"...I acknowledge that I take upon the quest of discovering the Hollow Choir's headquarters and returning the Lead Apothecary of the Crimson Ledger, Thennel the Mireleaf."
Valen announced as he signed the contract given to him by one of the Senior Keepers within one of their secluded rooms in the Gilded Scar, the large stone hall that held the headquarters of the Crimson Ledger.
"...Based on our investigation of the incident within the lower ward, we noticed that the plates that were given to each of the Marks of Purity were taken and based on the precise hits that each of the apothecaries and the mercenaries were struck with…"
"Veyra the Smileless and the Pale Singers of the Gravemarket's Hollow Choir…"
"...You are well informed, Sir Arthur. That is correct."
"Is it a common habit that Veyra takes the plates of the mercenaries that she kills?"
"Yes."
"...Even though I already know the location of the Hollow Choir due to one of the Seerblades' intelligence reports, I can't just reveal that I know the location based on a whim…"
"That will be one of their fatal mistakes."
"Senior Keeper, can you give me one of your D-Rank plates?"
"...You're capable of casting locational magic?... the strain of finding the exact plates must be enormous…"
"You have placed your faith in me. I intend to use all of my capabilities to find him."
The Senior Keeper nodded, as he quickly ran to find a D-Rank plate, lying around. After some time, he ran back into the room and handed Valen the plate.
"...F-Ranks are given copper plates, E-Rank is bronze, D-Rank is iron, C-Rank is silver, B-Rank is gold and A-Rank is platinum…"
Valen placed the iron plate on the table, as a blue magic circle appeared underneath it as he held out his hand.
"...A blue circle…" The Senior Keeper murmured.
Several other small circles were then casted on top of the larger circle that was originally casted.
"...I have to be sure that the Hollow Choir is unable to detect my own location… Cover and Counter…"
"The Old Northern Cemetery. There is an underground outpost that holds the Hollow Choir's base of operations."
"...Through the Seerblades' current surveillance, I am already aware of what they plan to do with Thennel… a crown of puppets, huh… an army of undead… they could only be planning to overtake Virestone Keep, along with the Kingdom itself."
"Inform the Crimson Ledger and the Standing Army about the location."
"...Of course. I wish you well upon your quest."
"And befall them this information, Senior Keeper. There is an army of undead that is waiting to overtake this city. They may pour out of the cemetery."
"...I will assume you are capable of breaking through the entire army…"
"I would be a fool to take this quest if I was not expecting an army."
***
"...These barricades around the cemetery have not been used since ancient times… we were sent here just based on the whim of a F-Rank mercenary… ridiculous." One of the Standing Army soldiers spoke out.
"Don't forget that same mercenary took down the Witch of the Withering Root."
"Are you serious? That rumor true?!"
"Yeah, I was there on duty."
"But to expect an army of undead… we haven't even fought Thalor in a while…"
The soldiers then turned toward the cemetery.
"...What the hell is that sound?"
"Look over there! There's actually undead coming this way!" One of the senior soldiers yelled out. The soldiers ran up the stone raised barricades as they watched the army approach the gates.
Skeletons, with small amounts of rotten meat still carried by their reanimated bones, and dead bodies that had not fully decomposed, began approaching the Standing Army garrison.
"Holy shit…"
"There's gotta be at least a thousand of them, if not more… how the hell did the Hollow Choir's necromancers raise this many?!"
"Notify a runner to head back to the nearby Standing Army station and inform headquarters! We have to hold them off until reinforcements arrive!" The officer yelled.
"...What reinforcements?! We're the only ones that were sent to deal with it!"
"We're the first defense. Our reinforcements are the mercenaries you were just making fun of, just a minute ago." The officer retorted.
The undead army began overwhelming the barricaded wall, as they tried to bust down the reinforced wooden gate. The undead began climbing up the walls, as the soldiers used their spears and pikes to strike down any that attempted to get past them.
One of the soldiers got thrown to the floor as several undead that had climbed the walls made their way onto him, carving and biting into his flesh, screams filling the heads of the remaining soldiers as he died a painful death.
"R… Retreat!" The officer yelled to his men, as his group had been overwhelmed at this point in time.
The remaining soldiers immediately ran off the barricaded walls, some falling to their deaths as they were pushed off, heads and limbs shattered upon impact.
