A Search For An Unusual Sword

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 39, Post Number 968

-Outside Silent Cemetery, midnight-

Wearing his olive green jacket over his new white t-shirt and olive green cargo pants with black boots, Leonidas stood ten meters from the gates of Silent Cemetery. On his left hip was his Silver Falchion and on his back was his backpack with his iLac and flashlight. He would not need the flashlight right now because there was a full moon overhead, but if the clouds covered it up he might need a portable light source, so he carried his flashlight in his backpack.

Leonidas had taken a few days off after successfully defending a village in Bellum from a Viking raiding party. He had defeated all of the Vikings by himself, but he had taken more than a few knife wounds in the process. Those injuries required professional medical attention and Leonidas had sought it out the moment he got back to Fiore. After receiving treatment for his injuries he had spent the past few days at his home in Capital Crocus recovering from the wounds.

For his first job in a few days he had traveled to Silent Cemetery to investigate rumors of a sword that had been spotted in the cemetery. It was said to be no ordinary sword, though. It was supposedly a sword in a scabbard that floated under its own power. Leonidas was not sure if it floated because an invisible swordsman was carrying it or if it was a possessed sword with power of its own, but he was going to find out. Having been to Silent Cemetery once before, Leonidas had a good idea of what was waiting for him within the cemetery gates.

He would have to fight his way through the undead that roamed the cemetery. Individually they were not very formidable, but zombies rarely traveled alone. Leonidas was not afraid of them, but he was going to be careful around them because all it would take was one false move and he would be in deep trouble.

Leonidas took a quiet breath and faced the cemetery gates, then drew his Silver Falchion. He walked towards the gates until he reached them, then reached out with his left hand and grabbed the handle to the left gate. He pulled it open and went inside, then shut the gate behind him.

-Inside Silent Cemetery-

Leonidas turned around to find only a few zombies in the immediate area... there were only three of them shambling about and all of them were oblivious to his presence. The closest one was five meters to his right and shambling towards him with a thousand-yard stare. Leonidas was going to kill it with a Compressed Air Bolt to the head. He raised his left hand, prepared the spell, and cast it when he was certain that it was going to hit. The silver bolt of compressed air hit the zombie in the head, killing it instantly when its head exploded.

Leonidas winced at the effects of his spell on the zombie, but he could not argue with the results. Without its head it was highly unlikely that the zombie was going to get up again. Leonidas turned his attention to the next two zombies, both of whom were elderly female zombies wearing tattered black dresses. They were walking towards him on the path that ran between the tombstones and they had their arms raised long before they were within range to grab him. They were six meters away, so he would have plenty of time to stop them before they became a threat.

Leonidas stood his ground. He raised his left hand again and prepared a Pressure Cone spell, then pointed his left index finger towards the zombie that was walking slightly ahead of the other one. Leonidas fired the Pressure Cone spell at its head and hit, causing its head to explode from the force of the spell. It crumpled to the ground as the last zombie continued to walk towards him.

The scar-faced mage channeled silver magic into his left arm, drew it back, and punched towards the zombie's head, releasing a small horizontal tornado in a Tornado Shot spell. The small tornado hit the zombie in the head and made it explode, taking care of that zombie once and for all. The headless body fell to the ground and did not move again.

Now that all of the zombies in the immediate area were down he paused and looked around for any enemies he might have missed during his first look around. A second look failed to locate any more zombies, so Leonidas looked around a third time to be certain he had not missed any. A third look came up with nothing, so he concluded that he had spotted and defeated all of the walking corpses around him. With that he began to walk up the path that branched left and right.

A minute or two of careful walking later and Leonidas was at the point where he would have to choose which way to go. Since he did not have any solid information on which part of the cemetery the floating sword was found in, Leonidas would just have to choose a direction to go in. Picking a direction to go in was going to be a lot harder than it sounded.

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-Silent Cemetery, at the branching path-

Having reached the branching path past the entrance to Silent Cemetery after a brief and successful skirmish with a few zombies, Leonidas now had to decide which way to go. There were only two directions to choose from, so he could either go left or he could go right. He was not sure which way to go to find the mysterious floating sword, so he looked down both paths for any sort of clue that could help him make the right decision.

The left path was full of zombies. He counted at least twenty zombies shambling on that path, if not more. He also did not see anything that would guide him to what he was looking for.

Leonidas then peered down the right path. It too was full of zombies, but these zombies were a lot closer to him than the ones occupying the left path. In fact one of them was only five meters away from him. He had to defeat it and its pals before he could continue the search.

Focusing his thoughts on the battle that was in progress, Leonidas raised his left hand and prepared a Compressed Air Bolt spell to use on the zombie shambling towards him. Once the spell was ready he aimed and fired it at the zombie's head, hitting it in the head with the silver bolt of compressed air and causing its head to explode from the force of the spell. Leonidas defeated it only to find a group of over ten zombies moving in his direction.

