Dc: The Brother of Superman

The undead, according to the magic on earth, were a product of death magic, soul magic, and life magic.

I don't think it's any different in this world either, so this presents a wonderful opportunity for me to study those three runes.

My [runecrafting] skill allows me to comprehend, manipulate, and bind concepts.

To be precise, my skill allows me to comprehend [Elementary Runes], [Body Runes], [Cosmic Runes], [Chaos Runes], [Order Runes], [Law Runes], [Life Runes], and [Death Runes].

Each of them consists of various runes on themselves, so an extensive amount of runes. That's why my skill is only at level 10; it's slow progress.

*********** 

I didn't interfere with the horde or the party of adventures, at least not yet.

*Slash* 

*Crack* 

*Crash* 

*Raaaghh*

I don't think they even need it at this point; I can see bodies of zombies flying and skeletons getting crushed to dust by only two male adventures.

One of the adventures was wearing shiny knight armor with a metallic medium-sized shield and a platinum sword, while the other had leather armor with fur and a colossal sword made out of metal and metallic-like bones.

At the back of those two were two female adventures, one with a white robe and a golden scepter, while the other had a very reveling leather armor that only covered her breasts and pelvis, with two green daggers at her sides.

{I think I know those four, but where's the Archer girl?}

I decide to lend them a hand at this point; after all, the horde is getting bigger, not smaller.

{[Rock Golem]+[Minor Protection]+[Enhance]+[Light Rune]}

In the middle of the horde of zombies and skeletons, a giant golden rock golem came to be, alerting the party of four to my interference.

 *Raaawwwrgg*

My golem used [threat] like always, getting the horde attention, and it shows in how they began to attack my golem, which in response just started swinging its arms around.

 *Fwip* 

*Crash*

 *Crack*

 *Raaawfggg*

{My turn, [Boost]+[Cracking Lance (Light Infused)], [Flame Pillar (Light Infused)]}

 *Boom* 

*tzi..tzi..tzi* 

*Hhuuuagh*

 "Arrggghhr" 

I devastated the field with my spells, destroying buildings along with zombies and skeletons.

{I'm not done yet, [Fireball(Light Infused)]x10} I covered my vision with fireballs, which I immediately launched at the horde.

 *Boom*x10 

"Arrggghhr" 

"Rraaawwrr" 

I made enough room for the party to reach my position.

"We really need to stop meeting like this, guys."

"Oh, Isaac, it's been a while." (Mary)

 "Isaac...."(Eric) 

"Hmm"(Guts) 

"We see each other again, mage" (Tanny

"We need to move from here; the horde is getting bigger; let's go; put this on your clothes."

I handed them [conceal talismans] and [silent talismans] for each one of them.

We all put the two talismans, and using my golem as bait, we booked to the inner part of the city, to a big house.

I cancelled my golem. {[Haste]+[Rock Golem], there you go, I refreshed it}

Now that we are all in the house, I can properly see it. It was old, the furniture was decaying, and the walls were molding, but beside that, it was intact.

Now, I can finally chat with them.

"So, what's going on? Why are you guys here?"

"We are looking for something." (Eric) 

"Oh, what is it?"

"The elixir of life..." (Mary) 

{Now that I look at them, they look tired, and this atmosphere is depressing. Something happened, and I guess it has something to do with the Archer girl}

"For the Archer girl?"

"Her name is Ari!" (Guts) The big guy said it in a low, threatening voice.

{Bingo} 

"What happened, Tannya?" I focus my sight on the dark elf with a reveling outfit.

*Sigh* 

"Ari was ambushed in a trap set by the Demon Race; she suffered a fatal wound. A friend of ours tried to treat her, but he said that the only cure was the..."

"Elixir of Life"

"Correct," she said, taking a seat on the floor.

"That's why we are here, and you, Isaac?" Mary asked as she tried to sit on one of the decayed wooden chairs in the house.

"Extermination Quests, to be precise, [Ghouls], [Skeleton Warriors], and [Litchs]," I answered as I sat on one of the smelly sofas.

The big guy, Guts only leaned on one of the walls of the house, while Eric was still standing in the middle of the living room.

{Hmm... something is going on with him}

"Are you ok, Eric?"

"I'm...." "No, he's not," said Tannya, interrupting our conversation.

 "...Tannya!!" 

"What? You're not okay, and everyone here knows it."

