Leaving the encampment, Vlad, Aidynr, and the rest of the company ventured into the eerily dark terrain. The oppressive darkness seemed to close in around them, every shadow a potential threat.
They moved silently, without a single source of light, to avoid drawing the attention of not only the Aranys but also the more terrifying creatures that lay awake at night.
Aidynr led the group, his eyes scanning the surroundings with the practiced vigilance of a seasoned warrior. Vlad kept close, his senses on high alert, his heart racing with every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves.
As they trekked through the darkness, an unnatural chill filled the air. Without warning, a figure emerged from the shadows. A mummy, its tattered wrappings fluttering like ancient rags in the night breeze.
The creature's eyes glowed with an eerie light, and it wielded both defensive and offensive capabilities that could withstand and deflect spells from a viscount-level powerhouse.
Aidynr reacted swiftly, his voice low and urgent. "Get ready! This isn't going to be easy!"
With no choice but to defend themselves, the group sprang into action, hurling spells and launching attacks at the mummy. Fireballs, lightning bolts, and wind blasts filled the air, illuminating the night with bursts of light.
The mummy, however, proved formidable, absorbing their attacks with ease and retaliating with powerful strikes that sent several of their group sprawling.
Struggling to his feet, Vlad gritted his teeth. Focusing his energy, he chanted incantations, invoking a raging flame that swallowed the mummy.
"Rah!" Bursting through the flames, the mummy stretched out its right hand, striking out with the tattered wrappings covering the hideous abomination beneath.
"We need to combine our efforts!" Aidynr shouted, deflecting a strike with a shimmering shield of magic.
The cohort regrouped, forming a tighter circle around the mummy and bringing down coordinated attacks upon it. One of the team members, a sorceress named Leilatr, cast a spell that created binding chains of light, temporarily restraining the mummy.
Aidynr followed up with a powerful lightning strike that cracked the air with thunderous force. Seeing an opportunity, Vlad added his own magic, a concentrated gust of wind that tore at the mummy's wrappings.
"Rah!" Releasing more wrappings from its body, the mummy sent them toward Vlad and the rest of the cohort in a bid to bind them and imbue them with curse magic.
Compelling his grimoire, Aidynr's pages turned rapidly before stopping at a magic rune that symbolized a barrier. Sliding his right hand across the rune, he summoned a crystallized wall that formed around the mummy, encasing the advancing wrappings heading toward him and his team.
"Restrain its movements!" His voice sounded hoarse as the pages of his grimoire turned rapidly before stopping at the last spell contained within.
Wasting no time, Vlad and the others summoned several chains of different elements that twirled around the mummy, restraining it in place.
Slowly sliding his hand across the magic rune, veins crept through Aidynr's arm and blood slid down his nose as he attempted to cast his most powerful attacking spell.
"We can't hold on much longer!" Struggling to keep the mummy restrained, Vlad and the rest of the cohort bled through their noses, ears, and eyes as they overexerted their magic.
Just halfway through the rune, Aidynr ground his teeth against each other, enduring the mental pain from his mind and the physical pain coming from his bleeding thumb.
With Aidynr being the only viscount-level powerhouse in the group, the others could barely hold back the cursed mummy whose strength could rival the spells of a viscount-level magical practitioner.
Looking at his teammates, Vlad knew they couldn't hold back the mummy for long. Focusing on the wishing system, he made a wish that cost him fifteen percent of his wish bar.
"I wish for my mind to be strengthened."
Feeling relief flood his mind, his eyes sharpened as he raised his left thumb to his mind.
"Lyh fu Emalit!" Channeling power from the underworld, he put his knowledge of dark magic to work as he invoked the flame of hell down on the struggling mummy.
A rain-sized crimson flame appeared above the mummy and dropped onto its head.
Coming to a pause at the appearance of the crimson flame, the mummy went into a frenzy a moment later, as if wanting to avoid the flame at all cost.
Relieved that the mummy had stopped struggling, the group were about to relax when the mummy's struggle shot off the roof, pulling a few of them forward.
Unable to avoid the crimson flame, the mummy screamed its cursed soul out as the insignificant piece of the flame of hell came into contact with it.
Suffering a side effect of his own, Vlad dropped to his knees as he reflexively covered his ears as tightly as possible, seeking to shut out the groaning and shrieking of the prisoners of the underworld.
Finishing his preparation, Aidynr's bloodshot eyes trailed toward the screaming mummy, assigning a target for his summoned spell to descend upon. Wasting no time, a blinding light covered a distance of thirty meters as blue-colored lightning struck down on the mummy, bringing its sorrowful scream to an end.
"We-we did it." Falling to the ground, Leilatr smiled as she rejoiced in the relief of victory.
After a lengthy and grueling battle, the combined might of the group finally overpowered the mummy. It collapsed to the ground in a heap of dust and ancient cloth, its glow fading into the night.
"We can't stay here for long. Our battle must have alerted the horrors of the night." Aidynr ran his thumb across a healing rune in his grimoire, mending his injuries and recovering his mental stamina.
"We're not dead yet. We'll manage." Taking a moment to catch their breath and heal their injuries, the members of the group gave nods and murmurs of affirmation to Aidynr.
..
Done with recuperating, the group continued forward on their journey, guided by the experience and the mystical senses of Aidynr and a few others.
Navigating through the terrain with precision and avoiding further encounters with the night's terrors, they finally arrived at their destination: the city of Frageor, one of the major cities of the Aranyrs, governed by Kabujr, a prince of the sorcery lineage and a marquis-level sorcerer.
Marking out their rendezvous point, they separated to carry out their various tasks.
Vlad's assignment was reconnaissance, observing the patterns of the guards and reporting any useful information. Cloaking the sound of his footsteps, he merged with the shadows, making his way to a high perch on the roof of a building at the edge of the city.
From there, he watched the movements of the guards as they patrolled the streets below.
As he observed, a young man appeared, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Who are you?" he demanded, stepping closer.
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