The scar-faced mage stood his ground and lowered his left hand. He waited a few moments for the walking corpses to get closer, then raised his left hand and prepared a Cyclone Tunnel spell. Once it was ready Leonidas fired the spell at the heads of his targets and watched them walk right into the visible cone of concussive wind without making any sort of effort to dodge it. The heads of the first ten zombies in the group exploded from the force of the spell and the headless zombies all fell to the ground simultaneously as the zombies behind them continued to move towards Leonidas.

He counted another five zombies shuffling towards him and turned around, then stepped back three big steps before preparing another spell to use against them. Leonidas channeled silver magic into his left hand, then pointed the index finger of his left hand at the head of the closest zombie. Once the Pressure Cone spell was ready he jabbed the index finger at the target, firing the narrow cone of compressed air at the zombie's head. The spell hit its head with explosive results and the headless zombie fell to the ground. The other four behind it continued to move towards him without stopping, changing direction, or splitting up to force him to pick which target to attack while the others he could not target right away closed in.

Leonidas was thankful that the walking dead were incapable of the kind of thinking needed to use such tactics and prepared to deal with the rest of the quartet. He quickly ran over his options and decided to use a Tornado Shot against the next zombie, a man in a tattered brown burial suit with one black shoe on and the other shoe missing. Leonidas channeled silver magic into his left arm, then drew it back before punching forward with it, casting the spell. The small horizontal tornado hit its head and caused it to explode, scoring an instant kill and leaving only three zombies standing.

Leonidas decided to use his Silver Falchion to deal with the last three. He slowly and carefully walked towards the closest zombie, a woman in a tattered white wedding dress who was missing their left arm. Leonidas waited until the right moment, then brought his weapon down on her head in a one-handed chop. The blade cut deep into the zombie's skull, hitting the brain and killing it instantly. He pulled the sword from its skull and faced the next zombie, another female in a white dress who was missing their right arm and their right eye.

Again Leonidas waited until just the right moment before chopping down towards the zombie's skull with his sword. Again the sword cut deep into its skull, hitting the brain for an instant kill. Leonidas withdrew the sword from its skull and faced the last zombie, a man wearing a black suit and a golden monocle over its left eye. Leonidas slowly and carefully moved towards it, then brought down his Silver Falchion towards its skull.

The blade found its mark, cutting into the skull and hitting the brain just like it had the previous two times. The last zombie was killed and Leonidas pulled out the sword, then faced down the right path to look for any more zombies heading for him. He spotted another ten moving towards him from fifty meters away, but those were not the only enemies he spotted. He saw another twenty zombies shambling thirty meters behind the first group. He did not see any sign of the floating sword, but looking for clues about it would have to wait until he had defeated all of the zombies in the immediate area.

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Standing his ground, Leonidas raised his left hand towards the incoming zombies and prepared another Cyclone Tunnel spell that he aimed at their heads. Once the spell was ready Leonidas fired it and the wide cone of concussive wind did the rest. The heads of the first group all exploded in unison, leaving the twenty zombies behind them to continue shambling towards the scar-faced mage.

Leonidas set his Silver Falchion on the ground to his right, then raised both hands out in front of him. He focused silver magic between his hands, creating a large silver tornado. He pushed forward with both hands, casting his Rushing Tornado spell at the densely packed mob of walking corpses. The tornado hit the approximate center of the group and knocked down seven of them... he was not sure if the spell had killed them because their heads were still intact, so he would make sure they were dead after he had eliminated those that were still on their feet.

Leonidas stood his ground and watched as the remaining thirteen zombies shambled to within forty meters of him. That was plenty of distance from which to safely cast spells at his enemies. He raised his left hand and prepared a Compressed Air Bolt, then fired it at the head of a female zombie wearing a black dress who had gotten ahead of the rest of the group. The spell hit the head and it exploded, leaving him only a dozen walking corpses to deal with.

Taking a moment to pick a spell, Leonidas decided to use Pressure Cone to deal with another zombie, a male zombie dressed in a brown suit and wearing broken black-rimmed glasses. Leonidas raised his left hand, channeled silver magic into it, and pointed his left index finger at the target's head. When the spell was ready he jabbed the finger at his target, firing a narrow cone of compressed wind that hit the zombie's head and caused it to explode. Only eleven zombies were left.

He carefully considered his next move and thought about using Rising Cyclone to quickly deal with the zombies heading towards him. He entertained that thought until he looked at the tombstones around him and ahead of him. Most of them looked kind of old and worn from age and exposure to the elements. He was not sure if they could withstand the strong wind generated by the Rising Cyclone spell and decided against using the spell because he did not want to bring down cosmic retribution on his head for desecrating the resting places of the dead.

Leonidas decided to use other means to defeat the zombies, means that did not run the risk of destroying tombstones. He reached down and picked up his Silver Falchion, gripping it in his right hand. He faced the zombies and began to slowly and carefully advance towards them. This was going to be messy.

-Ten minutes later-

The last of the zombies had fallen with their skull cut open and Leonidas stood victorious. He looked towards the zombies he had hit with the Rushing Tornado spell earlier and saw that they were still lying on the ground. He was not sure if they were truly dead or not, so now was the time to make certain that they were. He walked towards them with Silver Falchion at the ready in case they suddenly got to their feet.