"You.." "She's right, Eric; I know how you feel, but you're not useful to us like that." (Mary)

"Ok, stop. Tell me what really happened."

 *Sigh*

"We received intel that a cult had a nexus with some demons, and according to the intel, they were low-level scum, but..." . Mary was the one who answered me this time.

"It was a trap."

"Yes, not only Ari was on that mission; several knights, warriors, and priests were there. Only five of them survived; Ari was fatally wounded; as for the others, they were missing limbs."

"And what is the reason for his behavior?" I point at Eric.

"I think he blames himself; after all, he authorized the mission, and he was the one who reviewed the intelligence."

"I knew that something was wrong. Why f**k!" He dropped to his knees and started to punch the floor hard.

 "Stop!! You're going to alert the horde; Tannya, restraint him!!

Soon Tannya and even Guts held Eric; he didn't have the strength to fight back.

"Put it on the sofa." I stood up for them to put him on the sofa I was on.

He went limp; apparently he was sleeping.

"He hasn't slept well."

"Yeah..."(Tannya)

"Well, let's take a rest; we can talk later." I went to the other sofa.

"Thank you, Isaac(Mary)

 ***************** 

{Guilt, huh, Indeed, if I were in his position, I will feel the same}

It has been a couple of hours since Eric fell asleep, and I have been capturing zombies and skeletons for studying.

I first put on each of them a [silence talisman]. To not alert other zombies and skeletons, then I used [Binding] to extract the concept; after that, I used [Infusion] to trap the concept into my tool, a [Runic Carver]; and lastly, I used the [Carving] skill to draw the rune anywhere I wanted.

The process is slow, but the pay-up is huge [Runecrafting (LVL.11)] and a free rune, and depending on the concept and rune, I can use different effects.

"What an interesting thing, are you doing there?" (Tannya)

{Hmm?} I turned around only to see the four of them watching how I was working with the undead.

"I need all the experience I can get; runecrafting is hard, after all."

"Indeed, that profession, along with artistry, is hard to master." (Mary) 

The four of them moved closer to where I was.

"So, are we ready to move?"

"?"x4 

{Ha, they thought I would not accompany them}

"We need to get an Elixir, don't we?"

"This is our quest, Isaac; I cannot ask you to do this." (Eric) 

"You didn't; I'm doing it because I want to, so let's go." I destroyed the captured zombies and skeletons, and I joined their party.

 *******

"Do you have any idea where this elixir is?" We are currently moving stealthily in the city, trying not to get the attention of the horde.

"Yes, an Elder Litch has it" (Eric)

{So, that's why the random quest said that}

"Then what about this elder litch?"

"No, we only know his name.(Mary)

"Hmm, there are two probable places that he could be."

"The cathedral or the governor's house" (Tannya)

"Correct" 

"Stop," said our big friend Guts.

"What is it?"

"Look," he pointed in front of him. On the streets in front of us, we saw two different types of zombies: skeletons.

For the zombies, one of them has gray skin and long red claws; the other has many zombies fused together on his body.

As for the skeletons, one of them was wearing armor, and the others were wearing robes.

"We found your warriors and ghouls, Isaac." (Tannya)

"What about the other two?"

"Zombie Blob" and [Skeleton Mage" (Mary)

 "Great..." 

"What's the plan, Eric?" I looked at the party leader.

"They are too many for us to take them head on; we need a distraction, but first we need to decide where to go—the cathedral or Governor House."

"I say Cathedral" (Mary

"Why is that, Mary?" (Tannya) 

"For this to happen, you need to corrupt the land itself,"

"That's correct, Isaac; the elder litch is a powerful mage that corrupted this land more than a hundred years ago." (Mary)

"What does that have to do with the cathedral?" (Guts) 

"The cathedral's a beacon of light; if you don't get rid of it, you can't corrupt this land, right, Mary?"

"Yes, Eric, that's correct."

"It's decided then to go to the cathedral. As for the distraction, let me be the one; after all, I need to complete my quests first."

"..."x4 

"Now go; I will be there later, and don't die before I come to you guys, understood?"

"Yes, thank you, Isaac.(Eric)

 "Thank you"(Mary) 

"Hmm"(Guts) 

"Don't die; you still owe me one" (Tannya

"Yeah, yeah." They went past me in the direction of the cathedral.

{Ok, it's showtime}