Darius' increased Intelligence might not seem useful in this situation at first glance, but it subtly powered up all his spells. The chief of this was his Heal spell in terms of combat effectiveness against undead.
Now, he could one-shot any undead with less than 800 HP. Darius didn't hesitate like before, he simply selected targets with his mind to be struck by the Heal spell while using his two hands to wave his steel spear around frantically, swatting away any interlopers.
The good news was that Gunner hit his top speed finally, allowing Darius to see the end of the encirclement just 50 meters away. With his sharp eyes, he chose an undead at the forefront to hit with his Heal spell, disintegrating and scaring the others to dodge aside.
This had the beautiful effect of creating a small pathway in between the wall of undead. With Gunner's current speed, they crossed those 50 meters in just 1.3 seconds, freeing them from the dire situation they were in.
Darius almost wanted to cheer, but knew now was not the right time. He looked behind him and almost blanched when he saw the sea of undead racing after them.
Soon enough, Gunner's berserk state came to an end and so too did Darius' heightened state. As such, he jumped off Gunner's shoulders and ran alongside him.
Darius was much faster than Gunner and accelerated to his top speed much quicker than the large lad, but he had far less Stamina or stamina control compared to the half-giant.
By the time Gunner needed to drink his first stamina potion, Darius had already consumed five of them. Despite moving faster than even cheetahs at their current top speed, Darius was not satisfied.
He was currently moving at 170km/h while Gunner was moving at 145km/h. This was mostly thanks to the 25% weight reduction, but it wasn't enough. At this speed, they would need about 3-4 hours to reach Baratuo Outpost, and while that sounded quick, it was far too long.
Darius wanted to get back ASAP and re-plan his steps for the future.
As it was, Andrato Kingdom was finished, a sinking ship that was slowly taking on water. His shop, refinery, and noble's castle would all go to waste, because siding with the kingdom was out of the question.
It was a good thing he hadn't yet moved into them nor spread his products around, or he would be taking on more losses. Even as he ran forward, Darius was planning to change his destination after Baratuo, because there were some preparations he had to make in order to secure his future on Fallon Continent.
Darius opened his Inventory and took out his Purification Potions. He tossed them behind one after the other, not looking back to see the effects. However, even from where he stood, he could hear pained screeches and the breaking of glass.
After all, these were Journeymen undead. They might not be the fastest, but most had Agility above 15 points, with some as high as Gunner's at 25 points. They were only slowed down by the mob they were a part of, but they were keeping pace easily with Darius and Gunner.
As it were, undead never had to worry about something like running stamina, at least, not as much as a living person with flesh did. After throwing back a few Purification Potions to disrupt the undead chase, Darius removed some HP potions and concentrated.
[Would you like to change the Common Health Potion into a Common Agility Boost Potion? This will cost 1.5 Conversion Points.]
Hm, if it only boosted speed by 5 or 10%, it would not be enough. As such, Darius tried to jump one stage of quality for the potion, something he had attempted to before, but refrained to use because of the exorbitant cost.
[Would you like to change the Common Health Potion into an Uncommon Agility Boost Potion? This will cost 6.5 Conversion Points.]
This was too expensive. With such a cost, Darius would be unable to afford one for himself and Gunner. With that in mind, Darius rather decided to convert two of the Health Potions to Common Agility Boost Potion first for 3 CP.
As he expected, the Common version gave a 10% boost for 5 minutes and didn't detract from other stats thankfully. It was honestly much better than the ones he got as drops, but that was the effect of the elitist Transmutation for you.
Darius then tried to convert the potions he made upwards.
[Would you like to change the Common Agility Boost Potion into an Uncommon Agility Boost Potion? This will cost 0.5 Conversion Points.]
A much better trade overall. Darius made two more Common Agility Boost Potions for another 3 CP, making a total of 6, before using the last 4 CP to upgrade them all into the Uncommon version.
[Uncommon Agility Boost Potion - Consumable
Durability: 50/50
Description: A potion that grants a 5-minute Hastened state, increasing Agility by 30%. Created through pure Transmutation.]
Satisfied, Darius passed over two of the potions to Gunner and both of them drank one on the spot. Gunner also Inspected the potions and marveled at their prowess before drinking one himself.
Immediately, the duo shivered as they felt like electricity was coursing through their veins. With this surge of energy, they found their legs moving much faster than they did usually and their body much more limber and balanced.
Darius' speed now reached 210km/h while Gunner was at 180km/h. They soon began to give a serious gap to the undead chasing behind them, something which excited the duo.
Unfortunately, the increase in speed came with an increase in Stamina drain, so Darius was practically guzzling one potion every second. If it wasn't for the current circumstances, he was certain he would have been puking due to the amount he ended up consuming.
By the time the 5-minute duration had worn off, the duo had made great progress across the Journeyman band. In front of them, the undead were too slow to form an encirclement.
Behind them, the horrifying mob tried to give chase but could no longer be seen in the horizon.
