagger would throw them off bnce. The sword using that moment to crush through their defenses and massacre them.


    "Let''s move." Vivian mumbled, the first to recover. She wasn''t so much shocked by the massacre, but rather because Eldrian could aplish this while remaining hidden. She knew she and Ceph could also ughter the undead, but not like this. Not while hiding somewhere safe and sound.


    ''I see. This is why he was so confident.'' Not only did Eldrian still have the items they had received from the capital, he had many new skills and weapons. Vivian wondered what else he and Solvi had developed over the past few days.


    Clutching the ne around her neck, the same type as Eldrian''s, she pondered what else they had created. They had been coborating a lot recently.


    During the entire siege, Eldrian would visit the shop to modify the experimental equipment he was using. It appeared that they were making significant progress.


    "Hey, Ceph, do you know anything?" Vivian asked as they moved under the cover of the night.


    Ceph had copied Eldrian''s method of increasing the surrounding darkness. This should prevent them from being spotted, as long as they didn''t stumble directly into one of the undead--all of whom were running towards the chaos.


    Someone sharp eyed might notice the extra dark spot in the night, but most wouldn''t see anything.


    "We''ve practiced a bit, but I''m not sure what all Eldrian has prepared for this mission." Ceph replied.


    Sadly, Eldrian still did not receive quests like other yers. That, however, did not mean he wasn''t going to do all he could to ensure its sess. After all, the more cities survived, the better.


    "And our connection is still strong. He isn''t being pushed near his limits." Ceph added as they sneaked across the ruined fields. What once used to feed the city was now just muddied ground, trampled by the uncountable number of undead stationed around the city.


    As the group continued their infiltration, the situation of the city became clearer and clearer. That it had not fallen was a miracle. When they neared the inner walls, they all paused. Staring at the broken magic tower in shock.


    "Hey, we going in?" A voice asked, causing them all to jump.


    "Eldrian! Don''t sneak up on us like that!" Elizabeth screamed, mping her mouth right after and ncing around nervously.


    "Don''t worry. I already cast a sound barrier around us so we can talk without worry. Ites in handy when sneaking, so I''ve been keeping one over me constantly." He exined, nonchnt.


    Naturally, those who knew him did not find this strange. However, Adriana and herpatriots were stunned by everything they were learning today. Eldrian was clearly stronger than them allbined.


    "So, why have you guys stopped here?" Eldrian asked, unaware of the emotional damage he had passively inflicted on those around him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Their defenses here are airtight." Nikki replied. And Judith, the other yer who had joined this mission''s advanced squad, nodded.


    "Distraction?" Eldrian asked.


    "Doubt that will be enough." Nikki said, shaking her head in denial. "It looks like there are a bunch of stronger undead here. We''ve already spotted some ghouls and revenants."


    "Ugh..." Eldrian grumbled. Revenants were not fun to deal with. They had been absent in the border siege, which had certainly been a great help to their defenses. Here, however, there were more than enough dead to attempt creating the rarer types of undead. Not to mention the city that had fallenpletely to the dead.


    Scanning the walls, Eldrian confirmed the difficulty of causing a worthy enough distraction. At a quick nce, he counted at least thirty revenants.


    ''Didn''t the duke say the city has equal numbers?'' Eldrian grumbled. Granted, the duke had said this only counted for captains and above. Meaning Tier 6 or higher. Below that, the undead had them beat ten, maybe even a hundred to one.


    The lower you went, the more undead there were. There were a bunch of undead animals wandering about. They were excellent scouts because of their numbers, and while theirbat potential was low, they were still hard to kill for normal soldiers. After all, you had to find the concentration of mana within their skeleton.


    ''Mmm, an item to see that might be useful,'' Eldrian noted. But quickly put the idea at the back of his mind as he scanned the defenses. Unlike the outer wall, this one had been repaired. The undead were trying to keep the living penned in, it seemed.


    ''I see. Since the stronger ones don''t want to risk death, they want to starve the city. And, I guess those are the peaks the city is named after... and the reason it has yet to fall.'' While difficult to see at night, on his map they stood clear as day.


    Three districts were mostly undamaged, each surrounding a mountain. Thergest one the district for nobility, the secondrgest the district ofbat professionals and schools, and the smallest one the artisans and crafters district.


    Each had their own set of walls, all of which was then again surrounded by a wall. And the magic towers built atop the mountains could range past each other. Unlike the eight magic towers spread throughout the city.


    They didn''t quite form a triangle, but this still made invading the center of the city more difficult, as all three towers could reach nearly all areas one could approach from.


    ''It''s like a three castles within a wall section,'' Eldrian concluded. However, considering the damaged state of the rest of the city, it was only a matter of time until it too fell.


    "Alright, I guess we have to fly over." Eldrian said, and everyone thought they misheard him.


    "What was that?" "You''re joking?" "That''s impossible."


    "Nah, should be easy enough. Well, calling it flying is a bit much." Saying such, Eldrian pulled out a small ck ball from his inventory and dropped it on the ground. Feeding it mana, it expanded. Forming a pitch ck floor on the ground.


    "Do you think this is actually going to work?" Ceph asked, knowing what wasing.


    "I mean, it might fail. But if we keep our flight low, it shouldn''t be a problem. Plus, I''ll cause a distraction again."


    "What the heck are you nning?" Elizabeth asked, unable to keep quiet any longer.


    "It''s simple enough." Eldrian said, attaching what looked like rockets to the corners of the tform. In the center front, there was a hook, which he looped an equally dark chain around. "This is kinda like a sleigh... that can fly. Just need Ceph to pull it."


    Hearing that, everyone looked between Eldrian and Ceph, considering the two elves, one actually an Alicorn and the other technically a human, mad.