Chapter 74 - Undead Asylum Catacombs (3) (Patreon)

One of the essential things to know when combating the Undead is always to avoid getting surrounded. The most common strategy of the Undead, when they were fighting, was just to drown their target in sheer numbers.

It was a rather simplistic and primitive strategy, yet nobody could deny that it wasn't effective because it was. Sometimes, even powerful Beyonders would fall to that, especially when there were bigger Undead Hordes involved.

Those ones tended to have Sequenced Extraordinary Undead as the commanders and heavy hitters of the Undead Horde, which made the Undead even more dangerous than they usually were.

Fortunately for the three of them right now, there were only a few tens of Undead present in the room at best, though the numbers could easily double or triple depending on the number of the Undead in the surroundings. 

It was for granted that once they started fighting, their fight would attract the other Undead to their location, and if there were any Cultists of the Cult of the Dammed present, they would join the fight.

The only concern for them right now, was that one Undead in the middle of the room, standing before the ruins of the altar, because he seemed like some variation of Lich. 

Most probably one of the Lesser ones, which was good news for them, but at the same time, it was also bad news because the presence of Lich meant that the Cult of the Dammed was taking this place rather seriously, and they had an unknown goal in the Orange Shore.

"We need to fight our way to that, Lich; we are in luck because it is newly turned one and is just at Sequence 7. But don't underestimate it because it is just a Sequence 7 Lich; they are tricky opponents even at the Low Sequences."

Melisandre told Gotrik and Valkorion as she was holding a dagger in her right hand and conjured a small fireball in her left hand. Valkorion also noticed that her dagger had exactly the same flame enchantments as Gotrik's war axes. 

Only a few moments were enough that was needed for the first Undead Warriors to arrive as the Skeleton Warriors charged at the three of them with their weapons. Ironically, though, all of them were very slow, and their movements were clumsy, so Valkorion moved first, and with a few swings of his sword, all of them were destroyed.

He looked at the Excalibur that tore through the Undead Warriors like nothing; its anti-dark properties have shown their worth right now. In a swift move, the dwarven Slayer followed after as he jumped in front of Valkorion, and his twin waraxes cleaved through a few Undead Warriors and Zombies that arrived during the window of two seconds. 

Everyone noticed that the Lesser Lich had taken direct control of all the Undead present in this place and was directing them to annihilate them. When the Undeads were controlled by someone with even half brains, their lethality was increased severalfold.

Just like in this case, but the Lich only kept throwing the Undead at them, not really using any strategies to deal with them, like most of the Liches would do, especially the older ones and Elder Liches. 

For all their horrific appearance, Zombies were slow and clumsy, making it easy even for ordinary local militia and adventuring warbands to destroy individuals or even to bring down small groups without any casualties.

The only terryfing about them were their high numbers, but in this situation it wasn't the case, as they continued fighting their way to the center of the room, where the Lich was surrounded by another type of Undead.

Skeleton Knights, a lesser variation of the Death Knight, which was the type of the Higher Undead. Fortunately, the Skeleton Knights could be handled by them, as neither of them appeared to be an Extraordinary Creature, though Mellisandre told them that two of them were not far away from that rank.

Also, this was the first time he saw the red witch in combat, and he had to admit that it was a stellar performance. She handled the dagger more masterfully than any assassin or rogue he had ever seen, and she wasn't even Beyonder related to it, yet she was more deadly than any.

Combined with her Pyrmoancy Abilities and Blessings of Lord of Light, she was able to destroy any Undead that appeared next to her, as there were several that attempted to ambush them from behind, but they were swiftly burned by her Pyromancy or stabbed by a dagger. 

Valkorion raised his sword and blocked the strike from one of the Skeleton Knights that the Lich dispatched at them when the Undead creature realized that its attempts to kill them were futile, and they were still advancing steadily.

The Skeleton Knights were tall, taller than he was and it's armor had intricate, almost organic details, resembling twisted and jagged bone or metal. They held swords and lances raised, and their faces were hidden by an imposing helmet crowned with sharp horns or a crown-like structure.

What surprised Valkorion was the fact that the two Skeleton Knights that were fighting him could actually fight him rather equally. While he wasn't using even a small part of his power and skill in fighting these Skeleton Knights to preserve his stamina, he noticed that these ones were using more than just their instincts. 

Most probably, they were a bit more intelligent and sentient than the average Undead, but that was given because the intelligence and sentience of the Undaed were equaled to their "Level" as Undead.

For example, ordinary Zombies, Ghouls, Skeletons, or other types of Undead grunts were as stupid as they could get, and they were only acting based on their instincts. 

But the Higher Undead, like Elder Liches, Death Knights, and other Undeath abominations, was as intelligent as any other sentient race; some were even more. 

Even though the Skeleton Knights were still Lesser Undead, they were on the higher specter of the ladder, and thus, they were more intelligent. Not to mention, these ones were very close to advancing into the Extraordinary Undead, which means that they would be Intermediate Undead and had a higher degree of intelligence. 

For the Undaed to become Skeleton Knight, it wasn't just about giving random Skeleton armor, but the person who was raised as Undead needed to be a skilled Knight or warrior, ideally a Beyonder in that area. 

Beyonders would be directly raised as powerful Undeads. 

Still, using the Juyo Sword Style that focused on speed and dexterity was enough for Valkorion to outmaneuver them rather quickly, and as he hacked forward, he pierced through the decaying armor of the Skeleton Knight, as the Undead combusted on the stop as the Holy Light of the Excalibur directly destroyed the Undead in mere seconds. 

He swiftly then jumped away as the second Skeleton Knight swung his lance directly toward his head, and he missed it only by one second as Valkorion kicked the Skeleton Knight away, sending it to crash into the small horde of the other Undead.

Meanwhile, he was dealing with the two Skeleton Knights. The dwarven Slayer, Gotrik Gurnisson, was furiously passing back another two Skeleton Knights that were heavily armored, and with his waraxes, he was cutting them apart bit by bit. 

Some parts of the Skeleton Knights were already on fire, and the flames from the war axes were already burning them to the ashes at rather a fast pace.