As I went over the course of my explaining my plan, Shining Armor and Shift Strike sat by, absorbing every last detail, as expected of two seasoned soldiers. True enough, my plan wasn’t anything special, but its effectiveness was all that mattered. Swift and I would lead all the undead creatures far away from the Lich, while Shining would sneak around from behind the Lich and create a shield around it. Once the shield was up, I would use a teleportation spell so we would be able to regroup with Shining inside of the shield and fight the Lich three on one. Overall, a pretty good plan if you ask me.
Both Swift and Shining, however, seemed slightly apprehensive about the plan, maybe because it was too simple or too easy.
"Hm, it could work, outnumbering him would certainly improve our chances of victory. I trust your spells are up to the task Sir Shining," Swift asked, turning to his junior.
"Don’t worry about me. When it comes to shield spells, nopony is better than me," Shining said with a hint of pride as he pointed to his shield cutie mark, "And I’m ready when you guys are."
"Let's go then," I said with a smile as Swift followed me.
Our plan laid out, we quickly got into position and once all was said and done, we began the attack. I started off by unleashing a large fireball, creating a massive explosion. The blast was not only so bright that it caught the eyes of all the undead, but also set some of them ablaze, a nice little side benefit to my plan. However, despite loud moans from the countless burned bodies alongside the growing clouds of smoke and the smell of burned flesh, the group remained in formation.
I turned my attention to the Lich and found him with a wicked smile on his face, seemingly amused by our sudden attack. "The old soldier, are you finally coming to kneel before your God?"
Swift Strike, who’d already been holding himself back from simply charging at the Lich, practically roared with fury at undead lord’s taunt. “The only one kneeling before any god will be you after I send you back to the maggot-infested hole you crawled out of.”
The Lich, however, ignored Swift Strike’s growing rage and kept his attention on me. "I must thank you for returning my property safely; you saved me the time of looking for it. As a reward for your help, I'll make your death quick,".
I stared back at Lich, wishing I could simply end him right now if I had the power. "My, that is quite a generous offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to politely refuse. How, sincerely, do hope you can go and fuck yourself, assuming, of course, that decrepit shell of a body of yours still has the proper equipment to do so.”
While he didn’t outright show it, I could see the Lich’s eyes narrow and burn ever so slightly with anger, so at least I managed to get a small victory.
"Very well then, you’ve chosen your fate. I hope those final words were worth it wretch," Moving his hand in my direction, the previous rigid horde’s heads all turned to face me, with their bodies quickly following suit. A single bony finger extended, it’s tip pointed directly at me as the Lich gave his command.
“Rip the pest apart limb from limb, and then devour what’s left. But do it slowly, I want to relish every last scream.”
With that last command, the horde began to advance on us.
My eyes stared down the horde of emotionless corpses as they drew close, my eyes only making a momentary glance at Shining Armor sneaking close to the Lich, sadly he wasn’t close enough to activate his spell. I turned to Swift, who looked all to ready for a fight. With a nod, I ignited my horn and stared my enemy down without fear.
“Before this night is over, the only one screaming, will be you. Now, come on."You will suffer then."
With a war cry, the two of us charged forward, Swift hacking through the dead soldiers before with unparalleled speed and ferocity, sending limbs and skulls in every direction. I followed suit, levitating my sword and swinging it as rapidly as I could, trying my best to avoid using too much mana. No matter what happened, the Lich was our priority, and no matter how many undead we faced, we needed to be ready to take him down.
Shining Armor P.O.V
My mission was simple; get close enough, cast a shield, and lock the Lich inside. Easy enough, but if the Lich spotted me, then it would all be over. So, while it was never my strong suit, I moved as stealthy, with the added benefit of a handy invisibility spell my sister taught me. Who knew having a little sister who spent all her time studying obscure and forgotten magic would come in handy?
Of course, being invisible didn’t make you silent, so I kept my pace relatively smooth, making sure not to make too much noise as I closed in on the Lich.
Thankfully for me, the explosion from Blueblood’s spell had drawn the Lich’s attention, so what little noise I made he ignored. As I got closer, I could see that Swift and Blueblood were talking to the Lich, though I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
Once I was close enough, I waited for whatever kind of signal Blue was going to give for me to cast the spell. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.
After another couple verbal bars, I couldn’t quite make out the Lich ordered his army to attack Blueblood and Swift. Soon, little by little the dead disappeared from the area I was hiding, and a fearsome battle started, until the Lich himself was completely alone
'Just a bit closer' I thought approaching the Lich, "Ourus Shield!."
