Chapter 227


    Thze''s power was simple.


    As a slime-based undead, it could ''liquify'' itself to shapeshift and detach parts to create autonomous clones.


    Whenbined with the dark magic of the Commander, Mangus, it further maximized this ability by removing its only weaknessits ''heart''from its body.


    Currently, Thze has ten hearts stored off-site. If it was destroyed, it could expend a heart to reform itself where it died.


    This ability to resurrect was simr to Prince''s, from Simon''s Legion. The key difference was that Thze consumes its own heart to create an entirely new body for itself.


    Extreme survivability.


    While Thze didn''t specialize in searching or investigation, Magnus appreciated its ability to survive no matter the situation, even if it had been spotted or surrounded by enemies.


    And now, obeying Magnus''mand, Thze followed the trail of the mysterious Ancient Undead they had encountered in the Jungle of Screams.


    It raked its long tentacles across the ground, scanning, scanning, and scanning. Until


    It had a match.


    [Unidentified underground ruins found. Matches the tracks of the Ancient Undead.]


    Thze intuitively knew it had found a vital clue. Part of it wanted to go deeper into the ruins, but the area smelled dangerous.


    Just when it thought it should head back and report to Magnus to call in reinforcements


    <em>Sliiiiiiiiiice!</em>


    Trees cut cleanly in half filled the night sky. Thze looked back.


    [!]


    There was the Ancient Undead skeleton that Thze had been looking for. On top of that, a necromancer was even wearing it.


    [Who?]


    It couldn''t finish its words.


    As trees fell around it, Thze felt its vision sliding as its head fell from the body, decapitated in a perfectly straight line.


    "Nine more times."


    The man''s voice echoed grimly.


    "It''ll disappear after we kill it nine more times, right?"


    <em>Blub, blub!</em>


    Thze''s decapitated body melted like water, turning into a ck pond.


    A momentter, the pond swirled, and a Thze with a head emerged.


    [I am Thze.]


    The center of its body opened up, a voiceing out with every unnatural twitch of flesh.


    [Captain of the Magnus Legion. Unknown necromancer, I demand you identify yourself.]


    Simon swung the Greatsword of Destruction without a single word of reply. The air split vertically, but this time, Thze swiftly shifted to the side to dodge.


    [Attacking me means turning the Magnus Legion against you.]


    "Of course!"


    Simon leaped up, stepping on jet-ck.


    "I''m keenly aware of that!"


    Wearing the Bone Armor he hadn''t worn for a long time to make himself ''Pion'', he felt the strength coursing through his veins.


    With a single step, the ground sank, and he shot out like a beam of light.


    <em>sh!</em>


    One of Thze''s arms flew high into the sky.


    [Regenerating.]


    Thze twitched as it held up its detached left arm, but nothing happened.


    [Unable to regenerate.]


    Skidding to a halt as he hit the ground, Simon spun where he stood and swung his sword.


    The long-range sword sh was quite intimidating, so Thze quickly backed away.


    <em>Riiiiiiiiiiip!</em>


    But the sh didn''t hit Thze. It hit the ground beneath its feet. The noise of the ground cracking beneath it was deafening, and it was blinded by the shower of dirt that erupted in front of it.


    "By doing this!"


    Stomping his right foot forward in preparation to shoot forward, Simon tightened his grip on his greatsword.


    "You won''t be able to dodge it!"


    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!</em>


    The shimmer of light erupting from the de rapidly tore through the dirt smoke, splitting Thze at the waist.


    Simon''s face lit up.


    ''We did it! We killed it twice alre Huh?''


    But this time, he couldn''t kill it. From the halved upper body, Thze''s head swiveled in a direction it shouldn''t be able to and stared at Simon.


    Pier spoke urgently in Simon''s head.


    [Boy! Aim for its neck, not the chest! I think you have to cut its throat to take its life!]


    ''Yeah, surely.''


    Thze''s mouth opened as Simon readjusted his greatsword.


    [You people are Legion.]


    Simon lunged at the immobilized torso in desperation, now knowing that he had to hide his secret.


    But Thze began to move, small legs forming underneath the surviving torso by sacrificing the mass of its left arm.


    [Ancient Undead. Only Commanders able to control Ancient Undead. You are Legion.]


    The tone of the voice was even, but seemingly startled.


