Heeding Gabrielle's Call

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Job Sign-Up: Page 10, Post Number 235

-Fat Monsterland, midnight-

The night was cold and windy as Lucia and Gabrielle strolled into Fat Monsterland. Lucia was dressed in her usual gray long-sleeved shirt and long pleated white skirt with brown boots. In its holster on her right hip was Shining Light. Lucia was glad that she had worn a long-sleeved shirt and long skirt because it was really cold out here and the wind threatened to start blowing any minute now.

A crescent moon hovered in the cloudless sky as the pair surveyed the area in front of them. It was a wide open space with plenty of grass and a lot of trees further in the distance, but what really drew her attention was the moaning that carried on the wind. There was only one source for the drawn-out gutteral moaning.

"Zombies." Gabrielle informed Lucia of what the noise was... not that the blonde needed a reminder. She had been to Silent Cemetery a few times and knew exactly what was lurking somewhere in the distance.

"What are we doing here? Or rather, what am I doing here?" Lucia asked the angel.

"I've received word from my patron that some mages who might prove instrumental to defeating the necromancer we encountered in Silent Cemetery need help." The silver-haired angel replied. The Luminous Rose mage put her right hand on her hip.

"Really?" Lucia asked the angel.

"Really. They're a group of mages who use Holy magic not too different from your own." Came the reply. Lucia was curious. She suspected that she was far from the only user of Holy magic, but to hear that there was a group of mages who used it was a surprise to her.

"My patron told me that the mages are in dire need of help and are unlikely to survive the night without timely aid. As you know, I'm forbidden to fight the forces of evil directly, so I have to get the help of others to work for me." Gabrielle gave her a bit more information and reiterated that she was not allowed to fight the threat herself. Lucia crossed her arms over her chest.

"OK." Lucia said calmly. She was always up for a rescue mission and if said rescue mission resulted in rescuing mages who could help her stop that necromancer it was a bonus.

"We need to try and rescue the group before it's too late. I understand that they're fairly powerful, so they should be able to hold out for some time. However, we'd better not dawdle." The silver-haired angel outlined the objective. Lucia remained calm.

"All right then. It's time to get going." Lucia remarked. Moments later the moaning sounded again and quite a few humanoid shapes could be seen in the distance. The local undead were closing in and Lucia would need to deal with them before she could move on.

Not wanting to give her enemies the chance to move into their preferred range, Lucia immediately prepared a Seraph's Fury spell by channeling magic throughout her entire body. When the spell was ready she leaped into the air and when she reached the peak of the jump she froze in the air. Six golden wings of magic formed behind her and she flapped them towards the enemies, firing twenty-five beams of golden light in their direction.

All twenty-five beams hit the targets they had homed in on, causing them to disintegrate on the spot. The group of zombies had a chunk taken out of it, but there were still more to deal with. The moment Lucia's feet hit the ground she prepared a Seeker Burst spell with her right hand and when it was ready cast it, firing ten seeking projectiles the size of baseballs that homed in on ten of the remaining zombies. All ten of them hit and more zombies were disintegrated, leaving only a few more to deal with.

At least that was the case until another large group appeared on the horizon a short distance behind the first one.

Lucia was not pleased by that sight, but she would deal with the unexpected reinforcements soon enough. She had to get past the small zombie army if she wanted to rescue the people she was supposed to rescue. Lucia had plenty of crowd control spells to use and her magic was strong against the undead, so she could handle the zombies. Her concern was whether she could deal with them before they stalled her for so long that the group of mages was overwhelmed by the denizens of this area.

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"More of them." Gabrielle warned Lucia... not that the blonde needed any warning. She already knew what she was going to do and prepared a Seraph's Fury spell to wipe out a large chunk of the new group in one spell. When it was ready Lucia leaped into the air and flapped her wings, casting twenty-five beams of golden light that homed in on twenty-five of the incoming zombies.

The beams hit their targets and they turned to ash, leaving a somewhat smaller group of enemies to deal with. Lucia followed up Seraph's Fury by preparing a Seeker Burst spell. She held out her hands in front of her and channeled magic into them until a ball of magic the size of a basketball was formed. The ball soon exploded and fired a burst of ten seeking projectiles the size of baseballs that homed in on ten of the enemies.

Since the zombies made no effort to dodge or defend themselves whatsoever the seekers hit their targets and turned them to ash as well. Now Lucia faced a smaller group of enemies that was easier to deal with. She counted nine more zombies left... not that it mattered. Crowd control was something her magic was good at and it was especially effective against crowds of undead enemies.

Lucia thought for a moment about what spell she wanted to use and decided on a Light Beam spell. She held both hands out in front of her and channeled magic into them, then fired a wide beam of golden light once the spell was ready. The spell hit six of the zombies and disintegrated them on the spot, leaving only three standing. Lucia drew Shining Light and adopted a two-handed shooting grip before aiming at the head of the first zombie.

When she had a good aim on the target she fired a single shot, the report of Shining Light cutting short its moan. It paused in place and slowly spun a quarter-turn to the left before collapsing to the ground. Lucia followed up that headshot with two more successful headshots made in rapid succession. Now all of the zombies were dead and she could press forward.

"Nice work, Lucia. Now let's keep going." Gabrielle ordered. Lucia kept Shining Light out and moved deeper into Fat Monsterland, moving at a brisk walk.

