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Chapter 26
🕑 Added 2024-04-04 08:12:49 +0000 UTCAnton and his family started their hunt early in the morning and it was supposed to last for the whole day but they had to stop due to the presence of the ghouls and the possibility that there could be more, so they moved from the camp.
It was around lunchtime when Anders drove the cart out of their recent campsite and he told his children that they would take their lunch on the move.
Anton could tell that his father was worried about the undead they saw on the road and the forest. The invasion was supposed to arrive in Mendi two weeks from now and even then, they were supposed to focus on the capital instead of the surrounding villages but their presence could already be felt.
“We won’t stop again until we reach the Holy City of Tiande. If we reach a village then we can rent a room at an inn or ask someone to shelter us for coins but there is no village, we will camp by the side of the road but the important part is to be always on the move.”
“We understand father. We’ll follow you,” Anton said while Anna nodded.
They ate bread and cheese and water for lunch and as usual, the family drank the water that came from Anton’s spell work. Anton had to admit by now that the water did have health benefits because even he could feel his tiredness disappearing whenever he drank the water and at night before sleeping, if he drank a mug full of mana water, his sleep was better.
“Father, can I meditate while we’re on the move?” Anton asked Anders.
“Hold off for now since we’re still too near where the ghouls were. Maybe after we’re far enough away from here, let's say a day or two away then you can meditate. I’m just wary of something appearing that we need to handle immediately.”
Dusk arrived and unfortunately, they did not reach the next village so they were forced to camp by the side of the road. Anton and his family prepared two tents since one of them would always be on guard duty.
“Since you still have room in your magic space, we should collect campfire branches and store them there for emergencies,” Anders told his son.
“That’s a good idea, Father. We’ll do that when we have the chance.”
Everyone ate the hot stew and bread that was in Anton’s private stash and he provided everyone with a pitcher full of mana water from the Ice Bolt spell. He wondered if there was a difference if he used a more powerful spell like Glacial Spike.
After eating dinner Anders gave some instructions to his children.
“Anna will take the first watch and then you Anton then me. You need to go straight to sleep Anton, no meditating or doing other stuff. We need to leave early tomorrow.”
Anton went to bed immediately following his father’s direction and the last thought in his mind was that he wished he could take a shower.
A couple of hours later, Anton was woken up by his sister so he replaced her as the night guard for the family. He concentrated on looking at the surroundings making sure that his family was safe. After two hours, he woke up his father and went to sleep again.
“Anton, Anna wake up! We’re being attacked,” Anton woke up from his father’s loud voice after what seemed like just an hour of sleep and he immediately went outside the small tent. He saw that Anna was the same.
Anders was looking at something beyond the campfire and when Anton looked that way, he saw three ghouls studying them. His father was holding his sword ready for the ghouls’ attack.
“Are we being followed?” Anton urgently asked.
“That may be the case. The ghouls that we killed earlier could be part of an undead patrol and its leader decided to hunt us.”
“What are they waiting for?” Anna asked, visibly trembling.
“They may be waiting for reinforcement or their leader,” Her father answered.
Anders then instructed his son to kill the ghouls.
Anton immediately cast Glacial Spike one after another. Even if the ghouls were fast, his spells were faster and the good thing about Diablo II spells was he could spam cast them as long as he had the mana and since he had mana potions in spades in his inventory because he always made sure he did before doing anything outside of the game, he was not afraid to empty his mana reserve.
The first Glacial Spike hit one of the ghouls and since it was an area of effect spell the other two ghouls were hit as well. The three monsters froze and the several Glacial Spike that hit them shattered the ghouls in tens of pieces immediately killing them.
The advantage of the ice spell was there would be no corpses left. That meant that whoever would investigate the death of the ghouls would only find traces of water in the area that would soon dissipate. The Diablo II ice spell was so powerful that when a monster was frozen and shattered, the flesh and blood would dissipate with the ice.
“I’m so glad that you’re a powerful wizard brother,” Anna said when she saw the ghouls’ destruction.
“We need to move fast. I don’t want to encounter the patrol leader of the undead. Anton, Anna bring the tents to the cart, and let’s move on. Don’t bother folding them just dump them inside. We’ll deal with them later.”
The siblings followed their father’s command and Anders himself dealt with the campfire and the other traces they left. Anton did hear his father mutter that there was no helping it that they couldn’t erase all the signs of their stay in the camp.
Everyone was moving so fast as if afraid that a vampire or a lich would suddenly appear. Anton tested the effect of the stamina potion by consuming one and the effect was tremendous. He felt like he drank a ton of energy drinks but without the chemical after-effects. At first, he was moving normally then suddenly he was full of energy. If he could take the potion outside the game, it would have been a great money maker but thinking about it, a lot of items in the game could be great money makers.
It was still very dark and the horses were wary of moving when Anders started the cart. To resolve the issue, Anton cast Fire Bolt but controlled the mana so it turned into a ball of fire hovering on top of his hand. Then he guided that ball of fire in front of the horse but high enough that it lit up the road. That made the horses move since they could now see the road.
The spell was taking a toll on Anton though. Not in terms of mana surprisingly since once he cast the spell, only the initial mana was spent but the focus required to guide the ball of fire depleted his stamina quickly which was resolved by drinking stamina potions and he was glad of his advantages.
The intricacies of his spell craft kept Anton amazed since there were details that he would only discover once he tried them.
Anton noticed that everyone kept looking at their back once in a while as if they were expecting undead monsters to appear and chase them. This kept the travel tense but surprisingly exciting until the sun appeared on the horizon.