    Thze continued,


    [Magnus'' eighth hypothesis confirmed: the return of the Seventh Legion. I must inform him.]


    "You will not!"


    Leaping with every step, Simon caught up to the short-legged Thze and swung his greatsword.


    However, Thze folded in on itself and extended its one remaining arm.


    The arm formed into a drill which Thze thrust forward, forcing Simon to quickly switch from offense to defense.


    In that short window when weapons shed, just as Thze tried to escape.


    ''Open!''


    An Overlord de surged up, trapping Thze. Simon balled his left fist, taking it off of his greatsword, and turned to the side.


    ''Squeeze!''


    <em>Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuunch!</em>


    Metal slid against metal as the Overlord wrapped its des around Thze, forcing it to shrink as the pressure built and built until


    <em>Pop!</em>


    A thick pulp seeped out from between the des with a fewrger masses in the middle.


    ''With this, there''s eight more to go.''


    One of the masses melted into a ck pond before furiously bubbling until it reformed into arger Thze. The arm Simon had cut off earlier was back as well.


    [It''s tricky, as expected.]


    Pier''s voice sounded inside Simon''s mind.


    [That''s not regeneration. It''s more like a re-creation. No matter how badly you destroy it, it will reform 100% of the time. Thze has survived even on the most extreme battlefields, so don''t let your guard down!]


    "Got it!"


    He was here taking the role of Pion to break that 100%.


    Simon grabbed his greatsword and red at Thze. The key was to keep chaining attack after attack to keep Thze disorientated so he could drain its remaining lives.


    ''I should try to get through at least five more lives in the next 10 minutes.''


    <em>Tap.</em>


    That was when Thze bent down and pressed its palms to the ground. Its body erupted like a geyser, sending drills of all sizes in all directions.


    "Gasp!"


    As Simon dodged the flying drills, Thze''s main body fled into the dense forest.


    <em>Ssshhhk.</em>


    It didn''t flee far.


    Something sharp dug into it and cut it nearly in half. It would''ve been cut in two if it''d reacted only a momentter and kept walking.


    Startled, Thze stepped back and stared straight ahead, a solid string shone in the moonlight, barely visible in the darkness.


    [What''s the rush?]


    <em>Twaaaap!</em>


    A whirlwind of spider webs flew in from all directions, wrapping up Thze.


    Elizabeth appeared from the shadows, waving gracefully to Simon as she clenched her fist.


    The webs copsed around Thze''s mummified form, dicing it up into a fine mist.


    "Eliza!"


    [All seven of Thze''s clones have been dealt with by the spider troops without any trouble! All that leaves is the main body with seven lives left.]


    <em>Blub blub.</em>


    Thze, who had already died three times, melted once more before immediately reappearing.


    [Back off.]


    Turning its right arm into a drill once more, it aimed at Elizabeth. But she only had to lift a finger.


    <em>Tap!</em>


    The drill stopped right in front of her face.


    A thin string, pulled taut around the drill, shimmered.


    [There is another Ancient Undead.]


    There was a clear panic in Thze''s voice.


    * * *


    * * *


    [New Commander. Owns two ancient undeads. Increased risk. Must report back alive.]


    <em>Yank!</em>


    Thze flexed its arm and ripped forward through the spiderweb, forcing Elizabeth to throw herself out of the way. Except, she was still smiling.


    [You''re too open.]


    A web was wrapped around Thze''s hind legs, and as it leaned forward, Taze tumbled through the air.


    Waiting for the opening, dozens of corpse spiders then swooped down and bit into Thze with their venomous fangs. Green liquid dripped from open wounds, and it cried out in pain.


    [Now!]


    "Well done, Eliza!"


    Also waiting for an opening, Simon was standing ready to sh.


    At Eliza''s call, Simon swung his sword straight vertically down. One of Thze''s hairs, stiff from the poison, was cut perfectly in half down to the root as the de went the rest of the way and cut the entire creature in two.


    ''Six lives left!''


    The tension in the air was unrelenting.


    Only Thze''s head melted this time, and a smaller Thze leaped into the air with such force it sounded like an explosion.


    [Magnus. I must let him know. There are two Ancient Undead on Roke Ind.]


    As Thze flew up in the air, looking for a path of escape, something jumped off the ground nearby.


    [!]


