The group followed Tower’s orders, Spike took double the amount as apparently one dose was not enough for him. Elora took the same as everyone else and they prepared to free fall down the hole.

Tower dropped a crystal that beamed with light down while Sharp attached one to the top of his head.

“No backing out now,” Tower declared to the group.

Everyone nodded in confirmation. Sol was quite amazed at Elora’s bravery, most nobles they had fought with before would often be cautious but she seemed more worried about her fairy dust. Sol was seeing her in a different light.

Tower jumped first then the rest of the group followed, it was a strange feeling for everyone. Free falling into a necromancer’s dungeon while high enough to touch a mountain was not on everyones’ bucket list.

Time seemed to stretch as they free fell. Soon the light Tower dropped came into view.

“We’re landing on a hill, o-of flesh?” Sharp questioned himself.

“Prepare for landing,” Tower ordered.

The group could now see the bottom, or the ‘hill’ that Sharp described. It was a pile of just flesh, no noticeable bodies or bones, just piles of meat and skin.

Tower landed first and applied a buff to himself as his eyes scouted the area, the light that he had dropped shone out but only went 40 metres in either direction. He dismissed the buff when he saw no monsters.

The group landed one by one, Elora was practically screaming as her robe brushed against the rotting flesh.

Sharp fell down to his knees and vomited, his high perception caused him to smell the flesh in greater detail than the rest. Elora vomited too but didn’t drop to her knees.

“What a nice day on the job.” Spike said, sarcastically.

“Sorry,” Sharp said as he wiped his mouth, “High perception-”

“Don’t apologise,” Sol said, “We know.”

“Are you ok, Elora?” Sol asked.

“Fine, just a bit of-” she threw up again and Sol winced.

Elora wiped her mouth with a white cloth and promptly set fire to it.

“Sharp, where are we?” Tower asked.

The scout composed himself and closed his eyes to concentrate, “Dome type cave,” he said, “one exit and I can’t see any undead.”

Sol pulled out his daggers, “What I want to know is why there’s a huge pile of rotting meat here.”

“Agreed, there must be tonnes of it.”

Spike bent down and picked up a black horn while examining it. He shared it with the others.

Demon Horn UNCOMMON The horn of a demon.

“You think the guy just dumped the dead demon’s flesh and used the bones for his foot soldiers? I heard some necromancers prefer to use the skeletons rather than leaving the rotten meat on,” Sol said.

“That’s actually a good guess,” Sharp said, “It would fit the puzzle to why there’s so little bones.”

“Which way are we heading?” Sol asked.

Sharp pointed to the pitch blackness down the hill. He summoned his own light crystal and started walking in front.

“Since Mute is injured she will be the last person to attack.” Tower said as they made their way.

“Fine by me,” Spike said. He was usually the last person to attack as he was considered support.

“Elora, we might need you to constantly attack so watch how much smoke you're creating.” Tower reminded.

“Finally,” she huffed. She seemed to be a touch agitated.

Tower smiled at her which was quite out of character.

Their shoes squelched against the rotting flesh as they trodd down the hill.

“Of all the missions I asked for, they gave me this one,” Elora moaned.

Spike laughed, “I wish we could pick and choose.”

“So you just get given a mission?” she asked.

“Yes, my lady, we don’t get the choice.” Spike said, he always pronounced ‘my lady’ as posh as he could.

“That’s awful,” she responded.

“We’re soldiers,” Tower said, “we get given orders and we follow them. You may think we are hardened adventurers but that’s not the case.”

Elora thought for a moment and was about to speak before Sharp cut her off. “Sol, there’s a tunnel 5om from you.” he said.

“Any undead?” he asked.

“No.”

Sol held his daggers in both hands as he approached the tunnel, ‘precaution over prediction’ was a saying that was drilled into him.

The tunnel came into view and Sol’s eyes darted around it, inside were carved stone arches. In the center was a trail of black blood and guts. It looked like things had been dragged to the hill of flesh. And dumped.

“Expect skeleton enemies,” Tower said, “Possibly demon ones. And if they’re skeletal then they must be under control of the necromancer.”

The group grunted their understanding and carefully moved forwards. They entered the tunnel and they gawked at the intricate carvings on the tunnel walls.

“The writing is the ancient Lumina language. I’m not entirely familiar with it,” Sharp said while examining the walls.

“Probably a temple, sucked down here during the Great Merge,” Tower thought out-loud.

“Possibly- wait Sol, I sense a trap,” Sharp said with haste.

Sol stopped on a dime and examined the area in front of him, it just looked like the rest of the tunnel. He knew there was a trap there but the question was- what sort of trap was it?