The Lich turned around once he heard my voice, but was thankfully not fast enough to stop the formation of my shield, locking us away from the battlefield.
"Another one? You dare to defy a god? You insolent worm. Once I kill you, I’ll make you into one of my slaves and place you in a perpetual state of decay so agonizing that you’ll beg me for death every second of your miserable existence. "
"Bring it on," I said, getting ready with my spear despite his rather unsettling proposition. I had done my part; now, I just had to stall him long enough for Blueblood and Swift to make their way to me.
Blueblood P.O.V
I watched the earth move and undulate as the horde started to advance towards us, their sheer numbers so great I couldn’t see the ground beneath their feet. Advancing on us like a massive wave of dead flesh.
"Guess this is where we make our stand!" Swift shouted, slashing forward, killing several undead with a single stroke, yet they continued to advance without fail.
Wretched Zombie 8/8 ✔
Several undead stabbed at him with their various weapons, but Swift rolled over the enemy without pause, piercing through the head of multiple undead, striking with such power that the air escaped the head wounds like a bullet of hot air.
"FOR EQUESTRIA!" Swift roared, raising his weapon as he continued to charge forward.
"Ourus Shield," Swift stopped his assault and saw Shining’s shield finally rise, trapping the Lich inside. An eager look of excitement formed on his face as he turned to me.
"That's our cue, boy, LET GO!" Swift shouted this time, disposing of the mindless beasts faster than before.
"Great Fireball!" Following suit, I launched another massive fireball to clear a path. While I was working to conserve my mana, it was a necessary sacrifice to get us closer to the barrier.
I followed Swift’s lead, killing the undead side by side with him. Yet, as Swift moved closer to the shield, his eyes were drawn to something.
Amidst the fire, two undead were still standing otherwise unscathed, save for minor burns. While I didn’t recognize them, it was clear Swift knew who they were.
"Ford, Laya. You two truly have fallen far, haven’t you?" Swift said in a sad tone.
"Nice to see you as well captain. Are, ready to die, for real this time?" Laya said, taking one step closer to us.
"Now this will be fun," Ford said, laughing, "Not very often you get to kill someone twice. Hopefully, you’ll put up more of a fight this time."
Swift stared at them and sighed, "You truly have learned nothing. Though in a way, I can only blame myself. There was so much I wanted to teach you, yet perhaps it was my excitement that blinded me to the evil festering side of you. Yet, I suppose there is little I can do now, correct my errors and put an end to this.”."
Laya merely laughed cruelly at her teacher's sorrowful words. “Seems your still as sentimental as always, only now you don’t have the power to back it up. The Lich not only resurrected us but gave us more power than we ever acquired from any of your lessons. And you’re nothing but a relic, a broken tool from an outdated era. Though you are right in that we’ll be learning something today.”
Ford only smiled alongside his fellow traitor, though his was more one of sadistic glee. “Yeah, namely all the ways you can torture an undead. Wonder how long it’ll be before we drive you insane with some of the things we’ve got planned.”
Swift merely laughed mirthlessly at their words, "You truly have become blinded by your own cruelty. Even you should know torturing me won’t accomplish anything. Neither I nor you can feel anything anymore. Any harm you inflict on me would be a mere exercise in futility.”
"Well, you’re not completely wrong. True, we can’t physically torture you...but well, who say we need to hurt you to cause you pain," Laya said, licking her lips while looking at me, making it all clear what she meant.
"Wow, were all the guards from seven hundred years ago as messed up as these two?" I said, looking at Swift.
"Ford and Laya were always somewhat unhinged, but never to this extent. I had hoped that in time they’d be able to finally learn the most important lesson of all," Swift said with a sad expression, "That power it's not all,"
"Hey, you didn’t fail them. Just going by how they are now, I’d say they were beyond help long before you ever met them," I said, patting his back.
"Perhaps, but as their former teacher there is still a lesson that I must give them this day," Swift said, this time emanating a powerful and threatening aura, "Humility,"
"Count me in," I said, getting ready to kick some undead ass, but Swift stopped me.
"I appreciate it, my friend, however, go and help Shining. Let this old man take care of it, I'll be right back with you in a bit," Swift said with a faint smile on his face.
"You better not die on me, old man," I said hesitantly before I started running towards the shield.
