Abium remained sitting under the tree's shadow for the next few hours and thought deeply about their next plan.
'In the end, we've no choice but to go to the fortress, huh? Moreover, the skeletons also seemed to have learned their lesson and stopped coming here. No, the other party might have gotten enough information about us and decided to go on a defensive mode.' A frown appeared on his face.
He soon looked up at the sky and noticed that the artificial sun had moved further away from the center sky.
'The pocket dimension is also a globe-like land like Easica World? Will it become dark soon?' He furrowed his brows and decided to wake others up.
Once Nicolaus and others woke up from their deep sleep, he told them to get ready, and soon the group set out towards the island's center.
As they made their way through the dense woods, they avoided all the poisonous plants and thorns and were even surprised by some undead skeletons from time to time.
But they didn't face much difficulty finishing off those skeletons and finally reached the fortress after an hour of walking.
At that moment, the false sun also descended towards another side, giving a dusky light to the surroundings. But no moon or stars appeared, leaving the sky empty.
Abium gave a deep look at the sky and checked the progress of their mission.
'Hmm, we've killed a total of 83 undead skeletons. As for the time limit, there are more than 38 hours left.'
As they moved closer to the fortress, Abium noticed something odd.
The appearance of the undead skeletons started to lessen!
'As I thought, they are indeed planning to hide inside the fortress.' He pressed his lips together and soon walked out of the dense forest.
Soon, he and others stepped onto the grassland, slowly crept towards the nearby outpost, and soon realized it was empty!
He also saw fire torches lit all over the fortress wall, making it look more beautiful. Skeletons roamed the walls of the fortress, some holding bows, and arrows.
"Is that the fortress? Who built such a thing here?" Nicolaus asked while hiding behind a tree and soon noticed the ballistas on the wall.
"Sh*t! How did they get those expensive items here? Each ballista would cost around 300 to 400 White Gold coins!" He exclaimed in shock.
"Shhh! Lower your voice, moron." Abium gave him a sharp glare and analyzed the situation.
"Stay here and wait for my signal. Meanwhile, I will take care of the ballistas and open the fortress from inside." He advised others to remain cautious and proceeded to walk toward the fortress.
At the same time, he took out a hooded black robe from his space ring and wore it over his normal dress.
Due to darkness, he managed to conceal his presence and soon arrived near the 7-meter tall fortress wall. Once he got closer to the rocky wall, he quietly looked upward, released his spirit power, and scanned the surroundings.
'One skeleton stood right above me, while a few were roaming on the other side of the fortress.' He nodded his head and then muttered slowly.
"Blink"
He disappeared from there a moment later and appeared on the walls.
No, he appeared right behind an Elite Skeleton!
He instantly touched his space ring, took out the sword of Wrath, and enveloped it with a reddish aura.
Simultaneously, he slashed at the Elite Skeleton's neck region and decapitated its skull without any difficulty. Then, he took a step forward, caught the skeletal body from falling, and kicked the skull that was about to land on the fort wall.
Meanwhile, the skull flew towards the fortress's outskirts and landed on the grass.
'Smooth landing.' He chuckled inwardly, stored the skeleton's body into his space ring, and hurriedly moved towards the nearby ballista.
He then squatted down next to the ballista's arm, quietly moved his sword towards the front, and cut the ballista's string without anyone noticing.
Following that, he glanced around and observed the surroundings.
'Sums of 20 ballistas are placed on the wall of the fort.' Furthermore, he noticed that more than twenty skeletons stood on guard and were ready to shoot at any moment.
But he wasn't afraid at all.
The fortress might look stable and invincible, but it was nothing in the presence of a mage.
'As long as I act carefully, I can complete this mission smoothly.'
Although the Skeleton Assassins might be able to identify him in the darkness, he chose not to worry about it.