Sol inched his way forward like he had done so many other times.

“Half a metre,” Sharp said.

Sol lifted his foot up and pressed down on the ground. The ground rumbled and a skeletal hand broke out from the floor and yanked him down.

The rest of the ground crumbled beneath him and Sol fell down into the hole. The walls and ceiling around the hole broke and out stepped tall skeletons with horns on their heads. They held a mixture of attack type weapons and a few wore basic leather armour.

Level 43 Skeletal Warrior Demon* Monster Lore III A demon turned into a skeletal pawn of a necromancer.

“Shit! They’re starred!” Tower exclaimed.

“He could be controlling them from afar so watch out!” Sharp shouted as two mana arrows formed in his bow. He let them both fly into two of the undead demons. One of their heads exploded and the other missed from a swift movement of the undead’s head.

There were 7 in total, excluding the one that pulled Sol down into the hole. Elora let fly a bullet of blue flame that scorched the poor undead to dust. Tower lunged forward and disjointed two of them with his new club.

Spike let a sound wave sand which sent another two back down into the hole with Sol and the last undead was taken care of by a mana arrow that had twice it’s previous power. It exploded the demon into bits and the bones clattered on the ground.

“Sol!” Tower shouted.

There was no sound for a moment so the giant peered down the hole. It was a spike pit and there were at least four skeletons at the bottom with a very bloody Sol.

“I’m good!” Sol shouted back, “died twice.”

Sharp went around and looted the bodies while Tower enrolled a lengthy rope. He chucked it down and Sol pulled himself up. His clothes were pierced with holes and soaked with blood. He looked a little bit crazy as he rolled on the hard surface; blood was dripping from his hair.

Elora leaned over him and emptied a large jug of water on him. It caught Sol off guard and he coughed up a lungful of fresh water.

“Is that revenge for-” Sol coughed, “for the bull?” He asked.

“Perhaps,” she said with a devilish smile.

Tower yanked him up to his feet and dusted him off, “Sharp thinks its pressure triggered so you’re no longer bait,” he said with a smile.

In fact, the whole group was smiling, “I think the fairy dust is still having an effect,” Sol said through a gritted smile.

“Oh it is alright. I feel fantastic!” Spike exclaimed.

“It’s not affecting our cognitive or physical abilities,” Sharp stated, “but I do feel rather good.”

“How’s the club?” Sol asked.

“A bit light, but the material is stronger than the hammer. I think it just needs some metal spikes or plating.” Tower replied.

“That’s good,” Sol added.

“So demons then? Skeleton ones.” Spike asked.

“Yes,” Sharp responded, “I’ve been thinking that ogres must have inhabited this area above before. Adventures or refugees must have blindly walked in seeking shelter and died to the ogres. Then the necromancer came in and killed the ogres and raised both humans and ogres alike.”

“Seems credible,” Tower agreed, “Then he blocked it all off and hoped no one would find him so he could carry on his experiments.”

“Well he knows we’re here now,” Sol stated.

Tower grunted, “Prepare for a mob. Elora you have judgment on whether to use your magic. Just warn us before. If Sol’s there then feel free.”

“Yes, Sir.” she said, confusing everyone. She hadn’t referred to Tower as Sir the whole mission.

“Fitting in are we? M’lady.” Spike sarcastically asked.

“Well I just thought if we’re a team I should refer to the leader as someone with higher authority,” She explained..

Spike slowly clapped, “You know, for a noble, you’re not that bad.”

“What does that even mean? For a noble?”

Tower threw a rock at Spike before he could respond and turned to Elora, “I appreciate it,” he said.

The group moved down the tunnel, taking in the view of the carvings and writings on the walls. Only Sharp knew a portion of what the writings were but he could make no sense of it.

They encountered another 3 traps like the ones before but this time Sol didn’t need to die. They just chucked a large piece of rotten flesh on it and the demons emerged from the walls and floor. They were each dealt with quickly.

The team of five were the best out of all the Fodder ranked groups, they could easily deal with multiple enemies ten levels over them. They only struggled with bosses as most did and with very large hordes. They were a very efficient team, they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Elora had worked with the Unwanted a few times but she had never seen a team work so well together. They lacked magical power- hence her being there but that didn’t deter them from anything.

The one known as Immortal had gained a rumour around the Unwanted and even reached the general population and the elites in New London. She had also become aware of the man but he wasn’t what she had expected.

He seemed not soft but more calm from what the rumours had been saying. Of course, him being immortal gave him a tougher persona than most. But she couldn’t help being intrigued by him.