"I'm already dead kiddo," Swift said, turning his attention to the two undead in front of him.
"What a sweet gesture," Laya said, mocking Swift.
"Doesn’t matter, once we’ve taken care of you, will drag him back and let you watch as we rip him apart in ways that’d make even these zombies puke," Ford said, his insane turning more manic than before.
"You would be surprised to know, the kid can take a beating like a man," Swift said, approaching them weapons ready, "Now let's do this."
Luckily for me, getting into Shining’s shield wasn’t too difficult. It turns out; he could actually control who could go in and out, something that only continues to remind me how odd magic truly is. However, that thought didn’t last as my nostrils were immediately assaulted by the scent of burning and decaying flesh, a scent far more potent than before, thanks to the enclosed area.
After fighting off the urge not to throw up, I quickly took notice of the battle currently going on between the Lich and Shining. To my surprise, Shining was holding his own against the undead ruler, with said walking corpse, even having some tears in his clothes showing he’d taken damage since the fight began.
However, what was truly surprising was the different feel of this fight. Unlike my previous bout with Swift, where there was merely a sense of hostility through conflict, here, the atmosphere was punctuated by an oppressive aura of death as I drew closer to the fight that feeling on continued to grow.
The sounds and flashes of metal clashing against each other filled the air as I drew in closer, desperate to help my friend before he was overwhelmed.
“Shining I'm on my—“ Before I could finish the sentence, something about the size of a bear lashed out at me. I yelled as it bit me on the arm, sending pain shooting through my entire arm and down my body. On reflex kicked the undead bastard it on the side. The thing fell back, and I could see now that it looked like a massive bear with white fur and decayed skin, snarling viciously at me as it advanced forward.
Without pause, I unleashed another fireball, hitting the beast mid charge. Engulfed in heat, the beast let out a several loud roars as it tried to claw the flames off its body, even going so far as to try and rip off what skin it had. Ultimately this proved useless as it eventually crumbled to the ground, dying for good.
Sadly, before I could fully recover from the unexpected incident, Shining cried out. “Watch out! There’s another one behind you!”
I turned in time to dodge as a similar creature leaped at me, though this was some type of undead wolf. Putting some distance between us, I tried to cast another fireball, but the beast’s speed allowed it to easily close the distance. Yet I couldn’t cancel the spell and thus simply focused the blast into my hand before planting it squarely into the creatures exposed insides, setting it ablaze.
I was barely able to make sense of what I’d just done before my screen reappeared in front of my face.
A new skill has been created by a specific action
Fire Punch: The force of your strength and your fireball put together, while the range it's short. The damage is several times greater than the damage of a fireball but lower than a Great Fireball.
That was certainly something I didn’t know was possible. Then again, I’d never made it a point to experiment with such abilities in the past. Sadly I didn’t have time to mull over it, as the Lich was quickly gaining ground over Shining.
“Help!” cried out Shining. “Will you stop admiring that admittedly awesome spell and help me?”
I cursed when I realized that I’d been wasting precious time and sprinted towards Shining to help him with the Lich. However, it seemed the Lich had one last minion to send against me as I heard a loud crash behind me.
Turning, I found a massive undead dragon, charging at full speed towards me. It was the largest thing after the Elite Nightmare that I had ever seen, twice the size of a house and as wide as a two-story building, with claws as long as swords. It’s dark glowing eyes directing its fury at me, punctuated with each stomp.
Despite the dire situation, I kept still, waiting for hopefully some form of useful information to come as this beast seemed deadlier than anything I’d face since. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.
Unsure what to do, I launched a fireball at him, only for the beast’s breath casually blew it out like a candle, freezing the floor as well with ease. However, despite my failure to hit it, the beast’s attention was centered on me, though that was only a temporary relief, Shining was struggling in a 1v1 battle with the Lich, so I had to deal with the dragon quickly.
The beast did not hesitate with it’s follow up, the icy hurricane it’s mouth produce came towards me with great speed as I leaped out of the way. The second I landed, I immediately charged forward, encasing my fist in scorching heat as I reached its leg. Without a moment to hesitate, I slammed my burning fist into its thick hide, striking again and again as hard as I could, ignoring the beast’s roars as I did.
Once the beast spotted me, it tried to slash at me with its claws, but I managed to jump away and put some distance between us. Once I was out of range of its swipes, I took note of my screen again to gauge how much damage I’d done.
