Exploring the totally not haunted forest

John and the girls pressed deeper into the forest near the castle. So far the group had only come across the standard forest animals while also hearing what John was pretty sure was a bear. However, they all did notice that the further in they travelled, the darker it seemed to get in the forest even if the actual foliage never changed.

“This place…feels wrong,” John said in a solemn tone as they continued their trek through the forest.

“Listen,” side Mikuru, which caused the others to stay silent and listen to the ambient noise in the forest.

“T-there’s no noise,” Gali said what the others heard, or rather did not hear.

“Yes, there is no noise, which means nothing lives in this part of the forest,” Mikuru explained to the group.

“Which begs the question: Why does nothing live in this part of the forest?” John asked as he saw a dense fog began to spread through the forest. The fog was far too thick for John and company to see more than a few feet in front of them.

“Form up, surround Gali! She’s our healer so as long as she lives, so do we!” John commanded as Idena and Mikuru moved into place forming a triangle around the High Elf priestess. She readied her staff while Mikuru formed rock gauntlets and Idena charged hers. John summoned his sword from his inventory, and the formation slowly began to traverse through the thick fog. All four of them kept scanning every inch of the fog, looking for any sort of symbol of impending danger.
“Master, perhaps we should turn back?” asked Idena, her worry for her king at the forefront of her thoughts.

“No. Now that we found this fog in this part of the forest we must check it out. We have citizens we need to protect, Idena. So that means we have to investigate things like this now instead of putting it off until later,” John explained to his captain of the Kingsguard. He couldn’t afford to have a potential threat in his forests attacking his elven citizens when he had to leave to go to school.

“Of course, master. Forgive me,” apologized Idena.

“It’s fine, Idena. I know you worry about my safety, but I’ll be going into a lot of dangerous situations. Which means you’ll just have to work double hard to make sure I come out of it alive, ok?” John said to his harpy in a gentle voice.

“Don’t you worry, master, I’ll make sure you always return from your missions alive, or die trying,” Idena informed him with pride in every one of her words.

“See that you do, Idena, it’d be terribly inconvenient if I die without an heir!” John said jokingly.

“Yes, yes, you can find a concubine to impregnate later, let’s focus on the suspiciously thick fog, shall we?” Mikuru said, always the diligent one of the group. The group acknowledged she was right, and so they continued on their way, following the remains of a path they had found early in exploring the forest.

The group continued on for another five minutes with no indication of anything bad or evil or out of place. While still not hearing any signs of animals, each member of the group swore they heard what sounded like rustling leaves or snapped twigs.

“Did you hear that?” asked Mikuru, to which both John and Idena nodded.

“Who’s out there? Your king demands to know!” shouted John to the fog. All he got was an eerie silence in response. The four stayed still in their position, not sure if they were surrounded or not, but the increased shuffling let them know that they were indeed surrounded. That was also when they heard it: the low groans and moans of whatever was coming for them.

“Shit!” exclaimed Mikuru as the creatures of the fog attacked her. John didn’t get a chance to look at Mikuru’s attacker because he had one of his own. John used the flat part of his sword’s blade to hold back the zombie as it tried to bite off his face. Its hands, one clad in rusted armor, scratching against his chest armor. John looked past the creature and saw even more stumbling out of the fog, all heading towards them.

“There’s so many!” screeched Idena as she fought off two more.

“Idena, think you can flap away some of this fog so we can get a rough idea?” asked John, receiving an answer by having the fog around them temporarily blown away thanks to Idena. That’s when he saw at least 100 zombies surrounding them, some in armor, and a symbol on the armor that looked rather familiar. “Well, that’s not good,” John said as he **** the zombie back and slashed it in two. “Guess we gotta clear through them,” he said as he engaged with two more zombies.
Mikuru, annoyed at fighting zombies again, shook the very ground in front of her, the zombies on that land lost their footing, utterly confused by how the earth was shaking beneath them. They did not wonder long, however, as a powerful stream of light burst through the canopy of the forest and incinerated the vile undead.
Idena, meanwhile, was quickly dashing between the zombies, her electrified gauntlets stunning each one she hit. The stunned zombies were quickly picked off by Gali’s holy spells, their restorative powers toxic to the creatures’ tainted life.

John, meanwhile, decided to use the zombies as a testbed for his new Paladin abilities. His Crusader’s Strike was able to kill the weakest of zombies and do significant damage to the more armored zombies. His Templar’s Verdict, however, was more than enough to cut through every zombie he encountered in one hit. While he only needed three Holy Power to use Templar’s Verdict, waiting until he had 5 and then using Templar’s Verdict followed by Crusader’s Strike and then Templar’s Verdict again allowed him to more quickly dispose of his enemies.

Unfortunately for the group, there were far more zombies than they thought. The group was pushed back closer and closer to each other until they were all back to back. The zombies continued to shamble towards them, seemingly a never-ending flood. The anger in John swelled up, furious that he was about to meet his end felt a sudden rush of power swell within him.

“AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed John as a holy power burst forth from and swirled around him, incinerating every unholy creature it touched. John lunged forward, giant, gold wings made of holy energy protruded from his back as he slashed through the undead horde. Every so often, he’d summon another of those holy storms to destroy whole swaths of zombies.

The girls quickly made their way to the cleared area as John turned his attention to another direction, repeating what he had done. John unleashed his rage onto this group as well, felling anything that got in his path. The zombies, ignoring the girls, focused solely on John, but even in their far superior numbers, were no match for him in this state.

“By the Holy Light, be purged!” yelled John as he rushed into the final group of zombies, utterly destroying them with his new moves. When it was all over and done with, the group was surrounded by broken skeletons and piles of dust, all the victims of John’s anger enhanced new moves. John, his anger subsided, made his way back to his companions while looking over his new pop-ups.

Zombie Horde defeated, 500 exp recieved!
New Ability: Divine Storm
Divine Storm
3 Holy Power
Summon Holy Light to whirl around you, damaging any enemy caught in its wake.

New Ability: Avenging Wrath
Imbues you with wrathful light, increasing all damage done for 10 seconds

Crusader’s Strike leveled up!

Templar’s Verdict leveled up!

“That was… rather impressive,” Mikuru admitted to John, who gave him a quick nod of her head.

“Your power is outstanding, master!” complimented Idena, who hugged her king.

“The Light of the Sun truly blesses you, my liege, to grant you such awesome power from it. You truly are its mightiest warrior, worthy of everything we give you,” said John’s ever loyal priestess.

“Thank you, girls, but come with me,” John told them as he walked towards one of the skeletons in chest armor. The three girls joined him as they circled the skeleton and looked upon its now damaged armor. “What emblem do you see?” he asked them, already knowing the answer.

“… A rose,” answered MIkuru, nervousness clear in her response.