-Deeper in Fat Monsterland, 12:17 A.M.-

Lucia and Gabrielle were now inside a natural corridor formed by a combination of trees and thick underbrush that was almost as tall as Lucia and was wide enough to permit seven people to walk side-by-side without difficulty. It stretched on for as far as the eye could see, but that was not the most interesting feature. The most interesting feature was that there were quite a few dead zombies lying on the path: Lucia counted seventeen near the entrance alone and more in the distance. Lucia carefully approached the closest one to the left and stopped two arm lengths away from it, then looked at its head. It was lying on its back and its milky white eyes were gazing lifelessly at the night sky.

"It looks like the group fought its way through here." Gabrielle stated the obvious. Lucia ignored that and focused on the stab wound through the skull that had been placed right between the eyes. Whoever did that had to have a lot of skill with a sword to inflict that kind of precise wound.

Lucia heard moaning coming from nearby and looked at Gabrielle.

"We'd better keep moving. It sounds like stragglers are on the way." The angel suggested. Lucia wordlessly obeyed, taking the lead and guiding them down the path that would hopefully take them to the mages she had been called to help. The blonde set out at a brisk walk and continued to move at that pace as the moaning coming from the sides began to gradually grow louder. Gabrielle followed at her right side.

-At the end of the path, 12:35 A.M.-

Lucia had had to pick off a lone zombie or two that must have arrived after the group had already fought through the path, but she had not had to fight a large swarm of zombies. Now she stood in another clearing that was as large as the first one she had passed through before entering the natural corridor. She looked around the area and spotted more zombies lying on the ground.

"We're on the right track, Lucia." Gabrielle commented as the wind blew her hair about. The blonde kept Shining Light out as she looked around for either active zombies or any of the mages who might have been sent to get help... or a mage who got cut off from the main group and was looking to escape Fat Monsterland. She was not seeing anything yet, but if she moved deeper into the clearing she might be able to find either of the things she was looking for.

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-Deeper in Fat Monsterland, 1:05 A.M.-

Lucia and Gabrielle had waded through areas littered with zombies that were really dead from precise stab wounds to the skull and partial bodies with burn marks that indicated either fire-based magic or Holy magic like she used. If fire magic had been used the area would have likely been scorched because there was plenty of flammable grass and trees around, so the blonde had the impression that Holy magic was responsible for the state of the dead zombies who had had part of their bodies blasted away. Now the pair were standing in a clearing where a figure in red was standing next to a pile of zombies who had had their heads bashed in with a heavy weapon.

"Do you see that figure in red standing in the deistance?" Gabrielle asked Lucia. Lucia nodded.

"Yeah, I see it. Neither of us are seeing things." Lucia calmly replied to let her guardian angel know that neither of them were having vision trouble.

"I sense that they have Holy magic. Perhaps they're part of the group I called you here to rescue. Go talk to them and see what you can learn from them." Gabrielle let Lucia know that the red-clad figure wielded magic of the same type as Lucia's and instructed the Luminous Rose mage to make contact with them.

"All right, Gabrielle. I'll go talk to them." Lucia replied. She put Shining Light back into its holster and began to approach the mystery person, hoping that she would not be mistaken for a walking corpse and attacked. Lucia approached until she could get close enough to clearly see the person and when she did she found herself looking at a diminutive red-haired young woman with braided hair and a large metal hammer clutched in their right hand. She was about a foot shorter than the blonde and wore a bright red dress with matching hat that looked similar to a beret.

"Hello?" Lucia called out. The person faced her and waved with their left hand.

"Hey there! It's nice to see someone among the living out here!" The redhead jovially greeted Lucia. Sensing that she was not about to get her skull caved in, Lucia dared to approach the hammer-wielding youth and saw that the redhead had a smile on her face. She also had a light coat of sweat on her forehead, suggesting that she had recently been in a fight.

"Hey lady! The name's Jessica! Nice to meet you!" The redhead introduced herself.

"I'm Lucia Winchester." Lucia introduced herself. Jessica made eye contact with Lucia and tapped the head of her hammer on the ground.

"You've got Holy magic too, huh?" The redhead asked. Lucia nodded.

"That's good, lady. I was here with my teammates to investigate some cult activity that was said to be happening here. I don't know if the activity's real or not, but what I do know is that there are a lot of zombies out here and I mean a LOT of them. Normally they aren't too bad, but tonight there are so many of 'em that you can't throw a rock without hitting one." Jessica explained what she was doing here and added the observation that there were many more walking corpses than usual moving about.

"I got cut off from my teammates some time ago and I don't know if they're all right or not. They went deeper into this place... if we follow the trail of dead shamblers they left behind we should be able to find them. Will you help me out, lady?" The redhead asked for Lucia's aid in finding her companions.

"I'll help you find them." Lucia replied. The redhead lifted her hammer off of the ground and used it to point over her shoulder at a natural corridor in the woods behind her.

"Thanks! I'm kinda winded from the last fight with a bunch of walking corpses, so you'll have to do the heavy lifting for awhile. I hope you have some crowd control spells because you're gonna be fighting a lot of dead people." Jessica expressed her gratitude for Lucia's aid and gave her some idea of what to expect when moving deeper into Fat Monsterland. Lucia had already dispatched a good number of the undead prior to reaching the redhead, so she knew what she was going up against. She pointed towards the corridor with her right hand.

"OK, Jessica. I'll lead the way." Lucia informed her new companion that she would be taking the lead. The blonde set out for the path with the redhead and silver-haired guardian angel following close behind her.

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