Some of the soldiers stopped, as two figures appeared from the darkness. Their radiance somehow lit up their spirits as they appeared to be the moonlight itself, reflecting off the moon.
"A mercenary…"
"Are you Sir Arthur?" The officer called out.
"I am."
"...They're all yours."
"Hm."
Valen and Valea then approached the barricaded walls, as the gate then fell. It had been slashed open by two Pale Singers, using strengthening magic.
Valen immediately summoned two spears out of light that struck the two Pale Singers before they could react, their heads torn off in an instant.
The soldiers behind him were shocked. "W-who is this guy…"
Using his circlet of light that then shined with divine light, a shield made of light then covered the barricaded walls and replaced the fallen gate, leaving the soldiers protected from the undead army.
Valen then propelled himself forward toward the onslaught of the undead. He slashed various groups at a time with his spear, while his divine shield protected him from ambushes. Valea used both gravity and light magic in conjunction, paralyzing large groups of undead and striking them down with magic strikes.
They acted as a lone two-man team, while Valen acted as both the frontline warrior and tank, Valea acted as the dedicated magic caster and long-range combatant, capable of holding her own with her staff-blade if an undead broke through.
"...Do you guys hear that?"
"Huh?"
"The march and voices of the undead… they're gone."
"...That's fucking impossible…"
"He did it…he really did it…"
"He went against an entire army of undead and defeated them all…"
"A hero of light…"
The soldiers quickly returned to their positions atop of the barricaded wall, still protected by the shield of divine light. Some soldiers gleamed at the light that warmed their souls, while others were bewildered at the vast army of undead, defeated and broken. Not one undead remained active.
"Just who were those mercenaries, sir?"
"Sir Arthur, the Kingdom's Hero of Light… that's who he is…"
"There is no way they were mere F-Rank mercenaries… they easily have the requirements to be A-Rank mercenaries… and be the third A-Rank group in the Kingdom."
"...They will be getting my recommendation at the Crimson Ledger, count on it." The officer slowly nodded.
"Feast your eyes on this event and remember it. We have witnessed the birth of a legend. One that will eventually rival the Seven Great Heroes of this world."
Valen continued forward throughout the cemetery, following the invisible path marked by the Seerblades toward Hollow Narthex, the headquarters of the Hollow Choir.
After the undead army was defeated, he encountered small groups of Pale Singers that stood in his way, as well as the necromancers and priests that controlled the undead: Cantors.
The Cantors were the Silent Priests of Death, clad in long, layered robes of black, gray, and faded ivory — stitched with symbols of funerary script and embroidered "notes" representing their domains within the Hollow Choir. Faces hidden behind ornate porcelain death masks, each custom-crafted with distinct expressions, such as weeping, screaming and blank serenity.
They exude ritual gravitas, moving slowly and deliberately, carrying tall bone staves or censers filled with whisper-smoke used in rites. Underneath the robes, they are heavily scarred or tattooed, with some known to have removed their own tongues. Haunting, reverent, like mourners attending a divine funeral. Their presence silences even hardened criminals.
Valen had then pierced through an incoming Pale Singer, his spear struck through their head. Some of the Pale Singers then attempted to strike Valen with bone needles, as the needles were easily deflected by the divine shield that emerged around him.
Valea used gravity magic to paralyze and crush the Cantors before her, as their bodies crumbled beneath the overwhelming pressure. She then struck a few Pale Singers herself with her staff-blade or pierced them with her light magic strikes.
The undead then began rising again, as they began to grow in overwhelming numbers from beneath the graves that were around them.
"...As much as I would love to continue this exercise and improve my spearmanship. We are short on time."
"Starborne Infantry!" Valen called out.
A Lance of Starborne soldiers, numbering 10, appeared around Valen as they disabled their invisibility. The Starborne Infantry were light infantry with enchanted armor and anti-magic spears, typically used in stealth-based or terrain-complex operations.
"Open up a path. Go!"
The Starborne separated into two fireteams, numbering five as they both took the left and right sides of Valen and Valea's position. They immediately went to accomplish the orders of their monarch, as they struck through the undead lines.
The undead turned to bone and ash after being severed from the magic controlling and resurrecting them due to their spears blessed with anti-magical runes. Their enchanted armor repelled the meager attacks that the undead hurled towards them: numbers were no longer the enemy's advantage.
