Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

He had to thank those three men for their brazen assault upon the village, without them, he doubted that he would have gotten even the smallest of chances to intrude upon the castle, but Griar had to make a swift decision, he either had to simply run in and hope for the best, or attempt to use a spell to make a more discreet entry, with the high reward of not having to fight whatever amount of guards were inside, or the high risk of being discovered without the possibility to use another spell for a little while, which might just spell death for him.

However, he greatly doubted that just running in would not get him killed either, if even one saw him, which would definitely happen if he simply ran, they would alert all of the others and getting away from them in the unknown layout of the castle would be next to impossible, so Griar made his decision and employed a spell he was not that confident in.

The young man was a lot like his father in that regard, being more geared toward using magic in close-quarters, especially since his outer manipulation and resistance were poor, meaning that he struggled to control mana that was not his inner energy, and would rapidly lose control if it went too far from him, and also that his energy was especially fragile against outside interference, to the point that even ambient mana that simply existed would dismantle any spells he attempted to launch past a certain point.

Overall, Griar could basically only use spells to attack if his target was right in front of him, this problem of his was so great, that he basically only felt confident casting offensive spells if his hands were literally holding onto the one he was aiming for.

But also, much like his father, he was best at using mana like a brute, so more refined spells had a tendency to fall flat, still, he had done his best to learn some utility spells from his mother besides using bursts of air to launch himself, which was an easy enough spell as it was all about creating a blast.

In comparison, the one he employed right at this moment was far more complicated of an application of wind magic, cloaking his entire body with winds, he had to finely manipulate the properties of the spell to render himself invisible, not only was this a spell requiring precise control, he had to consciously maintain it at all times since he was not good enough with it to simply cast it and let the spell do its thing.

He had to move slowly as well, and not run or even walk at a normal pace, the winds coating him were brittle, if he made a sudden movements, even if the spell was not dispelled, he would certainly appear as a somewhat translucent figure for a few moments, which was something he was not willing to take a risk upon, so with careful step, his face contorting as he stepped upon the bridge and the wood creaked under his weight.

Thankfully, even if someone was around to hear it, they surely would not immediately assume that it was due to an invisible man, they would merely think the bridge was making a weird noise, but still, Griar would rather not make too much noise.

The people here were affected by a foul substance, he could not know for certain if they would be capable of seeing through his invisibility if they tried, he knew basically nothing about what they seemed to merely refer to as 'water'.

As he finally stepped into the castle, he noticed that the group from earlier was already on their way back, and took notice of the fact that tall, cloaked and hooded figure slightly tilted their head to the side when looking vaguely in his direction, making a cold sweat travel down Griar's spine.

He hurried his step as much as he could, moving to the side of the entrance, slipping into an open door and hiding before finally dispelling the spell, he felt his mana being constrained, guessing that he wouldn't be able to use any spell for longer than the previous times as a result of maintaining this one for so long.

Griar controlled his breathing and hid under a bed, waiting several minutes without even slightly poking his head out, remaining stacked as close to the wall as possible, away from the edges of the bed where one might catch sight of his arm or leg…

He heard a few people speak to one another, but as per usual with them, their accents were so thick that he didn't understand a thing, only that they seemed to rarely actually discuss amongst one another, and instead, mostly repeated the same words and sentences to themselves for no apparent reason.

Eventually, Griar had to crawl out from under the bed however, and when he did so, he noticed that the sky was getting dark, Griar had not realised that night was already falling, but it was a good thing, there would be less chance for him to be spotted under its cover.

Glancing outside, using what meager amounts of light the moon was shining, he noticed a few people walking or standing around, some with torches or lanterns, some without anything.

Most of them were garbed in robes of some sorts, but they were different from the two who had come with Isabela to accompany Flor, they lacked a peculiar symbol upon their garments, so they came off as less clerical than one might originally assume.

There were also some garbed in ample, stripped clothing who carried spears and halberds around, whilst the outside had felt somewhat off to Griar, this place felt more typical, but when compared to what he had seen before, somehow appeared detached from the rest.

A villager had been wielding an advanced, compact crossbow, but some people here were holding genuine crossbows for some reason, it was like the castle and the rest were at different times.

Griar stopped wondering about meaningless things and went on the move, although it may be beneficial to take out some of those guards, he knew very well that it was actually a terrible idea, if even one sprouted black tendrils after being struck, he would give away his presence, so the best course of action was to move stealthily and without interacting with the guards in any capacity.

The castle itself was surrounded by small barracks of sorts, but Griar managed to get entry into the castle easily enough, squeezing himself through an open window and arriving into a small room connected to the corridor that led to the main hall.

The inside was lit by countless candles, and there seemed to be no one around.