-Five minutes later-

The zombies he had hit with the Rushing Tornado spell now each had a stab wound between the eyes that punched through their skulls and into their brains, so now the scar-faced mage knew that they not going to rise up and attack him later. Leonidas looked down the cemetery path and noticed a bend to the left. He began to carefully walk down the path until he reached the bend.

He turned left and saw an open wrought-iron gate. It opened onto another straight path flanked by tombstones and spotted at least five active zombies shambling among the tombstones at a distance of approximately fifteen meters. There were four Lacrima lanterns perched on top of tombstones at twenty-five meter intervals, providing plenty of light to see by. Leonidas looked forward and noticed that the zombies were not aware of his presence. That was fine by him... he was gong to proceed slowly and carefully because he was not going to risk getting bitten by acting recklessly. He also did not have a time limit in which to find his quarry, so he had no reason to rush into danger.

Leonidas looked to his left down the path he had just traversed to make sure that no additional zombies had risen from their graves since he had walked down the path. When he was certain that none had risen he then faced forward and began slowly walking into the next section of cemetery.

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-The next section of Silent Cemetery-

Leonidas walked five steps into the area of Silent Cemetery that stretched past the gate before the first zombie happened to turn at the moment the scar-faced mage stepped inside and caught sight of him. The zombie moaned and raised its arms before shambling towards Leonidas. The rest of the zombies followed suit, but Leonidas was not alarmed. He stayed where he was and raised his left hand, aiming it at the zombie's head.

He prepared and cast a Compressed Air Bolt spell at the head of the first zombie he had spotted, an elderly man who was bald and wearing a black suit. The bolt made contact with its head and caused it to explode. The first zombie fell to the ground and the other four continued slowly moving towards Leonidas, who was not concerned by them.

He prepared and cast a Pressure Cone spell at the head of the next zombie in line, a female zombie wearing a black dress and missing its right arm. The narrow cone of compressed air hit the target and its head exploded from the pressure, leaving just three zombies to deal with. Leonidas noticed that the zombies were spaced far enough apart for him to be able to use his Silver Falchion without much risk. That was how he was going to deal with them without expending any more magic power.

Clutching his Silver Falchion in his right hand, Leonidas moved slowly and carefully towards the walking corpses.

-Four minutes later-

The last zombie of the trio fell to the ground with a gaping cut in its head that went to its brain and Leonidas stood victorious. He had managed to kill all three with his sword without being grabbed and mauled. He had saved quite a bit of magic power for the challenges that doubtlessly lay ahead. He turned left and looked towards the next part of the cemetery and saw six zombies streaming towards him with their arms raised. They must have heard the fighting in this part... not that it really mattered.

Leonidas turned to face the zombies and drew back his left arm. He channeled magic into it to prepare his Tornado Shot spell and when the spell was ready punched towards the head of the first zombie in line, another female zombie wearing a white dress and missing their left arm. The Tornado Shot hit its head with messy results and its headless body fell to the ground, leaving five in the new wave of enemies heading for him.

The scar-faced mage noted where they were and saw them bunching up practically shoulder-to-shoulder just inside the gate that led to the next part of the cemetery. Instead of engaging them in hand-to-hand combat he simply raised his left hand and prepared his Cyclone Tunnel spell. When the spell was ready he cast it at their heads and hit them all, causing all of their heads to explode simultaneously. All of them dropped to the ground and the current threat had been ended.

Before he moved on Leonidas checked behind him for zombies walking through the gate behind him and did not see any. He listened quietly for any moaning zombies and did not hear any coming from the direction of the gate behind him... all of the noise came from the area in front of him that he was soon going to walk into. Leonidas started walking into the next area of cemetery and passed through the gate after a brisk four-minute walk.

-In the next section of Silent Cemetery-

Leonidas walked into the next section of Silent Cemetery and looked around at all the above-ground crypts and small mausoleums that flanked the path that led towards the gate with the angel statues flanking it. Just like the path he had just walked down the path ahead of him was about 100 meters long. He saw five zombies spaced out along the path at eight-meter intervals and there were more loitering near the end of the path near the gate. He was not going to complain, though. He would have plenty of time to deal with the zombies in front of him before the rest noticed he was here and started walking towards him.

Leonidas carefully approached the first zombie, a young man about his age wearing a gray suit and missing its right eye, and raised his Silver Falchion into the air, then brought it down on the zombie's skull when he was close enough. The blade cut deep into its head and hit the brain for an instant kill. Leonidas planted his right foot on the zombie's chest and pulled, removing the Silver Falchion in time to spot another zombie heading for him from roughly six meters away.

Leonidas saw the other three zombies starting to head down the path to join their fellow, but that group was not all he was going to have to contend with. The zombies near the end of the path had caught wind of him and were starting to move towards him too. Leonidas would have to deal with the quartet in front of him before he could deal with the larger group.

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