Nodding, he took a light step and dashed forward towards the nearby Elite Skeleton. He didn't make unnecessary movements when running and completely concealed his presence from the enemies. In a few seconds, he arrived behind another Elite Skeleton, chopped off its head before it could alert the others, and stored its body inside his space ring. While doing so, he also cut the string on the nearby ballista and damaged it.
Once again, he moved towards another Elite Skeleton and started his massacre. At the same time, he soundlessly cut the strings of those ballistas, accomplishing his primary objective.
When he was finishing off the 14th Elite Skeleton, a skeleton noticed several skeletons' unexpected disappearance and blew its whistle to warn others.
Phew!
"Too late."
Abium smirked inwardly and dashed forward towards the rest.
Although those six Elite Skeletons quickly unsheathed their weapons and dashed forth to confront him, he didn't give them any opportunity and beheaded them in seconds.
Then, he shifted his attention towards the fortress's interior and soon zeroed his gaze on the Inner Keep.
At that moment, more than fifty elite skeleton soldiers, three death knights, and a human-like figure emerged from the Keep building and walked toward the courtyard.
"As I thought, there is indeed a necromancer hiding in this fortress."
Abium raised his eyebrows, sheathed his sword, and focused his attention on him.
That human appears to be an older man with white whiskers. But his face was burned on one side and looked creepier.
He also wore a similar black robe to his own and held a bone staff in his hand.
After a deep look, Abium casually moved towards the edge of the fort wall and jumped down.
But as he was falling in midway, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the courtyard, startling the 50 plus undead skeletons.
A second later, he turned around while raising his right hand, locked his gaze on the wooden fortress gate, and muttered.
"Fire Orb!"
The next instant, a dense amount of fire-elemental energy came out of his soul, gathered at the tip of his forefinger, and formed into a head-sized reddish orb.
The orb then flew towards the wooden gate at an incredible speed, touched its surface, and exploded!
The explosion shattered the gate a second later and enveloped the surroundings in an orange fire.
Without minding the explosion and the shockwave, Abium calmly turned around, gripped the sword hilt, and looked at the massive number of undead skeletons.
At that moment, the skeletons also unsheathed their weapons and started running madly toward him.
'More skeletons are coming from the keep. I need to reduce their numbers before Nicolaus and others come here.' He quietly unsheathed the weapon, imbued mana into the sword, and enveloped it with Intermediate Sword Aura.
Following that, he also stepped forward and dashed towards the fifty-plus Elite and Skeleton Assassins.
Before long, he arrived before them, took a whirling stance, and started his assault.
One or two skeletons' skulls would roll on the ground whenever he made a slash, leaving the headless bodies to dance in the air.
But due to the large number, he soon got encircled and even got a stab wound on his left shoulder.
'Sh*t! Why are they taking so long?' He darted his eyes towards the entrance and grumbled.
Without any delay, he raised his hand towards the front, cast another 'Red Orb' spell, and conjured another orb of fire.
'I'm out of attack spells now.' Just as he muttered, a reddish rob flew out of his hand, smashed on a skeleton's chest, and exploded, enveloping more than ten Elite Skeletons in a crimson flame!
'I already killed 50 Elite Skeletons but there are still more than 70 left. Moreover, there are still more than 8 Death Knights and many assassins hiding among these undead skeletons.' He showed a grim look and was about to take a deep breath but stopped.
He sensed an impending danger from behind at that moment and instinctively moved his sword to block something.
A second later, a clanging noise reverberated in the courtyard, causing him to widen his eyes.
'Assassin?! Why didn't I sense its presence earlier?' He stepped forward, thrust his sword into its skull without wasting any time, and cut it.
Simultaneously, he saw Fennelis and Nicolaus entering the fortress through the destroyed gate and running in his direction.
Upon seeing their arrival, Abium breathed out a sigh of relief and backed away.
Soon, Nicolaus and Fennelis arrived next to him and glanced at the courtyard in shock.
"You already killed this many skeletons?" Nicolaus asked in disbelief and then unsheathed his sword.
Meanwhile, Fennelis wore a shocked look and transformed into her Beast form.