862: The city of the dead (2) - Escape

The city of the dead (2) - Escape

With a click, Craine's collar loosened before falling apart. As soon as the collar's magic flow was broken, its own mana devoured it. Or at least this was what Adriana was speculating as she collapsed in exhaustion.  2

Spitting out the buildup of blood in his mouth, Craine immediately cast Therpevo (Tier 4 heal) on Adriana, which should be capable of healing broken bones and most internal injuries.

He followed it up with Anthisi (Tier 4 rejuvenation) to supply Adriana with energy and also help her recover some of the mana she had surely spent in destroying her and his collars. 

With that done, Craine had used half his mana, and while he wished to free the others, he had injuries of his own.

The rampaging mana of the collar as it was being destroyed did not care for the body it was rampaging in—in fact, it purposefully was created to cause as much damage as possible if fiddled with. While he hated to delay, Craine knew he had to, at the minimum, cast Anthisi on himself.

"Thanks." Adriana mumbled as Craine also threw several Nidia's (water balls) at her. Removing the drying blood from her face. Allowing everyone to see her tired smile. 

"How's your mana doing?" Craine asked, cursing himself for never having taken magic as seriously as his physical training. He only had a paltry 414MP at hand, and each Anthisi cast required a 120, while Therpevo had consumed 64. 

Adriana had far more mana, close to a thousand, but breaking free from her collar without outside help and then unlocking his must have taken its toll. 

With a sad smile, Adriana said, "I only have 200 left. Unlocking your collar wasn't too difficult, but..."

Everyone nodded. They had seen the state she had been in. The amount of blood she had lost must certainly also be tiring her—not to mention all the pain she had endured.

While the Anthos line of spells were great for someone's recovery, they couldn't return what was physically lost, nor could they remove the lingering pain she surely was in. They also couldn't fill an empty belly.

With the blood no longer hiding her face, her pale skin was clear for all to see. She was probably fighting just to remain awake. 

"Rest. I'll try to help the others." Craine said. Moving to free the next, however, Adriana grabbed his torn shirt before he could. None of their clothing was better than rags, but at least it still allowed them to keep their modesty.

"It won't work. You need to guide your mana. Can you do that?"

"Of course." Craine replied, chest puffed out in pride. Naturally, he could guide his mana into his spells and skills. He was confident he would be able. 

"Not like that. Can you guide your mana without using a spell or skill to guide it towards?" She asked, and Craine's confidence crumbled. It was the very reason why he hadn't progressed to Tier 5 with magic. He had never learned how to guide his mana with his will alone. 

"Keep casting Anthisi for me. The direct conversion isn't great, but the bonus regen effect will help."

With a nod, Craine did just that. Sadly, all rejuvenation spells had their limits. After two uses, the bonus regen wouldn't apply anymore. Regardless, those two uses would give Adriana 800MP to use. They just needed to wait a bit for things to happen naturally. 

After around twenty minutes, everyone was free. And that was when they noticed their abysmal natural recovery rates. Without their collars stopping the surrounding mana from invading their bodies, they were all feeling lethargic.

Not only did this cloud their minds, but it would take them days to naturally recover their mana. The only way they could get any true recovery was with rejuvenations spells. But continued usage would only cause them to build up a resistance to the spell. In time, it won't be able to do anything for them. 

But the key was 'in time'. They didn't even have a guarantee they will be able to get to that point. Casting Anthisi, Anthise, or Anthisma on each other (depending on the other's abilities) everyone got ready to escape. 

They all knew full well that their chances were low. Running wasn't an option. The undead would be able to catch them. After all, they were thousands of kilometers from their homeland. They couldn't rely on a mad dash for safety. 

Which meant they had to hide after escaping from the cell—which ended up being quite simple.

The undead, confident in their collars or simply lazy, hadn't strengthened their cell with any formations. A simple earth spell had allowed them to destroy the walls and escape into the back alleys. 

Luckily, their clothing helped them blend in with the others slaves. Those with long hair let it hang over their necks and faces, while those with short placed themselves in the center of the group. They had also found a bunch of empty crates to carry as an extra disguise. 

Naturally, they were headed for the human farms. 

"Stop. Who's master?" A thrall asked. That it could speak meant it was intelligent for a thrall, but its broken speech made it clear it wasn't too intelligent. Using Inspection, Adriana learned that the thrall's master was named Damian. 

"Do you want to keep master Damian waiting?" Adriana asked, making sure to speak with clear anger in her voice. Hearing its own master's name, the thrall let them pass without further questions. It even offered to help them.

"Isn't this too easy?" Craine asked as they continued using the same strategy to move through the city. 

"I'm not sure who we were supposed to be for, but the city is clearly not being managed properly." Adriana replied. This was something she had noticed upon entering the city. 

While it was not imperative to manage things well for the undead, proper management would make things move forward like a well-oiled machine. However, most undead had their quirky personalities. 

For example, liches (the most intelligent undead) were obsessed with their research. Should such a being be the ruler of the city, most everything would be ignored—except what might aid it in its research. 

What added even more to this situation was that the only true intelligent being in the city had to be Tier 5 or above. Such undead wouldn't be happy being placed as a gate guard. After all, they were basically nobility in the city. 

As such, the group reached one of the human farms without incident. There had been a commotion at the end of their journey, but by using the same trick as always, they had slipped by before a search party dashed through the gates.

Several ghouls followed the skeleton who had brought them to the city, rushing for the outside. Seeing that, they were all grateful they hadn't decided to run for it. None of them even contemplated trying to fight a bunch of ghouls while unarmed. 

Shifting into a large group of slaves, they got to work tilling the fields. Not speaking much with anyone as they worked. Once night arrived, they all huddled together as Adriana got to work making collars for everyone. 

"It's not much, but hopefully it will work." She mumbled. Her craftmanship was shoddy. But she was the only one who was able of this. Somehow, she had learned she could now use her spells outside of their original purpose.

To make the collars they made a necklace of dirt first, which she then turned to hardened dirt after. Any close inspection would reveal it as a fake, but it would make it easier for them to move about unnoticed. 

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