I became a legion lich

68 Faltra

City of Faltra, on the same day.

Emilia and Finn invaded the city with ease around noon. Emilia used a light spell to make them invisible and they easily jumped over the walls. They were wearing normal clothes and only carried their weapons with them, their costumes and masks were carried by Emilia, while Gaius was carried on his back by Finn.

They left Caio unconscious in a small abandoned building in the favela and searched the city for food, their stomachs rumbling every 5 minutes, demanding what was owed to them. The city was in a deplorable state, as reported by #9.

The main streets were filled with makeshift tents, most of the houses were partially destroyed or stained with blood, making it difficult for people to inhabit them. The corpses had already been removed and piled close to the city walls to prevent the spread of disease and soon a large grave would be created and the corpses buried together.

A large makeshift kitchen was created in the central square, the same square where Agatha was executed years ago, handing out free food to the people. It was organized by the yellow dagger gang in partnership with the municipal guard. The new captain of the guard and the gang leader ceased hostilities after the massacre and began working together to restore the city.

The gang boss was the only power figure in town, despite being a criminal. He distributed large stores of food which he kept secret for emergencies, winning the favor of the people.

In fact, he had stolen from the rich merchants those that Athos had blown up along with the baron’s mansion, but the captain of the guard turned a blind eye to this. He planned to confiscate these supplies and distribute them to the people, the gang leader was just faster.

Emilia and Finn wasted no time in line and stole food from the kitchen, before taking it to Caio in the abandoned house. They woke him up and ate until they couldn’t take it anymore, before the tension disappeared and exhaustion made them fall asleep, waking only when it was night, their stomachs again begging for food.

“Should I go get something?” Gaius said trying to get up, but his vision blurred and he tripped over his own feet, unable to balance. Gaius wasn’t just weak, he was incapacitated. Your body wasn’t recovering as it should and wasn’t absorbing nutrients from food.

.....

Unbeknownst to either of them, Caio had been poisoned by Treevor. The wooden spear that pierced his chest was carrying an enzymatic poison, capable of crippling the body’s ability to absorb nutrients effectively. It was an emergency measure to ensure that even if his enemies healed in the middle of a fight, they would be unable to continue fighting.

Even if Emilia had cured Caio and made him drink nutrient bombs like a healer would, he would have been unable to absorb the nutrients and would have died from the cure. Caio only survived because Emilia didn’t have any nutrient pumps with her and injected the nutrients directly into the body, without the need to digest them.

It was a unique poison created by Treevor, so it was incredibly difficult to detect. Emilia wasn’t a true healer, so her diagnostic skills were mediocre at best. She didn’t notice the poison, so it was still suppressing Gaius’ digestion.

“You should rest now. Your body hasn’t recovered yet, so let me and Finn get you something to eat.” Emilia said with a kind smile, helping Caio back to bed.

“Sorry and thanks. I’m so weak I don’t even remember how we got here. Where are we?” Gaius asked after lying down, trying and failing to recognize the room he was in. He first thought they were in the artificial cave he created, but the room was made of wood and the cave had no furniture.

“You passed out while we were talking, so it’s normal. We’re in Faltra, in a brothel in the city’s slum. The rooms are intact, but there’s dried blood and a pungent smell of blood in the hallway. Some of the crazed ones must have invaded this place and slaughtered it.” Emilia said, taking a stolen overcoat and getting ready to leave.

“Try to go back to sleep. I’ll go get some food while Finn goes find a carriage to get us out of this town, we’ll be back in a few minutes.” Emilia said before leaving, quickly followed by Finn. Being left alone, he tried to close his eyes and go back to sleep, but his stomach began to growl, causing him to sigh.

“It’s going to be a long night.”

********

Outside the brothel, Finn and Emilia walked in opposite directions, going their separate ways. Emilia walked towards the town square, while Finn headed towards the town’s warehouses, to try to steal a carriage. Regardless of what they chose to do next, they would need a way to get around without freezing in the middle of the road.

They were wearing overcoats and doing their best not to draw attention to themselves, using communicators and receivers to communicate.

“Emilia, we need to talk about what to do now.” Finn whispered into the communicator as they walked away.

“Not now, Finn. Gaius is still injured and our priority is his recovery. After we get food and he recovers, we can talk about it.” Emilia replied, trying to cut him off, but Finn insisted.

“It won’t do any good for him to recover, only to be executed at the end! We can’t ignore the elephant in the room anymore. If we’re not going to say anything, we’d better get in touch with the order and turn ourselves in. If the order judges us we will be executed, but it’s still better than making us guinea pigs for the elder of darkness.” Finn said, getting to his goal.

The warehouse in front of him was guarded by bandits, but it was simple for him to break in. He blended his presence with his surroundings and leapt across the roofs of buildings, arriving at the warehouse and peering inside. Finn clicked his tongue, seeing only boxes piled up with no carriages.

“I know it’s pointless to stall, but we don’t have much choice. We only have two choices: surrender or flee. And I don’t intend to live my entire life running from an invisible enemy.” Emilia said arriving at the town square. She slipped through the crowd and guards, making her way easily into the kitchen.

The kitchen was located inside a bar near the square and only distribution took place in the square itself. Emilia packed enough food for the three of them before putting it all in a bag and leaving, without anyone noticing her.

“I know we’re screwed and I plan on turning myself in too. I just wanted a chance to stop, talk and apologize for what I did to you.” Finn said, his voice getting lower the more he spoke. He was hopping from roof to roof as he talked, checking the interior for carriages.

“I found.” Finn said, finally finding the place where they hid the carriages. There were bandits everywhere so he couldn’t approach without being discovered, but there were at least a few dozen carriages here. The gang leader had gathered all the carriages in one place after stealing them.

“I don’t need your apologies.” Emilia’s tone was incredibly cold compared to his.

“I know it’s not the right time, but I don’t want to die knowing that you hate me-” Finn tried to convince them, but Emilia cut him off.

“Shut up.” Emilia started looking at the people around her, acting strangely. People started running for no apparent reason, as if they were running from an invisible enemy.

“I know you’re angry, but-”

“Shut up at once!” She yelled into the communicator, making Finn finally stop talking. She sharpened her hearing and tried to catch the screams around her.

“...coming from the gate...” Citizen random 1.

“...Have they already invaded??” Random citizen 2.

“...the undead are coming!!” Random citizen 3.

“Living Dead?” Emilia wondered in disbelief. It made no sense for any undead to appear in this city.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean undead?” Finn asked on the other end of the communicator, having heard Emilia’s murmur.

“Finn, can you see the gate from your position?” Emilia asked, jumping on one of the buildings to get a better view of the situation. She looked towards the gate and saw the gates wide open and a lot of black stuff invading.

She couldn’t identify what it was through the darkness of the night, but she already knew the answer.

“Emilia, the city is under attack! There are black skeletons invading en masse!” Finn was closer to the gates and he could see the black skeletons, but he didn’t recognize them. He didn’t know of any completely black undead species.

“I’ve already figured that out! Let’s meet up with Gaius quickly before-” Emilia yelled into the communicator, but he suddenly went silent. At the same time, an explosion of black flames happened near the warehouses.