49500/50000 (-500) DRAGON HP
‘You’re telling me after all that I barely put a scratch on this thing?’ ’ A quick glance at its stats revealed the problem. ‘Oh, so it’s both resistant to ice AND fire……Great.”
Taking the stance I copied from Swift, I dodged another icy assault and landed Mana Strike combined with a Fire Punch in the same spot as before. The beast flinched as the attack burned further into its body, pushing it back a little.
With it distracted, I leaped out of the way as it swung its tail at me, trying to retaliate, missing the attack by a couple of inches, hitting the ground instead shattering the surface.
48500/50000 (-1500) DRAGON HP
‘That did a little more damage, but this will take forever at this rate, and I don’t have time to waste on this,’ I thought.
I looked at my surroundings, thinking on a fast way to deal with the creature. The dragon had already turned around again to face me and seemed angry, ready to finish me off. My eyes suddenly caught a cave about five hundred feet away from us, and to my surprise, it big enough for the dragon to enter. Immediately a plan formed as I dashed toward the cave, the dragon loudly thrashing about as it followed after me.
‘That’s it, follow me, you dumb overgrown gecko’ I thought.
A few dozen feet into the cave, I could feel the dragons cold breath on my back. I quickly activated Light Impact to outrun the dragon. Once we were far enough in, I turned around, dropped low, and slid under the beast in the opposite direction. It was a gamble, but as my friends in my old life would say...many many times, I was a gambler. Turning around as the massive creature struggled to get out of the cave, I casted a Great Fireball, aiming at the top of the cave, causing walls to fall on the beast.
The massive pile of rock and stone proved difficult for the creature to move in, as it’s hp steadily declined with each passing second. Taking the chance, I unleashed multiple fire spells at every point I could find earning roars of anger and pain for my trouble. The dragon tried to slash and claw in every direction, but failed to even remove itself from its new prison as I continued my assault.
9500/50000 (-40500) DRAGON HP
Sadly, my luck seemed to run out as beast’s anger flared up once again, violently lashing and shifting about, managing to finally knock itself free. Able to move properly again, it’s cold eyes turned to me, the very ground beneath its feet starting to freeze as it’s chilling anger was made visible.
‘Well that made my life easier,’ I thought as I tried to formulate some kind of plan.
The dragon didn’t give me much time as it charged at me. With little time, I was charged a Great Fireball, waiting for my mana to reach the max charge for the spell. Once it was ready, I rushed in with the fireball in my right hand.tThe dragon, however, seemed to have learned from our previous encounter and started immediately attacking with his cold breath, which I was able to narrowly dodge until I was in front of the monster.
The beast prepared another cold assault, but this time, I waited for the attack. Once it was released, I cast a bubble shield around me. Despite my shield, the creature continued to attack, yet my bubble held strong as I waited for the right moment. Finally, my moment arrived when the ice breath stopped. Before the beast could close its mouth, I launched my fireball directly down its throat and watched as the heat scorched it from the inside out.
The monster howled and screamed as smoke continued to leak out of its throat, the light from the fire visible in its hole covered chest. In mere moments the beast let loose pained cry before it finally fell to the ground, smoke continuing to leak out of its rotten body as the fire slowly consumed it, eventually turning into a massive bonfire.
Undead Dragon dead
X1 SOUL ESSENCE - Each Soul Essence contains 1000 souls that have been assimilated. +25 for each stat if consumed or you can collect X3 SOUL ESSENCE to resurrect someone, though this only works if the user convinces the God of Death to take the offering in return of one life, which is trickier than it sounds. The God of Death doesn’t like giving second chances.
“Better hand that to me, mortal,” said Lich, with a cruel expression, than somehow managing to get behind me, Shining Armor laying beaten where they were once battling. “You wouldn’t know what to do with it.”
“Oh, I have an idea. I just need another two,” I said, saving the essence in my inventory.
“Give me the Soul Essence! and I’ll let you join my ranks as one of the Death Elites,” said the Lich, getting more angry with each passing moment.
“He won’t give you anything except pain,” said Shining behind the Lich, managing to stand back up, still ready to fight.
Elite Slain 2/2 ✔
“What the boy said,” Swift said, dropping from the sky doing a superhero landing, with a pair of decapitated heads on his hands, “You need to do better than this to stop us.”
Despite a few missteps, our plan had succeeded, and once again, our team was regrouped, ready to fight the Lich 3 on 1.