"Let us go, Valea."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
*
Valen and Valea approached the entrance of the Hollow Narthex, as they saw Cantors surrounding Father Wyrnn and their escort of Pale Singers.
"Your Holiness." One of the Cantors spoke.
"Father Wyrnn, it is not a pleasure."
"...So you know of me… it seems I have a leak within my organization…" Wyrnn spoke as the Cantors around him shivered with fear.
"What a waste of a wonderful night to be casting a ritual of destruction itself."
"Do not insult me with my decisions. This kingdom will thank me when I put the citizens out of their misery. This kingdom is falling and I am sure you realize it."
"...I am counting on it…"
"Who are you, brave warrior of light?"
"I am Sir Arthur, the Hero of Faithful Light. Leader of the Marks of Purity. We are merely mercenaries who have accepted a quest to rescue the Crimson Ledger's Mireleaf."
"...Come out, Veyra the Smileless. How long do you intend to waste my time with your disgusting performance of hiding."
Veyra laughed as she emerged from Hollow Narthex's entrance.
"What an insult, but you were able to spot me… not a lot of people are capable of doing such a feat… There's no point hiding anymore."
"I wonder how you were able to find this place… not even the highest echelons of the Kingdom know of the Hollow Choir's headquarters."
"Your habit of taking the plates of the mercenaries you kill. That was your fatal mistake against a mage that can use locational magic. Those gave away your position. You mock the idea of a proper assassin."
"Interesting…"
"Valea. I leave Father Wyrnn to you. I will deal with this woman myself."
"Yes, sir."
Valen then used his circlet of light to create a humanoid hand of light, as it grabbed Veyra, burning some of her equipment and herself, as she yelped in pain. Valen then threw her outside of the entranceway into a different section of the cemetery away from Valea and Father Wyrnn's forces. Valen simply walked to her position.
"...What a powerful divine mage…" Wyrnn muttered.
"You should pay attention to your opponent, scum." Valea proclaimed as she prepared to cast her spells. Her runic casting then caused her staff-blade to burst in blue light as she intentionally triggered a magic overflow, as a large ball of light then emerged from above.
"Blue runes?!"
The ball created from light then hammered down on their position as anyone viewing their location would've been blinded instantly and anyone in its radius was burnt to a crisp.
"...You are powerful yourself, mage." Father Wyrnn spoke, as a powerful but grotesque abomination that echoed with voices appeared behind him. Through Father Wyrnn's Soulbinding Chorus, he fused the souls of the Cantors and Pale Singers into the singular tormented entity that blocked the ball of light.
"What an insect."
*
"...Could it be that you're upset that I killed your allies?" Veyra said as she recovered from the hand of light that launched her away from Father Wyrnn, using a healing potion that temporarily sealed her wounds.
She then began to devilishly laugh. "That magic caster was the best, you know… genuinely screaming and begging that someone would come save him… come to think of it, I think he shouted for you… Arthur… Arthur… Arthur…"
"I'm filled with joy when I beat someone down that is screaming that I've killed their friends… but you don't seem to be doing that now… you are very composed and it's bothering me."
"Save your breath."
"Those mercenaries were merely tools to raise my fame throughout the Kingdom, as well as the destruction of the Hollow Choir. You are pawns in a chess game that is beyond you."
"You are quite interesting, Arthur… not what I expected the last member of the Marks of Purity to be like… your mage will not be able to defeat Father Wyrnn or me."
"What an insult. She would wipe the floor with your existence, you failure of an assassin."
"Failure?... I would wipe the floor with that magic caster. Just simply a slice and stab would do the job, it always ends that way."
"...Only four are able to fight me equally in this nation… one of my colleagues from Gravemarket, the Bone Whisper, the Crown's Blade and I believe the Veil of Silver Wisdom from the Silver Veil and the Stormfletch from the Gilded Tempest..."
"That is good to hear, but it seems you're mistaken."
"Huh?"
"I am the fifth and to prove that fact, I will give you a handicap to make this more of a challenge for the likes of you."
"...I don't know what face is behind that helmet, but I am Veyra the Smileless… who has nearly stepped into the domain of the Great Heroes… would never lose to you!"
"I would like to see you try, filth."