    The new figure was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, the small boy appeared in front of it and swung his fist.


    <em>Bang!</em>


    Thze plummeted to the ground.


    [Hahaha! No way, you imbecile!]


    Still in midair, Princeughed in triumph.


    Zombies piled up on top of Thze, pinning him to the ground.


    Seeing this, Simon formed a magic circle in his left hand and clenched his fist.


    {Corpse Explosion}


    <em>Kabooooooooooooom!</em>


    By the time the sh of light faded and the aftermath was safe to look at, all that remained amidst the charred soil was a ck puddle as Thze began to reform.


    [Boy! Five more times!]


    [Five more to go!]


    Pier, Simon, Elizabeth, and Princewho had justndedformed a circle around the puddle. They were blocking every exit.


    [Ancient Undeads. Assumed to be three.]


    Thze''s voice came from the ck slime.


    [Critical foe. Priority report. Growth of the Seventh Legion more than expected. Extremely dangerous if not stopped.]


    The pond began to bubble and boil.


    [Must survive. Must report to Magnus.]


    <em>Boooooooooooooooom!</em>


    Countless drills shot out of the pond. Simon and the Captains all dodged the attack and destroyed everyst drill they could.


    [We don''t know which one''s the main body! Kill everyst one of them!]


    The moment the drills fell to the ground, they grew legs and began to run.


    Simon swung his Greatsword of Destruction, slicing through many of them at once, all while controlling the Overlord to turn Thze''s clones into skewers.


    Pier supported Simon as Bone Armor while manipting his conscripted skeletons to capture the fleeing drills.


    Elizabeth channeled her jet-ck into the spider webs she had set up, using them as des to slice even the tiniest of possible Thzes.


    Prince led his zombie horde to cut off the escape route, leaving piles upon piles of ck goop in their wake.


    And among the four, the one who captured the main body was


    <em>m!</em>


    It was Prince. As one of his indiscriminate punches smashed into the main body, it turned into a bubbling pond.


    Princeughed.


    [I got it! This one''s the main body!]


    [Focus! Four more to go!]


    Prince licked his lips and waited in front of the pond.


    [Now! Now! Come on out! I''ll take your four remaining lives in an ins!]


    <em>Poooooooooooooow!</em>


    The pond exploded forward into a single, giant drill. It carved right through Prince, leaving a hole where his heart should be.


    "Prince!!"


    [Must return alive. Must return alive. Must return alive.]


    Two legs popped out from under the flying drill. Thze, now back to a more familiar form, ran frantically through the Forbidden Forest.


    <em>Pshk!</em>


    <em>Psshhk!</em>


    But wounds quickly umted all over Thze''s body.


    [Not a chance.]


    The webs set up by Elizabeth and her army of spiders tore into Thze, slowing it down and leaving it a tattered mess.


    <em>Tap tap tap tap!</em>


    And there was the boy, expertly running around the invisible webs, his shapeless cape pping behind him.


    "Pier!"


    [Alright!]


    Simon leaped off of a web and swung his Greatsword of Destruction.


    <em>sh!</em>


    He cut through Thze''s left leg, sending the Ancient Undead crashing to the ground. But even as it fell, it formed new legs across its torso and crawled away like an exceptionally fast centipede.


    "Get ready, Prince!"


    Simon pulled a zombie out of subspace, touching it with the gray ring before throwing forward it with the strength of his bone armor.


    ck lightning struck the zombie''s body as it spun through the air.


    <em>Crackle!</em>


    [Hahaha!]


    Prince possessed the zombie beforending right on top of Thze.


    [You''re not the only one!]


    He pulled back his clenched fist high into the air.


    [With a resurrection skill!]


    <em>Kapoooooooooooooow!</em>


    Prince''s fist smashed into Thze''s back, driving it into the ground like a hammer hitting a nail.


    Thze went limp, and Simon and Pier soon caught up to finish it off with a sword to the neck.


    It melted once more.


    [Three left.]


    [Three more to go! We''re almost done!]


    Elizabeth didn''t join them right away, but busied herself with the corpse spiders,ying webs around the forest.


    Prince, seemingly determined not to be caught off guard this time, took up a proper defensive stance and stared at the pond.


    Simon waited a short distance away, tightening his grip on his greatsword.


    ''No matter what, we''ll get the three remaining lives here!''